Password to unzip: piss

Well, it’s almost Halloween, and so I thought I’d finally upload my entire Pathways into Darkness horror map/rpg series onto Staredit.net. The entire series was originally on Starcraft.org but for whatever reason that site got shit-canned and replaced with an entirely different site. So anyway here’s all 4 of my Horror map series. I’ll talk about each one individually in detail for those interested. If you don’t want to hear my sappy reflections you can just download it now and skip this next part.

Pathways into Darkness I

Recommended Number of Players: At least 3
Original Release date: Mid-late 2003
Special features: Introduces Goldman, and Morphis, who would become reoccurring villains in the series

Plot Summary: You awake in darkness around other strangers, people you’ve never met before. You can’t remember what has happened in the past few days but all you know is something is terribly wrong with the place you are occupying. And so you must venture into darkness in order to find out who’s holding you captive and escape alive.

Looking back…: The inspiration for this map was really another horror map, Alone in the Dark. When I played that map I was blown away and I knew I wanted to create a horror map just like it. Unfortunately this falls short of that masterpiece and ends up being flat out cheesy at certain parts. The dialogue is horrible, but hey so was resident evils. This ends up being an okay horror map but nothing too special. The core gameplay is set in this entry which I ended up using in the rest of the maps so it’s worth checking out and the story is decent. Note for old school mappers: This was made with Emerald editor (an old map editor that was amazing when it first came out in 2001ish)

My Rating: 2 stars out of 4


Pathways into Darkness II
Recommended Number of Players: 3 for poor endings; at least 4 for good endings.
Release date: July 2006
Special Features: Only entry in the series to feature the ‘Mutated Human’ as a playable character; Only entry in the series to have multiple endings.

Plot Summary: 5 years after the events of Pathways into Darkness 1, The town of Sweet Water (located close to Goldman’s Laboratory), is attacked and destroyed by zombies. Taking on the role as 5 humans trying to survive in the city, you must escape Sweet Water, and find out who has attacked your town and why.

Looking Back…: God I remember how much of a pain in the ass this was to make. I ran into problem after problem trying to finish this but after many versions I finally got it to work perfectly. Well this is arguably the best entry in the series. In fact, if you ask people who’ve played all 4 maps chances are this will be their favorite. The story in this one is kinda lacking but the gameplay has been upgraded a bit with tougher puzzles, tougher bosses, and tougher everything! Damn this map is tough. In fact, the final boss of the best ending is the 2nd hardest boss in the whole series. The multiple endings work nicely and adds some replay value to this one. Overall, a good entry in the series, but the beginning of the map will turn some people off, as it is easy to die. Note: Ending A is the cannon ending that goes into PiD3.

My Rating: 3 Stars out of four


Pathways into Darkness III
Recommended number of players: At least 4 if not 5.
Release date: Spring 2007
Special Features: Strange puzzles; Letters that reveal events of the past (i.e. the origins of Goldman); The most epic final boss fight in the whole series, if not any horror map.

Plot Summary: explained adequately in the briefing.

Looking Back…: Well this is personally my favorite entry in the series. The gameplay is a return to the original which eliminates running through a zombie infested city that the 2nd one had. The story in this one is pretty good; it’s gritty, dark, and depressing as hell. And as said above, the final boss fight is epic as all hell, and is the hardest boss in the entire series. Anyway I recommended this one a lot I’m sure you’ll enjoy it a lot. The only negatives I can think of it there’s a lot of back-tracking and the map can be pretty hard.

My Rating: 4 stars out of 4


Pathways into Darkness IV
Link to Pathways into Darkness IV forum: http://staredit.net/topic/4206/

Recommended number of players: At least 4…maybe 3 if you’re really good.
Release date: March 2008
Special Features: Revamped weapon system, incredible difficulty; only entry in the series to have dream sequences; Letters reveal the story of the previous games; only entry in the series to have a secret ending.

Plot Summary: Some time after the events of PiD3. All seems peaceful with the world as the madman (known only as 'Goldman') has been supposively put to rest. However everything is about the change. When you wake up unable to remember anything about your life and not having any idea where you are, you know something is amiss. You start off around 4 other humans in your same situation. Your only choice is to band together for survival and maybe, if you live long enough you can discover who you are, and who’s holding you captive.

Looking Back…: Well I know I already uploaded this map and started a forum topic about it, but I thought I’d throw it in just for the hell of it. So, this one is a lot like the third one but with some slight changes. For one thing, the weapon system has been changed drastically. Rather then have 5 different weapons, there are only 3 and you can get 2 of the same weapon (So 5 people don’t get the marine for instance). This is the hardest entry in the series for the first 1/2 of the map. Though, towards the end it gets easier. This also wraps up the story nicely (more so in the hidden ending). Although, for some reason, I don’t like this one that much. It’s not inferior to the others; hell you can say it’s the best. But something about it doesn’t sit easy with me. But the core gameplay is fun and its got some cool features so I’ll give it…

My Rating: 3 stars out of four

Well that’s my rundown of the whole series. I tried to be honest in my reviews but if you think they all suck ass and I was too lenient just let me know! Anyway Happy Halloween and have fun Zombie Hunting!