Line #87 VideoGame/NightmareCreatures


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/nightmare_creatures.png]]
2	''Nightmare Creatures'' is an ActionAdventure BeatEmUp developed by Kalisto Entertainment, published by Creator/{{Activision}}, and released in 1997 for Platform/PlayStation, Windows, and Platform/Nintendo64. Set in the 19th century, UsefulNotes/{{London}} is threatened by a horde of creatures released by [[MadScientist Adam Crowley]]. Now it's up to [[WarriorMonk Ignatius Blackward]] and [[SheFu Nadia Franciscus]] to combat these threats and stop Crowley and his monster invasion.
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4	A second game was released in 2000, with Creator/{{Konami}} as the publisher. Set in 1934 London and Paris, it tells the story of Herbert Wallace, a man who was captured as a young kid by Crowley, whom tortured and experimented on him. After many years, he decides to take [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge revenge on Crowley]]. A mobile phone game, developed by Creator/{{Gameloft}} and also titled ''Nightmare Creatures'', was released in 2003. A third main game, ''Nightmare Creatures III: Angel of Darkness'', was planned, but it went to DevelopmentHell after Kalisto went out of business. In late 2004, the game's development and release were officially scrapped.
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6	A ContinuityReboot was announced in 2017, with Albino Moose Games, the studio behind the HD version of ''VideoGame/SpookysJumpscareMansion'', having picked up the rights to the franchise, but they confirmed three years later that it was shelved.
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8	Not to be confused with ''VideoGame/DeadlyCreatures'', another horror-themed video game with a similar title but a totally different cast and story.
9	----
10	!!''Nightmare Creatures'' contains examples of:
11	* AllThereInTheManual: Everything concerning the game's history, the creatures created by Crowley, and what happened after.
12	* AnArmAndALeg: These games were most famous for the amount of limbs you'd sever.
13	* AttackOfTheMonsterAppendage: The Thames Monsters are giant octopod heads sticking out of the water, who lash out at you with their CombatTentacles. They're incapable of moving and rely entirely on their ranged attacks via tentacles, although it is possible to access DummiedOut versions of the game via a cheat code to see the rest of the monster... which is just a single, long, tentacle-like body rooted to the bottom of the Thames.
14	* AwesomeButImpractical: The titular Creatures, all of which were designed, in-universe, to instil fear, and cause chaos, but Crowley ended up either missing or forgetting a detail or two, that would ensure the creatures could last long or be useful if people actually fought back against them, from the Red Demons setting ''themselves'' on fire, to the Pepys' Monster being terrifying to look at, but very clumsy, so anyone who didn't freeze at their sight, could easily fight one.
15	* BandagedFace: The Faceless Men enemies, deformed, former members of Crowley's brotherhood whose horribly scarred faces are constantly clad in bandages.
16	* BarbieDollAnatomy: Averted, surprisingly enough, with the Banshees, who have very visible buttocks and nipples despite the stricter console standards at the time. [[FanDisservice They're not pretty]].
17	* BattleAmongstTheFlames: The final boss, Crowley, is fought on the rooftops of the Westminster Abbey as the whole building is set alight.
18	* BeenThereShapedHistory: Ignatius and Nadia's two-person war against Crowley ends up sparking the Great Fire of 1834.
19	* BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy: Literature/SamuelPepys was a member of the first Brotherhood of Hecate and recorded the process of creating the monsters in his diary. He also became a DefectorFromDecadence and destroyed them.
20	* BigBad: [[MadScientist Adam Crowley]], who created the titular Nightmare Creatures and unleashes them upon London.
21	* BodyOfBodies: Pepys Creatures are created by fusing together multiple bodies.
22	* BossArenaIdiocy: All the bosses save the final one decide to pick a fight with you in some very convenient locations. The Sewer Snake is surrounded by trees that injure it when they're chopped down, the Snowman is standing under an ancient roof that could collapse at any minute, and [[UsefulNotes/JackTheRipper Jose Manuel]] is standing in a chamber where the walls have ''retractable spikes''.
23	* DeadlyLunge:
24	** While not exactly slow to begin with, a lot of enemies do this.
25	** Also the Mutated Mice and the Giant Bugs, which are weak but can knock you down with fast, powerful attacks.
26	* DidntThinkThisThrough: [[BigBad Adam Crowley]] makes a ton of strange and terrifying monsters to kill the populace of London, which fails almost straight away due to numerous realistic reasons, including the hilarious background material showing that the gargoyles literally froze to death, that the Thames Monsters were rooted to the ground making them easy pickings just by virtue of stay far enough away, anything that didn't have a massive design flaw was very easily beaten by the civilian population, the only thing that was even partially successful were the mutated rats...
