The Descent 2 ***Spotlighte*******

[javi haguse]

The Descent 2 by javi_haguse
The search for Sarah continues. Explore the rest of the cave while you discover what really lies within. Part 2/3


I put a lot of work into this one. In part 1, you go inside the cave in search for your missing friends. Part 2 starts right where the first one left off.
I worked a lot on the atmosphere of the cave while adding just a little platforming. Let me know what you guys think!

****UPDATE****

I just found another video that someone made my level! woot woot
Check it out!




Let me know what u think!

[comphermc]

Oh, I'm excited. I'm off to play this right now!

[julesyjules]

Had a preview play of this and loved it even more than the first. Plenty of bumps and scares, and again the atmosphere is spot-on.

Don't want to give away too much, half the fun in this level is not knowing what's just around the corner.... : )

[comphermc]

Good stuff, man. Really great. I played through twice and was happy to note that there was a little multi-pathiness going on near the end, in the event that you fall down a collapsing area. I was a little sad that it's required to go down here for the high score, as I aced it my first try (and got all the bubbles), but still didn't have the high score - my score failed to upload anyways, but still.

On my first playthrough, though, I didn't realize that you could take the "flashlight" with you, and missed out on some of the experience. I got the experience on my second round, but maybe consider adding in a little "Hey, there's my flashlight! That'll make it easier to see in here..." line.

5 stars.

[Noroibito]

Okay that was just amazing! The atmosphere and creepiness level was above the roof! The "first" encounter with the crawler was wow. The flare's looked even better than the night vision! The scares actually made me jump! I really look forward to a lot more in this series. Oh the Visuals were definitively top notch quality!

/ Brilliant/ Hearted

[OmegaSlayer]

Oh good, you've done it!
Too sad I'm going to sleep and I will play it tomorrow.

[Powershifter]

WOW this level is awesome! I decided to try your first level before this one, and I'm glad I did because it set the mood and the story for me.

Pros:
- beautiful design
- lighting is again superb - i loved the flares!
- Nice water effect (looks like you're in the water)
- loved the creature design, even though it looked like the creature from Lord of the Rings... what was his name...wow has it been that long since I've seen those movies?...)
- Great idea to only show the shadows of the creatures in the first, then actually show the creatures in this level
- I liked the "cut scenes"
- I felt like I was actually in an unstable cave - and I think I missed a secret area that was below me...
- I almost thought you didn't need the intro, but it was very cool, so I'd probably keep it unless you get a lot of people telling you other wise

Cons:
- NONE - yeah I really liked this level

Fixes:
- the last magic mouth is visible, just before you finish the level

Overall:
5
Tag: "Brilliant"
Hearts - you and the level

[Aurongel]

Well, it's been a long time coming eh Javi?

Originally, your level didn't impress me too much artistic and visuals wise. I don't know what art classed you took, or what illegal substances you consumed, but whatever you did made your level look MUCH better than the alpha build you showed me. The vines, the ambient sound, the effects, the stream lighting were all placed in just the right spot.

The monsters themselves had a great amount of detail and first-time-scare moments, but watching the same monster pop out of the same spot every time you pass by the trigger point ruins the mood. Perhaps having them only pop out once would suffice?

The areas of this level like the waterfall area, "flare room", collapsing pillars all showed sparks of complete brilliance. After replaying the level for the fourth time, I couldn't help but be continuously awed by the simple layout, and wondrous animation

Despite how well your level looks, and plays, I had some MAJOR problems with glitches and the like. At the part before the close-up monster cutscene where the cave collapses, I got hung up on an invisible wall and was unable to progress. Second, on my first playthrough, the second wall troll thing clipped the climbing gear and "held" it suspended above the ledge, halting my progress. Finally, the music was not fitting AT ALL. The music picked up before the cutscene to this "actiony" feeling beat which made the level seem far less tense and scary, and just a run-through of a dark area...

Despite these qualms, The Descent 2 is a noble, visually stunning, and original take on the horror genre in LBP.

Also, my face is in this level, which instantly puts this level on my Player's Choice list :P

AURONGEL RATING:
9.4

PROS: Stunning artistic design, moody atmosphere, fair pacing, lovable attention to detail, Fully immersive universe

CONS: too dark on an SDTV, Lack of technical polish, Poor music choice, non-existant plot

[Powershifter]

CONS: too dark on an SDTV

Probably not my place to say something, but I'd just like to say that LBP, and most other PS3 games are difficult to play on an SDTV because of the lack of visual quality. There is a major difference between a PS3 on an SDTV and one on an HDTV... I remember the day I upgraded - I couldn't believe my eyes lol So yeah, I'd say this 'con' should be taken lightly - pardon the pun! The Pros I would definitely agree with!

[mrsupercomputer]

I also had the pleasure of seeing a sneak peak of this level and I was blown away by how atmospheric it is. The environments are amazing, especially the section with the river, the creatures are awesome, and the use of sound is phenomenal. I noticed a few new details on this playthrough as well that were very cool (I don't want to spoil anything, so I'm not gonna mention them!).

The level is light on gameplay, but I don't think you really need to be jumping or puzzle solving all the time in a level like this. I really enjoyed the moments walking through the cave and checking out all the stuff going on around me. When it was time for platforming, I thought most of the jumps worked well, but I did get thrown off in a few areas due to the bumpiness of the rocks or a strange angle. Javi actually witness this during one of my play throughs and gave me a hard time about it! And while some of it might have been my platforming skills, I still think a few of those areas could be refined just a bit.

