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Castle Cain - In the Dark by Cain

B. Howaito 0 0 0 0
Ceamonks890 0 0 0 0
DJ Full 4 5 4 3
eRIC 0 0 0 0
eTux 0 0 0 0
Gerty 0 0 0 0
herothing 0 0 0 0
janachorider 1 1 1 0
Jonson 0 1 0 0
Kubsy 0 0 0 0
manarch2 0 0 0 0
MichaelP 0 1 0 0
rtrger 0 0 0 0
Ruben 0 0 0 0
Ryan 0 0 0 0
Sethian 0 0 0 0
Spike 0 1 0 1
 
release date: 27-Jul-2009
# of downloads: 95

average rating: 0.34
review count: 17
 
review this level

file size: 23.00 MB
file type: TR4
class: Shooter
 


author profile(s):
email(s):
cain_iamgood@yahoo.co.uk

Reviewer's comments
"Well this was a disaster. This entire travesty is virtually unplayable, and I think at this stage one can see why the famous Cain had his inevitable downfall. I can’t even spin anything positive out of this, since the trolling has entered a new level of sadistic unplayability. I made it about halfway through (thanks to DJ Full’s walkthrough that tries to find a light in this very dark endless tunnel) before giving up in my quest for the Good Stone." - Sethian (13-Jan-2021)
"Another awful level from Cain. If you want to save your sanity then skip this one, you will proud of yourself." - Kubsy (19-Oct-2020)
"It must be a while since I last scored any level with a flat out zero, but this utterly deserves it as it is so dull, dark and frankly ridiculous to play. I wholeheartedly agree with Michael that Cain has finally overstepped the mark here with this level duo. For starters, the settings are so impenterably gloomy that even flares don't help much, and the gameplay is pretty much a drudge all the way through. Huge maze follows huge maze, dark corridor follows dark corridor, often filled with annoyingly placed enemies (for which the grenade gun seems much less effective) that just seem to be placed just for the sake of them being there. You also have to tamper with the script slightly to play part 2 (as the first level crashes otherwise), which if possible was even worse than part 1. I played up until the end of the big snowmobile ride until I realised I had to go through all of the dark mazes all over again to reach the final areas. At this point, I just binned as I had enough. This is deservedly one of the lowest rated levels out there, and I'd stay far, far away if I were you." - Ryan (11-Apr-2019)
"If you weren't already starting to get tired of Cain releasing consistently atrocious levels weekly up to this point, then this release will probably serve as the final nail in the coffin for the TRLE community to flat-out agree that something needed to change, eventually leading to Cain being forcibly removed from the site altogether, as is evidenced by his final levelset let out a mere month afterwards. So, what else really needs to be said here that other builders haven't already stated? Not recommended." - Ceamonks890 (04-Dec-2014)
"Everybody say everything about this level so i can hope the author of this level will never put a foot on the Trle community again" - janachorider (06-Aug-2014)
"This level and Titak's "Mists of Avalon" have something big in common. No, it's not anything having to do with quality ;). Both levels actually deserve ratings outside of the provided possibilties in exactly three categories, there is only one category that actually fits in the rating system - Gameplay&Puzzles in "Mists of Avalon", Enemies, Objects and Secrets in this obscure release. I have decided that it is fair to leave this original rating in Titak's level, however you must know "Castle Cain - In the Dark" is really really, if not the worst level on trle.net, and deserves an overall score of minus ten. The reasons are pretty obvious right from the very first room - starting in a pitch dark setting with an overload of enemies to shoot and really bad gameplay as it's nearly impossible to find the few levers or even the way out of the first room without using one of the very scarce flares. I immediately decided to use the weapon cheat to at least be able to see where I am going and don't have to spend a lifetime in this level trying to kill the enemies. Thus I actually was able to finish the first level, which was already painful in its apperance with pitch black rooms and especial enormous mazes part of them underwater without any airholes, way too many enemies so that you cannot stand on ledges anymore but get pushed down - the pain never stops -, but thanks to Gerty I also was able to play the second level. Ehm... if I think again... "play" is maybe the wrong word. "Play is a term [...] to describe a range of voluntary [...] activities normally associated with recreational pleasure and enjoyment" (thanks Wikipedia) - While I can agree that I more or less installed and worked through the game voluntarily (although it might be that the recent review of DJ Full expanding