Author: Yo$hik
# of levels: 5
Rating: 7/10
Difficulty: Medium to Hard
Yo$hik has returned with another interesting addon for Rtcw SP. Dark Matters is a 5 level addon, but the last map is only a cutscene. As far as gameplay goes, that means there are only 4 playable levels.
The theme for Dark Matters is something that is currently an unused idea for Rtcw SP releases: aliens! That's right, aliens are in Dark Matters. Unfortunately, the player doesn't get the opportunity to fight them. Starting with the last playable level, you will see dead aliens everywhere. It seems that the Nazis had fun with experimenting on the aliens.
But first, let's start at the beginning of Dark Matters. According to the mission briefing, the player is apparently an agent who is searching for one of his comrades, who was captured by the Nazis. The player arrives on a train, similar to the beginning of Vendetta, which is another addon made by Yo$hik.
But instead of being a spy who sneaked onto the train (in the case of Vendetta), the player apparently was brought to a Nazi-occupied village along with a group of prisoners. The player then must sneak past the guards, until he reaches a hotel.
Once he arrives at the hotel, he finds a woman in a wine cellar who is tied to a wall. She apparently was one of the hotel workers who was tied to the wall by the agent that the player is searching for. The agent did this to prevent the woman from alerting the Nazis about his presence.
In the wine cellar, the player finds a key to one of the hotel rooms. Inside the hotel room is a case containing 2 weapons: the Sten and the Silenced Luger. A flak jacket is also laying near the case.
After the player is armed with weaponry, he must fight his way through a part of the town, and enter a cathedral. Inside the cathedral are SS soldiers who are rather dangerous with their high accuracy. The player must then enter the basement of the cathedral after he makes it through the top area.
After going through a small torture chamber, the player will enter a laboratory. From here on is where things become strange and creepy. There are dead bodies everywhere in the lab. The walls and floors are covered with blood. Parts of the lab are destroyed or are on fire. Something is not right...
In the 4th level, the player will notice something rather disturbing. There are dead aliens everywhere, some attached to the ceiling, and others laying on tables. It's clear that the Nazis were experimenting on some aliens, but the aliens fought back.
Near the end of Dark Matters, the player encounters Deathshead, who has 2 female assistants for some reason...( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Anyway, the player must fight 2 protosoldiers, who are rather tough. After the player defeats them, he will stop to observe the madness that the Nazis have been conducting in the laboratory. Unfortunately, one of Deathshead's assistants walks behind him, and knocks him out with a needle injection. Deathshead has some plans for the agent...
The final level will show what plans Deathshead had exactly. The player is apparently now a supersoldier. The player failed in his mission to find his captured comrade.
Meanwhile, a group of Nazis are observing a temple located on top of a snowy mountain. They have a conversation, which quickly turns into a rather noisy argument. The noise attracts some aliens who are hiding within the shadows of the temple. What happens after that is obvious.
Now that I've explained the story of Dark Matters, I'll discuss the enemies.
The enemies include:
~ Nazi Soldiers
~ Venom Soldiers
~ Officers
~ Protosoldiers
~ Scientists
As you can see, there isn't much variety with the type of enemies.
The enemy weapons include:
~ MP40
~ Mauser Rifle
~ Luger
~ Flamethrower
~ Venom
~ Panzerfaust
~ Tesla
On the other hand, the weaponry in Dark Matters has quite a bit of variety. This combined with the low amount of health packs makes Dark Matters a challenge.
As I said before, the enemies can be very accurate, so it's a good idea to take your time and save often.
There are some secret areas and treasure hidden in Dark Matters. Some are really easy to find, while others are a bit difficult. One of them in particular requires some trick jumping.
As usual from Yo$hik, Dark Matters includes quite a bit of custom content, such as new textures, custom sounds, custom models, and custom music. The notebook (N key) is finally not empty, which is an improvement for Yo$hik.
Another improvement is the use of animated custom models, such as the civilians inside the hotel of the first level, and the guinea pigs inside some cages in the first laboratory level.
The main menu for Dark Matters is obviously custom, and I really like it. It really sets the mood, in my opinion.
You may be wondering: why is the score for Dark Matters a 7/10? I will answer that question now.
Like Yo$hik's other works, there are still many bugs in this release. Also, there was supposed to be an English version of Dark Matters, but it apparently was canceled.
Other than that, Dark Matters is a well-made addon. But I think that Vendetta and especially Devils Manor 2: Edge of Darkness are much better overall when compared to Dark Matters. Another reason why Dark Matters pales in comparison to Yo$hik's other works is due to how short it is (only 5 levels).
The atmosphere in Dark Matters is great, but it's not as good as Yo$hik's other works. I'm sure that many of you agree with me on that.
That's about all that I have to say. Thanks for reading!
Dark Matters Trailer (made by Yo$hik): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qqt20ILFkE
Walkthrough by Vicpas (level 1): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PR3gN7T54o
Walkthrough by Vicpas (level 2): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4zQH0mWSPg
Walkthrough by Vicpas (level 3): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yR5QryLUUcQ
Walkthrough by Vicpas (level 4): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3tFhOxab30
My playthrough: http://mikebwolf.wix.com/ronboyproductions#!New-Rtcw-SP-Videos-Uploaded/c12im/55bd767c0cf22a872584f3f6
General Red's playthrough: http://goo.gl/GVMDnM
Confused on how to install Rtcw SP addons? Watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzbOUVNa89E
Yo$hik's playthrough with RealRTCW 2.1 installed: https://goo.gl/44b9nZ
