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Under the desert sands of Gizeh in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, I'm in a waking nightmare. Shrouded in the darkness of an ancient abyss, I try to avoid anything on the ground that might make a noise, with only a lighter to illuminate the immediate area. I'm very much in danger right now, and a chorus of unsettling, echoing clicks that are being emitted by my hunter are constant reminders of that fact. Every time I spot the terrifying figure who's out to get me, I forget how to breathe. I didn't sign up to face one of my biggest video game fears when I put on Indiana Jones' iconic fedora in MachineGames adventure, but some 20 hours in, that's exactly what I'm doing.
I had a bad feeling the minute I stepped foot in this underground cave system, and further in, that only intensified. Eerie whispers seemed to sound off just behind me, or whistle down tunnels in a decidedly creepy fashion, and I couldn't shake the feeling that someone or something was following me. That alone was enough to make me want to get the hell out of this place, but to then be actually pursued by a giant guardian in a dark chamber who's not interested in being friends? Well, I might as well be in hell, because it certainly feels like I am right now.
Don't get me wrong, I've absolutely adored my time with Indiana Jones and the Great Circle so far, but I never expected my globetrotting, history-laden escapades would bring back my worst fear in the world of video games – the origins of which can be traced back to a PS2 game I foolishly played in the early 2000s.
Hide and seek
You'd rarely find me willingly playing any of the best horror games around these days (Alan Wake 2 being one of the few exceptions), but I somehow found myself dipping into the genre in the early '00s. Given that I was pretty young back then, it's even more baffling to me that I decided to try out a survival horror game on PS2, but it turned out to be a rather fateful decision that's still affecting me to this day. The survival horror game in question was Clock Tower 3 from Capcom, which sees you take on the role of a teenager called Alyssa who, after receiving an unsettling letter, finds out her mother's gone missing, and returns to a boarding house to investigate.
While my memory of the actual plot of the Clock Tower 3 is foggy at best, what refuses to leave my mind is one of enemies in the opening few hours of the game: Sledgehammer. His name really says it all, because he's basically a huge burly fellow with a sledgehammer in hand who chases after you with murderous intent. What makes his pursuit so terrifying is that you can't actually fight back or defend yourself in any way, so your only option is to run away and try to hide. Coupled with a panic meter, it's just an anxiety-riddled time all round.
The sheer panic I felt every time he entered the picture and I had to helplessly flee still haunts me to this day, and ever since then, I've been intensely afraid of facing similar scenarios in games. As my Editor-in-Chief recently informed me, this is actually known rather humorously as diokophobia, or the fear of being chased or pursued.
Unfortunately, I've gone on to encounter more adventures that have only worsened my phobia in the world of video games over the years. Another survival horror that takes some credit, for example, came with Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth in 2006. I didn't dare play it myself, but watching my dad progress through the opening hours of the Lovecraftian first-person horror game on PC tapped into this particular anxiety tenfold. In the dreary, creepy town of Innsmouth, the player character books into a hotel just after meeting some strange locals. In the dead of night, they then awaken to hear the residents talking outside your door as they plot to essentially kill you.
Before the Innsmouth villagers break down the hotel door, you have to quickly try to block it with some nearby furniture and then run like hell. I can still remember with crystal clear clarity how terrified I felt as I watched this chase sequence unfold. If you could feel the way my heart pounded in terror, you'd probably have thought my dad was legitimately in danger.
Now, all these years later, my heart is suddenly beating with the same terrified intensity, and it's all thanks to a big blindfolded giant in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. The section has all the makings of a horror game, but unlike Clock Tower 3 or my impassive participation in Call of Cthulhu, I can actually retaliate and fight against my pursuer.
Despite how unsettling I find the whole affair below the sands of Gizeh, it certainly helps that I'm Indiana frickin Jones in this scenario. I somehow manage to buoy myself by thinking that if Indy can push past his fear of snakes, I can conquer my diokophobia and get through this nightmarish encounter. I'm happy to report that after breathlessly avoiding detection and sheepishly distracting my hunter, I walloped him enough times to knock him out. I can't say I enjoyed facing my fears all over again, but if Indiana Jones has taught me anything over the years, it's that we're far more capable than we might think – and you can still be a hero with flaws and fears.
