Mass Effect/Nightmare Fuel: Difference between revisions

* The sidequest "I Remember Me", available to Colonist background players {{spoiler|where Shepard must talk down a deranged former slave woman.}} To make it doubly so, the horrors Talitha describes? What she went through to drive her to the brink of suicide? Shepard was on the same colony the batarians raided and about the only one to escape.

* When {{spoiler|[[Eldritch Abomination|Sovereign]]}} reveals itself. Even better if you'd managed to not spoil yourself before then. The music, [[Evil Sounds Deep|the voice]], and the slowly building sensation of dread you feel as you realise just what it is you're up against.

* Husks are the reanimated corpses of human beings with their nervous systems replaced with technology. The process is done by ''[[Impaled with Extreme Prejudice|impaling them on a spike]]''. In fact, ''they don't even have to be dead'' to be converted into Husks. The geth (killer robots) don't ''look'' creepy (they have flashlights for heads), but the noise they make when they spot your squad <s> made this troper nearly stop playing when he first heard it.</s> '''[[Hell Is That Noise|HRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH]]''' And then there's Shepard's nightmarish visions of {{spoiler|the Prothean war with the Reapers, which mainly consists of the Protheans getting torn limb from limb by evil cyborgs}}. Further consider this: {{spoiler|What you are actually watching in those visions is not the destruction of the Protheans per se, but their conversion into the Collectors. There's one side mission in which out of the blue you stumble across another Prothean artifact, which gives you the vision you know inside and out: except this time you are hit with the horrible realisation that one of the figure who is vainly trying to flee has four horizontally arranged eyes which are instantly recognisable. Believe it or not, there is a fate worse than extinction.}} And you're not just watching {{spoiler|the Protheans' conversion, either. [[Body Horror|You hear mechanical sawing noises.]] [[Fate Worse Than Death|And screaming. Lots of screaming.]]}}

* Imagine it. You're peacefully going about your business in the wards of the Citadel when suddenly sirens begin to wail. Completely out of nowhere, unknown, gargantuan starships of unfathomable power emerge and exterminate everything, spreading out across your empire and slaughtering, subjugating or {{spoiler|genetically modifying}} everything you hold dear, then using {{spoiler|the liquefied slurry that used to be your bodies to produce and power more of themselves.}} This is the fate of the Protheans, and innumerable species before them. And it's going to happen again, and again, and again... Seriously, the Reapers themselves are the scariest thing in the game in this troper's opinion. Made even worse by several of {{spoiler|Harbinger's}} lines in ''Mass Effect 2'': {{spoiler|"Sentient beings need never fear me." "We are your salvation through destruction." The Reapers believe that they are doing these species a FAVOR.}} The ending of the first Prothean message on Ilos springs to mind. {{spoiler|'''''"Cannot be stopped... cannot be STOPPED..."'''''}} And turned into diesel was the ''lucky'' fate for most of them. The rest {{spoiler|were forcibly mutated into the Collectors.}}

* Ammo that goes under the category of 'fire', 'ice', or 'poison' in the game will ''disintegrate'' enemies upon killing them. and it ''can'' happen to you.

* Also, Han Olar telling the story of {{spoiler|how he escaped the rachni.}} The scariest part is hearing how the rachni in the labs are beyond saving. Essentially, the gist is that {{spoiler|the rachni are a telepathic sentient species. As long as the smaller ones are within telepathic range of the queen, they become intelligent and sentient. If they're outside the queen's range of influence, they go permanently feral. Just thinking about what that must be like, feeling your connection to the queen go, and then your mind following it, is chilling.}} Humans need contact with others to stay sane {{spoiler|and so do the rachni. Imagine a human child that has never had anyone hold it, comfort it or even ''talk to it.'' That's the rachni you now face.}}

Liara: A child locked in a closet for sixteen years would hardly be sane. }}

* The first appearance of a Thresher Maw nearly sent this troper into convulsions of terror when it burst from the ground just as he stepped out of the Mako. The fact that he had selected the Sole Survivor background, where Shepard's entire unit was once utterly wiped out by a few dozen of the creatures. Just thinking about encountering more than one of them makes me shiver even now.

* Ilos. Think about it, and take the music out. A massive, abandoned city, overgrown with the vegetation of 50,000 years. Completely silent. The only thing you can here is the sound of your own squad's breathing, the sound of wind, and the electronic squawks and clanking of the geth moving around the ruins.

** The Codex mentions that all respirating life (i.e., all animals, insects, fish, etc.) has died out. Then there's what your team will say if you talk to them:

** It becomes even worse when you consider [[Real Life]] abandoned cities like Pripyat are some of the creepiest places on Earth, as any good Stalker will tell you. Then apply [[Recycled in Space]], make it the only habitable planet ''in the solar system,'' cover it with horrific statues of Cthulhu that silently watch you, put in malfunctioning computers that scream "Can not be stopped! CAN NOT BE STOPPED!!!" at you and tell you about the creatures currently eating the brains of the now-dead inhabitants of the planet, and [[Serial Escalation|THEN]] fill it with unspeaking, homicidal robots with plasma weapons who, once they've beaten you down, will stab you onto a ten-foot-tall pole and wait for your organs to dry out in order to turn you into a cyborg zombie. Jesus H. Christ on roller-skates.

** What gets me are the countless cryo pods... {{spoiler|all of them filled with 50,000 year-old-corpses.}}

* Thane's [[Photographic Memory]], specifically the flashes of light and the look of his eyes.