27	* DownTheDrain: Thames Tunnel has you wandering through the sewers of London, It's filled with Dockers and introduces you to both the giant insects and the Thames Monsters.
28	* FacialHorror: The Faceless Men are so named because a good slice of their face was flayed off. They're still carrying the flesh in their free hand.
29	* GiantMook: The blue-skinned Dockers are the largest, strongest mook-variety enemies introduced, a small mountain of muscles on bulky legs with Ignatius and Nadia barely reaching their waists. These enemies are among the few mooks who made it into the second game.
30	* GiantSpaceFleaFromNoWhere: All the bosses except the last one. Seriously, would you expect to face a fire-breathing multi-headed serpent near a sewer, or a Yeti in a church, or UsefulNotes/JackTheRipper in a storehouse?
31	* GiantSpider: Despite looking more reptilian than insectoid...
32	* HalfTheManHeUsedToBe: Pretty much the only way to keep a zombie from getting back up is to separate its legs from its torso.
33	* HeartContainer: A literal heart. No, not a pink, heart-shaped talisman, but a pulsing red organ with white stripes and blue veins protruding from it.
34	* {{Hellhound}}: The last, and strongest enemy variety introduced. It's large, red, breathes fire, and looks like a demon that emerged from Hell.
35	* HeroesPreferSwords: Nadia uses a thin sword, which can be upgraded to a spiked blade, then to a falchion, and then to a broadsword.
36	* HistoricalInJoke: The Great Fire of London is blamed on attempts to destroy the cult. Later, The Great Fire of 1834 is caused by [[BigBad Adam Crowley]].
37	* InsurmountableWaistHeightFence: Averted, as you can smash said Waist Height Fences, but the other walls are really tall.
38	* JackTheRipoff: The penultimate boss, Jose Manuel, evokes the imagery, being a knife-wielding lunatic wearing a top hat who's also referred to as "the Ripper." He appears to have been a human who was mutated by Crowley's virus.
39	* KillItWithFire: The Torch item. It won't work on Hell Hounds.
40	* KillItWithIce: The Frost item, which turns into popsicles and later shatters all enemies. Except the Hell Hounds.
41	* KingMook: Larger versions of the Spiders and Gargoyles are fought at the end of Hampstead Heath and St. Marylbone respectively, with the music even shifting to the boss theme. They're tougher than the normal versions and worse, come at you in numbers. Fortunately, they're not immune to the effects of your items.
42	* KleptomaniacHero: Well, justified, since at least you're stopping a blasted ''monster invasion''.
43	* LudicrousGibs: High-levelled weapons or the Chainsaw item will allow you to cut enemies to ribbons one limb by one.
44	* MadScientist: Crowley, of course.
45	* MonsterMash: Werewolves, Zombies, Gargoyles, Harpies, Giant Spiders, Snow Monster, and Jack the Ripper (sort of).
46	* NewGamePlus: And you can play with infinite items, or as a monster (or both!)
47	* NintendoHard: The first game for its [[ScrappyMechanic adrenaline system]] (which thankfully can be turned off in the [[Platform/Nintendo64 N64]] port) which requires you to constantly kill monsters to keep the bar high so you don't die, awkward controls, and levels that require you to jump precisely into platforms (also improved on the N64 port), [[ScrappyMechanic since the jump system is awkward in this game]], and the sequel for its [[DemonicSpiders hard-to-kill monsters]] and items being in less supply than the first game, requiring wise use of them.
48	* NobodyHereButUsStatues: In the first game, certain enemies such as gargoyles and winged demons like to disguise themselves as statues, before revealing themselves to attack the players. But subverted in the first level: you can come across a gargoyle in a park, but that one was ''actually'' a statue. Real gargoyles don't show up until several levels later.
49	* OfCorsetsSexy: Nadia goes around fighting monsters in a low-cut, sexy red corset.
50	* OffWithHisHead: Crowley's eventual fate. [[spoiler:But he comes back in the sequel in a more powerful form.]]
51	* OneWingedAngel: A cornered Crowley uses his last potion to turn himself into a large, powerful demon who can be damaged only with full combo attacks. Have fun.
52	* OnlyAFleshWound: Don't be surprised if you see a monster still trying to maul you after losing his arms and jumping on one leg.
53	* OurImpsAreDifferent: Three fire-breathing Grey Imps show up in the first level, which attack by spitting fire but can be easily defeated. Seven levels later, the player encounters the imps' larger and stronger cousins, Red Imps, which show up in the ruins of Westminster Abbey and Tower of London.
54	* PuzzleBoss: All the bosses are impossible to damage with items or weapons, so you have to find another way each to damage them.
55	* RodentsOfUnusualSize: And they have won where the [[GiantMook Ogres]] and [[SeaMonster Thames Monsters]] have failed in depopulating the docks. Think about it.
