I have said it before an I feel like I'll be saying it forever. This portion of this game is genuinely the *ONLY* horror segment to ever truly make me uneasy. And for that I will always regard it extremely highly.
Legit remember desperately searching for the puzzle solution because I was so scared I was on the verge of tears 10/10 have maybe never felt that terrified and out of control in a game
But seriously re8 makes me stupid happy. It's the perfect mix of horror and goofy and you can tell the actors had fun with their characters AND the ending made me cry. It's perfect, to me.
I feel like the reason Ethan was so terrified of the Cetus was because he’s lost his own baby daughter. He probably can’t help but see the parallels of the baby and Rose, and it downright terrifies him.
It isn't even really a parallel, the whole sequence is Ethan's own mind tormenting him about what could go wrong with Rose. The baby is his imagined worst case scenario where Rose turns into an abomination.
@@dominicgreen4181 It sounded to me more like he was saying the fetus monster is real and parallels his fears about Rose. I'm more inclined to believe it's not real at all and is a hallucination.
@@100organicfreshmemes5if it’s not real then do you think Ethan dies of just pure shock from the hallucinations? I actually think that would make sense, and is also why he doesn’t at least *try* to fight the monster baby barehanded and instead chooses to run entirely - he is probably deep down worried it’s Rose
Another great part of this section is the fact Ethan DID have his weapons, but because of the hallucinations, he couldn't use them. It's also a scary but fascinating thought that Donna was hunted down and killed by a man who was so angry and lost in the hallucinations. The fear she felt must have been horrifying
Honestly it was Angie who wanted to mess with Ethan since Donna is essentially a disabled kid trapped in a grown-up's body who just wanted some company but aside from that House Beneviento was nightmare fuel at its finest especially with that montrous fetus-like thing.
You can see a sign of her desperately running for her life in the house via a bloody handprint on the wall as she was running from Ethan; the left hall when you're facing the front door. Some believe Donna was- for the most part- innocent. She was a traumatized, mentally ill child who couldn't mature properly; as Miranda neglected to teach and treat her as a growing child, and instead only performed experiments with her powers (In the hopes that she was a suitable enough vessel for her REAL child) in which I can only assume Donna saw as "games" or a "chore" from her Mother as a coping mechanism for lack of interaction both physically and mentally, so when the "game" was turned against her, she was terrified, she didn't know what to do, and her only choice was to run while hoping her powers could stop Ethan. I think if Miranda put actual effort into caring for Donna, she would've been a suitable enough vessel for Eveline. The only reason she wasn't was because she was mentally unstable, but Miranda could've taken the time to put her through a slow healing process until she wasn't, or until she was able to properly live with it. I think Miranda is like one of those procrastinators that does something difficult and time-consuming to avoid doing something simpler. She waited 100 years trying to find a fitting vessel when it could've only taken about 20 or so with a healing process. I think she could've gotten what she wanted if she didn't have such quick judgement.
13:26 I think another thing to note is that before the course of this game, Ethan just lost his infant daughter, so seeing that grotesque fetus monster must've had a personal kind of horror for him that the other monsters he's faced up until now haven't had. Makes his reaction much more genuine
Its a representation of the “Monster” Rose may be due to Ethan being made out of mold. His personal fear, in Ethans mind. Adds to House Beneviento Truly playing on ones deepest fears.
@@L16htW4rr10r Yep, after he leaves the castle he ends up finding out that she was dismembered and her body parts were put in jars, the reason he leaves to find Donna is to find the rest of the jars so he can do something to put her back together (I don't really remember what, it's been a good while since I've watched a playthrough of RE8.)
I never played Re8 but I had the same feeling, especially with him having to submit a photo of his daughter to even enter the house to begin with (I'm aware it's [probably] not the same daughter-) It's really interesting ^^
The fetus sequence filled me with genuine, skin-tingling terror like no other horror game I played before. Even after leaving the basement, I was so disturbed by the experience that I became deathly quiet during the Donna fight. I could have sworn my face was pale lol
As somebody who was disturbed by the fetus in PT and has some slight fears about fatherhood, seeing that baby come down the hallway in the dark while playing the game too late at night was genuinely one of the most unsettling horror moments I had from a game in years. Add the fear of being eaten alive and my first death sequence caused me to just be catatonic for a good few minutes before continuing on.
Dude I played this a few months after I had my daughter born so the whole game hit me in my fear of fatherhood at the time. The whole saving Rose helped me with my unsure feelings about it all. The baby did feel like our miscarriages coming for me in some fked up way. Most terrifying part of the game for me.
The fetus in PT disturbed me, too. I think that babies, new humans with such amazing potential - cute ones, at that, who are to be loved and have so much promise, to me, is what I think disturbs me about this kind of stuff. Babies and children have so much innocence, and when they're formed into something grotesque and somewhat threatening, I think it does something to our psyche.
The House Beneviento sequence is a masterful example of set up->punchline in a horror context. the quiet, quaint, normal-feeling house after castle dimetrescu is unnerving because you know something’s gonna pop off, but also because the last time you were in a normal house was when you were holding rose. and then it just repeatedly drills down on one central thought never spoken but constantly implied: there’s something wrong with the baby.
I think I hated the mannequin dolls from the dlc even more, but this is a masterclass in building up dread and tension, and then deliver. Some people complained Village was becoming too action oriented, but almost all of them asterisked it with a “except for the baby part”.
I really loved Donna as a character. I felt like she got overshadowed by Alcina. I appreciated the subtlety and psychological horror aspects of house Beneviento. Lady Dimitrescu is still a great character but her sequences feel more like survival horror than psychological horror. Personal preference I guess, but Donna and Angie deserve love as well.
This is actually one reason I was disappointed with how short the whole sequence was. With Lady Dimitrescu, she was great but…they disposed of her, instead of giving her the potential of having her stalk you throughout the whole game like Nemesis. The same could’ve been done for Donna. Since she infected you with the pollen of the plants, throughout the game or other areas (Dimitrescu’s castle would’ve been perfect) she could’ve haunted you too.
House Beneviento also adds onto the story of Ethan in a pretty horrifying way. Dude's been through a lot. Years after facing a nasty encounter with the Bakers and the Mold, Ethan experiences his wife being shot repeatedly and his infant child taken away by someone who'd insure his family's protection, that being Chris Redfield. Shortly after that, he's left on his own to rescue his daughter by whatever third party has intervened between him and Chris. He's left to fend off against monsters again, he fails to save (and possibly unintentionally led the deaths of) the remaining survivors of the once peaceful village, and after defeating Lady D, came to the gut-punch realization that his child, Rose, has been physically taken apart, put in flasks and are guarded by the four lords. No doubt this would all be emotionally grating to Ethan, and it comes to a climax in House Beneviento. Like Pastra said, there are the dolls representing children, but then there are the challenges Donna inflicts on Ethan. The vague panicked whispers of Mia over the radio that possibly hint toward abortions, searching across the house for Angie representing losing a child in a vast group of them, and finally that twisted fetus monster portraying the potential anxiety of Ethan that Rose might've had some exposure to the Mold, mutating her into a vile beast.
The layout of this game was so fun. It felt like a big mash-up of a bunch of different genres. Gothic survival horror, psychological horror, lovecraftian horror, mechanized body horror. Just all squashed together with an admittedly silly story but I had a blast playing though this entire game. Sometimes horror games can get stale towards the end because you become desensitized to what is being shown but Village did a great job of always keeping you on your toes. It also looked great graphically. Prolly the most fun RE since 4.
Also I'd like to say while the baby monster is extremely disturbing, what makes it so scary is the meticulous buildup that starts off so subtle you aren't even aware of it. Even before I got to the house I was already creeped out and it just gets more and more disturbing as it goes on. So by the time the baby showed up, I was already consumed by dread and seeing that abomination scared me to my core.
It was perfect to put such an unassuming and quiet section like House Beneviento after the in your face relentless violence of the castle and village. The mere expectation of something terrible is what sells the long walk to and through the house. Not to mention taking your guns away right after you’ve become proficient in the game’s combat loop leaves you feeling the true hopelessness of being in this place. And then there is all the thematic elements and symbolism present… I’m going to start ranting if I continue further. 😅 Capcom should be proud of what they’ve accomplished here.
I remember hearing someone point something out about the baby (probably superhorrorbro) The baby may be a hallucination of Ethans daughter Rose, a representation of what Ethan was scared she’d become when she was born due to the mold
I love how Pastra always looks at the brightest parts of games in order to ensure he covers what games do right, while showing the positives to show how in every game he likes, there is something that shows the devs had passion while making it
As great as that sequence is, the biggest criticism of it is just how abruptly it throws out most of the mechanics. That entire section is basically a completely different game. There aren't even any collectables in that entire section, which is a bizarre choice that just makes the whole thing feel even more out of place. You spend a half hour playing, with literally no reward for it other than story progression, aka "being allowed to continue playing". They could have at least sprinkled a few crafting ingredients around. Resident Evil games always tend to feel like a bunch of segments there were cobbled together. And as great as Village was, it is by far the most inconsistent of them all.
As a little kid, I was scared of a lot of things. What scared me the most was the graveyard from Charlie Murder, and the god damn Wilikin from skylanders.
Man, the scariest thing I’d ever saw was come and see. Just watched it recently, it’s a Russian WWII film. It’s been posted on RUclips for free, and has not been taken down yet. It’s very good and I highly recommend it. Though it’s a “bit” disturbing
I remember being around 8 years old and watching my dad play Batman Arkham City. He got to the part with Two-Face and I genuinely started crying from how scary it was. I couldn't sleep for multiple days afterwards because something about Two-Face's design just made me fear for my life. I don't think I'll ever experience that level of fear again.
I like to think that after the Baker home, Ethan is pretty tired of monster stuff, hence why he's mostly annoyed and confused about what's going on beyond basic survival instincts and "WTF IS GOING ON" reactions. And them he's in THIS house. The real survival instincts kick in, he feels helpless without his tools, is genuinely upset about the puzzles, and his baby girl being taken just make it all worse for him. Donna triggered his FoF response and didn't realize Ethan by now is a flightless bird
I love the idea that Ethan went barreling through House Benneviento, hunting Donna in her own home while hallucinating heavily and just giving her the Redfield Special every time he sees her
I'm surprised you didn't mention how you can hear the baby crying as an ambient noise throughout the entire buildup to the encounter. It's fantastic. The player would think they're about to rescue a helpless baby or at least they'd think that a baby wouldn't be a threat, only for the game to reveal that the baby is the threat.
11:54 I also think the subtle touch of it initially moving slowly before immediately speeding up makes it even more terrifying, since that’s when you realize you have far less time than you initially thought. The way the sides of its mouth move are also very unnerving.