the rating range massively could maliciously have forced me to try this one), this second level, if it could be actually played, would turn the definition upside down. This is undoubtedly the level that most of all deserves the word "trash" in the worst meaning. The whole level except the start and the very end is completely dark (there might be a few places I forgot though) with some rooms having two or three enemies on every tile you can stand on, two very painful snowmobile rides (the worst thing actually is that the light of the bike vanishes in corners) to a hole after a long, long time, then after dropping down and using a lever noticing you are forced to actually play the whole level again because there is no way back up. I won't tell you what I sweared when I noticed that... OK, enough bad things said about this level duo, coming to the positive aspects. Well, I thought some enemies in the first level actually were nice to look at such as the big mummies, and I also liked the design of the snowmobile. That's basically it. Textures if possible to look at were placed with the "texture all"-button and thus look wallpapered, lighting is as aforementioned one of the worst aspects of this level, gameplay is very bad even if the level wouldn't be dark as it is about running around shooting hundreds and hundreds of enemies and getting through painfully long mazes. There were no secrets and apart from a few pickups and the snowmobile no objects (well, you couldn't see them well in the dark, so that's "OK"). No sound usage except for Lara's moves and enemy sounds which are copied from the original game, no camera work and no feeling of atmosphere due to the repetitive mazeish architure and the once or twice highest ;) mentioned darkness. So bottomline after finishing the first level I was about to give one point to the second category, but the second level is close to unplayable without extra flares and ammo, and thus, returning to the first thing I spoke of, this level won't get any points for me even if it deserved one. Do not play this under any circumstances - Cain simply wanted to drive us nuts, and at least in that point fully succeeded. After all I congratulate Michael for not hosting his levels anymore. Say no to such levels! (and don't be so foolish as me and play them...)" - manarch2 (14-Apr-2012)
"Have fun and dont think too much in this level. Creativity and intelligence won't help you here. GnP: I give 3 for gameplay, as it attracted me very much. The myth there's no puzzles in this game is busted, because I found one. It's not creative, so I give only 1 point for this. Total 4. EOnS: Enemies are like I've never seen before. I just LOVE the final boss - the best one I fought with, so I give 4 points. There's very few objects, but they do they part like they should. 1 point. And 0 for the secrets, because it is none here. Total 5. ASnC: Atmosphere is just like wanted it to be and the players feel what the autor wanted them to feel. It's scary and funny at the sime time. If you know how to beat the enemies and pass the mazes - you'll love it. If you don't like Cain's specific humor - you'll hate it. In the meantime, I give 3 points for atmosphere, because I started the level quite sad and in the end I laughed like never before. This game gave me the greatest fun since I joined TR world. I also like the sound of eel footsteps. Oh - my - god! This is hilarious! 1 point for sound, then. Total 4. LnT: There's dark everywhere, but I managed not to run out of flares. As long as lara has the binoculars and can make some light with a gunfire, flares aren't important that much. They are useful, but only in the hardest parts of the game. I fought the darkness with pleasure, but there were significant differences between the illumination of neighbouring rooms - so 3 points for lighting. And 0 for the textures as they don't matter at all and some of them are pretty much stretched. Total 3. SUMMARY: If you like Serious Sam or Quake, if you don't mind the technical side of the level, and if you like challenges - this is a level for you. It's not a raid - it's rather a kill frenzy. But it can be an ideal interlude between two customs where a player needs to think a lot. I definitely don't agree it's the worst custom ever. It can give a lot of fun to people who like absurdal situations and ridiculous enemies and who don't treat life seriously. DARK YOU!" - DJ Full (21-Jul-2010)
