What Makes A Good Spooky Stage?

[@hooplah6177]

the abandoned lab in Undertale is so scary. and amazing what can be done with pixels and some really freaky music

[@usernametaken017]

oooooo oooooo ooo ooo

[@tol_ghost]

That one is really unnerving yeah! I was kind of surprised

[@IPODsify]

I love that the amalgam ended up being a sweet boy at the end. Helped me recover from all the jump scares. Omega flowey made me shit myself at first tho

[@Rainears129]

This and the Photoshop Flowery are some of the scariest parts of that whole game. Especially that phone call at the end of the lab.

[@Oneiroclast]

Another major aspect of that which isn't as well acknowledged is that in order to reach the abandoned lab, you need to have already completed the game, establishing the normal critical path, before you can stray from it. The fundamental structure of the game creates an impression that it's a place you're not supposed to see.

[@prosamis]

The Skyrim bug where manikins load as people with idle animations then they "realize" you're there so they go back into being manikins has to be one of the most unnerving things to suddenly experience. Spooky in so many ways

[@nekoimouto4639]

doesnt help that the uncanny-ness of mannequins and people's fear of them starting to move have been a staple horror trope for decades.

[@prosamis]

@@nekoimouto4639 first of all thanks for teaching me how to spell mannequins Second, YOU'RE VERY MUCH RIGHT

[@jmvr]

​@@prosamis funnily enough, a manikin is the weird wooden thing that artists use to help them draw human proportions

[@N0RDICST0RM]

Deepnest from Hollow Knight, particularly the area that builds up to the Nosk boss fight. If you know, you know. Edit: Now that this comment has blown up, here's a spoiler free tip for anyone who hasn't played Hollow Knight yet: Once you get to the Deepnest stag station, you'll notice that the usual bench at the station is broken. There's actually one very close to the station in the big cocoon-looking room. This will help avoid losing your progress up to that point, which I did. Hope this helps someone out!

[@Xokpet]

I hear the word “Deepnest”, and I immediately remember the chittering sounds.

[@joeisverysmug]

deepnest is peak spooky level

[@myaltaccount4438]

I had Nosk's existence spoiled for me so it didn't scare me as much as I would've liked it to. But even then from an objective standpoint it did all the spooks correctly. Especially the foreshadowing hidden in the dreamnail dialog of the corpses you find on the path leading up to the fight. I will not elaborate any further due to not wanting to spoil any people looking through these replies for context. If you're reading this and you haven't played Hollow Knight, stop it. Go play Hollow Knight. It's better the more blind you go into it.

[@mattkuhn6634]

The White Palace would also count, if I wasn’t busy using every ounce of platforming skill to survive

[@weisstofall2615]

Deepnest is so anxiety inducing. Everything feels so hostile all the time

[@Ceonfe]

I'll always love the way SA-X spooked me on my first playthrough of Metroid Fusion.

[@JosephHeiskell]

I’m a little surprised you mentioned MGS3’s the Fear, but not the Sorrow. Seriously, a ghost that confronts you by having you follow him down a river, said river populated with every enemy you have killed up to that point, was perfect for this topic.

[@ArcCaravan]

I feel he covered the Sorrow in another video, mentioning how a pacifist run lowers the threat. Or I have it mixed up with another channel and Design Doc never covered it.

[@rzLl_pz5]

To be fair, The Sorrow has been discussed to death, across all kinds of contexts. I don't think I've ever seen anyone talk about the rest of the Cobra Unit (bare The End) outside of the context of MGS3 itself

[@tytheguy13andahalf]

I feel the sorrow is supposed to make you regretful rather than scared.

[@hariman7727]

@@ArcCaravan Game Maker's Toolkit might have covered it. It's a very similar channel. So similar I'm not sure it's a different person.

[@tekfox2002]

I felt like they should have mentioned MGS2 and when the AI starts tripping out and breaking the 4th wall. It is way more unsettling

[@michaelbrooks9474]

Pumpkin Hill is the best theme for a Halloween/spooky level

[@maskofice9432]

And now I have the pumpkin hill rap in my head

[@PhysicsGamer]

No discussion of the role sound design plays in these levels? It's probably more important than anything else for actually hitting the desired tone. The droning ambiance of Undertale's True Lab definitely goes for a far, far different vibe than A Ghost's Pumpkin Soup. And yes, that really is the name of the song that plays in Pumpkin Hill.

[@WhiteFangofWar]

'That's our job, but we're not mean! In our town of hallowe-een!' The Sorrow does a better job of spooking you later on in MGS3. Dream sequence, tears of blood, facing the angry ghosts of everyone you've killed on your mission so far... and the only real way out is to either die, or use the fake death pill. 'The dead are not silent' indeed, and even after you beat him he keeps literally haunting you for the rest of the game.

[@stephencooney1768]

Yeah, I was sad he didn't mention this, it's such a cool part of MGS3. The Fear really was goofy, though, lol.

[@DesignDoc]

Yep, The Sorrow is a much better spooky fight on every level.

[@EmilyParagraph]

The haunted ship level in Okami does this very well. It forces you into a new mechanic (using the brush to guide Rao's holy seals to get rid of the ghosts) and it breaks some rules that leaves you off-kilter (normally, bringing up the celestial brush pauses the world around you; any ghosts onscreen however, remain mobile). And that's before you get to the giant seaweed hand that you cannot take on like normal. it's not even a mini-boss, you just have to dry it out and kill it a different way and it's still difficult to do if you have no idea what you're doing. very well done, still gives me nightmares nearly 20 years later.

