You wouldn't expect a Rhythm Game to be a source of Nightmare Fuel, but Cytus II's cyberpunk story can get pretty dark at times.
Unmarked spoilers below, as per the Spoilers Off policy
- AEsir's attack on Neko's stream is bound to catch a lot of players off guard by virtue of it being the only event thus far to directly interact with the player. Being booted back to the title screen only to find rows of this
◊ is bound to confuse and disorient many on their first go, exactly the sensation many of those attending Neko's stream probably felt. And then there's the ominous, droning tone of the video that follows - Aroma's DLC chapter is full of Nightmare Fuel towards the latter half:
- The corrupted logs introduced after Aroma collapses on stage are unsettling in just the atmosphere they provide. All of the audio samples just play bizarre static and numerous lines of text are distorted. What's more is the heavy implication that these logs are mirroring Aroma's recollection of Kaori's memories. The final corrupted text log involves Kaori being kidnapped, which is followed up by the log showing Aroma screaming her lungs out in the middle of the night as she presumably relives the experience.
- The final text log has a drunken Noah doing... something... to Aroma. Given his dialogue, it's pretty easy to figure out that he's most likely sexually assaulting or even raping her.Noah: You should've realized for a while now, right? Compare to Helena... I rather... you...Aroma: No...... AHHHHHH!
- The final cutscene can be likened to a horror movie and for good reason. It shows Aroma screaming in pain while being subjected to Electric Torture. It's revealed later that the girl shown is actually Kaori, who is being brainwashed into taking Aroma's place following some Magic Plastic Surgery.
- We already knew that the Mogura gang is despicable, but Nora's chapter reveals just how horrible they are.
- Phoenix Wyle impresses the gang when he demonstrates his Magic Plastic Surgery technology. He does so by kidnapping a random man, using the technique to transform him into an exact replica of himself, then executing him once the demonstration is over.
- One unit, the Ravens, conducts human experiments on babies. They are then abandoned and left to die in the wilderness. Nora was one of these children, sold off at the age of three months and subjected to cybernetic testing that left her legs affected with severe necrosis. If it weren't for her ability to resist the Ender virus, and Phoenix amputating her legs before the necrosis could spread, she would have died like the five other infants she was with.
- When Nora develops her fortune-telling abilities, one member of the Mogura, Zhang, hires Nora to give him the addresses of every beautiful woman in Node 03 aged between 8 and 18 years old. By the way he talks about these girls, it's clear that they're going to be turned into Sex Slaves, and Nora is forced to used her powers to help him commit these crimes. Remember, some of these girls are as young as eight.
- So Aroma managed to escape from the clutches of some men in black in Kouhei's car. All seems good right? Then she realizes the car isn't heading towards Joe's cafe. Then the camera zooms out to reveal that Noah is the one driving.
- Then it's revealed that Noah got control of the vehicle by drugging Neko's father. If it wasn't clear how secretly ruthless and unhinged Noah is, this is further proof.
- After Ivy spent so long trying to convince Vanessa to give humanity a chance, Vanessa has blocked Ivy from communicating with her. Considering Vanessa is still hooked up to the cyTus system, this does not bode well.
- The ARC drones have suddenly begun attacking the Nodes, and no one knows what's the cause of it. Even amidst all the gang violence and other dark subject matter in the story thus far, the attacks are incredibly unnerving. Imagine if the machines ensuring your security suddenly opened fire on you en masse.
- In the Crystal PuNK chapter we finally get a description of these attacks from the perspective of characters we know at ground level. It reads almost like the prologue of a post-apocalyptic story. This is followed by JOEZ getting actually bombed at the end of the chapter, with the haunting image of a bleeding Joe buried underneath rubble the last image we see.
- At Xenon's request, Aroma uses her newly activated "Eye of Horus" powers to access the ARC's library. For a moment, things are silent, until suddenly Aroma suffers a massive Freak Out and collapses. When she comes to, she describes seeing a suffering person who's heavily implied to be Vanessa. Aroma's description is haunting.Aroma: I saw...a terrifying face, but it disappeared immediately... It wouldn't stop wailing ... I wanted to reach out my hand to help it... but then the emotion changed instantly. I felt... like I was going to be killed... It was this strong feeling of hatred...
- Rin's DLC story reveals that humanity had a short revival period in which Architects acted as personal servants. Then an unknown protocol suddenly infected every unit, compelling them to kill humans. The unit that would become the Rin in the main story was completely aware that her body had been hijacked but was unable to stop herself from killing her master, the original Rin Yazawa. She ended up ripping out her own optic wires just so she wouldn't have to witness the act herself.
- Having deduced that Vanessa is really just a victim of a malicious protocol compelling her to kill humans, Ivy kidnaps Noah to have Vanessa's consciousness placed in an empty Architect body to give her true autonomy. However, rather than Vanessa, something...else enters the body, something incredibly violent that speaks a corrupted language reminiscent of Black Speech. In the next log, we see a foreboding image of rows of skinless Architects suddenly activating with Glowing Eyes of Doom.
- The Architects' assault on the Nodes is basically the ARC drone attacks taken up to eleven, with various account snippets almost painting the attack as the start of a Zombie Apocalypse. And throughout the log showing the attack, the sound of screaming civilians blares in the background.
- The 3.0 update brings with it a new title screen. There is no music. Just a distorted and glitched up warning message.
- The bad ending. Vanessa succeeded in wiping out humanity. And the game itself reflects that. All the characters except for Vanessa are glitched out in the character selection screen and you can no longer play their songs anymore. The game will only show the location of their song selection interface in ruins and overgrown with vegetation. Fortunately, you can change the ending by selecting Vanessa, which will automatically send you into the Final Boss battle.
