Nightmare Sequences

The beginning of the first nightmare sequence

Nightmare sequences are events that occur at determined places in Cry of Fear.

Most of these events make Book Simon question his sanity, and appear to be a metaphorical projection of the real Simon's struggle to cope with his many demons.

First jumpscare in the game (It's victim numbers are still increasing)

Prologue

Prologue Nightmare Sequence

Prologue Nightmare Sequence

Simon wakes up in his apartment armed with nothing more than a camera. The only lit up place is his room, the rest of the place is completely pitch black and Simon must use the camera on the X to reveal both the way through and disturbing occurrences.

When Simon is about to reach a distant X, a face will burst out of nowhere while screaming, causing a huge shock, while waking up Simon from the nightmare.

Sick Apartments

After Simon uses the elevator to go down in the apartments building, Simon will reach a bloody and dirty version of the apartments. Every door has rusty metal bars on them, preventing Simon from entering. After descending every staircase, Simon will reach the lair of the first boss; Sawer. After he's defeated, Sawer beheads himself, leaving Simon in a sick and shocked state, passing out and finishing the nightmare.

You Will Die

Hallucinations?

After killing Mace and retrieving the key from his stomach, Simon will enter a corridor in which he sees visions of a Stranger. When he reaches the door, the place changes into a bloody version, with some messages on the walls.

After he reaches a door, he enters a hallway in which many hands burst from the floor, hurting Simon. He runs as fast as he can and reaches a door, finishing the nightmare.

Roped Off Apartment

The corridor...

When Simon gets into the roped off apartment, he descends a ladder in the middle of the room. He then finds himself in a dark corridor, while hearing the doctor talking about his patient. He then finds a door that leads him to a room with a face (the same one from the first nightmare) spasming around. Once Simon defeats the enemies here, a cage in front of him will be opened, revealing a door. Simon reaches the door but Sawrunner appears in front of him. The floor collapses and Simon finds himself in a dark place. He runs toward the only light in the distance, which is a room. Simon enters this room and goes through the door ending the nightmare.

...

...

After Simon breaks the brick wall in the subway station and goes through the door, he will enter this nightmare. There are many blood-covered platforms and there's an endless void. There are also many cages hanging from nowhere, containing some deformed human-like creatures cutting their wrists and/or legs. Simon must carefully cross the platforms and reach a door to exit this nightmare.

"You Will Not Survive"

The maze can be completed by hugging the right wall.

This nightmare sequence occurs right after the "..." nightmare sequence. Simon enters this nightmare after exiting the corridors. Simon finds himself in a normal hallway, he then enters the door in front of him, where he finds 4 doors and a page that serves as the only clue to cross the doors in the correct order. Once this is done, Simon enters a bloody maze. He must escape this maze while avoiding Hangmen. He finds the exit but before reaching it, he has a flashback. He then temporarily loses the use of his legs and starts crawling to reach the door and get to the other side and exit the nightmare.

You Will Not Survive (Nightmare Sequence 6)

Will you escape?

Forest Bunker

After going through a detour once the hanger blocks the door, Simon comes across an open Bunker. When he steps in, the door in front of him slams open and he crawls, falling through a hole, breaking his fall each time by bouncing off doors. He then must jump over opening and closing doors until he comes into a hallway. He must avoid slamming doors again and eventually at the end, comes across an Upper, screaming loudly.

The Upper, being encountered at the end of the bunker.

Dead/My Life Ends Here (Bad Endings)

He Awaits...

Simon enters this nightmare if the player gets any of the bad endings. Simon finishes his book and commits suicide. The suicide is depicted as Book Simon entering another nightmare. The corridors twist and turn on their own, change positions, Hangers are everywhere, pages with the word SUICIDE are everywhere and the background sound is Simon screaming and cursing phrases such as "KILL YOURSELF", "I'M SICK" and "I'M SO F**KED UP". Simon must cross the corridors and climb through many books that serve as platforms to reach Sick Simon, the final boss of this nightmare.

The books used as platforms

Sick Simon is protected by several metal bars. The players must evade Sick Simon's psychokinetic attacks and kill the hordes of Faceless that appear. One of them will drop a valve that must be used in the corners of the room where you're fighting. Once every valve has been used, the metal bars will be lifted. Book Simon (the character you've controlled throughout the whole game) will go near Sick Simon, punch him repeatedly, knock him off his wheelchair and strangling him and killing him, finishing the game (which is a depiction of Simon's suicide).

Psychosis ("Good" Ending)

Book Simon

Simon is about to commit suicide after finishing his book, but is prevented from doing so by Book Simon, who opens the door of his apartment and walks away. The real Simon (who's on a wheelchair as a result of the accident) goes after him, entering another nightmare. There are giant hands with wounds in their wrists, which represents Simon's self-harming, along with giant spamming eyes. Since the player takes control of the real Simon, he will move slowly due to being in the wheelchair (you can move faster if you tap the W key at the correct timing). Book Simon will appear 3 times and shoot the real Simon for a certain amount of time. Once real Simon reaches a dark, long hallway, Book Simon will appear armed with a flare and a sledgehammer ready to kill Sick Simon, but Sick Simon kills him and finishes the nightmare.

Simon's final nightmare, where he faces Book Simon

However, it is revealed that Simon did not kill his evil counterpart, but rather two police officers who entered his apartment to stop him from committing suicide. Doctors testify that he was having a psychosis episode and he's translated to a mental hospital to what is foreseeable to be the rest of his life, receiving treatment from Doctor Purnell and being visited by Sophie. He then comes at peace with himself and finishes his book, saying that it has changed his life.

Trivia

• The rusty metal grating floors and dirty walls that appear in some nightmare sequences are most likely influenced from Silent Hill's Otherworld sequences.
• After you enter the yellow doors, that lead to the "..." nightmare sequence, turn around and go through the doors you just came through. You will see Sick Simon sitting by his desk and writing his book while twitching.
• In the first nightmare sequence, an older version of Simon's model can be seen breaking the mirror.