The baby's wining, the squishy flesh noise, the small confined space, the fact that you're completely defenseless. This isn't just the greatest horror segment in re8 , it's the greatest horror segment in re HISTORY
Indeed. One of the only other horror moments in a RE game that made me walk away for a little bit was the reveal of the moaning Nosferatu monster bound and gagged behind the sliding locker in Resident Evil:Code Veronica.
i think my favourite part of this is the hallucination of mia before the house. with what we know afterwards, that donna can actively control hallucinations, it means shes been watching ethan and messing with him since before he even stepped foot in her house. donna is by far my favourite lord, shes much more passive than the others yet she seems much more cruel with how shes messing with him, taking from his specific fears. shes fascinating
it's very interesting, She's very clearly one of the more "Innocent" lords, acting out of want for things to not change rather than hate for Ethan or born malice
I think there’s clues to this early in the game, like Rose’s teddy Bear in one of the houses early on. (I forgot what part exactly, but I know there’s a rocker rocking on it’s own with her teddy bear in it somewhere early in the game)
Queen Vanessa was the scariest thing I have experienced in a game. Not because of scariness, but because of it being in A HAT IN TIME. A game that, other than some aspects, is an adorable adventure through a strange and wonderful world. You start the mission, and the first thing you feel is regret. Regret that you chose this. A nightmare hand creeping towards Hat Kid. You feel nothing but fear the whole time you approach the mansion, and then this cutesy game gives you A JUMPSCARE. Vanessa suddenly barges out of a room, and you likely stand there in fear as the nightmare music begins and she approaches to one hit kill you. You head into a room, and realize this is not going to be a simple chase. You have to do different things that make noise and then hide as Vanessa goes straight for you. And the end, where you walk in on her, and have to grab the key and RUN as fast as Hat Kid's cute legs can take you. Not to mention she's an actual sleep paralysis demon. Vanessa will likely eventually be topped, but for now, she will stand as my ultimate jumpscare from a game.
As soon as I reached the red bloody room, I seen the red fleshy chord that trails down the dark hallway, with alll the symbolism to this point I was like. “That’s an umbilical chord isint it”? and i went down the hall following it going “this is awful, I don’t like this one bit” When I eventually reached the big baby I had such a fight or flight response to it that I’ve never experienced in a videogame even despite how slow it is. Very coool
I'm SO glad that somebody is talking about how amazingly horrifying the baby is in this game. At one point I tried to tell it to my friends, but they kinda didn't believe me
Am i the only one who thinks that a game with just this level of horror from start to finish would be great? Like, they made gold with that sequence and the rest of the game being a down grade from that is just...sad.
@@volnartheunforgiving3952 I wasn't talking about the video tho I was saying the baby thing is terrifying I think you ment to respond to the comment that's above mine
What a perfect video essay. A very solid mix of editing and writing, both analytical and emotional. As someone who aspires to create this exact type of content, you my friend are an inspiration. Bravo!
What I love/hate the most about this sequence is the sounds the baby makes when chasing you, that mix of cries and laughs with some baby words (dadadad) are really what terrified me and at the same time, its kind of cute, and that's just scarier
The fact that the first thing I did when I first found one of the lockers was realize that I was able to walk into it terrified me because I instantly knew it was a hiding place but the fact, I didn't know what I would be hiding from was the worst feeling ever.
@@Syliag7 I think the connection between Dracula and dragons is more about draculea meaning "son of the dragon / devil" than actually turning into one, however given the metric ton of myths on vampires, it's very likely one is described using such an ability which and have been used as inspiration for lady Dimitrescu.
I think the thing that gets me with that baby monster sequence is that fact that the monster is so warped, so uncanny that it genuinely makes me uncomfortable to look at it. The sinking feeling I got when I first saw it and the fact that you have maybe a second to process what you're looking at before you have to run really solidified this... creature as one of the scariest moments for me. And that final moment where most I feel are desperately clicking the button in a futile attempt to make the elevator get there faster really shows how good they are at making a sequence that was seriously scary without the need for jumpscares or ear hurting noises.
I remember playing this part of the game, with the build up of the atmosphere and my weapons being taken away, I was left with horror and when I made it to the slow elevator I was panicking as the baby gets closer to me. This was the most terrifying part of the game or from any other game I felt.
What scared me the most as a kid was this one episode of Flapjack where there is a wish-granting whale, but every time you make a wish it hurts the whale. It showed the main character flapjack making wish after wish and the whale graphically shriveling up and dying in agony. Scared the shit out of me and I had nightmares for weeks lol
Pretty much half of Flapjack is just scary, uncanny, super-detailed stuff! The giant baby, the monster looking for his legs, the trolley lady, the hairy fish-head nightmares Doctor Barber crafted, the hallucination Captain K’nuckles had in a school, the nightmare fuel the West was, etc., but all of it was definitely unsettling. The wish whale one is definitely a special case of terrifying & heartbreaking.
Probably one of my creepiest horror experiences as a kid would be a flash game using a mix of pencil-scribble-art and sepia photos that had you investigate a house point-and-click style where someone committed suicide. Gradually, memories get mixed up, and the spirit of the house preys on the protagonist's mind to push you into slitting your own throat nearly in two, with screams of other people who tried to contact you and came over to try to save you from the possession. Could be misremembering a few parts - I think it was removed from Ugoplayer (back when that was a thing) and haven't found it anywhere else afterwards.
This moment with the fetus/baby monster was, without question, the scariest part of the game and the highlight of it. I still remember how I let out a scream upon seeing that... thing peeking around the corner of that hallway before coming into full view towards Ethan. This was a truly terrifying moment.
To answer the question you had at the start: Probably playing a few select video games at a very early age. I remember playing Minecraft in the summer of 2012 as just some 6-7 year old kid and being absolutely terrified of the foggy horizon (caused by low render settings), creepy enemies and monstrous sounds. While such things are only nostalgic to me now, my old self was constantly tense. Another one that had me scared was basically any timed event when I was just a little kid, those things are what scared me out of procrastinating later in life.
I was scared of the “you may not rest now, there are monsters nearby” message. I was maybe like 9 or 10 and playing in creative mode but it scared the shit out of me
@@GameStormerSam That one was always a little offputting for me, though it wasn't too bad. What always scared me as a kid was the groans of zombies and the sound of an Enderman getting irritated. I literally always avoided confrontation with endermen, just because they terrified me so much.
My most feared piece of media has to be a review of the movie "Where the wind blows" not because of what the review had to say but how it made me think, the movie is terrifying no matter how much knowledge you know in the matter, but the knowledge you know amplifies the scare factor because you know what the radiation will do to the couple. The thing that really got me was the realization that people who couldn't communicate (had no electronics or just couldn't get the information needed) Did not know that bombs would drop, being completely left in the dark, and if they somehow survived, not knowing what happened or how to survive
Idk if it was the same review, but I too watched one, and I remember feeling physically ill as the story progressed, when it ended, I felt light-headed 😅
I think the worst part about this is what the giant fetus represents, it’s literally Donna convincing Ethan that his daughter is a monster, with the radio recording that preceded the encounter implies that not only that beast is Rose, but that it ate her mother while she was still in her belly, and her father is next on the menu’. And most importantly if it was all an illusion, ( as you said) what the creature that took the appearance of the fetus really was.
Also the scariest piece of horror media I think I've ever experienced was probably the concept of Final destination (1 specifically). It wasn't the gore or anything like that; it was the realization of just how vulnerable you are and how almost anything can kill you. That concept was running through my head for a long time after first watching it as I looked at multiple objects and imagined scenarios on how it could kill me. And that's way scarier to me than any jumpscares, tension or gore. Because it felt real.
That's the amazing thing about horror games. You can have no dialogue, no gore, jumpscares, maybe not even any characters at all and you can still make it unsettling.
That's really funny because Final Destination has the same issue as Mortal Kombat, the characters are made of paper at best and break all their bones when you sneeze on them
Even after 10 years of horror experience regarding games and movies, NOTHING prepared me for this. Outside of playing Outlast, my flight or fight response has never been elevated to such a level.
Glad to hear some Ethan love, hes genuinely one of my favourite protagonists and I feel like people dont appreciate him enough hes just some guy who is so tired and annoyed and I love him
@@Pastraspec I am maybe condescending, but he is like the weakest protagonist of any resident evil? Let alone he is two different people between 7and 8 (that said, re8 is a retcon of everything in re7, as re7 is nonsensical and insulting to resident evil) but he is mostly “just there”…
The mutated baby sequence gave me a straight up panic attack. I think this is the scariest thing I've ever seen, and now because of it, I'm scared asf of dark hallways where we don't see the end. Capcom N A I L E D this section. The ambiance, the music building up, the noises, everything is perfect !
I know what you mean I've played through a few resident evil games at that point and I've been pretty unflappable throughout them but this sequence REALLY got to me 😰 When I finally got to the elevator my hands were shaking and I had to lay down on the couch before I could continue
my most horrifying experience was actually my own doing. I write as a hobby, and one of my stories is about my own wonderland where an alternate version of myself struggles through all her fears and problems. At the beginning of her adventure, she is captured by my version of the queen of hearts, the queen of scars. originally I wrote a very gory scene where they shredded my alternate self up to almost dead and I described it so well that I gave myself probably the second-worst panic attack I have ever had, followed by a week of anxiety and mental stress around my physical well-being that shook me to my core. that original scene has been deleted and replaced for my own sanity, but it still haunts me to this day.
@@alejandropulidorodriguez9723 sometimes in the heat of creativity you do something you think you can handle, and you soon find out you can't, then immediately regret itm it wasn't the first time but it'll certainly be the last.
I'd say one of the scariest moments I've ever seen is in the hospital of Little Nightmares 2, being the hallway scene. The arms bursting through the walls and clawing at the player will always stay in my mind
I think i have a fear of women, in Little Nightmares 1 DLC, the japanese masked girl scares me the most not sure why nothing else does but she is my fear.
What makes the horror in House Beneviento even better is the fact that Ethan is basically tripping balls throughout this entire section of the game. Edit: Jesus, 1.4K likes. I was just making a simple statement!
The scariest game I’ve played recently is: the complex found footage. I loved how it just built tension and unease throughout the entire time. Without any giant monster or jumpscares
My favorite tiny detail is that once Donna is dead, you can see blood splatters around the house, showing how Donna was bleeding out as she ran and hid from Ethan
I honestly would love to see Pastra doing a video about the Mother franchise, it may all see pretty cute and funny, but once you see through it, it can be pretty damn scary when you think of the implications.
