“The sky was overcast with
heavily laden clouds from which, every now and then, thunder, claws of
lightning roared and sank somewhere into the depths of the forest. During
these brief flashes of light, twisted branches of trees were visible in
the mist and stretched towards me like hands of the dead.”(Daemonica)
So begins the story of Nicholas Farepoynt, the Beast
Hunter and Haresh al-Dorem, the one who speaks with the dead. Responding
to an invitation, Farepoynt has traveled to a small hamlet in England in
order to solve a murder mystery. The mayor who requested his services is
unaware of what methods Farepoynt uses to find murderers, but he knows
that Farepoynt has been successful in the past in resolving cases across
England.
Farepoynt, always hooded and gloved (and heavily
tattooed), is never welcomed with open arms into these towns. With the
threat of the Black Plague barely over, the townspeople view strangers
with suspicion. Many will do nothing for him until he earns their trust,
and some have their own agendas. He will have to overcome their reticence
in order to find out details about the murdered victim. Only then can he
apply his skill, which has to remain a secret from everyone lest he be
burnt at the stake. The Hunter’s greatest secret – the Daemonica, the
language of demons. This allows the Hunter, after ingesting a potion
concocted of deadly plants, to travel to the realm between the living and
the dead and speak to the murdered souls. They can tell him themselves
what they know of their murders, although often the information is sketchy
or they speak in riddles and confusion. He must have particular
information about the soul he is seeking, and he must have the body of the
person by him when he undergoes his sacrificial ritual.
On this occasion he is met with stumbling-blocks right
away. Since the letter was written requesting Farepoynt’s assistance, a
woman has been murdered and the mayor took it upon himself to hang her
boyfriend for the crime. The mayor believes the two missing bodies for
which he asked assistance from Farepoynt were also victims of the same,
now dead perpetrator. All he wishes from Farepoynt is for Farepoynt to
find evidence to back up the mayor’s actions, since half of the
townspeople believe that he hanged an innocent man. Farepoynt has dealt
with so many atrocities in the past that he is immediately of the opinion
that the mayor has done wrong. Adding to the problem, the murdered woman
has been cremated, and the body of the hanged man is under heavy guard.
As the player, your initial goals are to find a way to
make the townspeople talk to you, gather plants to make potions, steal the
body from the gallows, and correctly conduct the ritual at the Temple of
Sacrifices. Your ultimate goal is to find the murderer responsible for the
deaths in this hamlet without allowing your secret life to become common
knowledge. Along the way you will find that this is no simple murder case,
for there are many secrets that others hold dear. During this quest you
will also find that, while you have shunned friendship since the death of
your companion, there are good people in this town who see beyond your
bizarre appearance to the hero within -- and they will extend a hand to
you.
“I pursue the worst human monsters. I track and kill
murderers of children, poisoners of town wells, arsonists who set fire to
houses in which innocent families sleep in peace. Seldom am I welcomed and
everyone is happy when my mission is over and I am off. I do not need
gratitude, friendship or understanding. I have seen the worst the world
can offer.” (Daemonica)
This is a moody game, both in ambience and in the
eloquent text; it is much like reading a gothic horror novel. Most of the
dialogue in the game is presented as text, but fortunately it is well
written. Rather than viewing a cut scene or an action being played out
before you which requires your response, a text screen comes up detailing
what has happened. Aficionados of the old text games will probably be
happy with this, although I found it rather disconcerting. I think it is
strange to use this method, and then have the required action of a half
dozen fights. The fights are not difficult, as the enemy characters stick
completely to the same pattern of movement. All that is needed is to block
with the space bar, time the movements, and click your sword at the
opportune moment. All the same, I was jolted by the change from the
immersive text to the banal fighting, and would have preferred that the
developers do away with the fighting altogether and make that part text as
well. Or they could eliminate the text and have active screens throughout
-- but perhaps budgetary constraints were an issue here.
Before you play the game you can access the backstory
from the main menu, and it is worth doing so to understand why a man such
as the main character would become a Beast Hunter. The writing is
exquisite and I found the theme intriguing and unique. During the game you
have access to a diary in your inventory, which helps to clarify
information you have gathered. It also contains ingredients needed for
potions and the appropriate methods to use when you are at the sacrificial
temple. This last bit of information is essential, for if you do not
follow the correct steps you will die and it’s game over. To ensure that
you do not have to reload, you need to question game characters in order
to acquire various bits of information (such as birthdates and the souls’
aspirations) that will be used when calling out to the souls in the
temple. This information will be automatically recorded in your diary and
is easily accessible under individual names.
Also in your inventory is a map. Once you have visited a
location, you can thereafter zoom back to that location. This is a highly
useful feature and one that I wish more developers would utilize,
especially in a game such as this where there is a lot of ground to cover.
You will still need to wander quite a bit to find plants to combine to
make potions. The potions you will need will be the soulgreep used in the
temple, a potion to restore your health, and a couple of others that are
necessary to fulfill part of the storyline. While this is standard stuff
for role-playing game (RPG) enthusiasts, it is a different idea for an
adventure game. The developers were ambitious in trying to merge the two
genres, although the RPG influence is very slight. In another salute to
the RPG, you have a health meter on your screen which will lower as you
sustain damage in a fight. As I said before, there are few fights that are
mandatory, although you can elect to have more if you choose to do so by
not talking your way out of situations.
