Jump to content
Search In
  • More options...
Find results that contain...
Find results in...
TheeXile

Scariest Doom moment

Recommended Posts

Time for another suitably cliche "Post your" thread.


I suppose my scariest Doom moment in general is when I enter into a new area with Arachnotrons wandering about with their annoying 'buzzeet' sound in some unknown location, and then all of a sudden, without having the chance to have properly checked my flanks, the Arachnotron sounds stop!

Scary!



Alright maybe not. But the way Id cranked the damage up on those fuckers so high, I've kinda been trained to fear the pause in their noise. :P

I trust you have a better moment of fear to share?

Share this post


Link to post

actor ArachnotronPlasma2 : ArachnotronPlasma replaces ArachnotronPlasma
{
 -nogravity
}
Anyway, back on topic.

I startle easily, so many of those "generic" scary moments get me, like walking around in the dark knowing there's a Spectre running around or knowing that at the last room of each level they're going to stick a Demon in there. And of course there's those "10 health left and not a stimpack in sight" moments. And, finally, walking around a seemingly empty level, looking for the last secret, and the monster count just 1 below the max.

Share this post


Link to post

There really isn't a single moment that stands out in my mind. But I have had plenty of scares playing Doom, which is actually one of the fun things about the game. There is nothing scarier to me than wandering around a dark, cramped maze and suddenly hearing a revenant's scream, and I can't see the revenant but I'm running around frantically trying to find it before it kills me. The other thing that gets me is when I'm going around a level for a long time, and I can constantly hear the purr of an archvile hidden somewhere but I simply don't know when or where it will finally appear. I'm on edge constantly the whole way through and when the archvile does materialize it more often than not scares me shitless.

The other thing I frequently get is when I'm playing a particularly intense level (which usually involves dark mazes and not a lot of health) and somebody comes into my room. I'm generally jumpy anyway so after playing Doom for a while it only takes somebody to come in and say something to make me literally jump up out of my seat and shout "oh shit" or whatever it is I yell when I'm startled while playing the game.

Share this post


Link to post

I distinctly remember the first time I ever came across a cyberdemon. As you can guess, it was on e2m8. I could hear the thumping of its feet and it terrified me. I saw the barons splattered on the walls. I opened one of the doors, stepped out, say the outside area, and then this thing appeared in the doorway, and I was dead half a second later. When it appeared, I literally jumped out of my seat, and had to sit there for a while and get my breath back. After many many tries I did finally kill it. But I clearly remember that moment.

Now that I think about it, most of my scary moments were in Doom 1, back in the early days, before I started mapping, before I knew what a 'hitscanner' was, before I knew about sprites or pain states or anything like that.

Share this post


Link to post

Yes, ignorance was bliss when it came to Doom. Certain wads and situations still make me jump every once in a while, but back before I knew everything about how Doom worked, it was genuine terror. :)

Share this post


Link to post

Being made to jump in one of my own WADS is up there with my greatest pleasures in Doom. You've painstakingly built the level and know it like the back of your hand but that one time you forget there's nine Demons in the darkened room not eight, or overlook that Mancubus trap you added as an afterthought - that feeling is magic.

Share this post


Link to post

I'd say the arachnotrons gave me a bit of a scare the first time I came across one. (I used to really hate spiders, almost arachnophobic.) I remember switching to the plasma gun I had just discovered in Doom, only to realize the spider had one too. I had a WOAHWTF moment.

Share this post


Link to post

Honestly, nothing is more scary to me then a baron (or a pair of baron) and having nothing but a shotgun in hand, and as this thing walks towards you and you're barely managing to strafe its plasma shots, you find out that there's a wall behind you, and to both sides... and hes still walking towards you.

Share this post


Link to post

Aww, come on, Barons are fun to kill with only a shotty, not scary if you play E1M8 more then billion times.

But what is kinda scary is hearing all monsters scream at you when you "activate" them, just not nice.

Share this post


Link to post

I've also got to give mention to the entire map of Nightomb. Nearly forgot about that one. That's the first Doom map in a long time to convincingly give me the fucking creeps!

Share this post


Link to post
TheeXile said:

I've also got to give mention to the entire map of Nightomb. Nearly forgot about that one. That's the first Doom map in a long time to convincingly give me the fucking creeps!

*pees pants*

Share this post


Link to post

The dark maze in E1M2, way back in 1994. And, hmm, that's all.

Share this post


Link to post
Gez said:

The dark maze in E1M2, way back in 1994. And, hmm, that's all.


Yeah, looking back, its amazing just how visceral playing the shareware game was. Have started to finally appreciate newer wads, like 3057Hub1, which I found to be pretty good at adding suspense (and technically impressive). 3057 seems to be inspired by System Shock, which is not a bad thing IMO.
Just fired up nightomb.wad as well.. recommended.