[@nak_attak]

I'm not a scary game player, but TOTK did the unsettling horror amazingly. A) The motif that plays when you enter the depths gives me chills every time B) The music and gloom buildup both in the castle tunnels and the castle depths were amazing when going in for the first time. The final drop as you dive into the boss area was crazy. C) Gloom hands. D) Encountering a gibdo for the first time

[@Rainkea-fr]

I thought it was cool and adventureous if thats even a real word but yeah gloom hands... cant argue back over that

[@kadoggie7808]

I agree with b and c but i thought the depths motif was kinda funny because it is just a tuba going bwoooow

[@Dask-eg2up]

Also that sequence in the raised hyrule castle with fake Zelda, loved it so much

[@Fitzis]

Oh my god. You just made me remember my biggest jumpscare ever! In the depths, far far northwest I was in the dark and just barely saw a lightroot atop of a really tall cliff. So I start climbing, pitch dark. The climb was so long I had to take some energy potions, but I wasn't able to stop and use some seed to have light. I was constantly hearing a breathing-like sound but couldn't see anything. I reach the top, I use the lightroot and turn around. There was a fucking Colgera at like 20m from me hovering just near the end of the cliff. I jumped, properly scared, and shut off the game. Goddamn

[@sierranicholes6712]

i remember being so scared going into the final fight lol i was really impressed at how far they went with spooky/scary in totk. i hadn't had a whole in-game area feel like that to me in a zelda game since probably majora's mask

[@JustaBunchofGoofs]

“Like a dangerous cozy, cozy with a knife” is one of the best sentences period.

[@thekoifishcoyote8762]

I really liked Queen Vanessa's Manor in a Hat in Time. From the whiplash seeing the loading image, to when the bright red balloon gets stuck to you, to realizing that the high-up key you're trying to knock over has a sharp end. There's no wonder why they added a shortcut in an update.

[@Colopty]

Vanessa's Manor is honestly an absolute master class in setting the tone. I think one of the neat things it did is that while most horror games would have the scary monster skulk around and making some noises for an hour to build up tension, Hat in Time practically slams it in your face that you made a horrifically bad decision by coming there almost as soon as you walk through the door, and from there on reinforces that you are not up for a good time. Sure there's some buildup during the trip to the mansion, but given the general tone of the game it's easy to dismiss it as just setting up yet another cranky person Hat Kid will mess with, leaving you (literally) scrambling the second that illusion gets shattered.

[@daymastery]

@@Colopty I agree. What’s also great about the horror theme in Vanessa’s Manor is that the danger of Vanessa herself feels more real than anything else in the game. Most enemies will just bump into you, swipe at you haphazardly, or fling stuff at you to deal damage. It doesn’t feel particularly threatening or scary at all, just some good old Mario-esque action. But Vanessa? She’s different. You immediately get the impression that she’s out for blood and gets some sort of sick pleasure from tormenting you. And if she gets to you, she doesn’t attack you like any other enemy. She grabs you by the collar, lifts you up, and freezes you into an ice sculpture while you’re ALIVE and still STRUGGLING. It’s so unexpectedly brutal and really adds to the horror of the level.

[@Triforce_of_Doom]

@@Colopty man you describe the buildup there perfectly. I still remember my first time playing the level getting some kind of bad vibe as I walked up to the mansion. Then my low tolerance for horror scary started kicking in in the best ways once Vanessa realized I was there.

[@Roccondil]

Was that shortcut added in an update? I though I heard that it was there from the very beginning, since the game does have an element of being aimed at younger audiences, so the shortcut was there in case the younger players didn't want to do that level while still being able to progress the story.

[@waynemidnight7454]

The E.M.M.I. sections in Metroid Dread are great for this. The creepy music, along with the beeping of those things gives off so much tension, especially if you're using the Phantom Cloak, and they're right in front of you. Then once they spot you, the music ramps up, and it becomes a frantic dash to escape their range so the doors will open.

[@smartalecl4]

I feel like the first Luigi's Mansion game nailed the "spooky" aesthetic in a way 2 and 3 are lacking. 2 and 3 definitely feel like they were made to look and sound more cartoonishly spooky than the uncanny nature of 1

[@Pika250]

Thanks (at least in part) to Luigi getting used to busting ghosts with the poltergust vacuums I'm assuming?

[@smartalecl4]

@@Pika250 I don't think it was that. The overall vibes from Luigi's Mansion 1 didn't really carry over to 2 and 3

[@amandaslough125]

​@@smartalecl4I just hate how they did that on purpose. "We weren't intentionally trying to scare players. We just wanted Luigi to be scared" so they went with the comedy route with the series afterwards. Don't get me wrong, I love certain moments and characters in the later sequels, but it's always a shame that a series gets popular _because_ it's the different vibe, and then it becomes watered down as it goes mainstream. The original game will always be peak in the process.

[@SonicMaster519]

Yeah, I hear ya. The other games also just don’t feel as polished as the original, but maybe that’s just me. The first excelled at unnerving you and startling you, but not enough to become a horror game that traumatizes children.

[@brockmckelvey7327]

Yoshi's Crafted World: A fun, cute, and extremely charming game! And then you get to the first level in the final world: "Be Afraid of the Dark". Now your fun helper signs all have creepy messages on them. Now you're being chased by an enemy who can't be stunned, eaten, or stopped... ...now he's right behind you

[@AndrewFanton]

I was genuinely spooked when I first played through this level! The brightly colored world where enemies always telegraph their attacks really lowers your guard and makes the jump scare so much more effective.