The game is in third person from a top-down perspective.
Although there is a lot of text to read, there are also many places for
your character to visit. Movement in this game is simple and effective.
It’s point and click mostly, and it’s even easier than usual since you can
click practically anywhere to move to a location in this 3D world. In
other words, there are no static positions which you must click on to move
your character, and you can wander as you will. The default pace is
running, but you can change this if you wish. It becomes necessary to use
the keyboard if you wish to block during a fight (by pressing the
spacebar) or if you change the camera angle. I sheepishly admit I didn’t
think to adjust the camera angle for some time, and was wondering why
scenes appeared cut off, and characters that I was talking to were hiding
under the stairs. You move the camera angle by pressing the left and right
arrow keys for a different view. You can also use the up and down arrow
keys to zoom in and out, or you can use the mouse scroll wheel. (In
retrospect, the paper manual that accompanies the game does explain this.)
The graphics are adequate, but far from sensational in
mainly muted browns and greens, and it rains often in the little town
where the game takes place. There’s a nice use of shadow, with trees
swaying in the storm. But it’s a mixed lot, and more artistic flair could
have been used on some of the trees, water and characters. However, this
doesn’t detract from the game, and does nothing to change the brooding
atmosphere of the story. I thought the art work in the temple itself was
very good, and it is obvious that care was taken to make this more
visually pleasing.
The ambient sounds further heighten the mood, from heavy
rainfall to sounds of crickets, hens and birds. It was amusing to watch
the hens react if you scatter their group as you walk. The musical score
is orchestral and very pleasant, especially the strains of the piccolo
gently playing as if carried on the wind.
While most of the character dialogue is written and not
voiced, the main character does speak many of his lines. The voiceover for
Nicholas Farepoynt is a very strange choice. The background of the game
tells you that he is an illegitimate son of noble birth, raised in
obscurity in France. However, the accent of the voiceover is Cockney, or
maybe an Australian trying to speak with a Cockney accent. Or perhaps it’s
an Englishman trying to speak…never mind, the accent is all wrong, though
it’s interesting to listen to anyway.
Another minor quibble is the load screens, which occur
every time you leave or enter a location. They only take about five
seconds, but they happen so frequently that they disturb the immersion in
the game.
You can save at any point, and should do so in the final
act. For here I experienced the greatest discontent with the game. There
are five acts, and in each act there are new plants that can be gathered
for potions. However, the plants are in limited supply. This wasn’t a
problem until the fifth act during optional quests; I came up one plant
short of being able to continue, and had to go back to a saved game. There
doesn’t seem to be any point in limiting the plants as the game does,
except to force you to wander around looking for them. I wouldn’t mind
this so much if they existed, but you don’t know they aren’t there until
you wander the entire game world inch by inch. Note to developers -- pixel
hunting is not fun! And please tell me why the local herbalist has nothing
in the way of plants or potions in her house, or why there are no plants
in the mayor’s wife’s basket when she spends most of the game picking
them.
Other than the plant searching, there are several
puzzles to be achieved. These are all well integrated into the storyline,
and are simple, practical problems like how to get a body away from a
guard, or where to find a lock for your door. Generally, if you read the
dialogue of the various characters you come across, there will be hints
within their comments. There are no slider puzzles. There are two brief
mazes, but they are exceptionally simple, and you won’t go more than a few
steps out of your way. There are no timed sequences except for the
fighting. Once engaged in combat, you do have to press the spacebar to
block or hit with your sword until the enemy dies, or you do.
The puzzles in the temple are very enjoyable, and
consist of deciding which door to enter according to the manner of death
of the victim, and then which attribute describes the victim at two
different sacrificial bowls. It did take me a bit of time to realize that
you must right-click to select the attribute, another glowing example of
why it is a good reason to read the manual before you play. There is also
a third sacrificial bowl where you need to call up one of two demons. It
is hugely entertaining to call up the wrong one (after saving of course),
as you die in a most spectacular manner. The save slots are limited, but
can be overwritten. There is a quick save and quick load feature.
The control panel is full of options. Besides the
ability to change the default “run” movement to “walk” as I mentioned
earlier, you can also choose “normal” or “difficult” combat.
Unfortunately, I noticed no difference between the two. There is also the
ability to change the screen resolution, with a choice of 800 X 600, 1024
X 768 (the default) or 1280 X 1024. You can change the visual effects and
the shadow projection from full to simple to accommodate older video
cards. There is also a music, sound, and gamma control. The game is on one
CD ROM, and it is not necessary for it to be in the computer drive to play
the game once fully installed.
“The prey never comes to the hunter on its own, the
hunter must chase it. Anywhere.” (Daemonica)
Although there are flaws in Daemonica, if you are
not opposed to reading a lot of text, this is a most melancholy game to
play due to the story and a brooding, moody atmosphere.
Grade: B
5-2006
design copyright ©
2006
GameBoomers
Group
