Fitting for a game set in Treasure Planet, this game has its own share of nightmarish situations and details.
As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.
General
And this is just one Ironclad.
- The Ironclads. The primary threat of the game's storyline, they manage to stand out by the building up of their menace and danger. Compared to the wooden ships that the majority of fleets use, they are metal monsters whose thick plating can deflect everything short of the heaviest of weaponry and enable them to ram through weaker ships like paper. In addition, they are so heavily armed that fighting one alone without significant firepower in return is tantamount to suicide, as your attempts to fight against them in Mission 8 is any indication. Combined with their ominous droning, and equally menacing leitmotif
associated with them, they manage to make themselves truly formidable and frightening enemies to face off against. - Black Holes. Large ominous swirling vortexes with light occasionally flashing out of a pitch black center, that are basically an instant death if you wander too close to the center. Their perpetual and sinister droning can be extremely loud and unnerving, especially in Mission 6, where you spend the bulk of the first half of your campaign simply navigating around the largest black hole you've likely seen so far.
- Space Dragons, by virtue of just how unexpected they are. While Treasure Planet is no stranger to unusual animals, such as the Orcus Galacticus, there was no indication of there being dragons. And they make a very distinctly terrifying impression, living primarily in isolated caves high above typical landscapes or in the midst of volcanic areas, and when they first emerge with a draconic roar, they're treated with the level of terror you'd expect from finding out that these mythical beasts exist. To make matters worse, while the Ironclads can be destroyed with sufficient effort, dragons cannot be killed at all, only driven off or fled from.
Missions Related
Dorlinor Isle, after a rogue asteroid crashed into it.
- Mission 3: Imagine you are setting off on what should be a typical prison transfer. You are warned of a weather event by your First Mate, but hope that you can make it before it arrives. As you head on your journey, you pass by a meteor shower, but other than that, all seems well...until you begin to hear a loud crackling noise, and the wind starts to rise in volume. You look to the left, only to see what appears to be a giant ball of orange energy, swirling relentlessly...and barreling towards you at top speed. You try to speed up, to outrun it, but the ball of orange is only getting larger at a rate faster than your tiny ship can possibly move. The winds have now risen to a howling pitch as the maelstrom of energy engulfs your ship. Congrats, this is the Solar Storm...and it is completely unavoidable. To make matters worse, the storm ends up temporarily leaving you helplessly limping along, forced to hide in a nearby asteroid field when it deposits you nearby a fleet of pirates.
- To further highlight just how devastating the Solar Storm's power is capable of being, the very next mission has you needing to rescue ships who were caught in the storm during the attempt to reach the frontier to fight the Ironclads. Several suffer from severe damage and all have been flung all into the most dangerous locations in the sector, including a Man-O-War and Tender being caught in the tides of a black hole.
- Mission 6: You are patrolling in the Broken Territories, a series of abandoned (or so it seems) islands, home to several of the most nightmarish setpieces in the entire game. Durant's Black Hole, one of the largest black holes in the game so far, takes up the majority of the map, with you having to steer your way around it, as well as leaving you with less room to maneuver. To make matters worse, this area is not only inhabited by pirates, but is also home to your main encounter with space dragons. Combined with the desolate music and the ominous sense that you are very alone and vulnerable in the middle of enemy territory, and you have one of the most creepy story missions in the game.
- The ending of this mission is also especially spine-chilling, as Jim makes a horrifying discovery as to who is building up the pirate fleet that's been harassing the Empire. Something that he's been puzzling (and deeply in denial about) ever since Mission 3:
"Captain Fulsom, it is almost time to strike, ya ole space dog. Bring yer forces to our main base and join up with me'n the rest o' the Pirate Clans. There'll be more loot than any of us can imagine if our plan succeeds! - Mission 7: The destruction caused to Dorlinor Isle by a rogue asteroid. While most of the danger you've seen thus far was mainly threats to your fleet, this is the first time that we've seen such devastation done to a settlement in the game. The pain and traumatized horror from the mayor's voice is evident and only amplified by the sheer scar carved into the island. And given the implication that many people barely had time to get out of their homes...
- The overarching storyline involving Silver's return to the worst parts of piracy, and Jim's horrendously conflicting feelings on the matter. The old pirate had shown that he was a threat to be sure when he wanted to be during the events of the movie, but he'd also shown that he had a deep heart and a fondness for Jim. It's thusly genuinely disturbing to see just how far he seems to have fallen from that, attacking civilians, and plotting to work with the Ironclads for the sake of loot and riches. Jim's internal conflict is evident, unable to fully fathom just how low his former mentor and father figure seemed to have sunken, only further punctuated when he inevitably meets up with the old cyborg again in Mission 11...and the old cyborg not only seems to not recognize him, but actively tries to drive a civilian Galleon into a nearby black hole in order to flee. Jim's barely repressed fury at seeing his former friend stoop to being a murderous monster to save his own wretched skin is palpable. If it weren't for the reveal of what was really going on, it's likely that Jim and this barely recognizable pirate wearing his old friend's face would have come to blows, with only one coming out alive.
