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The ocean in Crysis is the single most terrifying video game environment ever

MrOogieBoogie

BioShock Infinite is like playing some homeless guy's vivid imagination
I've played all the scariest games: Amnesia: The Dark Descent, Resident Evil, Silent Hill, System Shock 2, F.E.A.R., Condemned: Criminal Origins, Dead Space and I have to say, the ocean in Crysis trumps them all in terms of evoking a deep fear in me (no pun intended).

I recently started playing the game and couldn't resist jumping into the open ocean for a swim (I love swimming in real life, by the way). However, the game's waters are far too realistic for me. I know, it sounds ridiculous, but I mean it. The murky green water, the abyss below... no other game that I've played has captured the sense of actually being in open water like Crysis (and yes, I've played Endless Ocean... does not compare). The sound, too: you really feel like you're there as the waves splash around you ever so calmly.

And fucking forget about swimming down into the water. The first time I went for a dive I've never felt my heart race so much. I guess I'm more terrified of deep water diving than I thought. Looking up to see the sunlight dim as you go deeper and deeper is... ugh.

And worst of all, those fucking sharks. That's the scariest thing about the ocean: knowing there are sharks and other insane shit all around you without being able to see any of it. Makes the monsters in Amnesia look tame by comparison.


Any of you ever have any similar experiences?
 
You should play Warhead and swim out a little further.

Edit: Completely missed you already mentioned the sharks. I thought I remember hearing they removed them from C1, only to have them return in CW?
 
Alxjn said:
You should play Warhead and swim out a little further.

Fuck that. I was so terrified of what might happen or what I might see as I was swimming around in this black abyss that to get out I reloaded a previous save from when I was on land instead of swimming back up and out. I don't do shit like that in games, but my heart was racing so fast I just could not handle it.
 
Mario Games made me fear Plumbers.. never let them enter my home when I´m not there.. they might end up stealing my (princess) wife..

And I saw a video of a game last week, where a man beats another person with a big purple dildo.. that has made me put a lock on my wifes nightstand, I cannot sleep wondering if she will grap one of her dildos and smack me to a bloody pulp..
 
MrOogieBoogie said:
Fuck that. I was so terrified of what might happen or what I might see as I was swimming around in this black abyss
Nothing more than what you had seen already. Blank, sharks, that's it. Not exactly something to make a thr... Nevermind.

I felt that early 3D games often had such features to stop you from going too far in their waters. Monsters popping up to insta eat you, etc. But I can't think of particular examples right now for some reason. Perhaps it wasn't as common as I thought...

Try Endless Ocean 2 where you *can* be attacked, unlike the first game. You only lose oxygen, eventually forcing a dive abort, but you'd probably crap your pants anyway.
 
100% correct OP. Nothing in the world scarier than being defenseless in open water. I'm curious about the Warhead suggestion though... I've seen the sharks, but is there something else even farther out?
 
MrOogieBoogie said:
Fuck that. I was so terrified of what might happen or what I might see as I was swimming around in this black abyss that to get out I reloaded a previous save from when I was on land instead of swimming back up and out. I don't do shit like that in games, but my heart was racing so fast I just could not handle it.

That reminds me of the underwater level in Tomb Raider II. When that shark showed up I pretty much just stopped playing the game for about a week.

Crunched said:
100% correct OP. Nothing in the world scarier than being defenseless in open water. I'm curious about the Warhead suggestion though... I've seen the sharks, but is there something else even farther out?

Nah, I was talking about the sharks, I completely skipped over the OP mentioning them. I could use some sleep.
 
Lol, I guess its just that Crysis does underwater environs better than a lot of games I've played. First time I dove deep and looked back up only to see the sun shining down, coupled with the god rays and caustics looked amazing
 
Water that might have predators in it that you can't see is always terrifying.

I remember constantly being scared while in the water in Half-Life 2 because you see a horrible fish monster during the random teleporting at the start of the game. I always thought that it was going to come out of the shadows and devour me at any moment.
 
Yeah I posted about this in the phobia thread (get this idea from me? :D). Crysis' oceans are one of the few things in games to disturb me.

What's scariest is how quiet and unassuming the sharks are. Everything is nice and serene and you're swimming in the depths and all of a sudden some giant great white appears in front of you, and doesn't even immediately attack you. Instead it circles around you. It's the greatest artificial level barrier I've ever seen.
 
