Nerds That Geek Gaming Flashback: 'Nocturne'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

​When it comes to horror and gaming, sadly there are only a few titles out there that have ever managed terrify or chill me to the bone. Don't get me wrong I've enjoyed horror gaming over the years, the early Resident Evil games were an utter joy to play, but I would love to play more games that truly scare the daylights out of me. 

However, I’m sure it has to be a difficult task to create a game that can pull all of that off, after all when it comes to horror films you're not in control, you're at the mercy of the director. But in gaming, you know the scares are supposed to come, and you know that your controller or keyboard will get you out of a jam. But there was one game I enjoyed years ago that actually managed to scare me and leave me uncomfortable, the awesome...Nocturne.

The plot to this game was simple, you played The Stranger, a mysterious man who worked for the Spookhouse; a top-secret government agency designed to keep the horrible things that go bump in the night at bay. There were four key missions that dropped you right in the thick of some terrible things and man...this game was a blast. What made Nocturne so much fun to play and quite frankly, bone chilling was the fact that you were given very little information about what kind of situation The Stranger is about to walk into. The second mission, one that features zombies and a throwback to Lovecraft is a great example of this. As since you are forced to investigate reports of zombies, and your investigation quickly falls apart of course...but the key is that the undead appear out of nowhere and are fierce and all of that managed to make me jump.  

But it was more than simple jump scares for this game, often times the mood was set with things moving in the shadows that may or may not appear in front of you. As an added bonus, there was plenty of gore and plenty of monsters from every sub-genre of horror but what made the game work so well was the tension that it built every step of the way. Each mission was its own mini movie and minute by minute the story became all the more intense and it made the surprises all that much more shocking. But the game was not without its fun, since the third segment resembles more of a black comedy wherein the Stranger is forced to do battle with Al Capone's Frankenstein-esque mobsters. 

Truly Nocturne was another one of those golden era of gaming gems that sadly has all but disappeared, which is a shame since the game ended with an incredible cliffhanger. So, here's to hoping a sequel shows up at some point down the line, but if you can find a copy of this and a compatible computer, you won't be disappointed as the horror begins to unfold… 

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