Cry of Fear - A master blog

!! THIS BLOG IS A WORK IN PROGRESS !!

Ive been busy with school coming to an end (+ starting) and also I haven't been super into cry of fear recently so I apologize for not being able to finish this

If I got any information wrong in this blog, please tell me! Most of this is based on memory and I haven't really read about Cry of Fear since November, so it'd mean a lot if you helped me make sure everything is correct.

I will not be talking about co-op or doctor mode so there will not be too much about the cops or characters special to those modes like the other variant of Fasters (sorry)

WARNING: This blog contains topics like suicide, self harm, depression, etc. If those trigger you, I'd recommend not reading, let alone getting into this game as it is a reflection of a suicidal man's mental space.

What is Cry of Fear?

Cry of Fear is a 2012 survival horror game by Team Psykskallar about the protagonist, Simon Henriksson, a 19 year old swedish guy who lost the ability to walk after a car accident. Due to this, his mental health worsens. The gameplay is a hallucination, as none of the events are real and all the monsters and locations are a reflection of his mental health and real life experiences. 

The game took 5 years to make, and it's considered one of the best half-life mods due to the graphics quality being significantly better than half-lifes.

Cry of Fear release video <- taped in the real apartments used in the game! From the same channel there is videocasts of Team Psykskallar and the process of creating Cry of Fear (sort videos by oldest)

Simon Henriksson

Simon is the main character of Cry of Fear, who, as previously stated, lost the ability to walk causing many of his mental health issues. On top of that, he had been bullied in school, and hated his peers for not noticing his declining mental health.

It's revealed that he has a crush on Sophie who was his only friend, unfortunately she doesn't feel the same way towards him. In one of the endings, he kills Sophie because he's upset that his feelings aren't reciprocated.

Because of Simon's poor mental health, he gets a therapist named Dr Purnell. He moved from his mother's house to a cramped and dingy apartment in order to be closer to Purnell's office, which was not good for him at all since the apartment was so depressing. Simon often asks Purnell to make his medication dose higher, claiming that they are helping him when in reality he is abusing his meds. In the game it is evident that Simon does not like Purnell nor does he really want his help, he rarely talks to him about what is really going on and even kills him in some endings.

However, in the "good" ending, Simon goes to the mental hospital and Purnell is able to help him more there.

Fun fact: Simon canonically listens to black metal, megadeth, and led zeppelin

Sophie

Sophie is Simon's love interest. The two became friends because Simon defended her against bullies in school. She appears in the boss fight with Carcass, where she and Simon share a conversation. She tells Simon that there are no monsters in the city they are in, which makes Simon confused because he'd been fighting monsters all night. At the end of their encounter, she commits suicide by jumping off the building the two had been talking on.

From Sophie's corpse, Carcass arrives and the boss fight begins.

Dr Purnell

Dr Purnell appears shortly before the boss fight with Mace, where he tells Simon that he shouldn't be where he is and without explanation he leaves. It is later revealed that he is Simon's therapist, who hasn't been successful in getting Simon to talk about the Black Day

The Black Day

The Black Day is what Simon calls the day of the car accident that ruined his life. 

As he usually did, he was walking around the city at night. However, this time he sees an old man on the ground asking him for his help. Simon helps the old man, then a grey car drives towards him and pins him to the side of a building. This crushes his legs and lower spine, paralyzing him from the waist down.

Enemies

Slowers

Slowers are the first enemy to appear as well as the most common enemy in the game. The first Slower encounter is when Simon gets lured into a mysterious door where a Slower ambushes him with a hammer attempting to kill him. However, they have relatively low health, making them easy to take down. There are many variants of Slowers, around 6 or so.

slower variant 1-3

The Apartments

The apartments are a location that shows up early on in the game. Here, Simon is trying to help an unknown man who texts him urging him to help him. The apartments are a real place in Sweden, as is most if not all of the locations in the game. Andreas Ronnberg, the creator of Cry of Fear, took pictures of the apartments and other locations to make textures and such in the game. 

In the apartments there is The Apartment Predator. Scattered around the building there are letters left by the predator, talking about the kids in the apartment and how he had to kill them because their parents found out they had been missing. 