MrOogieBoogie said:
I've played all the scariest games: Amnesia: The Dark Descent, Resident Evil, Silent Hill, System Shock 2, F.E.A.R., Condemned: Criminal Origins, and I have to say, the ocean in Crysis trumps them all in terms of evoking a deep fear in me (no pun intended).

Try Fatal Frame.
 
Alextended said:
Nothing more than what you had seen already. Blank, sharks, that's it. Not exactly something to make a thr... Nevermind.

I felt that early 3D games often had such features to stop you from going too far in their waters. Monsters popping up to insta eat you, etc. But I can't think of particular examples right now for some reason. Perhaps it wasn't as common as I thought...

Half-Life 2 and the leeches. Those leeches.

But that isn't really an early 3D game...
 
Well thanks OP.. I've had Crysis since release and I didn't even know there were sharks in deeper waters. Have to check that out later lol.

Just watched a youtube video and it looks like they're actually handled quite well. Crytek should make a critter/deep sea game.
 
MetalSlime said:
Play Dead Space with full 5.1 sound.

I have. Does NOTHING for me.

The water in Crysis has managed to unearth a deep, deep fear in me that games like Dead Space and F.E.A.R. could never do.
 
Fucking Half-Life!

Ichthyosaur.jpg
 
Wow you literally read my mind, yesterday I was just thinking about scary games, and guess what comes to my mind....

Swimming innocently around in the visually immersive Crysis ocean and subconsciously thinking how terrifying seeing a shark would be.

I turned around and was staring down some jaws, almost had a heart attack lol.

Crazy that you made this thread.
 
I fucking hated the underwater boss on Star Wars:Shadow of the Empire. I made the mistake of not payig attention to the bottom of the arena where the boss was situated in. As im shooting up at his tentacles I finally look down and notice that im right in the monsters mouth and I die. I hated that fight
 
Its too bad the sharks don't dive and use the whole water space in crysis. A little bit more programming to that though..
 
I've felt the same in many games actually. Maybe I have a phobia of the ocean and I'm just not really aware of it.

Heck, even Duke Nukem Forever triggered it. Late game spoilers:
One of the final levels where you're at the dam and have to swim between bubbles. Thinking about accidentally swimming too far away kinda freaked me a tiny little bit.

One of the best/worst examples of this is the Silent Hunter games. Whenever you sink a boat, the game automatically starts showing a picture-in-picture of the boat sinking. If you want, you could keep watching it sink further and further down into the ocean, becoming more and more faded out. Of course, I never do that and make sure to toggle that view off pretty quickly.

The diving levels in Tomb Raider: Underworld was a bit freaky too. It was okay to swim in areas in the caves or small areas which are fully detailed and lit up, but once I'm in an completely open area where I see endless darkness in the distance then I hurry back to the cave I'm supposed to be in.
 
szaromir said:
You've never dived in real life?

Nope. I love swimming, by the way, but I've always had a very vivid imagination. So even when I'd go swimming in lakes or other reasonably deep bodies of water I would start thinking about what might be below and start conjuring up scenarios of me being pulled into the water by something. I've never gone diving in the ocean (mostly because I haven't had the opportunity), so this game, with how realistic it is, brought back that childhood fear of the abyss. And nothing is scarier than the ocean, so I was unprepared to handle the stress of being thrown into such an environment. I'm now certain I'd react the same way if I really went diving in the ocean, which sucks.
 
jokkir said:
Half-Life 2 and the leeches. Those leeches.

But that isn't really an early 3D game...

Not an early 3D game either but Resistance 2 had water insta death monsters too.

Some parts you had to swim past them. The feeling of any water baddie chasing you really gets the heart pounding.
 
Alextended said:
Nothing more than what you had seen already. Blank, sharks, that's it. Not exactly something to make a thr... Nevermind.

I felt that early 3D games often had such features to stop you from going too far in their waters. Monsters popping up to insta eat you, etc. But I can't think of particular examples right now for some reason. Perhaps it wasn't as common as I thought...

Try Endless Ocean 2 where you *can* be attacked, unlike the first game. You only lose oxygen, eventually forcing a dive abort, but you'd probably crap your pants anyway.

It's not just about being attacked; it's mostly how realistic it feels to be swimming in that game.