[@harrygreen3412]

As a kid, I remember getting creeper out by The Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass with the beginning segment of Tetra being pulled into a dark void. Just seeing her scared and reaching for help, alongside the music, made me uneasy. And even worse, the cutscene plays every time you start the game up to a certain point.

[@ikagura]

Phantom Hourglass wasn't the best but it had a special ambience.

[@StarBeam500]

The giant's den in Bug Fables is a really eerie place. The peaceful yet off-putting music, scary giants who peer at you from the shadows, and scariest of all, every single monstrous enemy having 20+ health and 1 defense. They just nailed the atmosphere of it as a strange place that bugs never go to. And I think it sets up really well for the final boss. Edit: Also, can you talk about card games in video games/deck builders? My favorite deckbuilder is Wildfrost, and you should definitely try out the game.

[@SonicMaster519]

Bug Fables as a whole is a really, really good game (especially The Giant’s Den and the one mechanical place with those conveyors (not The Hive) that you use to navigate). I wish we got to learn more about the big monster guy that looks at you.

[@kylereichenbach4475]

The original Homeworld Game had a Ghost Ship level right after you get out of The Garden of Kadesh. The Ghost Ship just sits alone in empty space surrounded by ships of various factions within the game. They all seem like abandoned derelicts until you get close enough and all the ships surrounding the ghost ship start firing at you. If you try to send your larger ships in they get taken over and controlled by the Ghost Ship. So the level forces you to use your small ships (pretty much just your bombers) to neutralize the Ghost Ship. If you succeed then you control all the ships that the ghost ship took over.

[@crimsontanooki7212]

I loved the Old Chteau in Pokemon Diamond and pearl, spooked me out a lot. Also would you discuss the triangle balance of Offense, defense, and support classes?

[@sassygallop6791]

The Mirror Temple in Celeste really stuck with me. It was the first time I saw the extent of Madeline's doubt and self-hatred, and just how powerful the mountain was, making an entire world purely out of her (and Theo's) bad thoughts. Then there was Fake Peppino in Pizza Tower. That guy is basically "if squash and stretch was a character". Eugh, everything about his fight was weird, even by that game's standards. The background changes without warning in his second phase, there's bags and boxes of half-melted bodies in the room, and I'm pretty sure the final chase sequence was inspired by the Wario Apparition.

[@LuminousArc92]

Elden Ring dlc. "Torrents scared and won't come out" Persona Q 3rd labyrinth takes shape as a schools haunted house festival exhibit. Creepy baby's will chase you if you step on squeaky floorboards. Don't run in the halls jumpscare dolls. Halfway through the haunted house turns into a hospital. The red doll chases you through the rooms and halls, holding doors shut behind you so you can't backtrack; move between the light to avoid her. It's so creepy

[@sierranicholes6712]

that elden ring dlc area terrified me lol what an amazing creepy area in a game. the design/theme felt really unique too.

[@eladblaier898]

Deepnest from hollow knight. Lots of fake floors that crumble into spike pits, persistent darkness, maze like rooms, enemies jump scaring you from the ground or the backdrop, if you get in there you can't even get out without some exploration which can be a pain if you don't have the lantern or some upgrades

[@iateitguy903]

And that's not even getting into stuff like being one of the only areas without ambient music, letting the skittering do all the work! There's also the parasites that control the bodies of *some* enemies once you "kill" them the first time. You can't even really skip the place because of Herrah, and that sections a whole other bag of creepy.

[@Glory2Snowstar]

What’s so wonderful about Halloween is that it’s year-round: spookiness is eternal, and fear lurks behind every corner. Skeletons, ghosts, and monsters of all sorts are the backbones of media and it ensures that the Halloween Spirit lingers no matter the day. But there’s something truly magical about playing a cozy spooky level amidst Halloween’s reign during a brisk Autumn. I played Mario Wonder’s Pumpkin Party level on November 1st after staying home sick (I stayed up VERY late on Halloween night), and it was my favorite memory from the game because of it.

[@mergedlayers2153]

Vanessa's Manor brought my Hat in Time playthrough to a grinding halt for a while 😱

[@TedWilder]

Same. I thought I couldn't finish after she scared Hat Kid to the ground lol

[@nekoimouto4639]

I was honestly considering dropping the game for a while too while i played that level, scared the shit out of me. was glad it wasnt that long of a level lmao

[@daymastery]

The first jumpscare from Vanessa when you first enter the house got me so bad. I ran into the nearest door, hid under the piano, and stayed there for at least five minutes while I tried to process it 😭

[@Artista_Frustrado]

big shoutouts to the EMMI Zones in Metroid Dread, they really managed to make Samus feel under powered & when you do get the Omega Blaster it's still a very tense duel trying to get in position to actually shoot it before it reaches you

[@caliburnleaf9323]

I would say the opposite. The very first EMMI was scary, but once you die a couple times in an EMMI zone and realize you can just retry with no penalty, it stops being scary and becomes just another platforming challenge. In fact, once I realized there were no stakes, I felt safer in EMMI zones than anywhere else in the game.

[@Thanatology101]

Agreed with the comment above mine. They became a "try again until you do the exact thing the devs want" slog. The SAX was handled substantially better. No getting locked into stupid QTEs, taking a hit didn't mean an instant game over, no 'gotcha' level design. The SAX also felt more organic. EMMI zones were marked so it stood out as a designed area. Very clumsy. In Fusion, the SAX felt dangerous and frenetic without feeling unfair or muddy. Dread fucked that up royally. Hated every single EMMI zone. First third of Dread was great, then it rapidly unravelled into a jumbled mess. Not a fan. Will not buy another Metroid handled by Mercury Steam.

