When we talk about games that made us scream like grandmothers treed on a kitchen chair by mice, we default to the obvious. “Ohhh, Resident Evil 4 made me poop myself in fear,” one contributor gasps. “That's nothing,” another counters. “Silent Hill made my poop poop itself in fear!”
And so on.
It's only natural that we think about the survival horror genre during these conferences of memory. But I've been thinking lately about games that gave me the chills when I certainly didn't expect them to. I won't say I have the hardiest soul around, but even JRPGs and Super Mario games have some genuinely creepy moments that can blindside you. Not necessarily the whole game (unlike Resident Evil or Silent Hill), but maybe a specific scenario that comes back to haunt me when I wake up from a nightmare and fail to conjure something soothing to help me sleep again.
First example: The “Desert” music from Terranigma.
Terranigma was Enix's follow-up to Illusion of Gaia for the Super Nintendo. It's best known for never showing its face in America despite demand. It's known almost as well for its haunting soundtrack.
“Desert” is a sound clip that tends to visit my memory when I'm alone in some dark place, usually when my imagination is already engorged with fear. The clip doesn't have to be taken in context for its haunting whine to skittle down your neck and back, but it helps a bit.
Terranigma's protagonist, Ark, is the video game equivalent of what Adam would be if Adam's reaction to getting kicked out of the Garden of Eden had been, “Well, okay.” Ark is evicted from his village after eating the metaphorical forbidden fruit—or opening the literal Pandora's Box, if you like—and he's charged with reviving the dead Earth that he had no idea existed outside his little hamlet. When “Desert” first plays, Ark is preparing to leave everything behind for the unknown. That, to me, is what the piece reflects so well: an uncertain future. Though the unknown is a more subtle scare than omg zombies blaaargh, it is by far mankind's greatest fear.
“Desert” hits me even more strongly thanks to personal context. I played Terranigma around the time 9/11 struck, and to a degree, I associate the track with the days of unease that followed the attack. Nobody in the world knew what, precisely, was going to happen next. A World War? Another attack? Indeed, the unknown is frightening.
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