History NightmareFuel / Blood

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/blood1997tchernobog.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:'''[[YouHaveFailedMe You have failed me]]. [[DeadlyEuphemism I disavow you all]]!]]'''

* [[DownerBeginning The opening cutscene itself]]. Aside from falling into {{Narm}} territory due to the outdated CGI, even by 1997 standards, it still manages to be creepy [[UnintentionalUncannyValley for how inhuman and isolated everything feels]]. Bonus points for the Cabal cultist being possessed by [[BigBad the Tchernobog himself]] (pictured above), who appears to have his [[GlowingEyesOfDoom eyes glow white]] and groaning at the same time, as if he's choking. After that, the cultist pulls a SlasherSmile before every last pound of flesh sloughs off his skeleton, at which point his monstrous servants close in. [[GiantSpider Shial]] drops down to take Gabriel, Cerberus [[KillItWithFire sets Ishmael alight]] before anyone can notice its presence, and while Caleb and Ophelia are still in shock over that, Cheogh swoops in and drags the latter off to her doom. Tchernobog then disposes of Caleb, imploring him to "consider [his] power in a hollow grave".
** Caleb's primary focus upon his resurrection, besides tearing the Cabal and their undead minions limb from limb, is rescuing Ophelia and Gabriel... only to discover that they were both murdered long before he could reach them. Ophelia was crucified in a manner that suggests that she bled out, and Caleb later finds Gabriel webbed-up and hanging in Shial's lair like a slab of meat. Caleb ''[[NotSoStoic screaming]] [[BigNo in anguish]]'' at the sight of the former [[YouAreTooLate really hammers it in]].
** The prose intro of the Prima guidebook, written from Caleb's perspective, slightly expands on the opening. Caleb's already aware that something is off about this particular meeting, and that his pistol isn't going to do him any good against Tchernobog... In addition, while the game is ambiguous about how long he lay in his grave, the guidebook posits that Caleb was in there for a while. [[AndIMustScream A very long while]].
* The horrified screams of the Cultists when they die can be jarring the first time. The worst ones sound like they're going through unimaginable torture and play regardless of how you kill them. Albeit, it can verge into NightmareRetardant if they die to your [[MinorInjuryOverreaction mundane pitchfork]], and it can soon become [[SugarWiki/MostWonderfulSound rather satisfying]] due to how dangerous and annoying fighting the Cultists is.
* [[AmusementParkOfDoom E1M4: Dark Carnival]] has... graphic attractions, to say the least. This includes a game where you have to kick zombie heads into a giant monster jaw, a freak show with only zombies and a Choking Hand, tightrope walking over a pool of snakes, and your first contact with [[LightningBruiser gargoyles]] who suddenly come alive on a carousel. Worse, if you have the CD in your player ([[TechnologyMarchesOn or activated the CD soundtrack on modern ports]]), Dark Carnival's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwohSktSbbg unsettling music track]] is replaced by [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uIksYWaZKA its even more disturbing variant]] which includes rhythm changes, CreepyChildrenSinging, and a finale that makes you wonder [[NothingIsScarier what they do after the show is over]].
** The secret level, [=E1M8=]: House of Horrors, is [[MeaningfulName true to its name]]. You open a giant jaw similar to the previous one (this time with a MonsterClown face above it which, superposed over the mouth, gives it a SlasherSmile), then enter a MeatMoss-infested corridor which evokes a giant digestive system: after being "swallowed", you board the River Ride of Terror, a water slide with hanging corpses and creepy laughs coming from all directions, which ends on a trap where you have to dive among piranhas and escape through a Frankenstein's lab torture room. Like the previous level, if you have the CD soundtrack, the CreepyCircusMusic is replaced by [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnyytCAORrQ "Fate of the Damned"'s Redbook version.]] It's also not clear if the Cabal set this up some time beforehand, or if the House of Horrors was always one of the carnival's "attractions".
** ''The Nightmare Levels'' reveals that the Dark Carnival ''enslaved'' some of its performers in the past, including Ishmael (who played "[=JoJo=]" at the time). While his segment isn't played any more seriously than the others, the fact that it opens with him breaking out of ''a repurposed animal cage'' raises some horrifying questions.
* Choking Hands, which are the equivalent to VideoGame/DukeNukem3D's [[FaceHugger Protozoid Slimers]]. These buggers are little enough to be immune to [[SpamAttack bullet spam]], appear suddenly from unexpected places, and when they choke you, you cannot do anything to them except try to pull them off (with your vision darkening, sounds of gasping and your health quickly going down). If you can fight them without getting the heebie-jeebies, you have nerves of steel. If you can [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome kill one with only your pitchfork]], you are both ''[[NervesOfSteel utterly fearless]]'' and ''[[DifficultButAwesome really masterful]]''.