[@GabrielReid-st6ix]

I absolutely LOVE the Spooky level in Pokemon Moon. Most of the games have a mansion or something but they don't actually tweak the mechanics. But the abandoned pokemart gives you a ghost-revealing camera before you enter, turning it into Fatal Frame for a few minutes. It's very creepy when all you're expecting is a normal dungeon with some Gastlies.

[@TrueLunar10]

Honestly i think that The Fear boss fight being so unscary is intentional. A lot of horror scenarios both real and in games rely on the lack of options to handle a situation, resulting in you panicking at the stress. Snake, while being better than most soldiers in universe, is still just a human but has all the gear available to him that anyone could technically have and use, no magic doodads or what not. A lot lf horror has to be contrived and manipulated to be scary and Snake shows up without any if those real contrivances so both him and the player are not afraid of The Fears gimmicks. Its essentially the "what if i had a shot gun" question in any who would survive discussion. Mechanically in isolation The Fears elements could be scary in a different context, but the context here is "ok but i have a gun" leading him to be but a joke.

[@goranisacson2502]

The Fear becoming a joke because Snake can outwit and outgun him, also helps make The Sorrow better in my mind. Have fun outrunning and outgunning the weight of your past misdeeds, Snake!

[@weisstofall2615]

I love the Thrifty MegaMart from Pokémon sun&moon. I feel like it has enough of a creepy feel thanks to the music, the jumpscare, and the vanishing last room

[@tonysladky8925]

Definitely surprised by the lack of Pokémentions. Between this and Lavender Town and others I'm sure I'm forgetting, there's some good spooks in Pokémon...

[@LuvzToLol21]

It's crazy how they made a Walmart feel creepy

[@Mordalon]

The Old Chateau in Ruby/Sapphire has some ghosts that break the 4th wall in spooky ways. Omega Ruby Alpha Sapphire also added some ghosts in Elite 4 Phoebe’s room, but only in cutscenes and always just out of sight.

[@masterboa6321]

The Submerged Castle from Pikmin 2 will always be my go-to pick for spooky levels.

[@WolfHreda]

17:14 So, the Brazilian Wandering Spider's venom is very famous for one particular symptom... It's also nicknamed the banana spider, probably not just for where it tends to lurk.

[@prankstered]

Happy spooky month

[@jezg]

Scarecrow levels in Arkham asylum are some of the best, but the scariest part of the game is game crashing because it’s the player’s fear of the PlayStation breaking instead of Batman’s fear

[@deeps6979]

I could barely watch that Shovel Knight segment without wincing from the awful execution of the thunder flashes. I can't imagine what it'd be like trying to play it.

[@just_an_elli]

It's really not that bad

[@Rodrigo_Vega]

As a kid I was genuinely quite scared of Gex: Enter the Gecko's horror-themed levels. They were dark and spooky, sometimes kinda hard, I just didn't like dying or being lost in them.

[@spectrified]

What a pleasant surprise to see The Fear from MGS3 here! Loved hearing your take on it in this context-I’ve always felt kinda similarly, but I actually don’t mind it. The way I think of it is, if I were in Snake’s shoes, fear would absolutely be the overriding emotion, even if that’s not the emotion I’m experiencing as the player. As you said, it becomes an interesting test of crafty thinking to discover all the different possible solutions. I found The End and The Fury to be MUCH scarier experiences as a player-even if narratively that’s not the driving emotion used by the combatant. Loved the video, Happy Halloween! 🎃👻🧛🏻‍♂️

[@aidennoir597]

The haunted ship in the original Seiken Densetsu 3/Trials of Mana. You're trapped in the middle of the ocean on a ship filled with ghosts and you have to break the curse to move on... but you have to temporarily give up one of your party members. It's fairly tame in the remake, but in the original the difficulty spikes pretty hard and it becomes a pretty tense sequence.

[@Burrn-z]

Finally the level design series is back

[@pelicano1987]

Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodline have a really nice spooky level in the Haunted Mansion. Player is a vampire and must venture into the mansion. At first he scoffs off ("do you really believe in ghosts?") and then is quickly reminded that he is a vampire and a couple weeks before he didn't even knew vampires were real. And it doesn't matter how strong your vampire is, there's no punching ghosts. The level is really nice and can make the player feel fear.

[@Lakthul]

Wraiths can get terrifying in World of Darkness lmao

[@maxtubb]

Ravenholm was a really creepy level in Half-Life 2.

[@hariman7727]

It's also THE best part of the game, to the point where I never finished the game but still feel happy playing because it was so fun.

[@kates5183]

It scared me so much I never beat the game haha

[@Surkk2960]

Couple of not common in-beta indies I've been playing recently have some pretty good moments, notably Voices of the Void and Disillusion ST VotV is indeed a horror game (it warns you immediately), but it is very slow with a lot of mundane (and very silly) things to do in it. It's just every so often... it will remind you that it is indeed a horror game. Disillusion on the other hand is more ominous than scary, but it has its moments. The trick is that every event is in order, but also random at the same time, so running into something can never by fully calculated, and some events are uncomfortable to say the least.

[@agamer9347]

A spooky sequence is always an extremely fun way to present a secret like with much of the (somewhat) hidden content in Vampire Survivors. A rouge like built off its predictability suddenly being shattered with surreal sequences and 4th wall breaks is what kept me hooked to that game.

