My Phone is a Sculk Shrieker

2 August 2025

I recently posted a journal entry about my visit to the Ancient City, where I described the fear-inducing nature of the sculk shrieker. When I wrote that, I wanted to immerse myself in the uncanny horror of the Minecraft world. Here is a sound-based phenomenon that can send even the bravest adventurer into a full-blown panic. It immediately demands your full attention, it's a warning that something deadly might be approaching, and it distorts your vision for a moment, as though the world is closing in.

Wouldn't it be terrifying if we could engineer an experience like that in real life?

Oh right.

I got a fun reminder that this exists following the Kamchatka earthquake on 30 July. If you're not familiar with the above message format and the associated sound (lucky you!), this is the Emergency Alert System or EAS. It's an alarm that goes out to the phones, TVs and radios in a region when a natural disaster or other urgent situation poses a threat to the area. The specific sound varies by region; if you're curious, here's a video showcasing a number of them (obvious trigger warning for loud/unsettling noises!)

Here's a rundown of the EAS experience. Your mileage may vary – reminder that this is a MINECRAFT site and all neurotypes are valid! :)

• The alert sound. There's something about the specific tones they use in these alerts that makes me feel nauseous when I hear it. Even if it's at a low volume. Okay, better grab my phone so I can shut it up... Good job on that, whoever designed the sounds XD
• The message. They got your attention; now you need to know why. Depending on the type of emergency you might need to take quick action, eg. tsunami from a nearby earthquake, or tornado warning. Thankfully this one was way across the ocean so not much to worry about here.
• The panic. Having been flooded with stimuli – sound, light, and information that may or may not warn of impending doom – you enter an overwhelmed state. Maybe it's fight/flight/freeze, maybe it's a meltdown or shutdown, maybe it's something else. I sure froze up when this came through. No way I was getting anything productive done for the next little while. It's not like the "darkness" effect in a literal sense (unless your screen is REALLY bright), but it can cast a shadow over your mind...

It's no wonder the EAS comes up so often in analog horror. And Minecraft horror. It's simple, effective, and customisable.

So what, in "game theory", are the shriekers warning us about anyway? Well, lucky for us, we have an answer straight from the horse's (dog's?) mouth! Developer kingbdogz describes the Warden as an "unstoppable force of nature" – an overpowered entity that isn't meant to be defeated (tempting though it may be to bonk it with the mace), but rather avoided through preventative measures. In other words... The Warden is Minecraft's own natural disaster! Which means the shrieker – with its subtitle text of "Warden approaches" etc – is an in-game EAS. And you'd better heed that warning, lest the unstoppable force meet your movable object!