Personally, it was my first time encountering a Reaper Leviathan in Subnautica. I was exploring around the back of the Aurora, and I heard the calls of the Reaper, but it was pretty far away. So I kept going in my Seamoth, not knowing that I was going towards the damned thing. I keep going, and then I see a shadow ahead of me. It gets bigger, and bigger, and more and more clear. The Reaper Leviathan came out of nowhere, grabbed my Seamoth, and genuinely scared me more than any jumpscare in a game. This moment made me so incredibly terrified that I genuinely almost shit my pants, and I had to pause the game to run to the bathroom before I did.
The biggest thing that makes this work so well to me is Mia. You hear her over the radio throughout the Beneviento house, and she tells a story through her dialogue. She goes from being happy about her pregnancy, to feeling like something is wrong, to saying "Rose, I'm so sorry...... what am I gonna tell Ethan" and ending with her saying "It'll be fine" over and over again in a frantic, desperate way as though she's trying desperately to convince herself that everything is okay. Then you find the baby. This entire sequence is an allegory for childbirth complications. Perhaps a miscarriage. It taps into a primal fear that most humans have. The deep-rooted fear that their child is dead and could kill the mother. Hence the baby's swollen, grotesque, parasitic form. It's a nightmare version of rose, hence why Ethan is particularly shocked. He recognized it as a horrible version of his own daughter, twisted beyond belief due to the very real threat of birth complications. (Not for rose obviously, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was a fear Ethan had) I didn't lose sleep over it, but God is this section so damn effective. The DLC had a really good Beneviento house as well, but I'm not sure if it quite tops this one.
"This entire sequence is an allegory for childbirth complications. Perhaps a miscarriage. " It's really not. It's just Donna being jealous and perverting something which should be pure and innocent to mess with Ethan. Donna was no less evil then other three lords. btw, this sequence is actually the only time I've seen my "kid" sister (she's early 20s) play some horror game and take a break. She's not a huge gamer, but she likes to play some horror games sometimes, and she had blast with RE7. So she played this one as well and the entire House Beneviento sequence made her unnerved. She was freaking out during baby sequence, said that it wasn't really jumpscare or anything, it was the sound of baby crying and laughing that made her unease. After she beat Donna, she took a break and didn't play it till next night. All the sequences in RE7, she had ton of fun, but this one, she was just dead silent.
What I love about your videos, is how you are able to convey a point of view that I never experience from horror media, that being the details and ways horror is felt. I seem to be unable to get scared by games or movies, so I always feel like I'm missing out on stuff like this, and your videos are such an amazing way to understand what that thing I'm missing feels like, it really enhances the experience on future playthroughs and my overall opinions on stuff. For example, House Beneviento was really boring for me, I basically speedran it, not feeling any fear from the fetus makes it incredible easy to escape, and because of that I totally missed out on stuff like the music change and ambiance that you pointed out. Thanks for the amazing content, and have a nice day 😊
One thing I was sad to not see you mention was the instinctual response humans have when we hear a baby crying. I'm very sure that the distorted cries are both triggering those instincts and our "Something's Wrong" instincts in an attempt to disturb us I actually tested this theory of mine by showing this part of RE8 to a mother (who I know has strong maternal instincts), and she audibly and physically freaked out after a specific cry and was near hysterical for the whole rest of the time dealing with the baby
For me one of the scariest moment in a game I really love was piecing together what actually happened to Isaac. It felt heartbreaking and terrifying knowing that this child was pushed to asphyxiate inside his own toy chest and to this day I haven't felt that dread Binding of Isaac made me feel in those few moments.
As someone with a deep fear and physical disgust at the mere concept of becoming pregnant and giving birth, this section TERRIFIED me on a deep and visceral level. It so perfectly encompasses Ethan's fear of what's happened to his daughter/what she might actually be. I'm not sure if any of the members of the dev team share my fear, but it really feels like they understand how these kinds of things can be so terrifying to some of us. I think it also kind of helps visualize that fear to those who don't have it and don't understand it. Like, whenever I picture pregnancy (for as long as i can stomach to) that is more or less what I imagine would be growing inside of me and that thought just makes me want to rip my own skin off it's so uncomfortable. This scene with that design brought up those same skin-crawling sensations to the point that it was actually difficult for me to watch, but I appreciate how well done it was to achieve that reaction.
FULLY seconded. I have to remember that this sequence intentionally disturbing and terrifying, so that I can keep my brain centred and not spiralling into an anxious panic about the real-life body horror process that humanity somehow just treats as normal and expected.
I have the exact same fears, and this segment disgusted me so much I actually had to step away and cry. Even just watching this video about it made me feel on edge. There's just something I find so viscerally disgusting about pregnancy and childbirth, and this part of the game just gets that. No shade to people who do want to give birth; I respect your decisions, and hope you are doing good! But personally, I absolutely do not ever want any of those things to happen to me.
The fear I have of being pregnant, and specifically how babies essentially act like parasites in the womb (literally using your own blood until they have own) has made so goddamn anxious. The first jumpscare of the creature in this game was so goddamn horrific holly hell, but I hadn't played the game so I had no idea that the whole section was based on being chased by that thing. Its so horrifying, like theres no way that one of the devs doesn't have a fear related to child birth, it was just too real you know?
17:51 what I can possibly think of, is that if Ethan was to be eaten by the baby, in real life, he would have a Heart Attack and then collapse on the ground. But then, if he survived without his own heart at the end of the game... I don't know what else
This sequence nearly gave me a panic attack honestly. It at least threw me into fits of hyperventilation where I had to pause. There was such a horrific terror running through me when I got to the elevator and had to wait. Even when looking for Angie, and had to walk back towards the elevator, I was so terrified of just being near it. I knew nothing would happen, but fucking hell. They knew what they were doing when they had one of her locations to hide in be there.
So the whole thing made me cry for different reasons. I am separated from my daughter and even though my baby momma let's me see her whenever, it still hurts me to be away from her. This level made me fight against any parental instincts to want to console that giant fetus. I was in tears when the fetus was crying for us as we entered the elevator, mainly cause as a father it hurt me that I couldn't sooth that babies crying.
resident evil gives me one specific memory every time i see or hear the name. my dad used to play resident evil games a couple years ago, and i would watch. i’m not sure which game he was playing at the time, but he was in this odd alternate reality-looking place. i feel like water was a large part of it; same with the phrase “happy birthday,” but this was years ago, so i don’t exactly remember anyway, he had to get a password. it was carved into the character’s arm after a while, the password being “LOSER.” he forgot it though and i think it went away. i have amazing short term memory, so he asked me if i remember the password. i did, so i said “Loser.” but he thought i was calling him a loser and said “that wasn’t very nice.” (i was very young at this point in time so that’s why he said it like that.) and i vividly remember frantically correcting myself. “no, the password is loser!” i don’t know what was happening, i don’t know which game that was, i don’t know why i remember that specifically, but it’s just the memory i associate with resident evil nowadays.
Omg, that part is so stuck in my memory too. I played resident evil 7 in 2019/2020 and I was like 14. And I still have nightmares about that "happy happy birthday". It's the reason I'm so reluctant to play re7 again. No horror game or movie will ever frighten me as much as that one.
When I saw a let’s player get to this point in the game I legit go chills down my spine. The baby noise are what really got me as just imagining that this THING making such noises made me queasy. The sound that it makes as it crawls towards you mixed with the music makes a sickening feeling. Even when you are hiding you are on edge just because you can hear it wandering around saying “Mama”. I legit had to pause the video to even process what that thing was
The thing that scared me the most when I was younger was the abominable snowman from the 1964 Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer movie. The fear of the unknown struck me hard during that scene where they listened to it roaring in the distance during the blizzard.
I adore House Beneviento so much. Such a fantastic culmination of great elements that perfectly creates a striking moment of pure horror and dread. As well as how this moment is in relations with Ethan Winters in particular, since his mission in the game is to rescue his beloved baby daughter Rose. The giant mutant baby may also be my number one favorite Resident Evil monster as well. It's just a horrific menace to encounter, even if it is a hallucination which is a result of the mold. Amazing analysis Pastra, well done
This section of the game felt near as terrifying as P.T- The uncanny house, the environment looking endlessly simalur, and of course the monster itself. It was an excellent display of horror and I wish the whole game gad more moments like it.
For me the scariest parts of games are when non-horror games adopt horrific elements. Like, say, that one part of Stray, or the twist in Bugsnax. But in my opinion, the scariest moment in gaming is in Omori, when the truth of what Something is is revealed
Even though I was spoiled on the reveal (willingly though), it still managed to freak me out with all the hints scattered through the game up to that part. That's how good of a reveal it is.
yet another Pastra video that more than delivers. love your content, man. I don't usually leave these kinds of comments but I genuinely really enjoy your videos and I felt I should express it for once
What I also love is that it doesn’t pursue you, you can outrun it and hide, it more crawls after you, like a toddler looking to be embraced by their parent
8:37 This was the moment that stuck with me throughout the whole game. I didn't even stop to see the full creature. The second I saw it shift it's shapeless head towards me, I ran. I scrambled, terrified out of my wits, as I desperately looked for a place to hide. It was a primal need to run, to get away. I didn't want that thing to get near me. IT. COULDN'T. GET. NEAR ME.
For some reason, biological things which feel like they arent supposed to exist mixed the with distorted cries of babies is something that genuinely terrifies me. But just the thought of someone or rather something unknown in the dark that's looking for you, and where nothing is certain and anything could happen at any given moment is just the perfect base for a horror experience
Beside the basement and the hallugenagenic plant...and"the baby monster",Donna's house seems like the most normal house,and I loved the puzzles and there being no enemies to slow you down.
For me, it was when Sam Wessel died in Star Wars Episode 2. I didn’t realize she was an alien, so when she was shot with Jango’s dart, I thought the dart made her become shriveled due to some poison in the dart, and I had so many nightmares of seeing people become drained like a prune
I agree that the Beneviento Basement sequence in RE Village was the most terrifying horror sequence I have ever experienced in a video game. It reminded me of being chased by the monsters in “Amnesia: The Dark Descent.” But even the scariest moments from that game can only be ranked a close second to House Beneviento.
That music very much triggers my panic button. Even isolated from anything terrifying, while im playing slime rancher, my heart was pounding so hard I thought I might need to pause and go calm down.
This sequence played PERFECTLY into specific phobias of mine that I havent seen used in horror. The phobia of pregnancy has given me serious anxiety around motherhood and fetuses in general and this sequence was HORRIFYING. Thinking back now, I adore House Beneviento
I enjoyed Village, but it didn’t really scare me. That is, outside of this area. The creepy dolls, the baby monster, the inconsistent lighting, that part with the well; all of it was freaky as hell. Coupled with that, having no way to defend yourself, and being totally at the mercy of the environment was terrifying. The whole sequence felt like a haunted house, and the deeper we got, the more it seemed like we were finding things that we shouldn’t. And the boss fight with the overexposed lighting and the creepy chanting reminded me of the shining. One of the coolest areas in an RE game.
