Ch.5 After woman ward....

[Sultan]

I would like to know what to expect in the women's ward and after aswell... I admit iam a bit of a wuss for askişng but, I jump at every noise and thing. Anyway, are there any things I should be prepared for?

[Tommex84]

Plenty of scary voices in the gals ward but what comes after that, when you decend to prison level, can kill you. Bunch of crazy inmates and plenty of freaks further down.
Enjoy :)

[Sultan]

Do the voices have a source or any effect?

[DouglasGrave]

There are a bunch of potential surprises, and there was a discussion a while ago where someone made a list of all the surprises they'd encountered in response to a similar question.

[DouglasGrave]

If you run a search of the discussions for "dining hall", "showers" and "keyhole" (three places that have a surprise or two, and are otherwise unlikely to be mentioned together), you should get a result including the discussion where we listed quite a few of the scares.

[Bad Whippet]

It really depends on what scares you most. If it's the jump-scares, then most of those are on the upper levels. If it's actual creeps, then the lower levels will be more a problem.

On the upper levels, I would say the men's ward is the worst for a bit of a frightening atmosphere: there is a transparent entity called the Night Warden that wanders around and the whole ward makes a terrific WUMP-WUMP-WUMP noise which boosts the frightening atmosphere, but you can mostly avoid him by NOT collecting the women's ward key until you're ready to leave that ward (collecting the key is what triggers the Night Warden appearance). If this entity DOES catch you, all you'll know about it is Garrett's hands flailing and he takes a bit of damage. You don't see the entity and it just makes a silly, almost cartoon-like growl. You can then carry on your way. I should warn that that encounter affects your take-no-damage achievement.

Before the women's ward, there is a lift shaft leading down to a couple of floors lower. There is nothing scary down there at all but it's worth a visit for some loot you'll find. If I recall correctly, going down this shaft is more likely to lead you back through the dining hall, mentioned later. Nothing else of note there.

Regarding cells in the wards, you might see ghosts inside the cells, but there is never anything in those cells if you unlock them There is one particular cell that glows like fire and this is the ghost of Moira. Try to enter that cell and you are hurled backwards, try to enter again and again you are hurled out and the door slammed shut (usually) in which case you must find another way in - again, there is no longer anything to worry about - just nice loot in the cell). Don't confuse this cell with the central room that also glows like fire - this central room has nothing at all to worry about - it's just a small flame fire on the floor and no entities are present. In the showers, there is a creepy hand that claws up briefly through the drain grid then vanishes - it won't harm you though. It is perfectly safe to use the vent shaft to the other ward from these showers.

As for the rest in the upper levels, you will see things move but they don't harm you, and in the dining hall there is a jump-scare if you climb the stage: all the mannequinns on the stage will be right behind you. There also a few scare noises and an apparition in there but that's all. You only need to go to the dining area (on the floor below the wards) if you want to explore. The game doesn't lead you there.

Lower levels, you will encounter inmates, but I found this, overall, was less frightening than the upper levels. You will need to enable the generator which opens the cell doors down in the treatment area. These cells all have inmates. One you will likely need to take care of, but wait until he's killed one of the other freed inmates in the corridor (at which point he will be at level 1 suspicion of your presence permanently). A fire arrow zaps him immediately. The rest you can avoid unless you want to loot - in which case the remaining inmates are easy to knock out.

The prison area has a lot of wandering freaks in the darkness, but there are only two you have to deal with - and they'll both be standing close together at the entrance. Light kills them, so a flash bomb or fire arrow takes them both out (I've read that you can carefully creep past them, but I didn't want to risk that). The others you can avoid completely unless you want to explore the prison cells. On the way out of this area, there is a narrow passage that you must go through with broken doors and freaks reaching out with claws. They don't escape, and you'll notice that claws are either on one side or the other (not both) so keep left or right as appropriate and you will avoid them. The game then jumps to a cut scene where Garrett is eventually caught.

You will then enter another dream-like area that you've seen in Erin's Mill. There are only mannequins here, though one is used to give you a jump scare by being right behind you when you turn to leave the cell. It won't hurt you though - it's just an inanimate mannequin.

What helped me was to watch youtube videos of all the scares up front so I knew what I would have to face. If you want to be talked through it while playing, add me as a friend on Steam and we can play it through together.