** If Kelly survives the suicide mission she descends into this as part of her post traumatic stress.

* After you break Jack/Subject Zero out of the Purgatory prison ship, you get a message from one of the escaped prisoners you may have talked to on the ship. He thanks you for giving him the chance to escape and mentions that he's going to carve your name onto the body of his next victim.

** Not forgetting he promised to kill you too because you took a few pot-shots at him. Don't worry, he'll make sure you find your name carved into said chest just before killing you.

** And all of that is just a precursor to what awaits you in Atlas Station.

*** Rogue VI: [unintelligible sounds] = {{spoiler|"MAKE IT STOP!"}}

*** And then the distorted elevator music from [[Mass Effect|ME1]] playing, cycling from sped up to slowed down, after a computer voice says that it is there to "relieve stress." Did we mention that this is on a {{spoiler|crashed geth ship full of inert [[Homicide Machines]]?}}

** The whole thing is creepy as hell, but it all goes [[Up to Eleven]] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zp-Z69NHlHM when] {{spoiler|you touch the console, glow green, and are sucked into what is pretty much the Matrix, while your companions frantically try to pry open the now-sealed doors. You then find out the REAL story behind the VI, topped off with a hearty helping of [[Body Horror]]. You know the bad guy is really bad when the ''Paragon'' interrupt is to pistol-whip him.}}

** This theory doesn't make it any better. They stripped the guys naked, tortured them to within an inch of their lives, then lined them up against the wall and shot them to death.

* Another thing from Ilos. If you come across the warning about the Reapers, you listen to it and tell your squadmates what you hear. And when you move on, the last thing you hear the console say is this.

* We've been this far and nobody's mentioned the "Warp" Biotic ability. Think about what it must be like to be broken down at the molecular level by someone's thoughts.

** Then there's the Lift and Push abilities. Imagine being lifted high into the air, then thrown against a wall at bone-shattering speeds.

** The ending's worth mentioning. As Jacob confronts his father, Shepard notices a male, crazed, standing there like a zombie. Soon he's joined by several more. S\he points them out to the third member of the squad, who will [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshade]] what they will do to Jacob's father if Shepard chooses to abandon him.

** Upping the creepy factor is the partial crew log of a male survivor who obviously hadn't been forced to eat the local vegetation yet.

** Records of [http://youtu.be/cFKO9S-Ty-E one of the women being affected], realizing with horror that she can't remember someone's name or face. Bad enough to have this happen, but to be ''conscious of'' losing yourself?

* Didn't see this one, but remember the Collector Harbinger berates after Shepard wins? He releases control just in time for it to shoot Harbinger a dirty look, and watch the blast coming to kill it. Though this might be a release, all things considered. It's more of a look of 'Daddy? Where are you?' the kind of look a child makes when they've been abandoned before realization fully sets in. Which is all the more horrifying - the Collectors as a species know nothing BUT Indoctrination. They have NEVER in their existence been free.

** Before you can even get 10 paces, you are struck in the side and feel yourself [[Harmless Freezing|rapidly freezing solid mid-step]]. At the mercy of 4 ruthless commandos, you see everything pass as if in slow-motion. The Asari fires a [[Disintegrator Ray|warp]] which speeds towards you, the Drell hurls another pack of [[Grenade Spam|cluster grenades at your feet]], while the Alliance commando hurls a ball of fire that arcs in your direction. But all of that is forgotten when you see the Krogan [[Oh Crap|hurtling towards you like a bat out of hell]], bent on making sure you end your life with [[Megaton Punch|his massive fist shattering your frozen body]]. All you can do is close your eyes, [[Literally Shattered Lives|embrace the inevitable]], and wish that you joined [[Fictional Political Party|Terra]] [[Straw Character|Firma]] instead of [[Nebulous Evil Organisation|Cerberus]].

* The Alliance Daily News for February 27, 2012. ''They're here''.

** No they're not. '''Now''' they're here (March 4 2012):

* From the demo to the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bG2mdZ23eP8&feature=g-all&context=G256392aFAAAAAAAABAA launch trailer], we're assaulted by the souless mechanical screams and groans of the Reapers. Every time they rocket through the air, fear and dread are not far behind.

* No matter how scary it gets, you always have the comfort of knowing that there's a screen and a game between you and the Reapers. Now imagine this: You live on the Citadel, and one day you check your omni-tool to see Emily Wong reporting live from Earth, talking about a ship like the one that attacked the Citadel being on Earth. You follow the story as it unfolds with mounting horror as Emily encounters husks and Cannibals, frantically tries to warn people away from certain escape routes, and eventually is directly attacked. You receive the signal loss instantaneously, and with it goes your hope of hearing about the situation - maybe the people in charge will still know about what's going on back home, but you won't. All you can do is imagine and wonder what will happen when the Reapers get to you.

** Why else would the Reapers point their dreadnought-destroy guns at a single (wo)man? And even that doesn't stop him/her completely.

* The iOS app brings us this rather chilling message considering the context.

** {{spoiler|The sheer unadulterated remorselessness of Shepard when you pick the Renegade option. He's not trying to justify it. He's ''lying'' to one of his best friends' face on why he screwed the Krogan, betrayed Wrex personally, and shot another in the back to do so.}}

* Illusive Man's {{spoiler|transformation at the end of the game is a bit disturbing.For starters, he has gone completely crazy, is under the control of the Reapers and has '''black veins on his neck'''....}}