I think what's most striking about Ethan's behavior in this section of the game is that campiness is _Resident Evil's_ trademark. It constantly hovers around it no matter what disconcerting things may happen, but suddenly it just drops the whole act. It knows that, for this moment, it doesn't have to choose between camp or sensibility. It's just a serious horror moment that it doesn't have to dilute with any kind of pretense.
I always felt bad for Donna. She repeatedly begs you for help, wants you to protect her, and unlike the others, doesn’t want to fight you. But then you chase her through her house and beat her to death (I do think Ethan beat her to death, or strangled her, as his hands are VERY bloody and she looks traumatized). And then you leave with rose in hand, knowing you just killed a young girl.
The fact that I’m someone who grew up on horror films and stories and has played basically every noteworthy horror game under the Sun, saying that the very first time through this section put me on edge should say a LOT about how well made of a sequence it really is.
When I was in middle school one of my classes read a short story called fever dream. It's about a boy who gets a mysterious illness that actually feels more like a slow possession of his body. The story ends with him lying there completely helpless as his mind slowly gets taken over. He goes blind, he can't move, and eventually his mind goes away and he's completely possessed. As we're leaving the class the teacher tried to be funny and said try not to get sick tonight and then evil laughed. That story is something I still think about like 10 years later because it is probably the most horrifying way to die.
18:42 To me this idea makes both love and fear Ethan more as it gives this idea for me that in the worst case scenario Ethan could do something we wouldn't think he could that in this possible state of both frustration of what he's going through and the fear of what he saw he'd beat a person to death thinking it was something else.
I love how much you've grown. From starting with Fnaf to obscure horror games like "No One Lives Under the Lighthouse" and "It Steals" to more famous/infamous ones like Bendy and Hello Neighbor, non-horror games like Epic Mickey (to an extent) and Sonic CD, and now full-blown console games such as the Resident Evil series along with your Dreams of An Insomnic analog horror series from your old channels. Your Nemesis video is easily one of my favorites, and I know I'm going to love this one. You are without a doubt one of my favorite horror channels and one of my favorite channels in general.
I’m just gonna say the scariest scene I’ve ever seen was years ago I was walking by the tv and on it was an episode of the walking dead and it showed a guy pinned against a glass door by zombies and one of them grabbed him by the side of his mouth and ripped it off thankfully for me the scene zoomed out ever since then I’ve been terrified by the walking dead and every time someone mentions it that scene plays in my mind nonstop
Totally agreed. Of all the horror games I've played, only 2 things have kept me up at night: PT, and this sequence. One aspect I was expecting you to talk about is the baby's voice itself. The juxtaposition between the horrific creature and the familiar (albeit distorted) sounds of a baby, is incredibly unsettling. Not to mention our primal reaction to the sound of a baby screaming/crying. This is a horror sound design masterclass.
I wonder if women react more strongly to this sequence. I read an article about a study on maternal instinct, especially in response to seeing or hearing an infant. Might be something to try researching.
@@WHERE_IS_EURYDICEeven though I’ve never had kids just hearing baby cries puts me on edge. Even if I know it’s just something simple like the baby is hungry or tired it genuinely makes me feel like something is wrong
one of the most unsettling moments for me in a game (i don't have RE8 but by gods i'd kill to play it) Is any chase scene involving the thin man in Little Nightmares 2, and its for pretty much similar reasons you had for the elevator part at 15:31. He walks so slowly and ominously that it only heightens my stress and almost makes me what him to get me just so i could be put out of the misery of being pursued by a maddeningly slow entity.
Aw man, I was traumatized my the series vita carnis, it scared me shitless and I couldn't sleep for weeks and the episode when the family got killed by the harvester sent me on a mental stairway of trauma and anxiety it scared me so badly where I had to literally go talk to my parents about it
I remember feeling something similar while playing through A hat in time, I was having a blast through the happy cheerful levels until reaching snatcher's forest, then went into queen Vanessa's castle. You'd never think such a creepy level and character is hiding in this game, I would love if you could talk about it!
Something I think is interesting about this sequence is how people play it based on the difficulty you set the game too. I played on hardcore for my first playthrough because I think getting your shit kicked in is part of the survival horror experience. And in it most enemies take far too many bullets to be worth fighting, so unless I was cornered I ran through enemies wherever I wasn't cornered. During the baby chase, I knew that the hiding spots existed. But during the chase I just forgot about them, and only had one thought. Run. Because up to that point the game kinda inadvertently taught me that the way to get away from baddies is by running. I thought it was like fending off Lady Dimetrescu where you have to kite her around obstacles in order to slink past her. I assumed it was a similar thing with the baby. So I ran and ran, and I didn't think to hide until I made it to the bedroom where the closet was put RIGHT in front of my face and I was like "okay I have to hide now". The baby slinked around, left, and then chased me through the house again. Absolute banger. Also I never saw that you could hide under the bed, I honestly prefer it because it meant I didn't get a REAL good look at the thing.
ALSO, I like how the game does it's best to make you think a life sized mia mannequine will be the thing chasing you. And then it's the fucking baby thing and it's just so scary.
I can easily admit that sequence was the most terryfying, unsettling and disturbing experience of my life surpassing every real life fear. I was constantly on the ESC button, needed to call a friend, and drink some rum to finally complete it after 2 hours. I love this game for that!
This has actually heavily inspired me in the development of my horror novella, I know that games and books greatly differ; but I've definitely learnt a lot from this. So thanks and well done, keep up the amazing work.
That fetus is the one horror media character in which my strategy of using pure lust to beat the fear of the monster doesn’t work. For obvious reasons.
I have said it before an I feel like I'll be saying it forever. This portion of this game is genuinely the *ONLY* horror segment to ever truly make me uneasy. And for that I will always regard it extremely highly.
Never thought hearing an abomination doing hellish baby sounds would scare so much shit outta me
Seeing the baby eat Ethan for the first time made me nope out of re8 entirely (I've gone back to it recently though)
Statements made by an individual who has never played PT
@@thekestrel9290 Statement made by someone who has no idea what I have and haven’t played
Legit remember desperately searching for the puzzle solution because I was so scared I was on the verge of tears 10/10 have maybe never felt that terrified and out of control in a game
But seriously re8 makes me stupid happy. It's the perfect mix of horror and goofy and you can tell the actors had fun with their characters AND the ending made me cry. It's perfect, to me.
Heisenburg and Angie especially, goddamn those two-
@@goroakechi6126 Angie is the equivalent of a small dog that will maul you. Heisenberg is... *well*
@@alymatronicdeeare8265 -How would you describe Heisenberg?
+Yes.
@@MrLight435 "he sure... is"
@@alymatronicdeeare8265 I love this comment section lmfao
I feel like the reason Ethan was so terrified of the Cetus was because he’s lost his own baby daughter. He probably can’t help but see the parallels of the baby and Rose, and it downright terrifies him.
It isn't even really a parallel, the whole sequence is Ethan's own mind tormenting him about what could go wrong with Rose. The baby is his imagined worst case scenario where Rose turns into an abomination.
@@100organicfreshmemes5 yes, exactly! :D
@@100organicfreshmemes5you just kinda reworded what me meant lol
@@dominicgreen4181 It sounded to me more like he was saying the fetus monster is real and parallels his fears about Rose. I'm more inclined to believe it's not real at all and is a hallucination.
@@100organicfreshmemes5if it’s not real then do you think Ethan dies of just pure shock from the hallucinations? I actually think that would make sense, and is also why he doesn’t at least *try* to fight the monster baby barehanded and instead chooses to run entirely - he is probably deep down worried it’s Rose
Another great part of this section is the fact Ethan DID have his weapons, but because of the hallucinations, he couldn't use them. It's also a scary but fascinating thought that Donna was hunted down and killed by a man who was so angry and lost in the hallucinations. The fear she felt must have been horrifying
It's like she went from "this guy is fun to mess with" to "OH GOD I WENT TOO FAR".
Deserves it honestly. It’s like in „You’re next“ when the main character turns the tables on the intruders
@@bahmot9501One of the best slasher movies ever
Honestly it was Angie who wanted to mess with Ethan since Donna is essentially a disabled kid trapped in a grown-up's body who just wanted some company but aside from that House Beneviento was nightmare fuel at its finest especially with that montrous fetus-like thing.
You can see a sign of her desperately running for her life in the house via a bloody handprint on the wall as she was running from Ethan; the left hall when you're facing the front door. Some believe Donna was- for the most part- innocent. She was a traumatized, mentally ill child who couldn't mature properly; as Miranda neglected to teach and treat her as a growing child, and instead only performed experiments with her powers (In the hopes that she was a suitable enough vessel for her REAL child) in which I can only assume Donna saw as "games" or a "chore" from her Mother as a coping mechanism for lack of interaction both physically and mentally, so when the "game" was turned against her, she was terrified, she didn't know what to do, and her only choice was to run while hoping her powers could stop Ethan. I think if Miranda put actual effort into caring for Donna, she would've been a suitable enough vessel for Eveline. The only reason she wasn't was because she was mentally unstable, but Miranda could've taken the time to put her through a slow healing process until she wasn't, or until she was able to properly live with it. I think Miranda is like one of those procrastinators that does something difficult and time-consuming to avoid doing something simpler. She waited 100 years trying to find a fitting vessel when it could've only taken about 20 or so with a healing process. I think she could've gotten what she wanted if she didn't have such quick judgement.
13:26 I think another thing to note is that before the course of this game, Ethan just lost his infant daughter, so seeing that grotesque fetus monster must've had a personal kind of horror for him that the other monsters he's faced up until now haven't had. Makes his reaction much more genuine
Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. The monster made it *personal*. That strikes us to our core
Wait, he did...? I assume this is RE 8 (haven't watch the video)
Its a representation of the “Monster” Rose may be due to Ethan being made out of mold. His personal fear, in Ethans mind. Adds to House Beneviento Truly playing on ones deepest fears.
@@L16htW4rr10r
Yep, after he leaves the castle he ends up finding out that she was dismembered and her body parts were put in jars, the reason he leaves to find Donna is to find the rest of the jars so he can do something to put her back together (I don't really remember what, it's been a good while since I've watched a playthrough of RE8.)
