Most terrifying zombie map

[aegisknight]

First, let me put this out there: I have never seen this as a "horror" type game. I have never felt anything close to apprehension or anything resembling "fear" while playing zombies until tonight.

But that changed tonight.

I have a project going on where I'm making detailed floorplans of all the maps, and I came to the spawn of Verruckt today. I did the Juggernog side with no problems, but then I came to the Quick Revive side.

While doing this, I need to take very careful measurements that involve looking at one place for a while, then moving on slowly and steadily, while keeping an eye on the one guy left to make sure I don't go down suddenly.

Then the sound effects happened. They are very well documented, and generally aren't considered anything new. But lets start with the background music. This is the only map (that I know of) that has constant background "music" for ambiance, it sounds like a very quiet but fairly rapid beat, that will cut off suddenly. You usually don't notice it because things are going so fast, but it seemed deafening while I was working on this. Not in a loud way, but in a way that just kind of filled me with some sort of "urgency", like a quickened pulse of some sort.

Which was enough on its own, but then when near the side of the BAR room, you also get the infant crying, very softly and very sadly. Not a normal sort of infant cry, but one overcome by fear. Again, during normal gameplay this is easily ignored, but left in a room with just this for a longish period of time is excessively unnerving. I do not think the audio clip ever looped either, it seemed like just once or twice I could just barely hear an infant crying a few rooms away, but the fact that it came from closed corpse storage shelves was very unsettling.

Even when away from those, there is a scream of pain every once in a while too, but it is not synchronized with the music. Again, normally no big deal, but since it was just as if I were in that room attending to other things, hearing a far off scream of pain got to me a little bit.

Then out of nowhere I hear either distant explosions, or another zombie spawning. Keep in mind that I had exactly one guy left, and he didn't go down. Yet I hear what sounds like 2 or 3 zombies spawning after 15 minutes of quiet, then what sounds like a grenade lobbed across the level. But nothing showed up, and I could not find the source of these explosions.

I finished the measurements and quit the game, I'm not sure if I'll look at Verruckt the same way again. It was designed very strangely, the original WaW had all the same sound effects and details, but also introduced character quotes and particularly fast zombies almost to ensure that none of it really got noticed. They are pretty detailed finishing touches that I haven't seen on a zombie map before or since, and it really caught my attention.

[Guest piepwns]

I've got to agree with you. If you are just wandering Verruckt alone, it is REALLY creepy. If you just listen to the sounds in the background, it's not like a horror movie where something just pops out at you, and then you're over it, it's disturbing, and sticks with you for a while.

[Guest MegaAfroMan]

I have to agree, Verruckt may not be my favorite map to play, I think it is by far one of the best designed maps. It has the best atmosphere, with Shi no numa being a mildly close second in my opinion, and I love the unique start. The rooms are the perfect size to allow for decent play ability, but just small enough to bring on claustrophobic feelings at certain times. The only complaint I have is that the map really is just a circle, and that is not a big deal.

[Guest yellow-card8]

My hopes on the next map is to make them scarier, maybe random pop ups or long hallways where you can sometimes hear/see ghosts, see shadows thinking it's a zombie, zombie sounds sound more horrific like if someone is in pain, few of my thoughts :twisted: (I have a sick mind don't I :| )

Regards Yellow-card8

[Guest aegisknight]

I dunno, its not a "scary" game. I think thats what makes verruckt so special, the parts that are unsettling are so very subtle that you'll miss them 90% of the time.

Its only when you start spending a lot of time trying to figure out exactly what is going on that the horror starts to creep in, which is wonderful

[Guest lukefacekilla]

I noticed some similar things in Kino.

[Guest Zombieofthedead]

I used to be so scared of the first zombie maps. Back then I saw it as more horror (I was scared of any horror type thing). The first two maps were scary. NDU for the atmosphere, Verruckt for creepy noises, and the Atmosphere. Everything afterwards... wasn't.

I think probably because the characters made each map seem lighter in tone, and the maps just weren't creepy (aside from the cave room in shangri la, with the creepy chain noise, and all the body bags and dead hogs). Because of the first two maps, however, I actually feel much less scared of monsters and such. Hell, I love zombie movies now.

EDIT: Why do people think SNN is creepy? It's kind of a bright map. I mean, there's a few creepy areas and interesting sounds, but it's not really scary.

[Guest MyLittleHellhound]

I thought Shi No Numa and Verrukt were the creepiest. Shi No Numa just has that deserted air, and plus its really big so the zombies come from everywhere. They also pop out of the water. There are some side sounds that you can interact with such as the whispering and the richtofen evil laugh.