His apartment is filled with garbage bags, most likely with the bodies of his victims inside. One of the enemies, named the Children are dressed in garbage bags. They are possibly the predator's victims. The Fasters are possibly the Children's mothers. In the apartment, Fasters are behind doors that won't budge, they can be heard sobbing. If Simon tries to open one of these doors, a faster, a woman with her eyes gouged out and bloody blades replacing her limbs, comes out from the room and starts chasing him. She wails loudly and her blades clank loudly as she runs.

Faster

The Picture Room is believed to be full of pictures of the predator's victims, as well as the room where he killed them. Contrary to popular belief, the pictures in this room are not real life photos of dead bodies.

Also found in the apartment is a tape, where a man with shears (who is believed to be the predator) beheads another person in the room. The man falls to the floor, and a code for a door is revealed on his body.

In the apartments Simon encounters the first boss, Sawer. He is rather tall, his weapon is a chainsaw, and deals no damage when standing straight up. Simon can only hurt Sawer when he is taking a rest and the eye on his back is open. By hitting the eye, Sawer's health will go down.

If Simon gets hit by the chainsaw, Sawer kills him by cutting him in half from the waist. This symbolizes Simon losing the use of his legs.

There are other enemies who's weapon are chainsaws, such as

Sawrunner

Simon encounters Sawrunner when walking through an alleyway. Sawrunner cuts through a door and starts rapidly chasing Simon through the alleyway, he is rather fast and is almost impossible to kill as he has 2000 health and can instantly kill you. 

He appears several times in the game, one of the times when he chases Simon through the forest as he tries to find a doorknob to escape. 

Sawrunner resembles a panic attack, coming out of nowhere and making Simon feel like he is about to die.

Hangers and Crazyrunners

Speaking of the forest, there are other enemies special to it. Hangers attack Simon by hanging themselves and aiming to hit him. There is no need to fight against them, as they are already dead. 

Crazyrunners look almost identical to Drowned which appear in multiple places such as the sewers, train station, etc. Unlike the Drowned, Crazyrunners chase after you.

Drowned

The Drowned try to kill Simon by using suicidal influence. If Simon is close enough to a Drowned and has a gun, The Drowned will try to make Simon aim it at his head. You have to quickly press L to stop this from going any further, and leave the area that the Drowned is in.

Representation of Simon's mental health and real life experiences

• Faceless

The Faceless are found in the college where they attack Simon in large hoards. They represent Simon's classmates, whom he resents for not noticing his declining mental state.

• Sewmo

Sewmos represent Simon's anger and bitterness, they lash out with their tongue until the player frees them from the barbed wire holding their arms together. And the barbed wire restricting his movement represent how Simon's movement is limited from being wheelchair bound.

• Citalopram

Citalopram is a medication used to treat depression, possibly one of the medications given to Simon by Dr Purnell. Citalopram is usually by the train tracks, and they're pretty easy to take down since they only have 17 health.

• I want my feet back

On the train, there is a bloody briefcase that reads "I want my feet back" and the objective is to return a sawed off foot to it. This represents how Simon badly wants to be able to walk again, and how he's upset that the doctors couldn't help him use his legs again.

Weapons

The first weapon in the game is the knife, it is given to you when you first start. There are many different guns as well, Team Psykskallar went as far as to shoot the guns in a shooting range, and take a video to make sure the animations for the guns were as accurate as possible. You can also dual wield weapons with the phone so that you have a light source, however duo wield does not work when holding a knife.

There are special weapons that you get after completing the game in a certain amount of time or with a certain score. One of these is the Digital Camera, which you can use to freeze enemies. It's incredibly helpful when coming across Sawrunner, however it is not useful at all when encountering bosses because they do not work then.

Simon's book is a weapon that you can unlock if you complete the game with an S rank. It deals extreme damage, being able to kill Sawrunner (who has 2000 health) relatively quickly. It also has unlimited ammunition, its flames also act like a light source which is extremely helpful when the phone dies and you are scarce on flares.

Nightmare Sequences

The first nightmare sequence is pretty tame, it's in the apartment and pretty much the only thing that happens is that the interior become rusty and bloody before the boss fight with Sawer.