* The Bone Leech in the sequel, which is to this game [[FaceFullOfAlienWingWong what the facehugger is to]] ''VideoGame/AliensVsPredatorExtinction'' - it should be very obvious how Monolith wound up making ''Alien Vs. Predator 2''. It gets worse when you see the Soul Drudges, Drudge Lords and Drudge Priests are ''[[WasOnceAMan the results of what happens to the victims]]''. The fact that the Lord is a DemonicSpider and the Priest is a BossInMookClothing that [[EnemySummoner can spawn]] ''[[EnemySummoner more]]'' [[EnemySummoner Leeches]] [[FromBadToWorse doesn't help]].
** If you don't ReadTheFreakingManual, it isn't obvious how to remove bone leeches and the like. While this is the case, walking into any dim area or murky pool is ''terrifying'', as at any time a monstrous creature might jump onto you, completely filling the game screen, and (slowly) kill you. Even throwing a Bone Leech or a similar monster off your face might matter little considering their striking (and annoying) habit of latching back on you moments later.
* Hell, there are several noises, visions and general stuff that manage to make the game pretty damn scary. Of note is the [[OminousLatinChanting ominous Domus Durbentia chanting]] of the [[VoiceOfTheLegion voices of Legion]] in ''The Great Temple'', apparition on the window at the end of ''Rest For The Wicked'', a ton of stuff in "[[Awesome/VideoGameLevels E2M5: The Haunting]]"[[note]]an eerily large, quiet and dark mansion with several vent holes out of which both Spiders and Hands come crawling, a HedgeMaze way creepier than the one in ''Film/TheShining'', and secret passageways filled with [[DemonicSpiders Phantasms]], and that's not to mention the SickeningSlaughterhouse - the first building you find in the level and only access much later; it's full of hanging mutilated bodies, disturbingly well-placed blood, and ''Hands'' - and the goddamn CreepyBasement[[/note]] and on top of all that the unnerving ghastly moaning without any apparent source in the ''Ganglion Depths'' which literally sounds like some unfortunate fellow's soul was [[FateWorseThanDeath trapped in a different plane of existence suffering unspeakable torment]]. That, [[NothingIsScarier and the sense of foreboding you get in any silent level]]. To boot, if you play the game with CD music on, '''The Haunting''' will have "Father Time", easily [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INPse-VqHl4 the creepiest ambient music]] in the game.
** The "Father Time" track starts off as a rather melancholy, atmospheric song, before descending into pure dread.
* The Phantasms themselves, thanks to their alarming appearance (imagine a white mini-Grim Reaper with a SlasherSmile) and the way they scream bloody murder non-stop, as well as their propensity for [[JumpScare taking you by surprise]]. As [=VGJunk=] puts it, the Phantasms were probably voiced by a guy whose balls were put in a rat trap, so much misery and hopelessness is in their screams.
* On [=E1M2=]: Wrong Side of the Tracks, you can skip the level exit and go straight into the train tunnel - which results into you walking a [[NothingIsScarier long dark hallway in pure silence]] for a minute, only to get hit by a coming train. This was years before a similar technique was used in games like ''Franchise/SilentHill'' or [[http://www.scpcbgame.com/scp-087-b.html SCP-087]].
* The cruelty of the Cabal is made evident very early on; some of their victims have been nailed to walls and the sides of buildings, seemingly as a warning to Caleb.
* The Fanatics in ''II'' look and sound like normal human soldiers... until you take enough health off them, at which point they start convulsing and let out a decidedly ''inhuman'' shriek; they then get back up and bum-rush you with [[TakingYouWithMe explosive intent]]. The ''Extra Crispy'' mod runs with [[HumanoidAbomination the implications]] and has a Shikari occasionally burst out of a slain Fanatic.
* Hey, a jukebox! What's it playing? ...The endlessly-looping screams of the damned, apparently.
* There's a painting of the Virgin Mary that periodically cycles between her normal state and a skeleton, with rotting stages in between. You'd think Caleb might have something to say about that if you try to examine it, [[NothingIsScarier but he doesn't]].
* With how stoic and quiet Caleb [[LaughingMad usually]] is, it can be somewhat jarring to take a fatal blow and hear him shrieking his lungs out.

