Robbing the Cradle

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"Robbing the Cradle" is a

mental asylum
called the Shalebridge Cradle, while attempting to free the soul of a young girl from the building's captivity.

The level was designed by Jordan Thomas and Randy Smith, with a soundscape composed by Eric Brosius. Using theories of interactive horror design developed by Smith in 2000, the team sought to create the scariest level ever to appear in a game. They took influence from works such as House of Leaves, Session 9 and the Silent Hill series, and they studied mental asylums and reportedly haunted buildings for inspiration.

"Robbing the Cradle" was widely praised, and it has been described by several publications as one of the scariest levels in the history of video games. Jordan Thomas went on to create the "Fort Frolic" level in

Eidos Montréal to create a similar asylum level in Thief
(2014).

Overview

The main lobby of the Outer Cradle

"Robbing the Cradle" is the penultimate level of

Garrett enters the building in hopes of solving a mystery related to a supernatural murderer, the Gray Lady.[1][3] Once inside, he encounters the ghost of a deceased orphan, Lauryl, who was killed by the Gray Lady.[1] She is trapped within the Cradle because it "remembers" her.[4]

The Shalebridge Cradle is divided into two sections: the "Inner Cradle" and "Outer Cradle". The player begins in the Outer Cradle, which is designed to terrify players, but which secretly contains no dangers or enemies. The Inner Cradle is roamed by Puppets. The building's backstory is unveiled in a nonlinear fashion, via clues scattered within the level.[1] The player must free Lauryl by locating and disposing of artifacts that allow the Cradle to remember her.[4] However, after completing this objective, Garrett discovers that the Cradle has remembered him. To escape, the player travels back in time within the Cradle's memory,[5] while fleeing from silhouettes of the Cradle's staff.[1] The player ends the level by leaping from the Cradle's highest window, which convinces the building that Garrett is dead, thus leaving him free.[1][6]

Development

The central ideas behind "Robbing the Cradle" were conceived by Thief: Deadly Shadows project director

PC Gamer UK writer Kieron Gillen to discuss "Return to the Cathedral".[7] As the interview progressed via email,[8] Smith developed a theory of horror design to retroactively explain the success of the level.[3] His core concept was that players try to establish boundaries between safety and danger, and that fear results when these boundaries become unpredictable, or when the player is compelled to cross them "of their own free will".[7][3] Smith decided to consciously apply this theory in Deadly Shadows, and the result was "Robbing the Cradle".[3]

"Robbing the Cradle" was based on a theory of interactive horror design created by Randy Smith.

Smith's goal with "Robbing the Cradle" was to create the scariest level ever to appear in a game, which would "knock 'Return to the Cathedral' off the charts".

level design based on this idea, while seeking to retain the stealth focus of other levels in Deadly Shadows. He saw "Robbing the Cradle" both as a level and as a test of the possibilities of interactive horror design.[1] Smith later noted that his own biggest contributions were the level's beats: he designed ways for players' boundaries to be regularly violated, such as by forcing them to explore threatening areas.[3] Thomas spent a large portion of his off-hours working on the level,[1] and Smith stated that Thomas was responsible for "all of the implementation" of the level's theories.[3]

The team worked to discover the causes and mechanics of fear, and they analyzed horror films for inspiration.[3] "Robbing the Cradle" includes influences from the Silent Hill and System Shock series, from the films The Devil's Backbone, Jacob's Ladder and Session 9, and from the books House of Leaves, From Hell and The Shining. Thomas applied psychological horror techniques that he hoped would stay with the player even after the level's end. To generate fear, he used a combination of scripted sequences and unplanned, emergent factors.[1] Every light source in the level dims and brightens at an imperceptibly slow speed, which Thomas hoped would create a "subconscious sense of breathing" and thereby make the Shalebridge Cradle feel like a living entity. Lights were programmed to flicker when approached by Puppets; however, Puppets roam the level in real-time, and so Thomas was unable to predict which lights would flicker at which times. He believed that this gave the player the feeling of being hunted.[2]

Thomas explained that the Shalebridge Cradle's design was based on "dozens of actual, existing Victorian hospitals and reputedly haunted buildings".[1] The Danvers State Hospital was a key influence, and Smith went with other members of the team to visit an abandoned asylum in Austin, Texas.[3] Thomas gathered photographs by urban explorers and studied past methods of treating mental disorders, and he "read reams of patient and staff interviews". Audio director Eric Brosius composed the Cradle's soundscape, which Gillen later described as "a drunken miasma of sound [... that makes] you uneasy until an unexpected noise splits asunder".[1]

Reception and legacy

"Robbing the Cradle" was widely praised.