And I HAVE played Endless Ocean 2... it's not scary at all. Evokes zero sense of fear in me, even with sharks everywhere.
 
Morrowind. The Ashlands scared the living hell out of me. Especially with those flying creatures around. Every time I passed through it and reached a town it felt like the biggest achievement I could have in the game.
 
MrOogieBoogie said:
Nope. I love swimming, by the way, but I've always had a very vivid imagination. So even when I'd go swimming in lakes or other reasonably deep bodies of water I would start thinking about what might be below and start conjuring up scenarios of me being pulled into the water by something. I've never gone diving in the ocean (mostly because I haven't had the opportunity), so this game, with how realistic it is, brought back that childhood fear of the abyss. And nothing is scarier than the ocean, so I was unprepared to handle the stress of being thrown into such an environment. I'm now certain I'd react the same way if I really went diving in the ocean, which sucks.
I've gone diving once and it was scary as shit. Like, constantly worrying about getting water in your goggles because you haven't properly learned how to clear them under-water yet. Seeing teethed fish. Its very rewarding though. I went in the caymen islands so the water was really clear. I would not want to do it in murky water... not yet at least. :lol
 
Zeliard said:
Yeah I posted about this in the phobia thread (get this idea from me? :D). Crysis' oceans are one of the few things in games to disturb me.

What's scariest is how quiet and unassuming the sharks ever. Everything is nice and serene and you're swimming in the depths and all of a sudden some giant great white appears in front of you, and doesn't even immediately attack you. Instead it circles around you. It's the greatest artificial level barrier I've ever seen.

Nah, I didn't see your post. I've been meaning to make this thread for a while, though.

And yes, completely agree about the sharks being unassuming. It adds so much more to the realism and genuine creepiness.
 
Sectus said:
I've felt the same in many games actually. Maybe I have a phobia of the ocean and I'm just not really aware of it.

Heck, even Duke Nukem Forever triggered it. Late game spoilers:
One of the final levels where you're at the dam and have to swim between bubbles. Thinking about accidentally swimming too far away kinda freaked me a tiny little bit.

One of the best/worst examples of this is the Silent Hunter games. Whenever you sink a boat, the game automatically starts showing a picture-in-picture of the boat sinking. If you want, you could keep watching it sink further and further down into the ocean, becoming more and more faded out. Of course, I never do that and make sure to toggle that view off pretty quickly.

The diving levels in Tomb Raider: Underworld was a bit freaky too. It was okay to swim in areas in the caves or small areas which are fully detailed and lit up, but once I'm in an completely open area where I see endless darkness in the distance then I hurry back to the cave I'm supposed to be in.

Like I said, for me, this game's underwater sections are the only ones to evoke this response in me. I've played many games with underwater sections before, littered with all kinds of grotesque monsters, and have never given it a second thought. But throw me into the most realistic ocean setting in gaming with real predators instead of imaginary monsters and you've got my mind running and my heart racing.

It's very interesting now that I think about it.
 
User33 said:
No Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines mention GAF? Seriously?

maWqb.jpg

Creepy level, but again, more "game creepy" than anything else.

The ocean in Crysis is "real" creepy. No other way to describe it, but that's how I feel.
 
MrOogieBoogie said:
Like I said, for me, this game's underwater sections are the only ones to evoke this response in me. I've played many games with underwater sections before, littered with all kinds of grotesque monsters, and have never given it a second thought. But throw me into the most realistic ocean setting in gaming with real predators instead of imaginary monsters and you've got my mind running and my heart racing.

It's very interesting now that I think about it.
Crysis also didn't really give you a good way to kill the sharks. You couldn't shoot them like in Underworld.
 
I just booted up Crysis Warhead, and I went in pretty cocky since I've never found any other body of water even slightly creepy.

Holy shit was I wrong. The fogginess, the fantastic sound design, and the goddamn sharks. It was so unnerving I had to pause a few times, but wow, Crytek did an amazing job on this.
 
Tomb Raider 2's sharks in the level "40 Fathoms" scared me immensely when i played it in the 1990s. Something about them being able to insta-kill you really freaked me out..
 
Dechaios said:
I've never played Crysis... No pics of what you are talking about? :/

Pics won't do it justice. Believe me. You have to actually experience yourself. You won't get the fantastic sound design from pics either (or videos, for that matter).
 
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