** The secret level, [=E1M8=]: House of Horrors, is [[MeaningfulName true to its name]]. You open a giant jaw similar to the previous one (this time with a MonsterClown face above it which, superposed over the mouth, gives it a SlasherSmile), then enter a MeatMoss-infested corridor which evokes a giant digestive system: after being "swallowed", you board the River Ride of Terror, a water slide with hanging corpses and creepy laughs coming from all directions, which ends on a trap where you have to dive among piranhas and escape through a Frankenstein's lab torture room. Like the previous level, if you have the CD soundtrack, the CreepyCircusMusic is replaced by [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnyytCAORrQ '''Fate of the Damned''''s Redbook version.]] It's also not clear if the Cabal set this up some time beforehand, or if the House of Horrors was always one of the carnival's "attractions".

** The secret level, E1M8: House of Horrors, is [[MeaningfulName true to its name]]. You open a giant jaw similar to the previous one (this time with a MonsterClown face above it which, superposed over the mouth, gives it a SlasherSmile), then enter a MeatMoss-infested corridor which evokes a giant digestive system: after being "swallowed", you board the River Ride of Terror, a water slide with hanging corpses and creepy laughs coming from all directions, which ends on a trap where you have to dive among piranhas and escape through a Frankenstein's lab torture room. Like the previous level, if you have the CD soundtrack, the CreepyCircusMusic is replaced by [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnyytCAORrQ '''Fate of the Damned''''s Redbook version.]] It's also not clear if the Cabal set this up some time beforehand, or if the House of Horrors was always one of the carnival's "attractions".

* On E1M2: Wrong Side of the Tracks, you can skip the level exit and go straight into the train tunnel - which results into you walking a [[NothingIsScarier long dark hallway in pure silence]] for a minute, only to get hit by a coming train. This was years before a similar technique was used in games like ''Franchise/SilentHill'' or [[http://www.scpcbgame.com/scp-087-b.html SCP-087]].

** Caleb's primary focus upon his resurrection, besides tearing the Cabal and their undead minions limb from limb, is rescuing Ophelia and Gabriel... only to discover that they were both murdered long before he could reach them. Ophelia was crucified in a manner that suggests that she bled out, and Caleb later finds Gabriel webbed-up and hanging in Shial's lair like a slab of meat. Caleb ''[[NotSoStoic screaming in anguish]]'' at the sight of the former [[YouAreTooLate really hammers it in]].