I never played Re8 but I had the same feeling, especially with him having to submit a photo of his daughter to even enter the house to begin with (I'm aware it's [probably] not the same daughter-)
It's really interesting ^^
The fetus sequence filled me with genuine, skin-tingling terror like no other horror game I played before. Even after leaving the basement, I was so disturbed by the experience that I became deathly quiet during the Donna fight. I could have sworn my face was pale lol
As somebody who was disturbed by the fetus in PT and has some slight fears about fatherhood, seeing that baby come down the hallway in the dark while playing the game too late at night was genuinely one of the most unsettling horror moments I had from a game in years. Add the fear of being eaten alive and my first death sequence caused me to just be catatonic for a good few minutes before continuing on.
The uncomfortable symbolism as it eats you is what did me in personally
I was just thinking PT has an unborn baby in it too. Something about dem forming babies 👶👻 lol
Add to the fact that Ethan thinks he is a zombie and it gets even more disturbing.
Dude I played this a few months after I had my daughter born so the whole game hit me in my fear of fatherhood at the time.
The whole saving Rose helped me with my unsure feelings about it all.
The baby did feel like our miscarriages coming for me in some fked up way. Most terrifying part of the game for me.
The fetus in PT disturbed me, too. I think that babies, new humans with such amazing potential - cute ones, at that, who are to be loved and have so much promise, to me, is what I think disturbs me about this kind of stuff. Babies and children have so much innocence, and when they're formed into something grotesque and somewhat threatening, I think it does something to our psyche.
The House Beneviento sequence is a masterful example of set up->punchline in a horror context. the quiet, quaint, normal-feeling house after castle dimetrescu is unnerving because you know something’s gonna pop off, but also because the last time you were in a normal house was when you were holding rose. and then it just repeatedly drills down on one central thought never spoken but constantly implied: there’s something wrong with the baby.
True! Ethan and Mia's house form the beginning even resembles Donna's house a little, now that I think about it.
I think I hated the mannequin dolls from the dlc even more, but this is a masterclass in building up dread and tension, and then deliver. Some people complained Village was becoming too action oriented, but almost all of them asterisked it with a “except for the baby part”.
Yeah well it is the only scary part of the game, it's good to see that at least Capcom can do horror well, they just choose not to.
I really loved Donna as a character. I felt like she got overshadowed by Alcina. I appreciated the subtlety and psychological horror aspects of house Beneviento. Lady Dimitrescu is still a great character but her sequences feel more like survival horror than psychological horror. Personal preference I guess, but Donna and Angie deserve love as well.
She was a really cool character who had a single note on her and was seen only twice in the entire game. She was completely wasted, unlike Dimitrescu.
Donna's section was horrifying yet mysterious at the same time. It gave a haunted house vibe and you never felt truly alone.
Poor Salvatore forgotten and forsaken by his family angie treated Moreau like trash I feel bad he just wants a motherly love.
You ask me, I think people like Lady Dimitrescu because they’re thirsty for her.
This is actually one reason I was disappointed with how short the whole sequence was. With Lady Dimitrescu, she was great but…they disposed of her, instead of giving her the potential of having her stalk you throughout the whole game like Nemesis. The same could’ve been done for Donna. Since she infected you with the pollen of the plants, throughout the game or other areas (Dimitrescu’s castle would’ve been perfect) she could’ve haunted you too.
House Beneviento also adds onto the story of Ethan in a pretty horrifying way. Dude's been through a lot.
Years after facing a nasty encounter with the Bakers and the Mold, Ethan experiences his wife being shot repeatedly and his infant child taken away by someone who'd insure his family's protection, that being Chris Redfield. Shortly after that, he's left on his own to rescue his daughter by whatever third party has intervened between him and Chris.
He's left to fend off against monsters again, he fails to save (and possibly unintentionally led the deaths of) the remaining survivors of the once peaceful village, and after defeating Lady D, came to the gut-punch realization that his child, Rose, has been physically taken apart, put in flasks and are guarded by the four lords. No doubt this would all be emotionally grating to Ethan, and it comes to a climax in House Beneviento.
Like Pastra said, there are the dolls representing children, but then there are the challenges Donna inflicts on Ethan. The vague panicked whispers of Mia over the radio that possibly hint toward abortions, searching across the house for Angie representing losing a child in a vast group of them, and finally that twisted fetus monster portraying the potential anxiety of Ethan that Rose might've had some exposure to the Mold, mutating her into a vile beast.
The layout of this game was so fun. It felt like a big mash-up of a bunch of different genres. Gothic survival horror, psychological horror, lovecraftian horror, mechanized body horror. Just all squashed together with an admittedly silly story but I had a blast playing though this entire game. Sometimes horror games can get stale towards the end because you become desensitized to what is being shown but Village did a great job of always keeping you on your toes. It also looked great graphically. Prolly the most fun RE since 4.
Also I'd like to say while the baby monster is extremely disturbing, what makes it so scary is the meticulous buildup that starts off so subtle you aren't even aware of it. Even before I got to the house I was already creeped out and it just gets more and more disturbing as it goes on. So by the time the baby showed up, I was already consumed by dread and seeing that abomination scared me to my core.
My soul literally left my body
@@Philthorn it scared me so much that I couldn't even make a sound. A game hadn't done that since I first played silent hill 1 as a little kid.
Nah that baby looks cute
It was perfect to put such an unassuming and quiet section like House Beneviento after the in your face relentless violence of the castle and village. The mere expectation of something terrible is what sells the long walk to and through the house. Not to mention taking your guns away right after you’ve become proficient in the game’s combat loop leaves you feeling the true hopelessness of being in this place. And then there is all the thematic elements and symbolism present… I’m going to start ranting if I continue further. 😅 Capcom should be proud of what they’ve accomplished here.
The cry's and screams it makes scares me the worst about it
I remember hearing someone point something out about the baby (probably superhorrorbro) The baby may be a hallucination of Ethans daughter Rose, a representation of what Ethan was scared she’d become when she was born due to the mold
I believe that
@CinfulArts, it was superhorrorbro
Interesting, of course it’s meant to be rose but the idea of the mold monster is one that hadn’t come to mind for me.
WOW
What do you mean by “due to the mold”?
I love how Pastra always looks at the brightest parts of games in order to ensure he covers what games do right, while showing the positives to show how in every game he likes, there is something that shows the devs had passion while making it
It’s great that a game which contains a lot more action (when compared to RE7) features a section which focuses solely on the horror.
Re7 main game: survival horror
Not a hero: action horror
End of Zoe: comedy horror
Gemmi my prawn back fricker
SPEAKING OF GREATEST HORROR MONSTERS...
@@Nightflyermike facts
As great as that sequence is, the biggest criticism of it is just how abruptly it throws out most of the mechanics. That entire section is basically a completely different game.
There aren't even any collectables in that entire section, which is a bizarre choice that just makes the whole thing feel even more out of place. You spend a half hour playing, with literally no reward for it other than story progression, aka "being allowed to continue playing". They could have at least sprinkled a few crafting ingredients around.
Resident Evil games always tend to feel like a bunch of segments there were cobbled together. And as great as Village was, it is by far the most inconsistent of them all.
As a little kid, I was scared of a lot of things. What scared me the most was the graveyard from Charlie Murder, and the god damn Wilikin from skylanders.
Those damn Wilkins scared me shitless
Man, the scariest thing I’d ever saw was come and see. Just watched it recently, it’s a Russian WWII film. It’s been posted on RUclips for free, and has not been taken down yet. It’s very good and I highly recommend it. Though it’s a “bit” disturbing
Mine was the scary maze game, i was watching my cousin play it when i was like 4, and it scared me half to death
I remember being around 8 years old and watching my dad play Batman Arkham City. He got to the part with Two-Face and I genuinely started crying from how scary it was. I couldn't sleep for multiple days afterwards because something about Two-Face's design just made me fear for my life. I don't think I'll ever experience that level of fear again.
The wilikin….god i miss skylanders so much
I like to think that after the Baker home, Ethan is pretty tired of monster stuff, hence why he's mostly annoyed and confused about what's going on beyond basic survival instincts and "WTF IS GOING ON" reactions. And them he's in THIS house.
The real survival instincts kick in, he feels helpless without his tools, is genuinely upset about the puzzles, and his baby girl being taken just make it all worse for him. Donna triggered his FoF response and didn't realize Ethan by now is a flightless bird
....can I use that last phrase
I love the idea that Ethan went barreling through House Benneviento, hunting Donna in her own home while hallucinating heavily and just giving her the Redfield Special every time he sees her
The Redfield Special
Whatever he gave to her it certainly wasn't the Redfield Special lol
@@sugoi9680 The Tofu Terror.
@@D00M3R-SK8 YESSS. This man gets it.
REDFIELD SPECIAL😭😭😭😭
I'm surprised you didn't mention how you can hear the baby crying as an ambient noise throughout the entire buildup to the encounter.
It's fantastic. The player would think they're about to rescue a helpless baby or at least they'd think that a baby wouldn't be a threat, only for the game to reveal that the baby is the threat.
He did though
10:58
Bro hearing baby cries in something related to HORROR is just such a big red flag for me
@@KarmicID sooo...
For horror it's a green flag...?
11:54 I also think the subtle touch of it initially moving slowly before immediately speeding up makes it even more terrifying, since that’s when you realize you have far less time than you initially thought. The way the sides of its mouth move are also very unnerving.
R u talking about when it's eyes are closed then open then it starts it's hunt basically ?
The baby's wining, the squishy flesh noise, the small confined space, the fact that you're completely defenseless.
This isn't just the greatest horror segment in re8 , it's the greatest horror segment in re HISTORY
Indeed.
One of the only other horror moments in a RE game that made me walk away for a little bit was the reveal of the moaning Nosferatu monster bound and gagged behind the sliding locker in Resident Evil:Code Veronica.
The school in Outlast 2 is even worse, try it!
i think my favourite part of this is the hallucination of mia before the house. with what we know afterwards, that donna can actively control hallucinations, it means shes been watching ethan and messing with him since before he even stepped foot in her house. donna is by far my favourite lord, shes much more passive than the others yet she seems much more cruel with how shes messing with him, taking from his specific fears. shes fascinating
Is my fav lord too and very underrated
it's very interesting, She's very clearly one of the more "Innocent" lords, acting out of want for things to not change rather than hate for Ethan or born malice
I think there’s clues to this early in the game, like Rose’s teddy Bear in one of the houses early on. (I forgot what part exactly, but I know there’s a rocker rocking on it’s own with her teddy bear in it somewhere early in the game)
I wouldn’t say Donna has complete control over the hallucinations. Understanding what is said and how the Flowers aid the hallucinations.