"I deciced to try this level again. Don't know why. Still horrible, and it's nearly unplayable. Incredibly repetitive texturing, everything is dark and enemies are coming from nothing and you unable to move and it's HORRIBLE ANNOYING!!! The game also contains a terrible glitch, - at least in the first level - when you light a flare, the grenade launcher fails to work, so you lose your main weapon for a half minute. Sucks. The first level is uhh...it's bad. But it can be finished without cheating. The first room has caught up me for a while, since there's an unmarked ladder here. The other horrible things are the labyrinths. I had to use FexInspect to get through them. The underwater labyrinth is the worst. Swimming around while you're running out of health. Are you kidding with me??? FexInspect again.(and big thanks for Turbo Pascal for making this awesome program) And if you are unable to fix that awesome script provided by Cain, than you will may use dozy(well, nice thing that Cain didn't turn it off, I don't like cheating though) for finishing the second level. At least, I did that, but it would be unnecessary anyway. Those stupid mummies have kept pushing me down at a point, and you need a grenade launcher to kill them, but you don't have it if you use the original TRLE scriptfile, since the inventory has been resetted. On a side-note, they are sooooo big that they can't attack you, thus they don't make any sense! Also, I've ran out of flares, so unfortunately it would've been inevitable to use dozy. (stupid glitchy script!!!) And I still haven't got that grenade launcher, so i had to suffer my way through with revolver. Thank god that dozy gives infinite amount of medipacks, otherwise I would've died after 30 seconds. Then I found flares, but...I used dozy!!! And for more fun, enemies are appearing on the top of some blocks, and they keep knocking Lara down, so nice. Uzi-style shooting with the revolver made my job easier though. They're long crappy dark labyrinths in this level too, just for a change, with tons of animals to kill. Also, you'll surely have fun with riding through tunnels and you can't see anything, like in the first level. After I realised that I can't pass these tunnels, (I kept circling around, I think) I gave up. I tried to dozy my way through, but I kept stucking into invisible walls.(didn't try to pass this labyrinth too many times...guess why) So this level is "unfinishable". Probably it would've been the best if I hadn't played this level. No doubt that's the worst level released on trle.net. I think Cain doesn't play his levels before he releasing them. And he thinks that's good? Jesus. Hopefully I managed to describe you this terrible level enough. Draw the consequence: Watching TV or playing other TRLE games are much better activities than playing this....this...I don't know what."- rtrger (13-Sep-2009)
"Oh, dear. Being a fan of NOLF, it's a shame to see Cate Archer reduced to "starring" in what is probably the worst custom level out there... With maximum gamma, brightness and vibrancy it's impossible to make out anything without flares or the Grenade Gun, which show off the horrible, repetitive texturing of the place and the boxy architecture. There are no taxing puzzles, just you, running through long mazes with a Grenade Gun and lots of enemies (which I might add, hamper movement as you're pushed to and fro) in a pitch black setting. Did I mention that you have to enjoy the sights of the same places more than once to progress? It seems the author has intended to create a level which frustrates and angers... don't bother!" - B. Howaito (07-Sep-2009)
"He`s done it again ! When will we ever learn ? Another meaningless issue , but what do you expect ? I for one have an uncertain feeling he is secretly building and building , learning by doing ,only scaring the unwise TRLE world by continuosly issuing scrap levels . One of these days he might come up with a TRLE adventure the world has never seen ! High hopes for the day to come ! Until then it`s just another " Oh No !" from me." - Ruben (07-Sep-2009)
"An orgy of pitch black mazes (both above and underwater) filled with enemies is probably the closest you can get to describe my worst nightmare presented in custom level form. I tolerated the darkness, and I tolerated that the grenade launcher did not function when flares were lit (for whatever reason), but by the time I reached a spot with a door, where you had to drop next to it to activate the lever that opens it - and then noticed that you can't get back up - and the only way closely resembling to a way back launched Lara back into a maze from somewhere in the middle of the level - meaning I would have to traverse the multi level underwater maze among others again before I could get there - I turned sour beyond redemption. The brief snowmobile massacre did little to cheer me up, and though this lasts for a considerable while (as much as you can tolerate it), the easiest way to sum up this level is: Waste of Time. I feel kinda dirty going for cliches but I have to admit watching paint dry is an entertaining activity in comparison to this. I used the non-functional finish trigger as a pretext to call it quits (I could fiddle with the scripts as Michael did, but I don't see why I should be doing the builder's job in his place?) as I doubt things would've went uphill from here one, and if the story is anything to go by - would we even want Lara to succeed? Whatever the case may be - I advise you to be smarter than I was and don't even start this in the first place." - eTux (11-Aug-2009)
