 |
Soon... |
What is the draw to horror? In the intro to Veil of Darkness, I mentioned that this kind of entertainment was not my cup of tea, at least at the time it was released. I enjoyed a good mystery and had some interest in supernatural fantasy, but gruesome and especially gory art turned me away. So, once again, I probably would have passed on this game if the box were the only thing to go by.
 |
Hanging body? weird looking face? no thanks. |
The back of the box promises something a little more in line with a thriller than outright horror. A story steeped in voodoo, a generational curse, and unnerving nightmares. It gets my mind racing with possibilities. How were the Shadow Hunters formed? Why do they exist? Are there others? Is the curse triggered by some recent or future event, or has he had these nightmares throughout his life? I guess there's only one way to find out.
In case anyone is curious, I'll be playing the GOG.com release of the game, which should be close to the original. There is a 20th anniversary edition to the game, and I happily welcome any comments that give insight to the changes and additions in that version of the game. While I did have the manual to download, not included in this copy of the game is the graphic novel that acts a prologue I believe. Please correct me if I'm wrong, as I'd like to avoid spoilers to events revealed in the game. In any case, I'll only refer to it If I'm stumped in the game. I did find a copy of it on the Internet Archive.
 |
Now if this were the cover art to the game, I'd have been more interested. |
I usually like to start off with an overview of the story in the manual, but there isn't one. I guess the graphic novel was supposed to fill that role. The manual goes into a good amount of depth regarding the systems and interfaces used throughout the game; however, it started to edge on the cusp of what felt like spoilers, so I'll mainly use it for reference than reading it cover to cover. Notably, there are interrogations, tape recorded audio, a couple of encoded writing systems to work with throughout the game. There's a section for general tips for adventure gamers (which I probably won't need), and a walk-thru of the first few puzzles (which I'm strictly avoiding). At the end are a lot of credits, including some big-name voice actors, but more surprising is a bibliography of the reference material used to support the game's setting. I don't know of any other game that included such a thing.
 |
Let's see what the Intro option tells us about the game. |
Selecting Intro from the main menu starts an animated scene with a lot of visual references to the graphic novel that I noticed while flipping through it. There's no dialogue in it. It starts with people gathered around three bonfires. As it focuses on the center fire and the man standing in front, a figure becomes more visible in the fire... a woman. The man watches her burn with an expression of unease. The woman's face transforms into a leopard, and then the scene changes to amulet. Engraved with a lion and serpent entangled in combat with gems at each cardinal direction except north, it turns into focus before blood splatters on it. The scene changes once again. This time to an empty street, Bourbon Street, where St. Georges Books is seen. The door opens and as we enter, we see a hanging body from a tree on top of a hill in the distance. As we get closer to see the face, Gabriel realizes it's him and jolts awake.
 |
I guess Gabriel is already having those nasty nightmares. |
The intro continues with credits set next to renderings of medieval art. Judging from the bibliography, I'd suspect most of these came from either History of Art, Third Edition 1986[1962] by Janson (H.W.), or The Occult in Art 1990 by Rachleff (Owen S.). It's unclear why these particular pieces were chosen, so I'm currently chalking it up to selections by the designer or art team that are thematically relevant to the story as opposed to telling part of the story.
 |
The director, game designer, and half of the writing credit goes to Jane Jensen. |
After gaining some writing credits at Sierra on Police Quest III and EcoQuest, Jane Jensen co-designed and co-wrote King's Quest VI with Roberta Williams. With that experience under her belt, she approached Ken Williams about leading her own game. The story and setting are based on Angel Heart, a film I hadn't even heard of until I skimmed the development section of the game's Wikipedia page. While the series received critical acclaim and a sizable fanbase, commercial success seems to have eluded it upon release and re-release. I wonder how much of that is due to the full voice acting and FMV sequences, both of which I'd imagine would increase the budget of the game. There are also some notes that the game engines used were going through some growing pains.
The credits end, and the game begins in earnest with the opening scene of the same bookstore front as a woman arrives on Bourbon Street as she picks up the just delivered newspaper of the day. A quote for the day reads, "I dreamt of blood upon the shore, of eyes that spoke of sin. The lake was smooth and deep and black, as was her scented skin...."
 |
| Dawn of the First Day |