Darkness: How the Fear of It has Begun to Resurface

If someone were to ask me “Are you afraid of the dark?”, I would tell them, no…not so much, at least. While it’s true that darkness doesn’t affect me so much in real life, I must say that its use in games is becoming very effective. We have seen darkness become an evil entity—striking out at a protagonist when it can get the chance. We have seen protagonists venture into almost suffocating darkness, to the point that it begins to adversely affect them. We have also witnessed that the darkness can house creatures that the normal mind shouldn’t even begin to comprehend. Presented below are a few games that utilize the darkness in a fairly exceptional matter, and then some D: .

Alan Wake

This is a game in which the darkness can, and will, seek out the main character in order to destroy him (read: kill). In this psychological thriller/horror game, Alan Wake is a best-selling author working on his most recent book. He’s in a bit of a rut, so he heads out Bright Falls with his wife. His wife soon becomes taken by the darkness…and Alan soon realizes that the town of Bright Falls houses a much…darker presence than anyone realizes. In the moments in which Alan has to battle the darkness directly, he’s unsure as to whether or not he’s just been dreaming and might be losing his sanity. When the darkness begins to attack others in the town, including his friend/agent, things start getting real freaky. Darkness in this game not only hides what could be out there, but is one that will actively pursue/kill you if you are not prepared. Amnesia: The Dark Descent It should be seen in the title that darkness is up in this game, but how it’s utilized is unnerving. You play as a man named Daniel, a recent Amnesiac whom is also nyctophobic—he’s afraid of the dark. He is supposed to venture towards the deepest part of Castle Brennenburg to kill a man named Alexander…of Brennenburg (unintentional redundancy :D ), but the way to him is fraught with darkness. Running on a limited supply of oil and tinderboxes, you make your way through the castle. Involved in this game is also a Sanity Meter, which decreases when you see…disturbing scenes. However, it also disappears gradually…and at times, rapidly, if Daniel himself is standing directly in the darkness with no light source.

One would think that with an ample supply of tinder and oil, one should be fine. However, both can be used up quite rapidly if you’re not careful. For example, is one large area in which the darkness in and of itself is so thick and suffocating, that it strikes Daniel as unusual and…unnatural. He must venture through here, but he will use up his oil and tinder rather quickly. Coupled with the auditory hallucinations that he has when his sanity is low, venturing through this particular area of the game can…and WILL mess up both Daniel AND the player. Slender Slender is a game in which the darkness doesn’t necessarily do much…except hide something incredibly sinister. You play as a person heading into a large forested area, in search of eight pages. The entire area is dark and all you have is a flashlight. You set out to find pages scattered across the woods, only with sound of crickets and the crackling leaves beneath your feet. After searching for a few minutes you find your first pages. But when you turn around, you see someone…some…thing…in the distance. The person doesn’t move…they just stare at you…Unnerved, you move along, quickly looking back from time to time…however…the person that you saw before isn’t there. Then you look out of the corner of your eye…and there he is again…the Slenderman…in the dark, near the trees…only much closer to you. The fact that the darkness is also very suffocating doesn’t help. The moment you turn off the flashlight, you’re in almost complete darkness. Turning off your flashlight also gives the Slenderman room to run around…cause you can’t see him when he’s lurking in complete darkness…it is one of the most unnerving experiences that I have ever felt in a game. All three of these games have one thing in common: They have all elicited some sort of fear reaction from people that play them. At one point, we may have thought that we left the fear of darkness behind once we became adults. These particular games show us how wrong we were. -Chocothunda (10/5/2012)

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