The Jen and Fenn Report – Gaming’s Most Disturbing Moments

6 Feb, 2011

(This article contains spoilers and disturbing material, reader discretion is advised)

So here we are loyal readers, for the first of what will hopefully be an ongoing collaborative series of articles from myself and the fantastic Mr Fenn. We are gamers, and like our esteemed colleagues we devote perhaps a more than healthy chunk of our lives to the magical Neverland that is our prized medium. In this series we aim to document and relate to you the moments that have particularly emblazened themselves on our jaded minds, from the hilarious to the heartbreaking, the uplifting to the terrifying.

To kick-start our series with a bang we decided to treat you all to a snippet of the gaming scenes which we regard to be some of the most disturbing we’ve seen. As lovers of horror, in endless pursuit of the things that go bump in the night and make the tiny hairs stand upright, we brainstormed over steaming hot tea and cigarettes the scenes that really got under our skin and earned our digestive tract a Girl Guide Badge for Knot-Tying. So here we have it folks – we have each picked out two memorable disturbing gaming moments for your reading pleasure. Enjoy!

Jen’s Choice – Silent Hill 2: The Abstract Daddy

Renowned amongst its loyal fans and gamers in general alike, Silent Hill 2 was a benchmark in storytelling and game design in its day, and is still widely regarded as one of the finest games ever made. Silent Hill 2 is a rich tapestry of human nature and emotion, cleverly woven to deliver a disturbing and profoundly moving experience. We follow the story of James Sunderland, a grieving widower who, after recieving a letter from his deceased wife, returns to the place where she ‘waits’, the couples favourite getaway retreat – ‘Silent Hill’.

To say that Silent Hill 2 is a scary game would be somewhat an understatement. Silent Hill’s brand of horror is that which gets under the players skin, drawing its power from the often dark side of human nature and baser instincts. The fear of the unknown peppered with sex and death gives the series a much sharper edge than most of its contemporaries, with Silent Hill 2 being the prime example of just how dark the waters can get.

It was hard to chose just one scene from Silent Hill 2 for the sake of this article, but after condensing it down to a few finalists, this one immediately seemed the most obvious choice, the ‘Abstract Daddy’. The monstrous incarnation of Angela Orosco’s tragic past, a creature that upon closer inspection appears to be a hulking figure overpowering (or violating) a much smaller being trapped beneath it, on what you could take to be a bed. While we never learn that much of Angela at face value, a bit of detective work and an analytical eye on behalf of the player soon paints a grim picture of murder, incest and child abuse.

So for our ‘Most disturbing gaming moment’ in Silent Hill 2 we have chosen the unveiling of the Abstract Daddy, as he advances menacingly upon a terrified Angela, in a room that would have Sigmund Freud’s head spinning with its not-so-subtle allusion to the violation of female anatomy. The terrible squelching of dripping organic matter beneath your feet with the above mentioned themes in mind is enough to make you dizzy.

Andy’s Choice – Mass Effect 2: Project Overlord

While not an especially light-hearted game at the best of times, BioWare’s Mass Effect 2 very seldom steps into the realms of horror. However, those of us that purchased the downloadable Overlord mission pack were subjected to horrors of the highest order. Commander Shepard lands on planet Aite, responding to a distress call from a Cerberus research facility. A project to merge the mind of a human being with that of a virtual intelligence has failed, with catastrophic consequences.

Every camera, computer and security device within the base has been taken over by the VI ‘Overlord’, the upshot of “Man’s reach exceeding its grasp.” What begins as a seemingly routine mission slowly and wickedly descends into darkness, especially when the chief scientist and only surviving member of the research team, Dr. Gavin Archer, confesses to Shepard that he has forcibly used his autistic brother as the test subject.

Advancing through the base, Shepard is haunted by David’s inhuman, digitalised screams and the pained, distorted image of his face. The mission climaxes within the facility’s Atlas Station as Shepard becomes trapped within the virtual matrix, where we see David’s super-intelligent mathematical mind at work and his memories of the experiments performed. It’s here that the twisted nature of Archer’s research comes to light – as the VI attempts to hijack the Normandy’s security network, Shepard destroys its core and releases David from his torment.