[@BubblingBrooke]

The last chapter in Bug Fables is terrifying :D

[@sacripan4425]

BUG FABLES MENTIONNED

[@louctendo1321]

Ok I think I'm close so I will mentally prepare myself 😅

[@BubblingBrooke]

@@louctendo1321 Chapter 7!

[@StarBeam500]

It's genuinely very eerie, and I think it works very well as a final chapter. Just be prepared. All the scary enemies have tons of health and 1 defense. That may just be the scariest thing.

[@candycoatedroxx]

OMORI’s Black Space was one of the most unsettling and terrifying experiences I’ve ever gone through in a video game, alongside the Something fights. This doesn’t really apply to the “spooky level” concept, due to these sorts of things appearing all throughout the game, but I thought it was more than worth mentioning.

[@illdoittomorrow2368]

Professor Layton does spooky really well. Pandora's box isn't exactly scary, but once you realize how the case sticks together, the whole thing becomes creepier than the vampire you're supposed to be afraid of.

[@Attaxalotl]

Mecha Knights Nightmare is a mecha horde shooter with a _really_ creepy mission where you’re breaking into an abandoned bunker looking for some weapon that can help against the flood. It’s pitch black so you have to sacrifice some of your equipment for lights or night vision goggles, or just go in blind. The enemies are what you usually fight, but the limits on your mobility and the seeming time pressure really dial up the tension. It’s a great spooky level in a genre that really doesn’t lend itself to spooky! Also Mecha Knights Nightmare is a good game and y’all should play it!

[@cloudluigigreenblue9349]

Two examples from the top of my head: 1) Everything in Luigi’s Mansion 3. This game arguably had fun welcoming surprises that is reminiscent of the Original Luigi’s Mansion especially the boss ghosts, Heck: One of them was friendly and it hurt to catch em for completion ;~; 2) Super Metroid’s Abandoned Ship. Metroid has dabbled in bits of horror even today, though others had great unsettling moments to keep you worried the abandoned ship has all those.. Mangled ghosts and a Save Point that lacked power thanks to Phantoon.

[@hariman7727]

Metroid Fusion. It's THE horror entry in the series. Also Metroid Dread, when you realize that the world destroyer is now even stronger.

[@joaquinkhourysilvestre2530]

Knaaren levels in Rayman 3 scared the hell out of me as a kid. The fact that they are invincible and their design makes you feel extremely vulnerable.

[@danteciccarelli2790]

A great example is the ruined area after champions road in sky children of light. You go from one of the most fun areas to a dark area where you see what happened when Eden takes over with one shot enemies you need go hide from. 10/10

[@Iamverykarpy]

im being genuinely so real when you covered pizza tower i just had the random insignificant thought of "yippee i love pizza tower its a shame you wont cover my favorite platformer gravity circuit" just for you to literally do it 30 seconds later i was flabbergasted, i adore the variety of games you cover no matter how obscure

[@dinokingdash5332]

The gathering of the quiro quest in monster hunter rise sunbreak fits this amazingly. Having a quest where there corpses of other creatures are all dead and the one your're hunting getting slowly eaten alive. The music also gets replaced with a creepy version. The fight you do isn't special but the atmosphere makes it incredible

[@KanaevM]

A giant crawling baby with sounds sure does.

[@hariman7727]

I'm pretty sure that level is someone's horrible monster fetish brought into the game.

[@DarthBiomech]

Infants are already deeply unsettling, so having one as a giant malformed monster that chases you was a certificated "NOPE! Fuck that!" moment for me. X_x

[@bluescreenl]

Mother 3's got several options for spookiness: Osohe Castle for a haunted castle, the Chimera Lab for a more traditional survival horror experience, or Tanetane Island, my personal favorite, for psychological horror

[@pikachufrankie]

The Chimera Lab is scary, but only when you have the Ultimate Chimera roaming around. Otherwise, not so spooky. Tanetane island also isn’t really horror as much as it’s just very sad. Seeing the illusions of the character’s loved ones talk to them is a little depressing. Osono castle definitely feels like a spooky castle, with ghosts and haunted objects. Pretty neat.

[@ivanbluecool]

Tight corners. Enemies that rush you or jump from the top. Etc. I get those spooks from non horror games funny enough

[@arctic-xy6hc]

Can we just appreciate those levels where a huge enemy is in the background and you have to hide in the foreground

[@scolioreset]

Excluding the EMMI, I believe Metroid Prime 3’s Skytown has a great “spooky” moment where you remove the power current in a section which cause mutated Metroids to be released. In Metroid Prime, the last part of the Phazon Mines is near pitch black which makes navigation tricky, not to mention the presence of a Metroid subspecies that have specific color variations appearing after enough damage done. Shoutout to Monster Hunter’s Vaal Hazak and Killer Instinct’s Hisako for breaking the mold by bringing the horror to their series.

[@Road_to_Dawn]

When I think of a spooky level, one of the first things that always comes to mind is the Pumpkin Zone from one of my earliest childhood games, Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins. I always loved how almost every song in the game is really the same song but remixed different ways to fit the theming. It’s amazing how they took that song and made a creepy version out of it, with like creaks and squeaks in between tentative notes. Really cool stuff, and just such a great old game overall.

[@danielakatoolbox4645]

When I think spooky, I immediately think of vivid/stasis's Betweenspace Layer 2. It makes you feel paranoid all the time as you solve its puzzles, and even throws some big plot revelations your way. Quite the farcry from the usual 4K rhythm game or even Layer 1 of Betweenspace earlier.

