The Nightmare Legacy and Re-release of "Nightmare/Atmosfear"

The Nightmare board game series had a major following in Australia, where it originated.  It was created by two men: Phillip Tanner & Brett Clements.  It was manufactured by a company in Canada, so there are many games still available and floating around there as well.  In the early nineties "Nightmare" took over and had every young teen and even adults facing the cold & cruel "Gatekeeper", who was the supernatural host of the original game.

Nightmare (or called Atmosfear outside of the US)

After the success of "Nightmare", there were three other expansion games made.  There was Nightmare II- with the zombie host, Baron Samedi, Nightmare III with the host being based off a real person of history- Anne de Chantraine.  Anne was only 17 years old when she was accused of witchcraft, she was tried, found guilty, and burned to death in one of the many 17th century "Great Witch Hunts."  She was the inspiration for Nightmare III and turns up the heat in this third installment of the popular series.  Then Nightmare IV has the infamous, "Blood Countess", Elizabeth Bathory as the vampiric host.

Nightmare II

Nightmare III

Nightmare IV

There were even talks about making a movie with the characters (hosts of the games), but that idea never went any farther due to sales starting to plummet.  By the time the fifth expansion was to be created, sales were declining so they pulled the plug.  That was in 1995. They instead released the game called, "The Harbingers" that was also a VHS game and each player was a harbinger who had to face the "Soul Rangers."  I think I may have played this once as a kid but really can't totally remember the game.

The Harbingers

Harbingers Booster Tape #1

Harbingers Booster Tape #2 (only released in Australia & New Zealand)

The Soul Rangers

Atmosfear: The Ultimate Conflict (only released in the UK) This game was just "The Harbingers" doubled up with "The Soul Rangers"

Fast forward a bit to the 2000's.  Obviously VHS was becoming obsolete, however, that didn't stop this series!  A new version of "Nightmare" was released on DVD in 2004 called, "Atmosfear: The Gatekeeper."  Sales did fairly well, so in 2006 another DVD game was made for the series called, "Khufu the Mummy."

Atmosfear: The Gatekeeper

Khufu the Mummy

There have been other releases in between all the games coming out over the years.  There were two booster tapes released for "The Harbingers" that were add ons and offered a more challenging play, with only 45 minutes of game time versus 60 minutes.  There was then an add on for "The Harbingers" released in the mid nineties called, "The Soul Rangers." (pictures of covers above)


There was also a card game released called, "Atmosfear the Card Game" and was a lot like the game of "Spades."

In 1995 the "Atmosfear" computer PC game was released.  It was called, "Atmosfear The Third Dimension" and could be played individually or with multiple people.  The original Nightmare game concept was pretty much the same from what I have read.

The Atmosfear cell phone game was thrown onto the table in 2007, along with an idea of a TV series based off the games.  This was taken directly from the website, "bottomofthewell.webs.com":

"Shown sometime in 2007 along with the TV series, was a cellphone game that very little is known about.  As a matter of fact, only one image of it was released to the public, and has since been taken off line around the same time the TV show section of the website was, suggesting it had been cancelled.  The following image is what was shown, it was included in an "Atmosfear" collage that showed "The Gatekeeper", "Khufu" and this.

According to the same website, "bottomofthewell":

"Atmosfear-The TV Series~
Very little is known about the TV series due to the fact it was never released in any form and was most likely only in planning stages.  The series was to revolve around a group of kids who were sucked into a TV by the Gatekeeper and had to escape, all the while escaping from zombies and vampires, and most likely the other Harbingers as well.  Unfortunately not even a teaser picture of the show was released, so I can't upload anything to show."


According to the "Well of Fears" website, there was another PC game called, "Atmosfear Chain Game" and was a small game that was playable on the Atmosfear game homepage website.  You basically play against the Gatekeeper and have to swing from chain to chain to avoid falling in the lava beneath you.
A quote from the Well of Fears website,
"While the game only features one level of difficulty, it taunts the player to try a second time after completion going so far as to claim you couldn't win "twice."  Regrettably this message never changes, removing much replay value.  Also included is a sliding puzzle in which you move tiles marked with the Atmosfear "The Gatekeeper" cover art in an attempt to complete the image.  Much like the chain game that follows it, only one image is available for the game despite its claims for a "new puzzle."

I also found a fan based new "Nightmare" card game.  Here is the website for it, you can actually buy it.  Think if I have an extra $30 I will grab one up!  NIGHTMARE THE CARD GAME

Nightmare the New Card Game (based off the new Nightmare game)

And here is another fan based creation called, "Nightmare: A New Nightmare Begins!"
You can read more about it and also purchase it at this website:  CLICK HERE FOR WEBSITE

Here's a couple of pictures of this fan created board game~

Whew!  This blog took me awhile- I never realized how much "Nightmare/Atmosfear" franchise was either available or planned, but then cancelled.  If I find anything else in the future, I will be adding it to this blog.  That's actually why I moved my other blogs about these games into its own blog- there's so much!!!

Sites I used for resources and also quoted from:

The Bottom of the Well

The Well of Fears Message Board

The Nightmare/Atmosfear Team

The Well of Fears Official Website

Atmosfear Fan Club on Facebook