The next sequence is after the boss fight with Mace, Simon walks through a corridor where the lights lead him to a hole in the wall. The room it leads to is bloody and twisted, and the walls are covered in harsh sayings directed towards Simon. After he exits that particular room, Simon has to dash through a hallway as hands grab at him and injure him from the floor.

Roped off apartment is the 3rd sequence, you hear Dr Purnell talking about Simon and his refusal to talk about the Black Day, as well as how he's been abusing his medications. Soon, you encounter Sawrunner again. You manage to escape by the floor collapsing and the nightmare ends.

Next, in the train station, once you go through a brick wall after breaking it another nightmare will begin. The checkered floors become bloody and twisted, and all around you see monsters in cages slitting their wrists and/or legs. The nightmare ends after carefully walking all the way through.

The last sequence is called "You will not survive." It is a bloody maze, and while wandering through Simon must avoid Hangmen. Once he finds the exit, he has a flashback, temporarily loses the use of his legs and crawls to the door then the nightmare ends.

Asylum

The Asylum, like many other locations, is a real life place in Sweden. In the game, it is located deep within the forest. There are many issues with the power, resulting in Simon having to restore the generator to see. It is also one of the most influential places, having to do with a huge chunk of which ending you get.

This is where Simon gets sent to in the 4th ending, in real life it isn't run down and it is actually a nice place to be.

Andreas and James exploring the asylum, taking pictures to turn into graphics

Endings

• Ending 1

Unlocked by sparing Carcass and not giving Purnell the gun

Simon has more hatred for the world around him and ends up killing Sophie, Purnell, then himself. 

Simon's suicide note

• Ending 2

Unlocked by sparing Carcass and giving Purnell the gun

Simon possessively murders Sophie and then later kills himself

• Ending 3

Unlocked by killing Carcass and not giving Purnell the gun

Simon murders Purnell and himself

• Ending 4 "the good ending"

Unlocked by killing Carcass and giving Purnell the gun

Simon ends up killing two police officers unknowingly and is sent to the mental hospital, he and Sophie remain friends

The boss fight for this ending is with Book Simon, Who is the version of Simon that is an embodiment of all the pain that he writes about in his journal.

• Ending 5 (joke ending, not canon)

Unlocked by delivering a package

The ending is much like Afraid of Monsters which is Andreas's first half-life mod. It shows a cutscene that is based around the Black Day however it is much more comedic and it shows David Leatherhoff coming out of the vehicle after hitting Simon, and running away as Simon cusses him out.

Ending 5 (just the cutscene)

FULL ending 5 (and how to get the package and where to deliver it)

Now, what do you mean "sparing or killing carcass" and giving or not giving Dr Purnell the gun?

The boss fight with Carcass is one of the most influential parts of Cry of Fear. On top of this, Carcass is the only boss you don't have to fight. However, choosing not to fight him changes the outcome of the game greatly. If you choose to walk away, that is resembling Simon letting his problems be, and letting himself get worse. If you choose to fight him, that is Simon confronting his issues.

Now, for the gun part. In the Asylum you find doctor Purnell behind a barrier where he asks you to give him a gun from the hospital's bowling alley for him to help you. If you give him the gun, he will shoot you in the shoulder and your health will be permanently much lower for the rest of the game. HOWEVER, you get a better ending.

If you refuse to give him the gun, he still shoots you in the shoulder, however it hurts less because the gun isn't as good as the other. This will result in getting a worse ending.

This resembles Simon either taking his therapist's help or refusing to take it. Sure, it'll hurt less currently if he keeps ignoring others help. But it'll hurt him more in the long run, he won't get better. And if he trusts Purnell, he can get the help he needs even if it's hard to confront his issues.

TRIVIA!

• Andreas was only 16 years old starting up this project! And when he made Afraid of Monsters, he was only 14.
• The game did not have ladder mechanics until way later in the project, before it was finished, the ladder climbing animation was just Simon gliding, it was very annoying for the person animating things.
• The original inventory had 12 slots, but that made the game too easy as you could store as much morphine as you wanted + a ton of weapons. So, the finished product only has 6 slots.

hi - cici