"Boring and sloppy. Never got to play the second level. Yawn" - Gerty (11-Aug-2009)
"Well, I'm asking me why Cain made this level so dark. Maybe he wants to hide the bad architecture or the horrible texturing. That seems to be the only rational reason for that. But there are several facts more which show that these two levels are maybe the worst levels in the trle history: No gameplay, countless enemies, no puzzles, no statics and no atmosphere. These two levels are not playable, so in the end I had to use cheats to finish them. After the first level the game crashes down and I had to use the north cheat to enter the second one. To sum up: Cain brought home the bacon! He has built his worst custom level!" - Jonson (01-Aug-2009)
"When I first started to play this adventure, I was a little unsure as to why the marks were so incredibly low. Sure, it wasn't going to win any awards, but it had a few jumping sections, a vehicle ride and some safe vantage points from which to pick off enemies. The darkness was also at a level at which it was still possible to see the surroundings, albeit with a little effort. Soon enough, however, this all went out the window, leading to an experience that cannot be best described without the use of more expletives than possibly even exist. While the gameplay itself is far from riveting in the first place (maze, followed by maze, followed by slightly larger maze), the impermeable darkness pretty much sucks everything dry of any possible enjoyment. Add to this the fact that you have to do some (very large) sections more than once, and you've pretty much got a perfect level for all the masochists out there. Oh, and did I mention the general lack of flares for the majority of the game? Yes, serious review is serious, but the level itself is pretty much a joke - and I'm pretty sure that even Cain himself knows this fairly well. ;)" - Spike (01-Aug-2009)
"Do not be fooled by the relative brightness of the screenshots on the levelinfo page. This is a seriously dark level. And frankly - I would say it is simply a level that is not playable. Period. With that I don't even mean that the finish trigger of part 1 does not link up with part 2, so you have to tamper with the script to even be able to see part 2 - although the term "see" stretches it a bit, as you will also not see anything there either. No, it's more the series of mazes, which Cain seems to recycle and enlarge from his previous offerings, which make it utterly boring to try and find the crucial next hole where you can progress. I did scramble my way through part 1, but I will admit I just gave up on part 2, as Cain has finally managed to cross a line here and I will indeed stop hosting his levels after adding his next one to the listing today. This episode of custom level history has lasted quite long enough and gotten rather old now. I apologize to all of Cain's fans out there, but all good has to come to and end at some point in time and you may well be able to find his future levels hosted at some other site out there..." - MichaelP (01-Aug-2009)
"It is rather scary to notice that Cain's levels are becoming more and more annoying. Here plenty of enemies that pop up not from 'thin air' but from 'thin (err I mean thick) darkness' as most of the places of these two levels are pitch black. There is not even enough flares, and the grenade gun does not seem to always function properly. Lara can be stuck against walls because of too many enemies, or as usual now can plunge to her death when she is on ledges because half a dozen eels or other enemies have popped up on the same squares than her. You can expect a lot of pitch black mazes like areas here , and some labyrinths too for good measure. The author manages to reach new depths in what the term"utter boredom" can mean. Not only that but this is hardly playable given the thick darkness and the number of enemies. Oh yeah there are some giant mummies worth a look , but i won't give any point for that alone." - eRIC (31-Jul-2009)
"Honestly, stop making games now, It's just ridiculous, the builder obviously doesnt care what the outcomne is, he's just putting them on here to make people review them for nothing, its just stupid. The game is still appaling, everything about it is shabby and not a single thing has been changed from the last chapter that came out about 2 days ago." - herothing (28-Jul-2009)