* The [[AmusementParkOfDoom Dark Carnival]] has... graphic attractions, to say the least. This includes a game where you have to kick zombie heads into a giant monster jaw, a freak show with only zombies and a Choking Hand, tightrope walking over a pool of snakes, and your first contact with [[LightningBruiser gargoyles]] who suddenly come alive on a carousel. Worse, if you have the CD in your player ([[TechnologyMarchesOn or activated the CD soundtrack on modern ports]]), the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwohSktSbbg unsettling music track]] is replaced by [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uIksYWaZKA its even more disturbing variant]] which includes rhythm changes, CreepyChildrenSinging, and a finale that makes you wonder [[NothingIsScarier what they do after the show is over]].
** The secret level, House of Horrors, is [[MeaningfulName true to its name]]. You open a giant jaw similar to the previous one (this time with a MonsterClown face above it which, superposed over the mouth, gives it a SlasherSmile), then enter a MeatMoss-infested corridor which evokes a giant digestive system: after being "swallowed", you board the River Ride of Terror, a water slide with hanging corpses and creepy laughs coming from all directions, which ends on a trap where you have to dive among piranhas and escape through a Frankenstein's lab torture room. Like the previous level, if you have the CD soundtrack, the CreepyCircusMusic is replaced by [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnyytCAORrQ this ominous music track.]] It's also not clear if the Cabal set this up some time beforehand, or if the House of Horrors was always one of the carnival's "attractions".

* Choking Hands, which are the equivalent to VideoGame/DukeNukem3D's [[FaceHugger Protozoid Slimers]]. These buggers are little enough to be immune to [[SpamAttack bullet spam]], appear suddenly from unexpected places, and when they choke you, you cannot do anything to them except try to pull them off (with your vision darkening, sounds of gasping and your health quickly going down). If you can fight them without getting the heebie-jeebies, you have nerves of steel. If you can [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome kill one with a single pitchfork blow]], you are both ''[[NervesOfSteel utterly fearless]]'' and ''[[DifficultButAwesome really masterful]]''.

* Hell, there are several noises, visions and general stuff that manage to make the game pretty damn scary. Of note is the [[OminousLatinChanting ominous Domus Durbentia chanting]] of the [[VoiceOfTheLegion voices of Legion]] in ''The Great Temple'', apparition on the window at the end of ''Rest For The Wicked'', a ton of stuff in "[[Awesome/VideoGameLevels The Haunting]]"[[note]]an eerily large, quiet and dark mansion with several vent holes out of which both Spiders and Hands come crawling, a HedgeMaze way creepier than the one in ''Film/TheShining'', and secret passageways filled with [[DemonicSpiders Phantasms]], and that's not to mention the SickeningSlaughterhouse - the first building you find in the level and only access much later; it's full of hanging mutilated bodies, disturbingly well-placed blood, and ''Hands'' - and the goddamn CreepyBasement[[/note]] and on top of all that the unnerving ghastly moaning without any apparent source in the ''Ganglion Depths'' which literally sounds like some unfortunate fellow's soul was [[FateWorseThanDeath trapped in a different plane of existence suffering unspeakable torment]]. That, [[NothingIsScarier and the sense of foreboding you get in any silent level]]. To boot, if you play the game with CD music on, "The Haunting" will have easily [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INPse-VqHl4 the creepiest ambient music]] in the game.
** The CD version of "Father Time" starts off as a rather melancholy, atmospheric song, before descending into pure dread.

* On the second level of the first game, you can skip the level exit and go straight into the train tunnel - which results into you walking a [[NothingIsScarier long dark hallway in pure silence]] for a minute, only to get hit by a coming train. This was years before a similar technique was used in games like ''Franchise/SilentHill'' or [[http://www.scpcbgame.com/scp-087-b.html SCP-087]].