Queen Vanessa was the scariest thing I have experienced in a game. Not because of scariness, but because of it being in A HAT IN TIME. A game that, other than some aspects, is an adorable adventure through a strange and wonderful world. You start the mission, and the first thing you feel is regret. Regret that you chose this. A nightmare hand creeping towards Hat Kid. You feel nothing but fear the whole time you approach the mansion, and then this cutesy game gives you A JUMPSCARE. Vanessa suddenly barges out of a room, and you likely stand there in fear as the nightmare music begins and she approaches to one hit kill you. You head into a room, and realize this is not going to be a simple chase. You have to do different things that make noise and then hide as Vanessa goes straight for you. And the end, where you walk in on her, and have to grab the key and RUN as fast as Hat Kid's cute legs can take you. Not to mention she's an actual sleep paralysis demon. Vanessa will likely eventually be topped, but for now, she will stand as my ultimate jumpscare from a game.
As soon as I reached the red bloody room, I seen the red fleshy chord that trails down the dark hallway, with alll the symbolism to this point I was like. “That’s an umbilical chord isint it”?
and i went down the hall following it going “this is awful, I don’t like this one bit”
When I eventually reached the big baby I had such a fight or flight response to it that I’ve never experienced in a videogame even despite how slow it is.
Very coool
I NEVER NOTICED THAT
I'm SO glad that somebody is talking about how amazingly horrifying the baby is in this game. At one point I tried to tell it to my friends, but they kinda didn't believe me
make them play the game
Am i the only one who thinks that a game with just this level of horror from start to finish would be great? Like, they made gold with that sequence and the rest of the game being a down grade from that is just...sad.
Oh that yeah that thing is horrifying
@@CrazyMatthew-dm5ri That's what the video was about
@@volnartheunforgiving3952 I wasn't talking about the video tho I was saying the baby thing is terrifying I think you ment to respond to the comment that's above mine
What a perfect video essay. A very solid mix of editing and writing, both analytical and emotional. As someone who aspires to create this exact type of content, you my friend are an inspiration. Bravo!
The thing that horrified me with this was how little actually attacked you. This whole scene was a master class in suspense and powerlessness
What I love/hate the most about this sequence is the sounds the baby makes when chasing you, that mix of cries and laughs with some baby words (dadadad) are really what terrified me and at the same time, its kind of cute, and that's just scarier
Aww its first words
@@snakyYToh no, its first words
The fact that the first thing I did when I first found one of the lockers was realize that I was able to walk into it terrified me because I instantly knew it was a hiding place but the fact, I didn't know what I would be hiding from was the worst feeling ever.
The truly scary part of this game is the amount of power lady Dimitrescu has… it’s VERY respectable
Markiplier reference has found!
Yeah, I love how they actually researched on Vampire mythos when making Dimitrescu. Apparently, her turning into a dragon actually has some meaning.
@@wobblewokgaming655 the historical figure who inspired Bram Stoker's Dracula (Vlad the Impaler) was known as "Son of the Dragon"
@@Syliag7 I think the connection between Dracula and dragons is more about draculea meaning "son of the dragon / devil" than actually turning into one, however given the metric ton of myths on vampires, it's very likely one is described using such an ability which and have been used as inspiration for lady Dimitrescu.
@@daemon_7669 my brother in Christ that is literally what i said
I think the thing that gets me with that baby monster sequence is that fact that the monster is so warped, so uncanny that it genuinely makes me uncomfortable to look at it. The sinking feeling I got when I first saw it and the fact that you have maybe a second to process what you're looking at before you have to run really solidified this... creature as one of the scariest moments for me.
And that final moment where most I feel are desperately clicking the button in a futile attempt to make the elevator get there faster really shows how good they are at making a sequence that was seriously scary without the need for jumpscares or ear hurting noises.
I remember playing this part of the game, with the build up of the atmosphere and my weapons being taken away, I was left with horror and when I made it to the slow elevator I was panicking as the baby gets closer to me. This was the most terrifying part of the game or from any other game I felt.
I feel like this moment was the RE team going “Hey, we still got it” and creating a knock-your-socks-off terrifying experience
What scared me the most as a kid was this one episode of Flapjack where there is a wish-granting whale, but every time you make a wish it hurts the whale. It showed the main character flapjack making wish after wish and the whale graphically shriveling up and dying in agony. Scared the shit out of me and I had nightmares for weeks lol
Pretty much half of Flapjack is just scary, uncanny, super-detailed stuff! The giant baby, the monster looking for his legs, the trolley lady, the hairy fish-head nightmares Doctor Barber crafted, the hallucination Captain K’nuckles had in a school, the nightmare fuel the West was, etc., but all of it was definitely unsettling. The wish whale one is definitely a special case of terrifying & heartbreaking.
“So keep wishing Flapjack and then all your dreams will come true!”
“Even the scary ones?”
“(Cute giggle that turns into a deep graveled voice) …yes”
Also I believe it was a wish granting mermaid that turned into a sky maid after all the wishes were depleted
@@tonybippitykaye”Also K’nuckles? A hat and a corn dog are two different things”
I’m pretty sure it was a Mermaid
Probably one of my creepiest horror experiences as a kid would be a flash game using a mix of pencil-scribble-art and sepia photos that had you investigate a house point-and-click style where someone committed suicide. Gradually, memories get mixed up, and the spirit of the house preys on the protagonist's mind to push you into slitting your own throat nearly in two, with screams of other people who tried to contact you and came over to try to save you from the possession.
Could be misremembering a few parts - I think it was removed from Ugoplayer (back when that was a thing) and haven't found it anywhere else afterwards.
This moment with the fetus/baby monster was, without question, the scariest part of the game and the highlight of it. I still remember how I let out a scream upon seeing that... thing peeking around the corner of that hallway before coming into full view towards Ethan. This was a truly terrifying moment.
To answer the question you had at the start: Probably playing a few select video games at a very early age. I remember playing Minecraft in the summer of 2012 as just some 6-7 year old kid and being absolutely terrified of the foggy horizon (caused by low render settings), creepy enemies and monstrous sounds. While such things are only nostalgic to me now, my old self was constantly tense. Another one that had me scared was basically any timed event when I was just a little kid, those things are what scared me out of procrastinating later in life.
I was scared of the “you may not rest now, there are monsters nearby” message. I was maybe like 9 or 10 and playing in creative mode but it scared the shit out of me
@@GameStormerSam That one was always a little offputting for me, though it wasn't too bad. What always scared me as a kid was the groans of zombies and the sound of an Enderman getting irritated. I literally always avoided confrontation with endermen, just because they terrified me so much.
JIMBOOOO
I was TERRIFIED of going into caves on my own, and always dragged my younger brother along
@@Sheet_music_eater I was in a similar boat as well, and it didn't help that my siblings were massive teases and made up stuff to scare me as well.
My most feared piece of media has to be a review of the movie "Where the wind blows" not because of what the review had to say but how it made me think, the movie is terrifying no matter how much knowledge you know in the matter, but the knowledge you know amplifies the scare factor because you know what the radiation will do to the couple. The thing that really got me was the realization that people who couldn't communicate (had no electronics or just couldn't get the information needed) Did not know that bombs would drop, being completely left in the dark, and if they somehow survived, not knowing what happened or how to survive
Idk if it was the same review, but I too watched one, and I remember feeling physically ill as the story progressed, when it ended, I felt light-headed 😅
I think the worst part about this is what the giant fetus represents, it’s literally Donna convincing Ethan that his daughter is a monster, with the radio recording that preceded the encounter implies that not only that beast is Rose, but that it ate her mother while she was still in her belly, and her father is next on the menu’.
And most importantly if it was all an illusion, ( as you said) what the creature that took the appearance of the fetus really was.
Also the scariest piece of horror media I think I've ever experienced was probably the concept of Final destination (1 specifically). It wasn't the gore or anything like that; it was the realization of just how vulnerable you are and how almost anything can kill you. That concept was running through my head for a long time after first watching it as I looked at multiple objects and imagined scenarios on how it could kill me. And that's way scarier to me than any jumpscares, tension or gore. Because it felt real.
That's the amazing thing about horror games. You can have no dialogue, no gore, jumpscares, maybe not even any characters at all and you can still make it unsettling.
That's really funny because Final Destination has the same issue as Mortal Kombat, the characters are made of paper at best and break all their bones when you sneeze on them
Even after 10 years of horror experience regarding games and movies, NOTHING prepared me for this. Outside of playing Outlast, my flight or fight response has never been elevated to such a level.
Glad to hear some Ethan love, hes genuinely one of my favourite protagonists and I feel like people dont appreciate him enough hes just some guy who is so tired and annoyed and I love him
Ethan is my favorite RE protagonist I love him so much lmao
@@Pastraspec chad ethan
@@Pastraspec
I am maybe condescending, but he is like the weakest protagonist of any resident evil? Let alone he is two different people between 7and 8 (that said, re8 is a retcon of everything in re7, as re7 is nonsensical and insulting to resident evil) but he is mostly “just there”…
@@1r0zz 're7 is insulting to RE'
I mean, it's a hell of a lot better than 5/6
7 singlehandedly saved the franchise, I don't know what you're on.
@@ThoraeJenkins they're salty about the retcon
The mutated baby sequence gave me a straight up panic attack. I think this is the scariest thing I've ever seen, and now because of it, I'm scared asf of dark hallways where we don't see the end.
Capcom N A I L E D this section. The ambiance, the music building up, the noises, everything is perfect !
You know it's a good piece of horror when it basically gives you PTSD.
Yep same here, had to take like 5-10 minutes just breathing after that segment god damn
I know what you mean
I've played through a few resident evil games at that point and I've been pretty unflappable throughout them but this sequence REALLY got to me 😰
When I finally got to the elevator my hands were shaking and I had to lay down on the couch before I could continue
It was so hard to complete, i have already fall in love in game i had to pass it to see whats next.
my most horrifying experience was actually my own doing. I write as a hobby, and one of my stories is about my own wonderland where an alternate version of myself struggles through all her fears and problems. At the beginning of her adventure, she is captured by my version of the queen of hearts, the queen of scars. originally I wrote a very gory scene where they shredded my alternate self up to almost dead and I described it so well that I gave myself probably the second-worst panic attack I have ever had, followed by a week of anxiety and mental stress around my physical well-being that shook me to my core. that original scene has been deleted and replaced for my own sanity, but it still haunts me to this day.
why did you do that though
@@alejandropulidorodriguez9723 sometimes in the heat of creativity you do something you think you can handle, and you soon find out you can't, then immediately regret itm it wasn't the first time but it'll certainly be the last.
@@thatsoulfairy alright, take care
Bruh
My fellow writer...I understand. I hope you're doing a lot better.
