Pathways Into Darkness
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Pathways Into Darkness is a video game created and published by the Bungie Software Products Corporation (now Bungie Studios) in 1993. It was released for the Apple Macintosh. Its tagline was "This is the closest you'll get to virtual reality without a helmet!"
Storyline
Pathways Into Darkness casts the player as a member of a Special Operations team on a mission to prevent an ancient godlike being from awakening and destroying the Earth. In order to succeed, the team had to enter an ancient pyramid in the Yucatan, reach the bottom level, and detonate a low yield nuclear device in an attempt to stun the Dreaming God and bury it under millions of tons of rock. However, before the game begins, during the team's deployment, your parachute fails to open, you plummet to the ground, and are separated from the others who presume you to be dead. Eventually, with most of your equipment lost or broken, you reach the pyramid. The only items that didn't break were your flashlight and survival knife. The team entered several hours previously, leaving in their stead a stream of horrific monsters, created (like the pyramid) by the slowly waking god, who will fully awaken in five game days.Gameplay
The game's style is an unusual blend between that of the first-person shooter and an RPG. While much of the game consists of fighting monsters, a great deal of time is also spent solving difficult puzzles, and conversing, via a magic yellow crystal, with dead men (mostly from an ill fated Nazi expedition), who know a few of the pyramid's secrets.Also you can talk to your former teammates who have all died during their mission.
The last group of dead humans you can talk to are a group of Cuban mercenaries who died while trying to loot the pyramid for artifacts and treasure.
The Dead
Though the only living human character is the player, each of the dead soldiers has his own story, assuming he can remember it. Dead people in the pyramid do not pass on to an afterlife: they remain in their corpses, still perceiving what occurs around them but unable to act as they slowly forget everything about their lives. Some of them appear to have gone quite insane. Most of them will at least respond to "Name" (by telling their name, if they remember it) and "death" (by describing how they died. Most seem to remember that, though not all are willing or able to discuss it.)Anonymous German Soldier (Ground Floor): Unable to remember his name, this soldier was killed by Muller for refusing to follow him through a door.
Anonymous German Solider (Lock&Load): This corpse will only state that he is "cold, so cold." He does not remember his name, and asking about his death only prompts him to describe death as cold and lonely.
Gunther: Killed when he tried to help a wounded Joachim escape a party of Headless. He was leading a party composed of himself, Behrens, Hans and Joachim. He and Joachim were friends. Though he immediately recognizes the player as a foreigner (i.e. not German) he's friendly enough.
Hans: A new recruit, he was used for carrying ammo by the other expedition members because he couldn't shoot straight. Killed by a Phantasm.
Muller: the leader of the Nazi expedition. A short, greedy man, he was strongly disliked by his entire team and shot at least one of them in the back. Even after death, he lies to the player about his intentions, mission, and the dangers of the pyramid. Despite his faults, he seems to know more about the pyramid than anyone else - though as one of his late underlings put it, "that only makes him more stupid."
Monsters
Throughout the game you encounter successive waves of bizarre and horrifying monsters, presumably all created by the Dreaming God's. They include:"Headless": Weak orange bipeds with olive-shaped bodies atop froglike legs. On top of the body is a round mouth filled with sharp teeth and a long tongue. They spit a quantity of green goo as an attack. Headless mostly occupy the levels above the surface and are the first enemies encountered in the game. Though they're quite weak and feel pain (they flinch and scream when injured) they are often found in groups.
"Zombie": Skeletons in headdresses who throw bones at the player. Unlike the Headless, they do not feel pain, so the only way to stop them from firing is to kill them. When they die, they dissolve into small piles of dust.
"Phantasm": Also known as Shades or Banshees, Phantasms are black, translucent cloaklike shapes with glowing red eyes. They are immune to all conventional weaponry; only the Crystals have the power to harm them. Phantasms are invisible in the infrared spectrum. They simply disappear upon death.
"Ghoul": A Ghoul is a pale, hulking, hunchbacked humanoid. Their distinctive posture is probably necessitated by the small corridors of the pyramid. Ghouls deal a lot of damage by throwing rocks at high speed, but are not very tough for all their size and can be quickly dispatched with a knife. Like the Headless, their firing can be interrupted by harming them.
