Cradle to the Grave: A Thief 3 musing

It's approximately 11:30, and I'm sitting in the basement by myself. Everyone else has gone to bed, and I'm scared. I honestly haven't been this spooked in my house since my junior year of high school when, home alone, I honestly thought someone was breaking in during a vicious storm raging outside.

But I'm a big girl now, yeah? What has me so terrified? A video game, thats what. One that I've already played. When I heard Thief 3 was being sold on Steam at a discount, I finally gave in and started a Steam account. Breezing through the levels of Deadly Shadows, a game I last endeavored to play in 2008, I was anticipating my favorite level ever made: the Shalebridge Cradle. It's scary, to say the least, and I'm a person who loves all things supernaturally scary. If you do a google search, articles (professionally written ones at that) on the brilliance of the level are a dime a dozen.

My favorite, a walk-thru that also serves as an editorial on the brilliance behind the Cradle, scares the ever loving hell out of me just by reading it. If you've played this game, go read the article. Hell, if you haven't played the level (and don't intend to), go read it anyway. For those of you (all, what 2 of you that are gonna read) who see the screenshot and think "gee wilikers, it looks like the Boo mansion from Mario 64!" well....thats an astute observation. But ASIDE from that, you're missing out.

But I digress. I'm actually writing this post to work through some serious spine tingles right now. As I said, I'm in the perfect conditions for my mind to go into over-drive and hear bumps that are not really there. Playing as Garrett, the thief, you investigate the dilapidated ruins of an orphanage that had been, at one time, also an insane asylum. I won't ruin the nuances of the level, the horrors your mind recreates when reading the notes scattered inside, or anything like that. Again, the PCGamer feature linked above can cover that more eloquently than I ever could. Also note that this game came out in 2004 and is still successfully scaring the crap out of people.

Playing the level through, though, even when you know by now what to expect....doesn't really make it easier. Especially when its been years. Especially when you've (stupidly) got the audio cranked up and it's late. By the time I accomplished my first objective (restore power to the Cradle) my stress levels are so elevated that I'm getting a headache. In many ways, this is almost worse; I know what's coming, but I forget when. I get so tense walking slowly, creeping, through the building that I am literally on the verge of tears. Yes, people, this is my idea of fun gaming.

There is ambiance. Lots of it. The place is supposed to be haunted and dripping with evil, so of course you're going to hear plenty of spooky noises. But these aren't of the Scooby-Doo variety; the usual horror cliches played out by video games are not really found here. Here, in a level thrown into a game where the norm is creeping aroud (and bonking out) guards and stealing stuff, your mind is your own worst enemy. No other game I've played, movie I've seen, book I've read comes close to this kind of paranoia. The level establishes early on that the Cradle was a nursery for young life, and also a death rattle for the insane. It sounds stupid, but it inherently eats at you while you play.

Making my way, turning at shadows, desperately trying to remember when I need to flee and when I need to act I finally make it to the glowy purple door that tells me it's time to progress. Yup, all this mind..er...fudging that had wound me up was within, what, the first 10 minutes of the level.

Against my better judgement I save and then enter through the door..wait...doesn't something happen soon? Creeping through the shadows to the entrance of the psychiatric ward, I suddenly remember a split second before it happens:


oh. yeah. THIS is when it REALLY gets fun. And this is also the moment I made the decision to take up the level tomorrow...in the daylight. With people around. Because what I've described above does not do justice to what happens after this point.

Regardless of my serious wussing out right now, the reaction the level garners from me time after time is, again, why I purchased the game. I'm leaving a save at the very beginning so I can play through anytime I want, just for a good scare.

Whew. I finally feel brave enough to retreat upstairs and hide under my covers.