I'd say one of the scariest moments I've ever seen is in the hospital of Little Nightmares 2, being the hallway scene. The arms bursting through the walls and clawing at the player will always stay in my mind
I love Little Nightmares, still my favorite horror series to visit again and again. The mannequins were definitely handled well in the environment.
I think i have a fear of women, in Little Nightmares 1 DLC, the japanese masked girl scares me the most not sure why nothing else does but she is my fear.
@@Bimearial that's a very unique fear 😂
Yeah, though sort, the Little Nightmares games can be very scary experiences
@@betamash1197 I have bad automatonophobia so that part always gets me
What makes the horror in House Beneviento even better is the fact that Ethan is basically tripping balls throughout this entire section of the game.
Edit: Jesus, 1.4K likes. I was just making a simple statement!
Who's Erhan?
@@thegrandxbunny2073 fixed it
That's what I said. But on the other hand imagine walking into the house and see Ethan tripping his shit.
silly
@@thegrandxbunny2073 Ethan is who you play as in resident evil 7 and resident evil village
The scariest game I’ve played recently is: the complex found footage. I loved how it just built tension and unease throughout the entire time. Without any giant monster or jumpscares
My favorite tiny detail is that once Donna is dead, you can see blood splatters around the house, showing how Donna was bleeding out as she ran and hid from Ethan
I honestly would love to see Pastra doing a video about the Mother franchise, it may all see pretty cute and funny, but once you see through it, it can be pretty damn scary when you think of the implications.
On that note, Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass, which may have one of the most emotionally-grueling segments in a game I've ever seen.
oh yeah that'd be great
porky is such a tragic and terrifying villain, i think pastra making a whole video about him would be cool!!
I know exactly why you would want him to cover mother.
Porky!
oh and the blood-red space amalgamation, that too...
The final boss in Earthbound (Mother 2) alone is one of the more disturbing and unsettling bosses of the 16-bit era. That and the meditation sequence
@@tonybippitykaye Giygas still gives me the creeps...
Personally, it was my first time encountering a Reaper Leviathan in Subnautica. I was exploring around the back of the Aurora, and I heard the calls of the Reaper, but it was pretty far away. So I kept going in my Seamoth, not knowing that I was going towards the damned thing. I keep going, and then I see a shadow ahead of me. It gets bigger, and bigger, and more and more clear. The Reaper Leviathan came out of nowhere, grabbed my Seamoth, and genuinely scared me more than any jumpscare in a game. This moment made me so incredibly terrified that I genuinely almost shit my pants, and I had to pause the game to run to the bathroom before I did.
The biggest thing that makes this work so well to me is Mia. You hear her over the radio throughout the Beneviento house, and she tells a story through her dialogue.
She goes from being happy about her pregnancy, to feeling like something is wrong, to saying "Rose, I'm so sorry...... what am I gonna tell Ethan" and ending with her saying "It'll be fine" over and over again in a frantic, desperate way as though she's trying desperately to convince herself that everything is okay.
Then you find the baby.
This entire sequence is an allegory for childbirth complications. Perhaps a miscarriage.
It taps into a primal fear that most humans have. The deep-rooted fear that their child is dead and could kill the mother.
Hence the baby's swollen, grotesque, parasitic form.
It's a nightmare version of rose, hence why Ethan is particularly shocked. He recognized it as a horrible version of his own daughter, twisted beyond belief due to the very real threat of birth complications. (Not for rose obviously, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was a fear Ethan had)
I didn't lose sleep over it, but God is this section so damn effective.
The DLC had a really good Beneviento house as well, but I'm not sure if it quite tops this one.
The House Beneviento segments of RE8 as a whole are the most effective and horrific, probably in the RE series as a shole.
"This entire sequence is an allegory for childbirth complications. Perhaps a miscarriage. " It's really not. It's just Donna being jealous and perverting something which should be pure and innocent to mess with Ethan. Donna was no less evil then other three lords.
btw, this sequence is actually the only time I've seen my "kid" sister (she's early 20s) play some horror game and take a break. She's not a huge gamer, but she likes to play some horror games sometimes, and she had blast with RE7. So she played this one as well and the entire House Beneviento sequence made her unnerved. She was freaking out during baby sequence, said that it wasn't really jumpscare or anything, it was the sound of baby crying and laughing that made her unease. After she beat Donna, she took a break and didn't play it till next night.
All the sequences in RE7, she had ton of fun, but this one, she was just dead silent.
@@J.J.Jameson_of_Daily_Bugle Why must it only be one thing ? Why can't it be multiple things ?
@@NIHIL_EGO because game spells it out for you, including behind the scene commentary.
@@J.J.Jameson_of_Daily_Bugle That doesn't change a thing. Just because one has been confirmed do not negate the other.
What I love about your videos, is how you are able to convey a point of view that I never experience from horror media, that being the details and ways horror is felt. I seem to be unable to get scared by games or movies, so I always feel like I'm missing out on stuff like this, and your videos are such an amazing way to understand what that thing I'm missing feels like, it really enhances the experience on future playthroughs and my overall opinions on stuff. For example, House Beneviento was really boring for me, I basically speedran it, not feeling any fear from the fetus makes it incredible easy to escape, and because of that I totally missed out on stuff like the music change and ambiance that you pointed out. Thanks for the amazing content, and have a nice day 😊
One thing I was sad to not see you mention was the instinctual response humans have when we hear a baby crying.
I'm very sure that the distorted cries are both triggering those instincts and our "Something's Wrong" instincts in an attempt to disturb us
I actually tested this theory of mine by showing this part of RE8 to a mother (who I know has strong maternal instincts), and she audibly and physically freaked out after a specific cry and was near hysterical for the whole rest of the time dealing with the baby
For me one of the scariest moment in a game I really love was piecing together what actually happened to Isaac. It felt heartbreaking and terrifying knowing that this child was pushed to asphyxiate inside his own toy chest and to this day I haven't felt that dread Binding of Isaac made me feel in those few moments.
Same.
I mean, Isaac's death is more like. Depressing. Tragic. Not really scary but yeah.
@@absolutemaniac7368 what I find scary about is the slow reveal of what pushed Isaac down that road
@@raphaelmartin049 I don't think Isaac REALIZED he'd die, is the thing. But yeah, religious trauma is a bitch.
As someone with a deep fear and physical disgust at the mere concept of becoming pregnant and giving birth, this section TERRIFIED me on a deep and visceral level. It so perfectly encompasses Ethan's fear of what's happened to his daughter/what she might actually be. I'm not sure if any of the members of the dev team share my fear, but it really feels like they understand how these kinds of things can be so terrifying to some of us. I think it also kind of helps visualize that fear to those who don't have it and don't understand it.
Like, whenever I picture pregnancy (for as long as i can stomach to) that is more or less what I imagine would be growing inside of me and that thought just makes me want to rip my own skin off it's so uncomfortable. This scene with that design brought up those same skin-crawling sensations to the point that it was actually difficult for me to watch, but I appreciate how well done it was to achieve that reaction.
FULLY seconded. I have to remember that this sequence intentionally disturbing and terrifying, so that I can keep my brain centred and not spiralling into an anxious panic about the real-life body horror process that humanity somehow just treats as normal and expected.
bruh wtf
I'm a guy but i understand your fears. Having something inside of you do have a very uncanny feel...
I have the exact same fears, and this segment disgusted me so much I actually had to step away and cry. Even just watching this video about it made me feel on edge. There's just something I find so viscerally disgusting about pregnancy and childbirth, and this part of the game just gets that. No shade to people who do want to give birth; I respect your decisions, and hope you are doing good! But personally, I absolutely do not ever want any of those things to happen to me.
The fear I have of being pregnant, and specifically how babies essentially act like parasites in the womb (literally using your own blood until they have own) has made so goddamn anxious. The first jumpscare of the creature in this game was so goddamn horrific holly hell, but I hadn't played the game so I had no idea that the whole section was based on being chased by that thing. Its so horrifying, like theres no way that one of the devs doesn't have a fear related to child birth, it was just too real you know?
17:51 what I can possibly think of, is that if Ethan was to be eaten by the baby, in real life, he would have a Heart Attack and then collapse on the ground. But then, if he survived without his own heart at the end of the game... I don't know what else
This sequence nearly gave me a panic attack honestly. It at least threw me into fits of hyperventilation where I had to pause.
There was such a horrific terror running through me when I got to the elevator and had to wait.
Even when looking for Angie, and had to walk back towards the elevator, I was so terrified of just being near it. I knew nothing would happen, but fucking hell. They knew what they were doing when they had one of her locations to hide in be there.
So the whole thing made me cry for different reasons. I am separated from my daughter and even though my baby momma let's me see her whenever, it still hurts me to be away from her. This level made me fight against any parental instincts to want to console that giant fetus. I was in tears when the fetus was crying for us as we entered the elevator, mainly cause as a father it hurt me that I couldn't sooth that babies crying.
You seem like a wonderful father:)
I'm sorry you are going through that
Lmao baby momma 💀
fuck kids
The only way I would sooth that baby is with lead from my shotgun.
resident evil gives me one specific memory every time i see or hear the name.
my dad used to play resident evil games a couple years ago, and i would watch. i’m not sure which game he was playing at the time, but he was in this odd alternate reality-looking place. i feel like water was a large part of it; same with the phrase “happy birthday,” but this was years ago, so i don’t exactly remember
anyway, he had to get a password. it was carved into the character’s arm after a while, the password being “LOSER.” he forgot it though and i think it went away. i have amazing short term memory, so he asked me if i remember the password. i did, so i said “Loser.” but he thought i was calling him a loser and said “that wasn’t very nice.” (i was very young at this point in time so that’s why he said it like that.) and i vividly remember frantically correcting myself. “no, the password is loser!”
i don’t know what was happening, i don’t know which game that was, i don’t know why i remember that specifically, but it’s just the memory i associate with resident evil nowadays.
Omg, that part is so stuck in my memory too. I played resident evil 7 in 2019/2020 and I was like 14. And I still have nightmares about that "happy happy birthday". It's the reason I'm so reluctant to play re7 again.
No horror game or movie will ever frighten me as much as that one.
It’s RE7: BIOHAZARD
The game was re7 the Lucas escape room puzzle
RE7 BIOHAZARD
That's the one where Clancy Jarvis is burned alive
When I saw a let’s player get to this point in the game I legit go chills down my spine. The baby noise are what really got me as just imagining that this THING making such noises made me queasy. The sound that it makes as it crawls towards you mixed with the music makes a sickening feeling. Even when you are hiding you are on edge just because you can hear it wandering around saying “Mama”. I legit had to pause the video to even process what that thing was
Agreed! Like the appearance is creepy enough, but it would not have been so bad if it weren't for the noises
The thing that scared me the most when I was younger was the abominable snowman from the 1964 Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer movie. The fear of the unknown struck me hard during that scene where they listened to it roaring in the distance during the blizzard.