PC Gamer UK, the first and only article dedicated to a single level in that magazine.[1][11] Gillen hailed it as "one of the most brilliant and disturbing levels ever committed to PC", and he believed that it was "probably the scariest level ever made".[1] Tom McNamara of IGN wrote that the level "just has to be experienced to be believed", and he praised its sound design. He considered the level to be a high point of Deadly Shadows.[12] GameSpot's Greg Kasavin called the level "remarkable" and "nerve-wracking",[13] and IGN's Shunal Doke noted in a retrospective feature that the level's audiovisuals combine to "scare the living daylights out of you".[14] In April 2013, the level was highlighted as "powerfully atmospheric" by Valve writer Marc Laidlaw.[15]

Computer & Video Games to place Deadly Shadows on its list "Fear Factor: The 12 Scariest Games Ever Made". The magazine's Iain Wilson wrote that the level is "considered one of the scariest levels ever created".[20]

After finishing work on Deadly Shadows, Jordan Thomas went to

Eidos Montréal to create a similar asylum level in 2014's Thief.[10]

Notes

  1. ^
    PC Gamer UK
    . No. 146. pp. 132–141.
  2. ^ a b Gillen, Kieron (July 24, 2007). "The Illuminated Ones". The Escapist. Archived from the original on May 13, 2008.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Weise, Matthew (June 22, 2011). "Looking Glass Studios Interview Series - Audio Podcast 4 - Randy Smith". Singapore-MIT GAMBIT Game Lab. Archived from the original on April 1, 2013.
  4. ^ a b Ion Storm (May 25, 2004). Thief: Deadly Shadows. Eidos Interactive. Lauryl: I have to get rid of all of my things. The Cradle uses them to remember me; that's how it keeps me here.
  5. ^ Ion Storm (May 25, 2004). Thief: Deadly Shadows. Eidos Interactive. Lauryl: This place remembers you now. You've been here too long. There's only one way to leave the Cradle: you have to trick it. I'll help you. First you have to enter the past as your real self.
  6. ^ Ion Storm (May 25, 2004). Thief: Deadly Shadows. Eidos Interactive. Lauryl: Go to the top of the Staff Tower. There's an open window up there. You have to jump out. Then the Cradle will think you killed yourself, but you won't really die. You'll just be outside, where it can't see you.
  7. ^
    PC Gamer UK
    . No. 88. pp. 120–123.
  8. PC Gamer UK. Archived from the original
    on February 22, 2002.
  9. Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Archived
    from the original on July 18, 2008.
  10. ^ a b Reeves, Ben (April 7, 2014). "Afterwords: Thief Devs Shed Light On Long Loads, Dishonored Similarities". Game Informer. Archived from the original on April 7, 2014.
  11. ^
    Computer & Video Games. Archived from the original
    on May 2, 2014.
  12. ^ McNamara, Tom (May 25, 2004). "Thief: Deadly Shadows Review". IGN. Archived from the original on June 24, 2004.
  13. ^ Kasavin, Greg (May 25, 2004). "Thief: Deadly Shadows Review". GameSpot. Archived from the original on January 23, 2014.
  14. ^ Doke, Shunal (February 20, 2014). "Thieving Through the Ages". IGN. Archived from the original on February 20, 2014.
  15. ^ Myers, E. C. (April 2013). "Author Spotlight: Marc Laidlaw". Nightmare Magazine. Archived from the original on February 23, 2014.
  16. ^ Vincent, Brittany (October 30, 2013). "Scariest Video Game Moments". Maximum PC. Archived from the original on November 6, 2013.
  17. ^ Staff (October 1, 2010). "The 15 Scariest Moments in Non-Horror Games". Bloody Disgusting.
  18. ^ McCaffery, Ryan. "My Top 5 Scariest Game of All-Time". Official Xbox Magazine. Archived from the original on May 2, 2014.
  19. ^ Staff (October 31, 2008). "The scariest video game of all time". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on February 17, 2012.
  20. Computer & Video Games. Archived from the original
    on May 2, 2014.
  21. Gamasutra. Archived
    from the original on November 9, 2009.

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