[@aggressiveprincess7905]

Persona Q had me with the haunted high school bit. The FOE actually jump scared me

[@Aiddon]

Basically anytime an RPG goes into a horror-themed stage. Like the Deep Roads in Dragon Age

[@paytonholmes6019]

That was an excellent sequence.

[@glupik1234]

da2 has a literal spooky haunted mansion part in one of the dlcs. the deep roads felt less as a horror stage because the sexual violence discussed in it is a huge part of the world building and it feels sort of...more "genuinely" horrifying than a spooky level usually is

[@speedygamer9844]

Awesome video as always! Kind of spoiled Outer Wilds though, the solution to that ‘puzzle’ is a key part of the game that I know has changed how some people play who found out about that ‘solution’ before even playing. Still good points though!

[@victorribera5796]

The whole game Night un the Woods has this mix between spooky moments and cozy ones, really good game to play this month

[@danielmyles2312]

Mouldwood Depths in Ori and the Will or the Wisps is a really good spooky level. It's terrifying the first time you go in, especially with HD rumble turned on, but once you clear it, the level illuminates and you realize that it's just the place the spiders call home.

[@quinnlucas6858]

Although I really appreciate your commentary, some things you mention in outer wilds are spoilers that kind of take the fun out of making some of the discoveries for new players. Would be nice if you could use a spoiler warning for that kind of thing (especially for outer wilds since discovery IS the game). Great video tho!

[@shawntraub7249]

As much as I like this channel, I also wish he would stop spoiling things about Outer Wilds. For anyone who hasn't played it, being told things about the game would be like if you heard that in a Metroid game you can blow up certain door with a type of missile, and the act of hearing that permanently made all those doors disappear in any future playthrough. You can never play through that game again unless you get selective amnesia.

[@jemolk8945]

As someone who hasn't played Outer Wilds (yet) and who has been religiously avoiding spoilers for that and Tunic only, I don't think this was an issue. Maybe you have context for what's being said that would make it a spoiler, but I don't. The only additional thing I now know about Outer Wilds is that there's an area that's different, creepy, and hard. That... doesn't really mean anything to me. "This place exists" is new information, certainly, but I don't think all potential information has the same effect when given early, and thus shouldn't be treated as equivalent.

[@quinnlucas6858]

@@jemolk8945 hopefully you missed one of the things he said and i'll avoid mentioning it again here, but he does in fact give away a discovery that has an entire location dedicated to explaining itself. Its hard to explain without spoiling it, but I have a distinct memory of a discovery that would have been ruined if I had watched this video before.

[@jemolk8945]

@@quinnlucas6858 Fair. It's already faded a lot for me. I do think that is largely because I don't have the context that would be needed to understand what could be spoilery about what's being said. Though, it would probably be a bigger problem if I were partway through after having started, because then I might actually have enough context to understand what's going on beyond "place that's very different, spooky, has aggressive monsters that you can't just fight off."

[@nekoabi_]

Honestly, FFXV got me good in Zegnautus Keep at the end - going in alone, having little ways to deal with enemies, some stealth and scares from presumed dead enemies that you never trust after the first one gets you. While FFXV may not be a perfect game by any means, that section is so good

[@LordofBroccoli]

Surprised you didn't mention Deepnest at all. That's basically the epitome of spooky levels in games imo.

[@ashenChorus]

eesh, a flashing lights warning wouldve been appreciated before the shovel knight section

[@richardhinckley9690]

Great video, but I'd like to add my favorite one-time video game level - the Shalebridge Cradle level from Thief: Deadly Shadows. In short, it builds tension by the environment breaking the rules you've come to know from everywhere else in the game. It puts you in situations where you're not in control, in a game where you are usually the one calling the shots and determining the pace of the action.

[@Lifeless_Wolf]

Really love the level in A Hat in Time where it just decides to be like a classic stealth horror game after having a more goofy sort of atmosphere

[@ChrisBeYT]

I honestly had to think about the spooky things in pokemon games... ghost houses, ghost girls, graveyard in alola, creepy pokedex entries...

[@speedymatt1236]

Even ultra space!

[@ChrisBeYT]

Oh true ​@@speedymatt1236

[@Pika250]

@@speedymatt1236 and Area Zero!

[@mastermindgaming5803]

Just Cause 2, 3, and 4 did really well with the "dark contrast" idea. Just Cause 2 with a desolate island that a side quest sends you to, Just Cause 3 with the volcano island, and Just Cause 4 with the weather stations gating off new areas until you can take them out.

[@HiBootz]

Blue dragon. The enemies at night can be spooky 😮

[@rashkavar]

