Per site policy, Spoilers Off applies to all Nightmare Fuel pages, so all spoilers here are unmarked. You Have Been Warned!
Developed by David Szymanski (of DUSK fame), Iron Lung is no slouch with a plethora of creepy elements that will send chills down your spine (and pray for the almighty god that you're not Thalassophobic).
- The mere fact that there's ABSOLUTELY NOTHING explained about the setting, such as why the "Quiet Rapture" happened in the first place, why it only caused stars and all the habitable planets to disappear while simultaneously leaving ghostlight from the former stars, and where they went, and why it excluded the uninhabitable planets and space stations, along with the people on them despite taking the people on the habitable planets away, and why there are oceans filled with blood, of all things, on the many moons left.
- There's also the fact that, as mentioned above, the "Quiet Rapture" left ghostlight behind, indicating that it SOMEHOW follows the laws of physics and the universe as a whole, which makes it arguably even more horrifying if it's actually a natural phenomenon that happened on its own instead of something that has unnatural causes behind it due to it going from Cosmic Horror to straight up Existential Horror.
- Version 2 only made things worse. It doesn't really clarify anything, aside from the fact that the blood oceans are made from human blood, and the fact that it's never revealed if that's what happened to the people who disappeared alongside the habitable planets during the "quiet rapture" or if it's "just" human blood with no actual owner makes it even scarier due to the ambiguity of it.
- Every moment since the beginning of your journey. You're trapped on a submarine in an ocean made of blood, and there's no way to know anything about your surroundings except by using a low-quality camera that takes a moment to process images, leaving you in an unbearably tense couple of seconds waiting to see what you're looking at - and what might be looking back.
- Many of the things you take photos of in the blood oceans are very disturbing, and the more you look at them the more creepy they become.
- Bizarre rock/bone formations, looking similar to ribcages of massive creatures.
- The fourth point on the map gives a seemingly harmless rock formation, but in the right background there is a clear sighting of an angler-fish head looking into the camera. Should the player take another picture, the fish will disappear.
- A massive, whale-like skeleton with its mouth gaping.
- Strange curved coils with lined patterns jettisoning into random directions.
- In a secluded grotto, there is a strange object that looks like a mix between a starfish and a shard of vibrating light. When the sub gets close to it, the camera begins to vibrate and a loud droning sound becomes more and more clear. Should the sub get too close, you'll be randomly teleported to another place on the map. Absolutely nothing else is known about it.
- Multiple places in the map show what appear to be unnatural formations, as in they look like manmade buildings and objects. The problem is these moons are supposed to be uninhabited. How the hell did these structures form, and who made them?
- Should the player decide to reach the final point beforehand, they will hear a different set of strange droning noises. Following the noise leads to a secluded trench with a strange obelisk inside, giving away a metallic ringing.
- At the farthest upper-right area of the map, there is the wreckage of the SM-8, a science submarine that sunk here before you came. Typing SM8 in the info kiosk on the sub reveals its story: Unlike the Iron Lung, which is disposable and crudely made, the SM8 was an actual submarine expected to return safe and sound. But as you can clearly see, it didn't... and now it's your turn.
- After an extended period of constant dread and tension, not to mention structural damage, you finally make it to the last required coordinates... and as you move towards the console to take a picture while your hope soars, thinking that you'll be able to make it out alive, the giant angler fish that's been hinted at in your photos bursts through the wall of the submarine with an earsplitting roar, paying off the tension with a Jump Scare guaranteed to make any player scream their lungs out.
- On your way to your final coordinates, the proximity sensors will detect a "wall" that instantly shows up as they beep rapidly. If you take a picture to know what's going on, you'll be greeted by an eye of a scaly, whale-like Sea Monster before the creature itself moans as it smacks the Iron Lung. Though there's an assumption that the camera's flash has agitated the creature as result. The good news is that the creature leaves you alone. The bad news? The submarine starts leaking from the damage, and the blood slowly fills the cabin.
- Also, in Version 2, the whole reason you're down here is that your sub isn't the first to be torn apart by a sea monster. You can even find the remains of the previous sub.
- Remember Aubrey Hodges' score of PlayStation/Sega Saturn ports of DOOM and DOOM 64? Here, the music consist in distorted samples, Drone of Dread and occasional metal creaking sounds that will keep you awake at night. Sweet dreams. Oh, and the name of the track as the angler fish attacks you in the end? "Through the Veil".
- A lot of commentators claimed that the track heard in the ending is the sonic embodiment of someone drowning in blood until one of them did an excellent job with the implication of the protagonist getting crushed by the intense pressure of the blood ocean if the giant angler fish attack wasn't bad enough.
The iron hull implodes from the pressure, a monstrous hulk of teeth and scales snaps you between its jaws...And all is silent, lost to the darkness as the rusty sub tears itself to pieces.The bloody depths swallow your remains in a cold, inky blackness as your consciousness quickly fades, your heart beating its very last.No one will come and find you, or whatever may be left of you.You are forgotten. You are without form.You... are... nothing.