"Nightmare": Bloated, dark brown fishlike monsters with yellow eyes, Nightmares float through the air firing orbs of electricity. On death, they explode with some force, hurting or even killing their attacker. Presumably they are full of some kind of lighter-than-air, combustible gas (hydrogen?) but they seem to contain a fair amount of liquid as well. Greater Nightmares are blue with red eyes, and are far more dangerous. Their electricity orbs home in on their targets, and they only take damage from armor-piercing rounds.
"Ooze": Roughly humanoid monsters that hurl bits of slime. They resemble humans covered in a thick coat of orange/tan mud, with no visible facial features but a vertical, tooth-lined opening in the chest. It's unclear whether a more solid body exists beneath the mudlike exterior. They often travel in threes. Green Oozes are indestructible monsters that also travel in groups of three. For some unknown reason, they will ignore intruders who are poisoned.
"Rats and Lizzards": Small rapid moving flying creatures that which attack in swarms and gnaw the player to death. The Lizzards additionally are capable of following the player between levels.
"Invisible Wraith": Bizzare enemies that are completely invisible to the naked eye Wraiths can only be seen with aid of Infra-Red goggles. Attacking at such great speeds you may well be dead before you get the chance to see what hit you.
"Electric Sphere": Found throughout the ever-changing "Labyrinth" level, large spheres of electrical energy. Capable of both travelling at incredible speeds and sensing rapidly "sensing" an intruder at a great distance they can be a quite formidable enemy. When attacking they tend to attack in groups cooking their target with powerful electric fields.
"Purple Pod": Purple mines found on one level that explode when stepped upon.
"Sentinel": Strange sitting "humans" who generate a forcefield. They are dressed similarly to that of Zombies and Ghasts.
"Skitter": Large carnivorous spider like monsters who spit sticky projectiles that form there web to trap prey (eg. the player in) of whom they then eat. They come in two varieties non-venomous which are a cyan color found on the upper lower levels of the pyramid and the magenta colored venomous variety on the lower levels of who shoot toxic projectiles that poison the player.
"Ghast": Skeletons with a similar headress to that of the weaker Zombies but in blue instead of red. Ghasts wander the lower levels. They are capable of causing small "earthquakes" damaging those nearby. In groups their damage is greatly increased causing far more deadly quakes. Like the Zombies when Ghasts are killed they disintegrate into a pile of dust.
"Greed": Better known as the Big Blue Meanie. A massive blue creature, simply a face surruonded by two arms and chickenlike feet. The arms end in tubes that can spray bursts of fire. This monster is responsible for the death of almost every member of the main character's team. Greed has remarkably high stamina, though it can be killed.
"Malice": Known more colloquially as the Giant Purple Mutant Hellbeast, or Barney on Steroids, this purple serpentine monster cannot be killed. It belches clouds of toxic gas to attack. There is some controversy among players whether the Gas Mask item is useful in reducing or preventing this damage. Though the player will only encounter one Hellbeast at first, two others appear near the first one towards the very end of the game.
"Deceit": A floating, gaslike creature, known to some as "Flaming Smokey Dude." It never attacks, but is always found in the company of a large number of monsters. After all of its companions have been killed, Deceit itself is easily defeated and leaves behind an Alien Gemstone. Deceit's nature is never explicitly stated: whether it is somehow a representation of the immortal Dreaming God itself, or one of its creations, possibly the (formerly)imprisoned demon mentioned by certain characters.
Crystals
During the course of the game the player acquires several different crystals, each of which has a separate special power. After equipping a crystal, it takes several seconds (the exact duration varies from crystal to crystal) to charge before it can be used. After each use the crystal takes longer and longer to fully charge up, after a while the crystal would shatter into a fine powder and be removed from your inventory. The crystals and their powers are as listed below:Yellow: Hums in the player's hand. Each use enables instantaneous communication with a corpse in close proximity. The exact nature of this communication is never explicitly described, though it is likely similar to telepathy. This crystal is unique in that it never shatters. It is always available, since some puzzles cannot be solved without the help of the dead.