Having recently played Outer Wilds, Dark Bramble has definitely been added to my list of "horror levels done right." There's two other entries on that list: One is the Ocean House Hotel in Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines. Fairly early in the game, you're given a mandatory quest to investigate a haunted hotel, which burned years ago but is being restored by one of the more established vampires in LA. She's having trouble getting construction done, so she needs a way to get rid of the ghost. That means finding a keepsake of the ghost's from the hotel...and you're an expendable pawn available for such a task. So you go to the hotel, and it's haunted as anything. Phones ringing, light bulbs bursting, random objects being thrown at you, and so, so much more. It's great, and ramps things up brilliantly over time. Very fun experience! The other is Shalebridge Cradle in Thief: Deadly Shadows. This one is not so fun, and won't hit everyone as hard as it hit me, but it's super fucking creepy. Lore is that it's an orphanage, that briefly got used as an insane asylum, and then finally burned down, and is now super haunted. Which in this case means the spirit of *the building* is replaying its memories of when it was at its most miserable, and anyone who stays inside long enough winds up trapped in those memories too. It has some heavy themes - it's playing into the worst, most tortuous aspects of historic insane asylums (Bedlam but worse, definitely not the place where van Gogh did his paintings) and there's evidence of child abuse in there too. But the pacing is brilliant, and on my first playthrough I got so caught up in it that it took an interruption to convince me to do the ending of the level. This is a bit of a story, and if you're at all interested in playing this out yourself, the story includes major spoilers: ------Spoilers below------ So...over the course of the level, you encounter the ghost of an orphan who was murdered. She wants to free her spirit from the building, which means removing proof of her existence from the ruins such that the building no longer remembers her. You go about this, from finding a vial of her still-warm blood in the basement and getting it outside (through some weird pipes that don't make logical sense to me) to going into the building's memories under the guise of one of the asylum patients, grabbing a cleaning chemical from the stores evading the shades of the staff and bringing it to where she was killed and cleaning up the bloodstain. You do all that, and the ghost announces she's free, and asks you to follow her. She leads you to the front door, but when you try to go through, you can't. She says it's because you've been in the building too long - it now recognizes you, and so you are trapped. Here I am thinking: "wait...but I remember the start of this level. This door that I can't leave through is barred shut on the other side." (Which they do for burned down buildings IRL, even without the risk of a malevolent ghost deciding squatters get to be part of its story now.) Why don't I just leave the way I came in, through the basement hatch door? Ghost: "You should go into the building's memories as yourself, that's the only way to get out." Me: "Wait, when you introduced this idea, didn't you explicitly tell me that was what to not do?" (suspicion of ghost friend's true intentions rising) I went to the basement exit, found it was, indeed, locked shut. At a loss for what else to do, I went to the cage that will put me in the past as myself. (Mechanical aside: so, earlier, when I was disguised as a patient, I had no gear (because asylum patients don't carry around bows and arrows and flashbombs and mines and so on. But if I got caught by the staff, they'd just see me as a patient, take away the item they're fixated on (which is what made me disguised as them, and ejected me back to the present. Being there as myself, I'm now in the guise of a thief sneaking through the building (because, that's the game, I'm Garrett the thief.), so they'll just straight up attack me. And unlike most missions, where there's a handful of guards and a couple people up late, I'm effectively there during working hours so the place is *packed* with Staff shades. As soon as I enter the cage and go to the past, the ghost provides the rest of her plan: "You should climb to the top of the staff tower, there's a big window up there! Jump out of it! The building will think you've committed suicide, but because it'll see you as dead, you'll just be free, outside, where it can't see you." (suspicion of ghost "friend" rises to maximum) I explored the rest of the level looking for ways out. I was convinced that ghost wanted me dead for real. I'm not listening to the voice that says "jump out the window of the tallest tower!" Oh and, at some point in this, I've somehow forgotten that this is a game. At this moment, I'm fully bought in, this is me, Rashkavar, not Garrett the Thief, who's in this haunted building looking for a way out. And if I jump out that window, I, not Garrett, am going to die. Like I said, I needed an interruption to finish the level. This is why. Turns out ghost friend is actually a friend and is genuinely telling you how to end the level. Her plan works perfectly, and you escape safely. But until real life intruded on me and therefore reminded me that I can just save the game, yeet myself out the window, and then reload when it inevitably kills me. I've since replayed that game many times. Never again has the cradle had as dire an effect on me. But it still creeps me the fuck out. There's plenty of times where I've played the 60% or so of the game up to that point before going to bed, and then just switched to a different game - if I want to get a full replay in (which I do, there's a good level after that one) I make sure I play the level before the Cradle and the Cradle in the same session.

[@Gr8WchM]

The Evil Spirits Club in Persona Q1 is easily one of my favourite spooky levels. The horror theming works pretty well, it has more of a focus on puzzle solving than any other dungeon in the game, the way it ties into the game's story by swapping from a high-school haunted house to a creepy hospital halfway through is fun, and the game adds an extra layer to it by also hitting the player with a *big* jump in difficulty.

[@project-gladiator]

The best example I remember is "We dont talk about Ravenholm" from HL2. It has a great work of atmosphere, storytelling and design in general.

[@PotatoFandango]

I always loved the werewolf town of Garoh from Golden Sun: The Lost Age. You slowly climb up a hill to reach the village as the sky gets darker and creepy, sorrowful music plays. Then at the top you see the full moon reflecting in lake. The first time playing really stuck with me.

[@matteste]

Desert of the Knaaren from Rayman 3. Now there is a level that utterly terrified me as a kid.

[@sommer1380]

It also has an amazing introduction. You start in a desert so hot you can't walk on the sand, surrounded by the skeletons of colossals beasts. Then you go to some kind of volcano with green lava, there's the build-up with the teensies warning you about the knaarens and then you're finally chased

[@dogishappy0]

My mind immediately went to Duck Tales on the NES and the Transylvania level. Warps, mummies, coffins, haunted armor, secret passages, ghosts, it has it all!

[@F41nt13]

My favourite is the mansion in Nier Replica. The game suddenly turns into a black and white resident evil 1 with spooky music and scares.

[@youyououmf8200]

Pizza tower have a great spooky level. Also, we could think of the true lab from undertale as a spooky level

[@Masilya111]

Rayman 3's Knaaren Desert is a crazy tonal shift.