Share this post


Link to post

I'd say the reason Knee-Deep in the Dead was visceral was due to the player's speed, and the rocket launcher and chaingun used against the relatively smaller enemies present in the episode. I particularly remember blasting through E1M9. It was relatively challenging but could make you feel powerful once you had played it enough. It still is that way to a point, but it's necessary to play in a faster and bolder fashion to achieve a similar effect today :p

Initially it was more frustrating, though. Mainly because one more clearly struggled with the controls. I suppose that to a player that had already been getting good at moving around in Wolf3D or other games with similar settings and perspective (not my case) the initial slower, less exciting but scarier, period could have been shorter or less pronounced (due more to familiarity than movement limitations).

Share this post


Link to post

I remember the leaked doom 3 alpha scared the crap out of me, but the legit release didn't scare me at all. :\

My hypothesis for that is they focused a lot more on the scare factor in that e3 demo than in the final version. There was something special about it, though. The sound effects were exceptional, and there was absolutely no music to help carry you through. The first time I played it I didn't know how many times the zombies were going to get back up, and it scared the hell out of me when they got up behind me. There was an impact sound when the bullet struck an enemy, and the blood splattering was eerily realistic. That all changed in the final release... *yawn*

Trent Reznor's sound effects were utterly phenomenal.

Share this post


Link to post
Reaper978 said:

Trent Reznor's sound effects were utterly phenomenal.

utterly stock you mean. I hated hearing those overused sounds everyone seems to blindly praise about only because that noseface was involved

Share this post


Link to post

Scariest moment? Definitely the first time I encountered the Cyberdemon on E2M8.

First you hear the footsteps, and you're curious what the hell it is. The footsteps get closer, and you catch a brief glimpse of it in the distance walking around. Then it stops moving, and before you know it, the screen explodes and you're nothing but a puddle of dead in the corner.

Seriously, terrified the hell out of me at first. A Cyberdemon encounter is still my biggest "Oh shi-" moment in Doom, especially when you run right into one at close range.

Share this post


Link to post

For me, there aren't really big scares throughout the game. At most, I get tense if I'm low on health and I manage to get surrounded, or I blindly run into a room with too many monsters.

Share this post


Link to post

The spectres scare the crap out of me when I run into them in a dark room. You don't know where they are until they bite off your head. Those moments are my scariest Doom moments.

Share this post


Link to post
the_filthy_beast said:

The spectres scare the crap out of me when I run into them in a dark room. You don't know where they are until they bite off your head. Those moments are my scariest Doom moments.

You should see one particular part of Creaphis' map if you like surprise spectres.

Share this post


Link to post
Chex Warrior said:

I still jump when a revenant rocket seemingly flies away only to come back later and hit me when I'm least expecting it.

Ugh! That's just more annoying than scary. Those darn tricky little rockets!

Similarly annoying is when you think you've avoided an Archvile attack but then you gently coast into some minuscule line of sight opening and get hit. Makes me want to hunt down ID employees each time that shit happens. :P

Share this post


Link to post

The one room at the end of E1M5 where the light glows on and off. I know where the light amp goggles are but I always avoid picking them up so that I don't kill the ominous feeling of fighting in the dark.

Share this post


Link to post

When I was younger... decapitated rabbit didn't sit well at first.

Share this post


Link to post

I'd probably have to go with the first time I played Doom, when I was 5. I got so scared that I ran and hid behind the couch. :D

Share this post


Link to post
Vile said:

When I was younger... decapitated rabbit didn't sit well at first.


Oh shit i forgot to mention that too. To this day I always F10 Y right after beating the spider demon on E3M8. I'm 18 now and just listening to D_BUNNY start up still makes me uneasy. That actually maybe one of my only childhood memories that still haunts me.

Share this post


Link to post

Being below 20 health is always a fear factor, especially with hitscans.
Playing alone in the dark, as well as playing on dark maps/areas, also adds to the freakiness. Playing on -fast always makes it somewhat scarier, and dealing with fast demons/spectres/lost souls is way scary. Trying to dodge your way around a large intense fight is always freaky - you could easily get hit by crossfire from infighting, or even worse get stuck on something and ripped to shreds in the next two seconds.

I USED to be easily freaked out by all kinds of monsters, but then again it was vanilla doom, and I only had a keyboard to play with :/ so I think it was warranted.

One memorable instant was on map27 (monster condo) - my brother had just killed a batch of revenants (in the room across from where you start, which also has the timed-from-the-start secret) where the 4 platforms come down (and later, one in the middle with barons/hellknights). Anyway, there was suspected to be a revenant missile still hovering around somewhere going in circles, but he didn't see it for a while. Suddenly, the phone rang, and the missile blasted around a corner in his face at the same exact instant. Needless to say, we both jumped.

Share this post


Link to post

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×