56	* SerratedBladeOfPain: One of Nadia's sword upgrades is a silly-looking spiked sword.
57	* SociopathicHero: The hero of the sequel was a former victim of Crowley, and now looks for him in order to kill him again.
58	* SpectacularSpinning: Nadia's 360 gun attack.
59	* SpiderPeople: The giant spider enemies in the first game look less like arachnids and more like humanoid beings, capable of walking upright on their two hind legs while attacking the players with their forelimbs.
60	* SpinAttack: Nadia's "Bloody Ballerina" move, which allows her to execute a tornado-like spin move.
61	* SuperDrowningSkills: Your characters can't swim. Neither can the monsters. Since the waters are infested by large tentacled monsters with huge jaws, it seems justified...
62	* TitleDrop: In the animated intro.
63	-->'''Narrator:''' And should no one stop him, this city will be consumed by a horde of... ''Nightmare Creatures!''
64	* UniqueEnemy: The first level of the first game has small, grey imps - three of them - that pop up in level 1, and nowhere else. Larger red imps do appear regularly in later levels, but you won't see the grey types after the initial encounter.
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66	!!Nightmare Creatures II contains examples of:
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68	* AbandonedHospital: The starting level is the hospital/Asylum where Herbert was locked up, now overrun by Crowley's minions, it's entrance guarded by a monstrous lion-like four-legged horror.
69	* ActionizedSequel: The protagonist can now swim, climb on edges and has better jump controls.
70	* AndTheAdventureContinues: [[spoiler: The game's good ending has Herbert saving Rachel and preparing to hunt down a fugitive Crowley again.]]
71	* AttackOfTheMonsterAppendage: The underwater tunnels of Crowley's castle have clusters of massive octopus-like tentacles dangling from the ceiling, ready to crush you if you swim too close to them. In the Museum level, you're hunted by the absolutely gigantic tentacles of an EldritchAbomination whose identity is left unrevealed.
72	* AxCrazy: The ''protagonist'', Herbert Wallace, looks the part. You have Adam Crowley to blame for that.
73	* BatOutOfHell: Some of the monsters include grotesque demons with bat wings in lieu of arms, capable of moving out of Wallace's way easily and attack by gliding into him and kicking.
74	* BehindTheBlack: One moment, your walking into the Museum grounds in Paris, then, as weird noises are heard and the camera turns around, we see that the street in front of the gate is completely occupied by the gigantic green tentacles of a huge abomination, slithering towards you.
75	* BigDamnHeroes: After killing the first proper boss, Herbert finds himself blocked in a corridor with an encroaching fire and the only way out locked... then Rachel comes from the other side of the gate and unlocks it, allowing Herbert to get out alive.
76	* BodyHorror: Skeletal faces, exposed ribs and spines, overly-long and thin limbs, clawed hands and feet... the list goes on and on.
77	* BreakingTheBonds: The second boss fought in the lone tower of Crowley's castle is tied up to a wooden structure, but will free its CreepilyLongArms during the boss battle.
78	* BreathWeapon: The first proper boss attacks by breathing clouds of poison gas at you: it's actually the safest moment to attack him, as he could otherwise dish out a potentially lethal attack.
79	* CallBack: You can find a portrait of Ignatius Blackwood, founder of the Circle. Ogres and Zombies make a return.
80	* CameBackStrong: Adam Crowley cheated death and came back heading a world-wide evil sect.
81	* ChainsawGood: New enemies include giggling maniacs with big chainsaws.
82	* DamselInDistress: Rachel is captured halfway through by Crowley's monsters and taken to the Tour Eiffel to a FateWorseThanDeath.
83	* ClimbingClimax: The final level opens with Herbert emerging grom the parisian underground next to the Eiffel Tower and climbing the whole thing to the top.
84	* DarkIsNotEvil: Herbert Wallace is creepy, covered in loose bandages and carries around an axe. He's surprisingly soft-spoken and a virtuous person through and through.
85	* {{Determinator}}: Wallace said he'll save Rachel and ''nothing'', no matter how scary, big or distant, will stand in his way.
86	* DoingInTheScientist: The first game implies that Crowley's creatures were created with scientific/alchemical methods and tend to be faulty: in this game, some of Crowley's new beasties are the fruit of dark magic.
87	* EldritchAbomination: A huge monster mostly composed of green tentacles attacks Herbert during the Museum level. Another one, ominously known as the Devouring Death, lurks on the tip of the Tour Eiffel.
88	* EnemyPosturing: Most enemies will have an animation during which they growl or perform some other action which leaves them open to a flurry of strikes: you are free to ignore this posturing, but they may counter.
