Scary Pokemon, Saints Row, and Dragon Age campfire stories

I hope you’ve had a great day of reading bright, sunny articles at Polygon Summer Camp, and you’re all tuckered out. Now it’s time to gather ’round the flickering campfire, with the hot dogs and s’mores long since eaten, and tell some scary stories about gaming. Maybe you’re thinking about the huge baby. Resident Evil VillageRight now is the best time to mention a chilling example: a famous effect. Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem, where a character suffering the effects of cosmic madness would hallucinate that the game’s save files had been corrupted and wiped.

It’s an effective joke for the game to play because, well, horror stories like that happen all the time in gaming. So scoot closer to the fire, while I hold this flashlight ominously under my face, for three of the scariest gaming stories I’ve experienced over the years.

All caught

I started on Pokémon young, but I kept picking up the mainline games in the series as I grew into my preteens. While my fumbling little-kid hands and walnut brain weren’t able to achieve the series ethos and truly catch them all during the era of Pokémon BlueI finally got there. Pokémon Black.

After years of effort and five generations of Pokémon, I had done it — I had filled out my Pokédex and caught them all in a game. After being satisfied with my accomplishment, I decided to stop clinging on to my Nintendo DS in jealousy. I gave my DS to a relative younger than me during a family gathering. “Take a look,” I said. “Just be careful.” But my warning would go unheeded. When I received the DS, I went back to my games and found that my saved game was lost. It had been deleted, and my ’mons were now lost to the ether Permanent.

Image: Volition/Deep Silver

Midnight launch

In 2011, I was living with my husband, my best friend, and my best friend’s wife. Three of my roommates fell in love with Saints Row. Saints Row 3We were there. It was the first series I’d seen, so it wasn’t something I wanted to do. My roommates, who had booked their time from work for the launch, set up the apartment so they could all play together without accidentally ruining each others, and then eagerly speculated about the plot.

It was a moment of intense excitement when the game launched. After midnight, they returned to their homes with brand-new copies and finally got down to playing. To my dismay, however, they did something. The mood of the apartment turned from excited and anticipatory to grim and dreadful: They didn’t like the game. Saints RowThe ThirdInstantly kills Johnny Gat, a series favorite and series veteran. Then launches into an absurd open-world adventure. Friends who liked the more grounded parts of Saints Row 2,It was an unfortunate disappointment.

My apartment became haunted the night after the purchase of the game. The trio began to wander around the apartment looking for their consoles and in dismay. They would come back to the game over the following days to try again, but they were inevitably left in despair. As they began to lament their frustrations about the game, I could hear their wailing. The hype train had ruined their carefree holiday. They still frown to this day. Saints Row 3.In conversation, it is often brought up.

Image by BioWare/Electronic Arts

Last act

I devoured Dragon Age: OriginsAt launch, 2009 I searched out all side quests and dug into every character’s backstory. As a Grey Warden mage and a hero, I tried to be the best in this politically complex, dangerous world. While the game’s ultimate goal is to destroy the Archdemon at the heart of the Blight, the Grey Wardens are betrayed early on, leaving the heroes significantly understaffed. Over the course of a hundred hours, I battled back the Darkspawn, built a team, cleared my name, and grew close bonds with all of my companions — especially the only other surviving Grey Warden, Alistair, and Witch of the Wilds, Morrigan.

As I approached the endgame I found myself in a last dilemma. Alistair and I were falling deeply in love, but the Archdemon had to be killed by a Grey Warden — and doing so would damn the soul of whichever Warden landed the death blow. Morrigan, my once reluctant ally turned closest friend, came to us, offering a way out from that horrible choice with a magical pact — she could sleep with Alistair, bear his child, and when the Warden killed the Archdemon, his taint would transfer to the unborn child. We agreed to the deal, no matter how awkward or unethical it was.

The culmination of many hours of hard work, drama, and player decisions should be this. Two shocking events ruined the ending.

One was the fact that I remained in my bedroom throughout the entire run. When Alistair and Warden ended their relationship, my mother walked into my bedroom and witnessed the whole sex scene. We haven’t spoken about it since.

Morrigan also thanked me for being patient with her on the eve before the battle and acknowledged that I was very close to her. There was a conversation option that the Warden could ask me. You can make more friends if your are less mean.Morrigan agreed and we laughed. You can’t rank in a relationship if she is mad. It was gone when I checked my backup file. It was a bug? Was it a glitch? I had no explanation, but I couldn’t scum my way out of this one; I had just been hideously rude to my best friend before the eve of the battle to stop a great evil.

So, as such, I found myself cringing my way through the final leg, and apologizing for all of it. Sorry. Oh, jeez, sorry. The victory lap I had taken around the game I love turned into something far more uncomfortable.

Alright, campers, I hope these stories didn’t scare you too bad. Perhaps you have a similar scary story that you can save for the next time you find yourself huddled near a campfire, swapping tall tales — or just dish in the comments, so I can feel a little less alone with my own haunting memories.