Video games have a lot of nice fictional places that many of us would like to visit, but what about those places that aren’t mentioned in the AAA handbook? Instead of visiting Hyrule or seeing the Mushroom Kingdom, what if you accidentally turned the wrong way into a much more dangerous land, one where you may not survive? This is part two of the gaming locations that you may just want to avoid. If you missed part one, you can find it here.
Night Springs
Now, I will admit that I remember Bright Falls being a tad more menacing to me as I played Alan Wake. However, in American Nightmare I visited a place much more terrible than a rainy town engulfed in darkness, I encountered Night Springs, AZ. I live in Arizona and I hate it here with a passion, so putting our hero Alan Wake right in the middle of a dusty Arizona town really gave me the willies. I wouldn’t wish moving here on anyone, and that’s without having to battle the darkness in our cool 115-degree weather. I think that Alan would have a worse time surviving the elements than defeating Mr. Scratch. Sure the desert does get cooler in the evening, but as of late it has been in the low 90s. Had Alan come here last week, he would have been killed immediately from dehydration. Arizona deserts are a scary place, and I feel that the northwest area of Bright Falls would be easier to survive outside, even while being chased by pure darkness. We welcome darkness and nighttime in Arizona.
Nostromo
Even after Ripley narrowly escaped certain death from the Nostromo, it held doom and terror for more unsuspecting victims. Years after Ripley escaped the Nostromo and its alien passenger, her daughter’s ship decided to dock with the ship for salvage. Instead of finding a nice payday like expected, she discovered the horror of a lone Xenomorph and what it could do to her crew and friends. Personally, the Xenomorph doesn’t scare me as much as being out in space. I can barely get into an airplane, much less board a huge hunk of metal and be shot into a deadly vacuum where no one can hear you scream. A Xenomorph would be tough to kill, but I’m one of those people who would sit in a room with only one entrance and wait for the beast to come to me. Then when it pops its head in, I’d shoot it and hope to get no acid got on me or the hull of the ship. There’s no sense in being hunted in a ship that is foreign to you; may as well make a stand even if it means game over, man…game over.
Pandora
I honestly didn’t realize how dangerous Pandora really was until I recently played Tales from the Borderlands. When I first played Borderlands I was a badass Vault Hunter, and the enemies and bosses merely bled before me. In Tales, I was a company guy who had no idea how to survive, and that put some things into perspective. A common person really wouldn’t survive in a battle royale world without help or a great amount of luck. I’m a gun nut, so if I had my stuff, I may be able to last a bit against psychos and such, but I think I would still eventually fail. The only people who really do well on Pandora are the ones who were born there. People of Earth really don’t stand a chance, but you never know, Rhys proved that even a company guy can have some luck on Pandora, but I wouldn’t take a vacation there.
Eastern Spirit
Not a lot of people are immediately going to recognize this ship. Unfortunately, Ubisoft’s Cold Fear was a one-and-done survival horror game. This ship is unique in the fact that something terrible has taken over the crew, and you–Coast Guard Tim Hanson–must find a way to stop them and get off the ship safely. Did I mention you are also in a storm of epic proportions? This storm makes crossing the deck very difficult and you can lose your footing and slide off the ship if you aren’t careful. If I popped some Dramamine and was loaded for bear, I think this wouldn’t be too bad of a cruise.
Mount Massive Asylum
Miles Upshur is brave enough to enter this asylum, but would you be just as brave? In Outlast, Miles is just a freelance journalist doing some digging in an extremely unsettling asylum. He’s just a normal guy who encounters the abnormal and must escape with no real weapons at hand, just his camera and his wits. About six months ago, I would have easily been able to wander around the asylum; however, now, I can barely walk into pure darkness without having a panic attack. Should I have to venture into this nuthouse, I would be equipped with some of those tactical flashlights you see on television, not just an inferred camera and hope that the power is still running. And I would probably be strapped to the gills with knives, guns, and flares just to make sure I’d escape the nuthouse unscathed.
How do you think you would fare in any of these locations? There has to be at least one you could survive!