History NightmareFuel / DarkSouls

* Just Blighttown in general, really. Just when you thought "The Depths", a disgusting sewer located beneath the Lower Undead Burg is already the bottom-most region of this dying, decaying world, already ''immensely'' terrifying with giant rats, disgusting sewer dropping on you, your introduction to curses as you ''deform and die'', you enter the room with the entrance to Blighttown. The whole screen turns a sickly green as you ponder the MASSIVE gaping hole, and then you descend an extremely long ladder to meet some of the creepiest enemies the game has to offer. Just imagining that a whole town, presumably filled with people exist down here is both horrifying and saddening.

* Black Dragon Kalameet is [[WesternAnimation/SleepingBeauty Maleficent]]'s OneWingedAngel ''on steroids''. A very dark and edgy design overall, [[{{Cyclops}} creepy unique eye]], [[TheDreaded and he's feared even by the most badass knights of Anor Londo]]. If this isn't enough to convince you, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UXX-TL1bxc listen to his boss fight theme]].

''Videogame/DarkSouls'' is a prime example of a DarkFantasy video game; imagine a country past the brink of ruin with humanity cursed with an endless cycle of life and death that would eventually drive them insane. This once prosperous land is now dilapidated where horrific creatures beyond reasoning and the ordinary reside and are bloodthirsty.

* [[TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon The Kiln of the First Flame]]. After countless grueling battles against the bearers of the Lord Souls, you harvest all four of them and satiate the Lordvessel, opening the door to Gwyn's true resting place. As you descend the staircase floating in a [[WhiteVoidRoom white void]], ghostly apparitions of Black Knights walk past you, making you cringe as to what happened down there. Then, after making out of the white void, you are treated to... [[BleakLevel a dark and empty]] [[ShiftingSandLand desert of ash and cinder]] around a giant ruin. Said ruin being surrounded by stone pillars which look half-melted and half-glassed, quickly hinting at the events that must have happened there. Aside from a few [[EliteMooks Black Knights]] awaiting potential intruders in the wasteland, there is absolutely nothing else in the desert, emphasizing the ever-increasing despair of the scenery. And finally, after a long, tiresome march towards the very center of the furnace, you meet [[FinalBoss Gwyn]], the Lord of Cinder himself; reduced to a husk of his former glory, attacking you on sight with little more reasoning than a Hollow's.

* Ash Lake is a creepy, creepy place. It's the lowest possible point in the game that you can reach without a cutscene transition, and is accessed via The Great Hollow in Blight Town and is home to the very last Everlasting Dragon. The very first thing you see is a great, grey void and the first thing you hear is a terrifying droning music. In the distance there appear to be innumerable other Great Hollows that either lead nowhere or to similar places. There are no humans or undead in Ash Lake and the creatures that live there are a flying Hydra, Mushroom people and giant clams, implying that the ones created by Seath are merely imitations. There's also a giant demon skull that doesn't match any other living thing in the game, so whatever lives down here is probably freakier than anything we see above ground. Ash Lake is a remnant of a world that no longer exists - to this day, fans debate whether or not Ash Lake actually exists at all, with some fans taking the stance that the area is merely some kind of in-game metaphor.

* [[BonusBoss Black Dragon Kalameet]] is [[WesternAnimation/SleepingBeauty Maleficent]]'s OneWingedAngel ''on steroids''. A very dark and edgy design overall, [[{{Cyclops}} creepy unique eye]], [[TheDreaded and he's feared even by the most badass knights of Anor Londo]]. If this isn't enough to convince you, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UXX-TL1bxc listen to his boss fight theme]].

* The Painted World of Ariamis is, in its entirety, extremely creepy. The entire purpose of the place is to lock away things that had no place in the world or were too dangerous, even towards Gods. Virtually every single enemy in the the Painted World is a unique brand of DemonicSpider, and those that aren't are just reused but equally hellish DemonicSpiders. Some of the more dangerous ones can't even be killed without poisoning yourself, while some others are hidden in the CreepyBasement. A surprising amount of loot that, from a story standpoint, only make your journey harder can be found there. Besides all of this, the whole world just gives a sense of overpowering wrongness, like you truly shouldn't be there. The area boss in particular, while actually being one of the more tragic and kinder beings in the game, has an unsettling DissonantSerenity about her.