This was one of the only monsters that truly scared me and this is an amazing analysis of the sequence. I love your videos, glad I found this channel.
I adore House Beneviento so much. Such a fantastic culmination of great elements that perfectly creates a striking moment of pure horror and dread. As well as how this moment is in relations with Ethan Winters in particular, since his mission in the game is to rescue his beloved baby daughter Rose. The giant mutant baby may also be my number one favorite Resident Evil monster as well. It's just a horrific menace to encounter, even if it is a hallucination which is a result of the mold. Amazing analysis Pastra, well done
This section of the game felt near as terrifying as P.T- The uncanny house, the environment looking endlessly simalur, and of course the monster itself. It was an excellent display of horror and I wish the whole game gad more moments like it.
I experienced the baby section completely blind in VR....i was shaking afterwards
For me the scariest parts of games are when non-horror games adopt horrific elements.
Like, say, that one part of Stray, or the twist in Bugsnax.
But in my opinion, the scariest moment in gaming is in Omori, when the truth of what Something is is revealed
Even though I was spoiled on the reveal (willingly though), it still managed to freak me out with all the hints scattered through the game up to that part. That's how good of a reveal it is.
Are you talking about the pre-second chase? That one with the GIANT eye? (Stray)
@@cristimartin1904 Yeah.
nice, another stray and bugsnax fan :]
This reminds me of *that* moment in The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe.
If you know you know
yet another Pastra video that more than delivers. love your content, man. I don't usually leave these kinds of comments but I genuinely really enjoy your videos and I felt I should express it for once
What I also love is that it doesn’t pursue you, you can outrun it and hide, it more crawls after you, like a toddler looking to be embraced by their parent
8:37
This was the moment that stuck with me throughout the whole game.
I didn't even stop to see the full creature. The second I saw it shift it's shapeless head towards me, I ran. I scrambled, terrified out of my wits, as I desperately looked for a place to hide.
It was a primal need to run, to get away.
I didn't want that thing to get near me.
IT. COULDN'T. GET. NEAR ME.
For some reason, biological things which feel like they arent supposed to exist mixed the with distorted cries of babies is something that genuinely terrifies me. But just the thought of someone or rather something unknown in the dark that's looking for you, and where nothing is certain and anything could happen at any given moment is just the perfect base for a horror experience
A moment that scared me the most was the killer croc section in Batman Arkham Asylum
Beside the basement and the hallugenagenic plant...and"the baby monster",Donna's house seems like the most normal house,and I loved the puzzles and there being no enemies to slow you down.
It’s like a event for me whenever this man uploads I love these videos so damn much
I know right?
0:16 yeah, wasnt supposed to be horror but the scariest game ive ever played. That describes Subnautica
For me, it was when Sam Wessel died in Star Wars Episode 2. I didn’t realize she was an alien, so when she was shot with Jango’s dart, I thought the dart made her become shriveled due to some poison in the dart, and I had so many nightmares of seeing people become drained like a prune
I agree that the Beneviento Basement sequence in RE Village was the most terrifying horror sequence I have ever experienced in a video game. It reminded me of being chased by the monsters in “Amnesia: The Dark Descent.” But even the scariest moments from that game can only be ranked a close second to House Beneviento.
That music very much triggers my panic button. Even isolated from anything terrifying, while im playing slime rancher, my heart was pounding so hard I thought I might need to pause and go calm down.
This sequence played PERFECTLY into specific phobias of mine that I havent seen used in horror. The phobia of pregnancy has given me serious anxiety around motherhood and fetuses in general and this sequence was HORRIFYING. Thinking back now, I adore House Beneviento
I enjoyed Village, but it didn’t really scare me. That is, outside of this area. The creepy dolls, the baby monster, the inconsistent lighting, that part with the well; all of it was freaky as hell. Coupled with that, having no way to defend yourself, and being totally at the mercy of the environment was terrifying. The whole sequence felt like a haunted house, and the deeper we got, the more it seemed like we were finding things that we shouldn’t. And the boss fight with the overexposed lighting and the creepy chanting reminded me of the shining. One of the coolest areas in an RE game.
16:16 Exactly, no matter how many times i play it ! I feel the fear and dread .
I think what's most striking about Ethan's behavior in this section of the game is that campiness is _Resident Evil's_ trademark. It constantly hovers around it no matter what disconcerting things may happen, but suddenly it just drops the whole act. It knows that, for this moment, it doesn't have to choose between camp or sensibility. It's just a serious horror moment that it doesn't have to dilute with any kind of pretense.
I always felt bad for Donna. She repeatedly begs you for help, wants you to protect her, and unlike the others, doesn’t want to fight you. But then you chase her through her house and beat her to death (I do think Ethan beat her to death, or strangled her, as his hands are VERY bloody and she looks traumatized). And then you leave with rose in hand, knowing you just killed a young girl.
The megamycete corrupted Donna, turning her into a monster. At least killing her is the only way to put her out of the pain she was in.
I thought he killed her with the scissors
@@rarescevei8268 ah, but there are no scissors to be found after she’s dead
yeah, I feel bad for Donna too.
@@crows_are_superior4464 I thought there were scissors on the floor after you see her dead on the floor. I am gonna look at it again.
when you wait for the elevator while the baby was getting ever so closely scared the crap out of me.
The fact that I’m someone who grew up on horror films and stories and has played basically every noteworthy horror game under the Sun, saying that the very first time through this section put me on edge should say a LOT about how well made of a sequence it really is.
When I was in middle school one of my classes read a short story called fever dream. It's about a boy who gets a mysterious illness that actually feels more like a slow possession of his body. The story ends with him lying there completely helpless as his mind slowly gets taken over. He goes blind, he can't move, and eventually his mind goes away and he's completely possessed. As we're leaving the class the teacher tried to be funny and said try not to get sick tonight and then evil laughed. That story is something I still think about like 10 years later because it is probably the most horrifying way to die.
I hid in the little bedroom for like 15 minutes trying to convince myself to go out 😭😭
18:42 To me this idea makes both love and fear Ethan more as it gives this idea for me that in the worst case scenario Ethan could do something we wouldn't think he could that in this possible state of both frustration of what he's going through and the fear of what he saw he'd beat a person to death thinking it was something else.
I love how much you've grown. From starting with Fnaf to obscure horror games like "No One Lives Under the Lighthouse" and "It Steals" to more famous/infamous ones like Bendy and Hello Neighbor, non-horror games like Epic Mickey (to an extent) and Sonic CD, and now full-blown console games such as the Resident Evil series along with your Dreams of An Insomnic analog horror series from your old channels. Your Nemesis video is easily one of my favorites, and I know I'm going to love this one. You are without a doubt one of my favorite horror channels and one of my favorite channels in general.
I’m just gonna say the scariest scene I’ve ever seen was years ago I was walking by the tv and on it was an episode of the walking dead and it showed a guy pinned against a glass door by zombies and one of them grabbed him by the side of his mouth and ripped it off thankfully for me the scene zoomed out ever since then I’ve been terrified by the walking dead and every time someone mentions it that scene plays in my mind nonstop
Totally agreed. Of all the horror games I've played, only 2 things have kept me up at night: PT, and this sequence. One aspect I was expecting you to talk about is the baby's voice itself. The juxtaposition between the horrific creature and the familiar (albeit distorted) sounds of a baby, is incredibly unsettling. Not to mention our primal reaction to the sound of a baby screaming/crying. This is a horror sound design masterclass.
PT?
@@Rithy2105 Silent Hills PT
I wonder if women react more strongly to this sequence. I read an article about a study on maternal instinct, especially in response to seeing or hearing an infant. Might be something to try researching.
@@WHERE_IS_EURYDICEeven though I’ve never had kids just hearing baby cries puts me on edge. Even if I know it’s just something simple like the baby is hungry or tired it genuinely makes me feel like something is wrong
@@fluffywhompus I get the same feeling 😅. Hope you're ok after this vid!
one of the most unsettling moments for me in a game (i don't have RE8 but by gods i'd kill to play it) Is any chase scene involving the thin man in Little Nightmares 2, and its for pretty much similar reasons you had for the elevator part at 15:31. He walks so slowly and ominously that it only heightens my stress and almost makes me what him to get me just so i could be put out of the misery of being pursued by a maddeningly slow entity.
To quote dunkey
"Its not the scariest resident evil game until it decides to be the scariest resident evil game"
Aw man, I was traumatized my the series vita carnis, it scared me shitless and I couldn't sleep for weeks and the episode when the family got killed by the harvester sent me on a mental stairway of trauma and anxiety it scared me so badly where I had to literally go talk to my parents about it
I remember feeling something similar while playing through A hat in time, I was having a blast through the happy cheerful levels until reaching snatcher's forest, then went into queen Vanessa's castle. You'd never think such a creepy level and character is hiding in this game, I would love if you could talk about it!
Something I think is interesting about this sequence is how people play it based on the difficulty you set the game too.
I played on hardcore for my first playthrough because I think getting your shit kicked in is part of the survival horror experience. And in it most enemies take far too many bullets to be worth fighting, so unless I was cornered I ran through enemies wherever I wasn't cornered.
During the baby chase, I knew that the hiding spots existed. But during the chase I just forgot about them, and only had one thought. Run. Because up to that point the game kinda inadvertently taught me that the way to get away from baddies is by running. I thought it was like fending off Lady Dimetrescu where you have to kite her around obstacles in order to slink past her. I assumed it was a similar thing with the baby. So I ran and ran, and I didn't think to hide until I made it to the bedroom where the closet was put RIGHT in front of my face and I was like "okay I have to hide now". The baby slinked around, left, and then chased me through the house again.
Absolute banger.
Also I never saw that you could hide under the bed, I honestly prefer it because it meant I didn't get a REAL good look at the thing.
ALSO, I like how the game does it's best to make you think a life sized mia mannequine will be the thing chasing you. And then it's the fucking baby thing and it's just so scary.
I can easily admit that sequence was the most terryfying, unsettling and disturbing experience of my life surpassing every real life fear.
I was constantly on the ESC button, needed to call a friend, and drink some rum to finally complete it after 2 hours.
I love this game for that!
Guys I found Kunkka
This has actually heavily inspired me in the development of my horror novella, I know that games and books greatly differ; but I've definitely learnt a lot from this. So thanks and well done, keep up the amazing work.
I'm glad I avoided spoilers for months after the game came out until I finally played it, with headphones.
That fetus is the one horror media character in which my strategy of using pure lust to beat the fear of the monster doesn’t work. For obvious reasons.