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Old 06-15-2006, 02:48 PM   #17
ahefner
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Join Date: Jan 2006
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The Colonel's Bequest.. the only Sierra game where the dozens of random ways to die really added to the atmosphere. A shadowy figure in the hat, hiding at different times around the house.. the first time you run into him (her?), it startles you, but subsequently when replaying the game you have to go back to the same spot, just to see if he's there.. hiding in the upstairs closet, ready to pull you inside.. or behind the boxes in the attic.. or in the shadows of a secret passage, leaping out to strangle you if you get too near.. and of course the shower scene (homage to Psycho).

The ghost is the graveyard adds great atmosphere (I always hoped there was a puzzle to be solved with the ghost, but I guess not), and I've always found the background sound outdoors extremely unnerving -- the uncanny sound of an Adlib card's crude simulation of masses of locusts, crickets, frogs, and god knows what else in the night.

The absolute creepiest scene is when (or rather IF, since so much of the exploration in this game was optional) you explore the basement toward the end.. in the dim light you can vaguely discern a mass in the far corner of the room, and as you walk closer your lantern lights it more and more fully until you see that it's a pile of bodies, dumped down the laundry chute.
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