89	* FinishingMove: After dealing enough damage to a monster, you can brutally execute them in many ways, using either your axe or your mad strength. Examples include beheading and whacking zombies, headbutting and stomping female zombies, NeckSnap ogres with the handle of your axe and pummeling the octopoid beasts before slamming them into the ground.
90	* FlunkyBoss: The third boss sends some bug-like hatchlings at you before you can fight it personally.
91	* FourIsDeath: According to the manual, Crowley stuck a deal with the four Emissaries to help summoning the Entity ad merge with it. If the bosses you fight are the emissaries, this is unknown.
92	* GameplayAndStorySegregation: The finishers for spider monsters has Wallace shoot them point-blank with his gun, even if you carry no ammo to fire it.
93	* GiantMook: Bofoids (Large, yellowish monsters with loud roars, powerful arms and extra tentacles on their shoulders) and Dockers/Ogres.
94	* GiantSpaceFleaFromNoWhere: All the bosses: a lion-like beast stalking an asylum? A monstrous gas-spewing humanoid dangling from a tentacles sac of flesh? A gangly, multi-limbed ghoul attached to a wooden frame? A green EldritchAbomination enveloping a Museum followes by some sort of betentacled, big-mouthed beast with a spiked tail and finally a large demonic undead wielding a massive cross. They don't even get names or comments.
95	* GrievousHarmWithABody: Necrophages will attack brandishing a mutilated torso as a cudgel.
96	* KnowWhenToFoldEm: Herbert Wallace is more than capable of tearing the monsters apart with his skills, but in many cutscenes he'll be wise/in a hurry enough to stop fighting everything in his way and just run forward towards the next target.
97	* LickingTheBlade: The knife-wielding monsters will posture by licking their massive blades with an audible slurping sound.
98	* MonstrousHumanoid: Pretty much every single monster you ran across is human-like or a humanoid based on other creatures such as bats, spiders or octopi. Even the hound-like beasts are vaguely humanoid.
99	* MonumentalDamage: Crowley's base of operation lies on the tip of the Eiffel Tower, now covered in a huge, fleshy mass belonging to a supernatural terror.
100	* MundaneSolution: The two clearly non-humanoid bosses, seemingly too tough to be hacked to pieces with an axe, are disposed of with dynamite and blown up.
101	* MusclesAreMeaningless: Despite his average build, Herbert is strong enough to finish off certain monsters bigger than he is through brute strength, as seen when he neck-snaps the humongous Dockers or when he lifts the tentacled monsters by one of their tentacles before violently slamming them into the floor.
102	* NoNameGiven: While the first game still has an helpful site listing all the creatures, their names and origins, you're left in the dark about the names and natures of this game's monsters, except for the FinalBoss being named the "Devouring Death".
103	* NonStandardGameOver: [[spoiler: Take too long to place the dynamite on the barrels surrounding the Devouring Death on the Eiffel Tower and Crowley's plan will go off without a hitch.]]
104	* NoodlePeople: Most of the monsters are surprisingly gangly and thin with gaunt torsoes and elongated limbs.
105	* OffWithHisHead: You can do this to the zombies and the chainsaw-wielding monsters as a [[FinishingMove fatality]] in the sequel. You can even chop off a monster's head during combat with a lucky shot, but they will keep fighting as long as they have enough health.
106	* OhCrap: Wallace's muted reaction to turning around and see the encroaching tentacles of a behemoth beast coming at him outside the Museum.
107	* StockSoundEffects: All roars are very familiar. Especially those of the graveyard boss.
108	* TheSwarm: A new item in the shape of a large fly releases a swarm of hungry insects against an opponent, which is devoured alive.
109	* TimeLimitBoss: [[spoiler:The FinalBoss must be dealt with in time to avoid the bad ending. The timer is the only obstacle in the fight.]]
110	* TheUndead: We have jacket-clad zombies, naked and gangly female zombies, coat-clad, skull-faced zombies with billhooks and probably more.
111	* UniqueEnemy: The lion-like monster in the hospital: it's the only enemy of this type fought, yet it can be easily dealt with using items, making it unworthy of being considered a proper boss.
112	* TheUnreveal: The true nature of the behemoth tentacles suddenly appearing to chase Herbert in the Museum isn't clarified: they resemble both the mystery tentacles in Crowley's castle moat and the tentacles on the Devouring Death, but they are far bigger and you never see what they're attached to.
113	* UnscaledMerfolk: Two types of monsters: one is an aggressive, green-skinned horror with twin tails and massive fangs, the other is a ghastly gray humanoid with four octopus tentacles in lieu of legs.
114	* VocalDissonance: Despite his horrible scars and grisly looks, Herbert speaks with a very posh and elegant voice. Spiders normally emit high-pitched growls but one in a cutscene will let out a godzillian roar before attacking.

Context VideoGame / NightmareCreatures