[Guest DJDerp]

I know on the WaW map "Asylum" You can here like a satanic piano playing and Verruckt was based off of Asylum. Not sure if that has to do with anything, but it might help in the long run.

[Guest MyLittleHellhound]

I know on the WaW map "Asylum" You can here like a satanic piano playing and Verruckt was based off of Asylum. Not sure if that has to do with anything, but it might help in the long run.

They are almost the same map, well pretty much same layout it looks from the outside anyways. There might be something to find in Asylum but its kinda hard when theres a team of 6 hunting you !

[Guest DJDerp]

Considering what you said, they probably added it in both.

[Guest Zombieofthedead]

Don't forget the campaign version, that also has a creepy atmosphere (and the version that verruckt was more likely based on), with creepy music when you enter it. Hell, there's still the lumps of dirt in the courtyard.

[Guest XAvengedLullabyX]

I'd have to say that to me Verruckt is the creepiest map, followed up by SNN. I mean the sounds in Verruckt alone are enough to make everything more eerie, but then there's the writing on the wall that gets a bit freaky sometimes.

[Guest DJDerp]

Not is it some illuminati writing, its writen in BLOOD. So obviuosly they really wanted to make it a very creepy atmosphere.

[Guest XAvengedLullabyX]

Not is it some illuminati writing, its writen in BLOOD. So obviuosly they really wanted to make it a very creepy atmosphere.

Yeah it's like during a round you see it and it's just "Oh cool, new easter eggs!" then you look at it closely and you realize it's written in blood. Also the dentist's chair is creepy.

[Guest DJDerp]

Its very weird and creepy map. Also I am not sure if it is or not, but if Verruckt is really somewhere in the world, I would love to go there. There must be TONS of history it would be SOO cool.

[Guest Zombieofthedead]

Its very weird and creepy map. Also I am not sure if it is or not, but if Verruckt is really somewhere in the world, I would love to go there. There must be TONS of history it would be SOO cool.

Wittenau Sanitorium. It existed. Actually, I hear it's a bar now :lol:

[Guest DJDerp]

HAHA, what are the odds, Russians and their vodka :facepalm:

[Guest perfectlemonade]

I tested some of this out tonight.

Well, I'm not sleeping tonight. The baby crying was the worst. I know it's a video game, but I can't imagine the things that went on there...

[Guest selectyeti89]

verruckt is not creepy when playing it because its so freaking hard to run circles in!!!! But when you have only a crawler and you hear alot of noises like crying, people sounding like they are getting beaten, and other stuff it becomes more creepy. Its a fun map though and I think future zombie maps should be more like it.

[Guest Tankeo Dempsaki]

They should have the features and innovation (and frankly, quality) of the new maps, with things like these in Verruckt.

[Guest I3lackI3ird]

It is indeed the scariest maps, and I think because of that it is also the coolest map to play. All the sounds, the darkness, the fire around the asylum and all the blood makes it a really good map. The song is awesome too. :D

[Guest Undead xP]

There definitely has to be more maps like Verruckt in the future. No other maps carried a more eerie ambiance than that map did between the atmosphere, and the sounds. Playing with Turtle Beaches, those murderous screams you'd hear randomly would seriously be enough to make me jump. Usually something has to pop out to do that, Verruckt never fails to chill the bones. ;)

[Guest heillingalj]

Every time I play Verruckt, I get creeped out. It is just so creepy, what with the rubble etc and just the random sounds that jump out at you

[Guest Doz]

the map in my opinion is the most scariest is acension, hear me out. first of all its night time which adds tension anyway. secondly the voice at he start, yuris is frickin creepy! thirdly the fact that the rocket is there makes me think there are cosmonauts in the rocket all the time that its there! fourth the little girl shadow at spawn point that looks like samantha x_x fifth it creeps me out is the fact that yuri is constantly in the map stuck i believe in the floor. next is that somehow samantha went to ascension and trapped yuri and his freind. how when she was trapped? another thing is that when i was doing the easter egg with my mates i stood near the door that opens to pack a punch and i could hear really loud screaming and roaring and no-one else can hear it and the door opposite the pack a punch door that is closed its coming from there so my theory is that it was the big ass money cosmonaut and i thought it was gunna jump out but what makes it scarier is that it didnt jump out so i can never no who or what it was and never will again something else is that near the generator the slight roaring its frickin scary man the map kreeps me out!