It’s at this point we see the shocking extent of the torture Archer has sickeningly subjected his own flesh and blood to, and the scene that follows is singly the most disturbing and heartbreaking I have ever seen. “Square root of 912.04 is 30.2…it all seemed harmless…” David repeats over and over, cruelly and painfully suspended within horrific apparatus. “Quiet… please make it stop”. As tears stream from his brother’s bloodshot eyes, forced open by steel prongs, Archer is unrepentant.

“If my work spares a million mothers the loss of a million sons, my conscience will rest easy.”

Jen’s Choice – Condemned 2: The Mannequins

Condemned 2 is a chilling first-person psychological horror, and sequel to ‘Condemned: Criminal Origins’ a neo-noire crime investigation following the path of SCU agent Ethan Thomas as he fights to prove his innocence in the brutal double homicide of two fellow officers, while the whole time questioning his ever-slipping sanity in the pursuit of an illusive and psychopathic serial killer. Condemned 2 follows on directly from the original, introducing us to a disgraced Ethan Thomas, destitute, crippled by alcholism and haunted by a deranged doppleganger of himself in eerie paranormal visions. Thomas is brought back into the fold of the SCU on the orders of his former superior in order to track down the mysterious cult known as ‘The Oro’.

The game embodies classic elements of the horror genre, creating a creepy and oppressive atmosphere thick with dread. Again, between myself and Andy we combed through the game trying to pin-point a scene that really stayed with the two of us, and one scene especially stuck out. Whilst working your way through an apartment building in the third chapter of the game, the player will walk into one of the dilapidated rooms to find a mannequin stood ‘watching’ them as they advance. Natural morbid curiousity finds the player moving in for a closer inspection, only to turn around to find their path is now blocked by several of the same lifeless, yet disturbingly aware human figures, with several spawning while your back is turned, pushing you slowly out of the room.

What makes this scene so disturbing is the expectation of attack, but it never comes. The inexplicable spawning humanoid moulds of plastic that, while entirely inanimate, hold such a sense of awareness and menace that the phrase ‘shit a brick’ doesn’t quite cover it – you could build a fortress out of your desposits when this terrifyingly unexpected scene kicks in. I never saw it coming, and it still sticks with me now as one of the creepiest and most disturbing moments of my gaming career. Check it out for yourself – and have a clean pair of pants on standby.

Andy’s Choice – Siren: Tomoko’s Happy Family

On my mental top five of disturbing games that have left their malevolent footprint on my impressionable young mind, Japan Studio’s Siren – or Forbidden Siren as it’s known is these parts – ranks fairly high. Siren tells the terrifying tale of fourteen ordinary men, women and children, hopelessly trapped within a remote island village overrun with shibito – literally translating to ‘corpse people’ – the wholly inconvenient result of an occult ritual.

Siren make-up is a brand of horror typical of Japan, famed for some of the most frightening horror cinema ever made. However, of the horrifying and indeed tragic events Siren has to offer, none saddened or disturbed me more than the fate of teenage runaway Tomoko Maeda. Having fought with her parents, Tomoko flees the family home.

Some would argue she picked a fine moment.

As the remaining villagers slowly succumb to the curse of the red water, Tomoko ends up wandering the grassy peaks of Karuwari alone. “Angels?” she says, noticing the ethereal wisps of white light floating in the air. The tone shifts; the fog thins and dissipates, the feeling of foreboding subsides and Karuwari, all of sudden, feels serene and calm. As Tomoko hurries to the nearest place of safety, the shibito quietly go about their business, almost as if they don’t see her.

Eventually she reaches the Church of Irazu Valley, where her parents are waiting. She runs to a window, desperately rapping on it. “Mommy, let me in!” she cries. But as her parents turn they see that Tomoko has become a shibito. The realisation slowly sets in; the reason the shibito aren’t attacking Tomoko is because she is one, creating one of the most tragic and disturbing twists ever seen in a video game. In her final scenes, Tomoko is reunited with her parents, having also transformed themselves, creepily living out their days as one big, undead, happy family.

We hope you’ve enjoyed our little trip down memory lane! So what do you, the readers, make of our choices? Do you agree or do you think we are just big wimps? Leave us a comment below, join us over at the community forum or leave us a tweet!

For our next article we’ll be taking a look at ‘Gaming’s Most Unintentially Hilarious Moments’, and while we have a few ideas we would love to hear from you on what you think should be up there in our list! Also, if you have any ideas for topics you would like to see us cover in the future, do let us know – we are open to suggestions!