* Ash Lake is a creepy, creepy place. It's the lowest possible point in the game that you can reach without a cutscene transition, and is accessed via The Great Hollow in Blight Town and is home to the very last Everlasting Dragon. The very first thing you see is a great, grey void and the first thing you hear is a terrifying droning music. In the distance there appear to be innumerable other Great Hollows that either lead nowhere or to similar places. There are no humans or undead in Ash Lake and the creatures that live there are a flying Hydra, Mushroom people and giant clams, implying that the ones created by Seath are merely imitations. There's also a giant demon skull that doesn't match any other living thing in the game, so whatever lives down here is probably freakier than anything we see above ground. Ash Lake is a remnant of a world that no longer exists and is To this day, fans debate whether or not Ash Lake actually exists at all with some fans taking the stance that the area is merely some kind of in-game metaphor.

Anything and everything in Lordan is out to get you so...

[[caption-width-right:300:[[PrepareToDie Prepare to see]] [[NightmareFuel your darkest nightmare.]]]]

'''PREPARE TO DIE.'''

''Videogame/DarkSouls'' is the perfect example of a DarkFantasy video game; imagine a country past the brink of ruin with humanity cursed with an endless of life and death that could eventually drive them mad. Not to mention this once prosperous land is now dilapidated where horrific creatures beyond reasoning and the ordinary reside and are bloodthirsty.

Anything and everything in Lordan is out to get you so...'''PREPARE TO DIE.'''

Anything and everything in Lordan is out to get you so...
'''PREPARE TO DIE.'''

''Videogame/DarkSouls'' is the perfect example of a DarkFantasy video game; imagine a country past the brink of ruin with humanity cursed with an endless of life and death that could eventually drive them mad. Not to mention this once prosperous land is now dilapidated where horrific creatures beyond reasoning and the ordinary reside and are bloodthirsty. Anything and everything in Lordan is out to get you so...

''Videogame/DarkSouls'', being a game based on a DarkFantasy setting, has its share of scary, nightmare-inducing elements. Anything and everything in Lordan is out to get you so...

''Videogame/DarkSouls'', being a game based on a DarkFantasy setting, has its share of scary, nightmare-inducing elements.

''Videogame/DarkSouls'', being a game based on a DarkFantasy setting, has its share of scary, nightmare-inducing elements. '''Unmarked spoilers ahead.'''

** She has a son, too, in the game. He's called [[spoiler: the [[BodyHorror Ceaseless Discharge]]]].

* The Painted World of Ariamis is, in its entirety, one gigantic UncannyValley. The entire purpose of the place is to lock away things that had no place in the world or were too dangerous, even towards Gods. Virtually every single enemy in the the Painted World is a unique brand of DemonicSpider, and those that aren't are just reused but equally hellish DemonicSpiders. Some of the more dangerous ones can't even be killed without poisoning yourself, while some others are hidden in the CreepyBasement. A surprising amount of loot that, from a story standpoint, only make your journey harder can be found there. Besides all of this, the whole world just gives a sense of overpowering wrongness, like you truly shouldn't be there. The area boss in particular, while actually being one of the more tragic and kinder beings in the game, has an unsettling DissonantSerenity about her.

** It gets worse. Manus is implied in the lore of Dark Souls 1 to be the Furtive Pygmy, the holder of the Dark Soul (or at least, one of the Furtive Pygmies). Manus was one of the ancestors of all humanity who somehow escaped the Ringed City, buried, resurrected and tortured by the residents of Oolacile until it went mad and transformed into Manus. In the area leading up to the Chasm of the Abyss, you see the torture chambers where Manus was created.
** Consider the story from Manus' perspective. He was seemingly a normal (albeit powerful and ancient) human, one who likely escaped the prison of the Ringed City Gwyn put him in for no fault of his own. Upon reaching the outside world, one day he was found, and tortured by the residents of Oolacile, with only a pendant reminding him of his past life to hold onto. One day, his torturers found the pendant, and broke the only shred of hope he had left, causing him to go insane and causing the sheer power within him to burst out and go mad, turning him into a horrifying abomination barely recognisable as human and destroying everything around him. In his rage, his pendant goes missing and all he can do is lash out and destroy everything around him trying desperately and futilely to find his pendant, to no hope. And when he finally finds what has it, it's the one thing powerful enough to kill him.

* The Abyss is a likely contender for the scariest EldritchLocation in the game. In fact, the very first time you enter, it becomes a textbook example of NothingIsScarier: as soon as you land in the horizonless Abyss, there's seemingly nothing happening at all at first. A couple seconds later, one of the Four Kings makes its appearance by emerging from the darkness, triggering what is unequivocally the most nerve-wrecking fight in the base game, from the spectral appearance of the boss to the ''absolutely [[EtherealChoir oppressive chorus]]'', pressing you to hurry up before you're hopelessly overwhelmed by the respawning kings.

[[caption-width-right:300:[[PrepareToDie Prepare to see]] [[NightmareFuel your darkest nightmare]]]]