LogFAQs > #929138556

56. MediEvil (16 points)
Nominated by: GavsEvans123 (2/5 remaining)

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Importance: 3.5
Fear: 2.5
Snake: 10

This is a game that means a lot to me. One of those random games my parents got for me as a kid, and that I knew nothing about, but I ended up loving to death. Thinking back on it, I think this was the first fully horror-themed game I had ever played, though even as a kid I didn't find it very scary except for maybe a few levels. MediEvil is a veritable Tim Burton fantasy land, with one of my favorite aesthetics ever in a video game. This is a beautifully realized Gothic horror medieval world, filtered through the lens of twisted whimsy and crooked fantasy. There are so many all-star locations that stick with me even after all these years. The initial trek through the graveyard is the perfect introduction to this world, with stock zombie enemies popping out of the ground in coffins and cool details like an angel statue that opens up different gates, hints to future levels, and some flooded sections towards the end. In just this one level, the things you do and experience are surprisingly varied and this sense of pace and exploration only expands from here. Take the next level, Cemetery Hill, a totally different experience from the graveyard. You can take your chances and rush up the middle hill, as boulders come crashing down, or you can take your time and play it safe at first, exploring paths to the left or right of the hill, discovering a new weapon and a Witch's Coven. These levels are surprisingly sprawling and incredible detailed in their architecture; no place looks the same as any other. I could spend literal hours discussing the nuances of every level in this game, because are just so many damn cool things about them. In the interest of time, I want to discuss some of the more horror-focused levels though.

Scarecrow Fields is the first level you visit in the wider kingdom of Gallowmere. It starts off with a creepy cinematic that sort of shifts the mood a little bit, and this is one of those parts that always scared me replaying this a kid. The rural countryside is a far cry from the crowded and colorful graveyard, and the scarecrows are much more threatening enemies than the zombies. Even the corn fields are hostile, and stepping foot in them incurs the wrath of these unseen demons. The technological monstrosities of the modern era, like the combine and mechs invoke a different kind of fear, a fear of the unknown and a threatening reminder that the old ways don't last forever. The follow-up, The Sleeping Village, is my favorite level in the game. It's a fully explorable town, but the villagers that reside here are possessed, and you have to avoid them since killing them depletes your chalice, making you unable to enter the Hall of Heroes for a new weapon. This creates a neat tension as you run around the town avoiding the villagers while you figure out a way to get what you need to finish the level. The town has a library that gives you a ton of history on Gallowmere, and the puzzles also incorporate Christianity and faith into the mix which is a rare thing to see on display so blatantly. As one of the creepiest and biggest levels in the game, the Sleeping Village is the perfect distillation of what MediEvil does best.
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I try in vain to slumber, my reveries gripped by violent terror. My only salvation, the shock of awakening. Something is very, very wrong here.