That's a small nitpick though and I absolutely love this level. Well done!

[Aurongel]

EDIT: Disregard what I said in my review about the music not fitting

Javi caught my mistake and took me into his level and showed me what a massive idiot I am.

[ItsDavo]

I was really looking forward to this one. You have a great skill in creating horror levels. Everything worked nicely, from the flares to the drool from the monsters mouth! The final scene was wonderfully executed. Now I can't wait for the 3rd!

EDIT: After playing through again, I think you could amp up the scary factor by making the monster sitting on the word "DESCENT" crawl over the word really fast as it gives too much away and makes the first encounter not as freaky.

Also, the magic mouth for the vine climbing sequence can activate as you go to jump on the vine, making you fall. Maybe increase the radius?

5/5

[rtm223]

Much like the first one, very atmospheric, the earlier sections with the shadows and silhouettes are great. Honestly didn't find it as creepy as the first one, probably because a lot of it involves those beasties jumping out at you - works for a lot of people, but not me (not really an issue tbh).

Minor gripe: There are a LOT of visible joins in the rocks. Neat little straight lines. With such an atmospheric level with such pretty visuals, people are going to look around the level and those stick out likea saw thumb. Mixing things up to make cracks or covering it with thin layer detail would make a world of difference IMO.

Major gripe: no thought to failure safety. I was using a backpack thing to travel up and one of the beasties broke it. Then I come back taking the alterntive route and come from the bottom. That climbing gear only took me halfway so I had to quit the level.

Still though.

[ladylyn1]

Hi I just tried the level... i prefered the first part but still it was good!

There were some scary moments- my favourite being the part at the beginning where u get to see a monsters shadow leaning across in front of the screen. The jumping out monsters were very well made too.

However... in the section with the back packs pulling up, the backpack got stuck under a cave section and i therefore couldn't use it and had to quit

A similar problem to above!

But still a very good looking and scary level!

[s3xNstilettos]

OMG! This movie is one of the few good horror movies of modern days, and is one of my favorites. I will have to play them both. Hopefully the first time the creature is spotted in night vision will live up to the scare it first gave me when they showed it in the movie right in your face when the camera turned. This really has my interest peaked now.

[javi haguse]

Thanks to everyone for the comments! It seems that almost everyone has enjoyed this level. Thanks for the reviews too.
I've been fixing the little bugs here and there, but I haven't republished it yet. Since new ones have been coming out. I've addressed the visible magic mouth, I've added a line at the beginning for ppl to grab the flashlight, the radius by the grabbing vines, and some other small fixes. I'll let you guys know when I republish it again.

The section with the backpack has been a nightmare for me. The first model that I made had the monsters come out and stay out. If you died, it was almost guaranteed that the monsters would keep the backpack, since it would fall down on top of them. On their back (How literal...).They freaking love that backpack! So, my second option was to have them come out but go back in later (proximity sensor), which I thought had solved it. But now I guess it didn't. Like I said, they love those backpacks! I'm working on fixing it now, since I think the problem is that the monster's hand is the same layer as the backpack flap, making it easy for them to snatch it. I'm planning on taking that layer off. If someone has a better solution, let me know.

Thanks Aurongel for the review! It proofs again why is in the "special thanks" room at the end of the level. Hes always keeping me in check. Most of the problems that he experienced were because he already knows that cave like the back of his sackhand (Except the backpack section...). Somehow everything went wrong in those first runs.. I think the monsters are tired of seeing your face... lmao. By the way ppl, the Aurongel Rating goes from 0 - 9.4 So I got a perfect score!! Yeiii!! ..just kidding lol.

I'm glad people are starting to notice all the little details.
Thanks a lot for playing. It really hard to get plays these days..

[rtm223]

With reagards to the backpacks. Yes it is the flap that gets broken. I don't see that moving the arm will make much of a difference - if the arm hits the main body of the pack, which is glued to the flap, that flap will probably still break.

A better preventative measure is to weaken the winches pulling up the backpack and also the connectors on the arms of the monsters. This will make it harder to break it.

It should really come down to emitting the backpacks again. It's the only way to be sure.

[Hybrid]

i liked the first one
so i think this one wil be better i hope (i try it out over a couple of minutes)

[poms]

Hey Javi,
Thanks for inviting me to try the level before publishing...
I tried the published version yesterday with my daughter’s account (that’s why I don’t appear in the scoreboard xD)
As you know I was very impressed with the first part, and this second (sounds like a “typical topic”) it's even better!
I love this terror dark atmosphere you're able to implement in this series, and some of the details in this second one are memorable; the change of illumination just before the waterfalls, and the shining light representing the exit of the cave are just small genius details able to inspire a whole level by itself.

I’m glad you left “the door opened” for a third part xD, I’ll be very glad to play it, heart it, and rate it , which is what I’ve done with the two published episodes.

Waiting for the third part!!! xDD

[OmegaSlayer]

Amazing level with very good atmosphere, even if I couldn't finish it...
After you see the creatures there's the part with the backpacks.
I was killed by the first creature and respawned, so I had to take the lower path.
I grabbed the backpack and managed to survive the first creature, then I grabbed the second backpack, but the creature, this time, hitted it and destroyed it, so I had to get out of the level.

5 stars anyway