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Escape the Catacombs
A horror and emotional experience
Escape the catacombs is survival horror game set in a first person view with a variety of puzzles, enemies and environments to navigate. Designed and developed all mechanics
A non linear level
The game revolves around a large open level with an outside and inside area. The outside area where the player starts serves as a tutorial place for the player to practice the main mechanics. It also offers documents with lore details about the world set in specific areas as a reward for the player exploration. Upon entering the interior, the level turns into a labyrinth, the so called "Catacombs" where the player will spend most of his time. Here the player can navigate freely and choose which areas to explore first. However to progress to the final area of the Labyrinth he needs to find 4 artifacts scatered around the first part. Some sections require also the use of keys to pass, which can only be found through exploration as well.
The outside area
Here is where the game begins. The player is first trapped in this valley and needs to find a secret passage through the cliffs. For this however he first needs to uncover the clues hidden through several notes in the area and find the key to enter the underground tomb. Once inside he can then pull a lever to open a secret passage underneath the lake.
An intricate maze
The Catacombs are split into two maze sections, conected by a central cave. Each section has different areas with specific enemies and artifacts or keys to collect. Some areas are also underwater, blocked by locked doors or hidden, requiring the player to explore every section and face a variety of challenges.
The glowsticks and night death
The tomb before entering the labyrinth.
The greenish glowstick is one of the players main source of ilumination. Whenever the player is in darkness for to long the "Night Death" will come for him. His flashlight can protect him, but if enemies are near the flashlight will stop working. In this situation he must use a glowstick to keep himself in the light while fighting the enemy. This was a design made so that the enemies are not so much in the light, thus remaining more mysterious and therefore scarier.
The greenish glowstick is one of the players main source of ilumination. Whenever the player is in darkness for to long the "Night Death" will come for him. His flashlight can protect him, but if enemies are near the flashlight will stop working. In this situation he must use a glowstick to keep himself in the light while fighting the enemy. This was a design made so that the enemies are not so much in the light, thus remaining more mysterious and therefore scarier.
The Death token
The Death Token room. Here is where the player finds the Death Token artifact that serves as bomb that only affects a specific type of enemies (Banshees). These enemies give a scream whenever they are damged, and the scream itself also damages the player. Therefore killing one of them with regular weapons comes with a great cost to the players health. With the Death token however the player can instantly kill a group of Banshess. However to gain them, the player first needs to find the original one in this temple (after defeating a boss). And after that he gains the Death token ability. With this ability, for every 5 zombies he kills he can collect a Death token that instantiates in front of him.
The coded levers room
On the second part of the maze the player will stumble across this room with 8 levers each bearing a specific bone. In front there is the main door the player must open to enter the final lair of the main boss. However to open it he first needs to know the correct combination of which levers to pull. For this he needs to explore the maze in order to get all 8 poem lines that indicate the correct combination.
The central tower
After leaving the coded lever room, the Player will eventually find this central tower with 8 rooms, all blocked by a locked door displaying a bone combination. By pulling the corresponded levers with the order showed the player can open that door. Inside he will find clues to unsolve the main story mistery as well as the poem lines with the combination he needs to open the main door in the coded lever room. The level will be focused on the player opening each door of the central tower as well as finding his way through the maze to each of the rooms.
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