Blue: Icy cold to the touch. Freezes a target temporarily, causing damage.
Red/Orange: Very warm to touch. Burns the target, dealing more damage than the blue crystal.
Violet: Crackles and gives constant static shocks. Unleashes a lightning storm, dealing heavy damage to all visible enemies.
Green: A rough crystal that vibrates slightly. Creates an earthquake with the user at the center; also hits creatures behind the user. Ineffective against flying foes.
Black: Holding this crystal is painful, as though it were covered in hundreds of tiny needles. A single charge instantly turns the nearest creature into stone permanently. While effective against nearly every enemy, it is not found until late in the game and only has about 10 charges, limiting its usefulness.
Potions, Treasure and other magical items
During the course of the game you will encounter many bizzare items, some helpful and some not so. Some of the sigificant ones include.Potions: Occasionally one will encounter a potions in a bottle, affecting the player in different ways when consumed depending which type of potion, these include:
Bubbling Red Potion: Seems to alter the players perception of time
Clear Blue Potion: Instantly heals the player by a certain number of vitality points when drunk. Can also cure the effects of poisoning.
Thick Brown Potion: Deadly poison, will poison the player when consumed.
Pale Violet Potion: Short lived potion that makes the player invulnerable and immune to pain.Treasure: During the game you will also encounter a variety different and very valuable treasure items. While most of these have no practical purpose picking them up will increase the players score.
One treasure that you find early on is a silver medal from Nazi Germany that is on the corpse of a dead German soldier in the upper levels of the Pyramid
Interlevel Transport
"Laders": Ordinary wooden ladders, found above the ground.
"Crystal Ladders": Ladders made of crystal in a variety of colors.
"Vines": Long vines which lead into the lower depths of the Pyramid.
"Teleporters": Translucient portals which could lead virtually anywhere. Many are only one way.
Connections with other Bungie games
Pathways Into Darkness is considered by many to be the beginning of the "Bungie Mythos", a large timeline which connects this and later Bungie games.The most salient of these connections is the nature of the "waking god" and the helpful aliens who inform the United States government of its nature. The "waking god" is believed to be a — or the — W'rkncacnter, a race or singular entity in the Marathon series which shares similar properties, primarily ancient origins, incredible power and the capacity to cause destruction on a global or cosmic scale simply by existing.
Also, the aliens who inform the US of the waking god are the Jjaro, an ancient alien race that is featured heavily in the Marathon and (as some fans believe) , although they are never mentioned by name in the latter.
There are also connections which are not directly spoken, but many believe. Although it is never directly stated, the Marathon character is rumored to be a cyborg, formed from the dead bodies of soldiers. This character feels as if he has done certain things before, or as if he has dreamed about them. These 'certain things' match up well with nearly identical events which the main character from Pathways experienced.
The most subtle of the connections between Pathways Into Darkness and Marathon lie in a single computer terminal in the latter game. While seemingly there to provide proof that a human AI is distorting human history data (to prevent invading aliens from knowing of Earth's location) the text is actually a highly corrupted version of the original Pathways Into Darkness story. Dealing with historical events that do not match up with actual history, the terminal discusses how a group of immortals survived for thousands of years on a hidden cave's fountain.
Other influences
Many fans have noted similarities between the dreaming alien god of Pathways Into Darkness and the terrors of H.P. Lovecraft fiction. In particular, the description of the god as an ancient entity, from outside of known space, involved in wars beyond history, and affecting reality with its dreams, are reminiscent of Lovecraft's Elder Gods or the Great Old Ones.If the player is killed by an Ooze, he receives the message: "Oozes. They're everywhere. Can't stand 'em". This is similar to a comment from The Tick about ninjas.
External links
- [Pathways Into Darkness on bungie.org]
- [Pathways Redux] - a PID-inspired mod for Doom 3
| Bungie Studios Games | |
|---|---|
| Non-series Games
| Gnop! > Operation Desert Storm | | Abuse | Oni | Pathways Into Darkness | Pimps At Sea |
| Marathon Games
| Marathon (computer game)>Marathon | | Marathon Infinity |
| Myth Games
| ' > ' |
| Halo Games
| > Halo 2 | ''Halo 3 |
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