[@justinn8541akaDrPokemon]

It's spooky time.

[@juanmigueltomala5022]

man, the Tediz bunker stage in the original Conker's Bad Fur Day on N64 always spooked me. That tense music, those Tediz' raspy screams made a great spooky level in and otherwise not spooky game

[@jhunt7235]

Oooo man, I was playing Poptropica's Ghost Island a while back. I got to this telescope where you are supposed to look out to the sea for some kind of clue. The entire game is silent, not a single sound effect when you play. I kid you not, when I looked through the telescope for a few seconds, and a woman's voice suddenly said "Looking for someone?" I jumped so hard I nearly fell out of my chair. Best scare I ever got, because they NEVER USE SOUND.

[@elghaly_here]

DESIGN DOC UPLAODED BABE!!!!

[@solowing6746]

On the opposite end of The Fear is The Sorrow. I think that's the more legit spooky level since you're basically helpless and you're facing literally the ghosts of your own kills in the game.

[@Pascll]

death's gambit afterlife has like 4 spooky levels, but the one I like the most is one that doesn't even really have a name. it's a hidden area only accessible after beating the game, and you have to go through a maze in a very specific order to access it. what I love about this secret area is that it feels like something you'd read in a creepypasta. it's as if it wasn't put in the game by the developers (it obviously was, but you know). it's got weird environments, bloody temples to weird mountain and floating rock areas with a pitch black background. there's some weird puzzles, like one with a bunch of hanged men who chase after you and cause you to be hung if you touch them, or a completely invisible platforming challenge. and the area isn't ever really explained in-game, other than some vague relation to the game's secret boss (who himself is extremely convoluted to access)

[@MaceyGSyolky206]

Fetid Necropolis in Etrian Odyssey V is so filled with classic spooky tropes that it almost loops back around into being a bit corny, luckily the gameplay itself really boosts up some of the horror since you don't know how far you can get before day turns to night and if the room you want to enter is a trap of some kind. I'll always have a soft spot for the ghosts, skeletons, and graveyard aesthetic though so I always enjoy going through that stratum when I replay the game

[@BsKHacker]

Gex 3 had a horror/mystery level that has a spooky mansion vibe. Not only that but at one point there are taxidermized bears that look like they are part of the decoration only for them to come a live and attack the player. And they're tough!

[@MaddogXY8]

Talking about spooky levels and not talking about A Hat In Time which has one of the spookiest levels, but still remains silly.

[@heyitsharry]

nobody mentioning the level 343 Guilty Spark from the original Halo CE? its a master class in spooky levels in unexpected genres

[@ikagura]

I was expecting that...

[@CrustyFox87]

The Slumbering Sanctuary from Dead Cells has a very pretty autumn aesthetic, but also feels kind of creepy with the lore saying it’s probably alive

[@Xaiclun]

The funny part with Metal Gear Solid 3 - Snake Eater is that The Fear might do everything so you are not scared. Which later isn't the case when you face The Sorrow.

[@TheUnklGene]

The cemetery section in Startropics. Topped off with a big spooky ghost fight.

[@smallv2094]

I'm gonna say that the Blood Swamps in DOOM Eternal's first expansion is a spooky level. Especially the section where you have to follow a spirit wolf that leads you through poisonous fog, there is even a marauder fight in there. Oh, and the fight against a marauder with a buff totem that you can't destroy until you have defeated the marauder. The realization that you actually need to fight the buffed marauder is hella scary. That level also introduced the spirit demon who are basically ghosts

[@butter0989]

Love the Costume Quest mention One of my favorite spooky games, especially for those who want to get better at JRPGs in general

[@crystalqueen9711]

I love Don't Make A Sound from Pizza Tower and how there's a 10% chance the animatronics will jumpscare you with Oktoberfest, but I feel that Fake Peppino is a much better example of the game getting spooky; it understands to start small and ramp up the unease by first showing the fake looks and moves like Peppino, but "off" somehow, then by revealing it can clone itself to attack you, then by showing the resturant you're fighting it in is way more fucked up and dilapidated than you initially thought, then by having it turn into a giant monster you have to escape from in a chase sequence where it deals 2 damage when it catches you instead of the usual 1

[@isaG56]

Lavender Town was fun. It's just such a different place from the rest of the game, exploring a cemetery and all that. Also, the creepypastas about it, the song and The Ghost. I got all tha spooky feels as a kid playing it (also, not understanding much bc English)

[@Roccondil]

The Haunted Hogsmead Shop quest in Hogwarts Legacy was an absolute stellar spooky level, mixing in the usual non-euclidean magical elements of the world with a couple of twists on mechanics, including turning the controls on its head... literally!

[@GameDevMadeEasy]

Stellar Blade also has the spooky moments when you are going to do the ruins. You can only use your gun and has a lot of dark corners and tense moments which heavily contrast with other moments from the game you've experienced up to that point.

[@sans7342]

Skylanders has quite a few spooky levels like the undead levels in Spyro's Adventure filled with skeletons, spiders, zombies and living armors, there's also the Wilikin village in Giants that isn't supposed to be spooky but when you arrive you just see a bunch of wooden dolls that come to life once you hit a switch to wake them up, they're not enemies and they want to help you. Here's a few other levels from the series that are also spooky: Darklight Crypt (Adventure pack for Spyro's Adventure and Giants), Monster Marsh (Trap Team), Land of the Undead (Superchargers)