* Hell, [[HellIsThatNoise there are several noises]], visions and general stuff that manage to make the game pretty damn scary. Of note is the [[OminousLatinChanting ominous Domus Durbentia chanting]] of the [[VoiceOfTheLegion voices of Legion]] in ''The Great Temple'', apparition on the window at the end of ''Rest For The Wicked'', a ton of stuff in "[[Awesome/VideoGameLevels The Haunting]]"[[note]]an eerily large, quiet and dark mansion with several vent holes out of which both Spiders and Hands come crawling, a HedgeMaze way creepier than the one in ''Film/TheShining'', and secret passageways filled with [[DemonicSpiders Phantasms]], and that's not to mention the SickeningSlaughterhouse - the first building you find in the level and only access much later; it's full of hanging mutilated bodies, disturbingly well-placed blood, and ''Hands'' - and the goddamn CreepyBasement[[/note]] and on top of all that the [[HellIsThatNoise unnerving ghastly moaning without any apparent source]] in the ''Ganglion Depths'' which literally sounds like some unfortunate fellow's soul was [[FateWorseThanDeath trapped in a different plane of existence suffering unspeakable torment]]. That, [[NothingIsScarier and the sense of foreboding you get in any silent level]]. To boot, if you play the game with CD music on, "The Haunting" will have easily [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INPse-VqHl4 the creepiest ambient music]] in the game.

* The horrified screams of the Cultists when they die can be jarring the first time. The worst ones sound like they're going through unimaginable torture and play regardless of how you kill them. Albeit, it can verge into NightmareRetardant if they die to your [[MinorInjuryOverreaction mundane pitchfork]], and it can soon become [[SugarWiki/MostWonderfulSound rather satisfying]] due to what dangerous and annoying enemies the Cultists are.

** The secret level, House of Horrors, is [[MeaningfulName true to its name]]. You open a giant jaw similar to the previous one (this time with a MonsterClown face above it which, superposed over the mouth, gives it a SlasherSmile), then enter a MeatMoss-infested corridor which evokes a giant digestive system: after being "swallowed", you board the River Ride of Terror, a water slide with hanging corpses and creepy laughs coming from all directions, which ends on a trap where you have to dive among piranhas and escape through a Frankenstein's lab torture room. Like the previous level, if you have the CD soundtrack, the CreepyCircusMusic is replaced by [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnyytCAORrQ this ominous music track]]. It's also not clear if the Cabal set this up some time beforehand, or if the House of Horrors was always one of the carnival's "attractions".

** The secret level, House of Horrors, is [[MeaningfulName true to its name]]. You open a giant jaw similar to the previous one (this time with a MonsterClown face above it which, superposed to the mouth, gives it a SlasherSmile), you get inside a MeatMoss which evokes a giant digestive system: after being "swallowed", you get in the River Ride of Terror, a water slide with hanging corpses and creepy laughs coming from all directions, which ends on a trap where you have to dive among piranhas and escape in a Frankenstein's lab torture room. Like the previous level, if you have the CD soundtrack, the CreepyCircusMusic is replaced by [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnyytCAORrQ this ominous music track]].

* The [[AmusementParkOfDoom Dark Carnival]] has... graphical attractions, to say the least. This includes a game where you have to kick zombie heads into a giant monster jaw, a freak show with only zombies and a Choking Hand, tightrope walking on a pool of snakes, and your first contact with [[LightningBruiser gargoyles]] who suddenly come alive on a carousel. Worse, if you have the CD in your player ([[TechnologyMarchesOn or activated the CD soundtrack on modern ports]]), the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwohSktSbbg unsettling music track]] is replaced by [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uIksYWaZKA its even more disturbing variant]] which includes rhythm changes, CreepyChildrenSinging, and a finale that makes you wonder [[NothingIsScarier what they do after the show is over]].

** If you don't ReadTheFreakingManual, it isn't obvious how to remove bone leeches and the like. While this is the case, walking into any dim area or murky pool is ''terrifying'', as at any time a monstrous creature might jump onto you, completely filling the game screen, and (slowly) kill you. Even getting a Bone Leech and similar monsters off your face might matter little considering their striking habit of latching back at you moments later.

** If you don't ReadTheFreakingManual, it isn't obvious how to remove bone leeches and the like. While this is the case, walking into any dim area or murky pool is ''terrifying'', as at any time a monstrous creature might jump onto you, completely filling the game screen, and (slowly) kill you.