ESCAPE FROM HELL is an adventure role-playing game of a different color.
Instead of trying to hook up with the good guys, everyone you meet is _bad_!
After all, you _are_ in _HELL_! But seriously, ESCAPE FROM HELL doesn't have
super fantastic graphics or a really great interface, but it does have a
novel and interesting plot and lots of non-player characters to talk to and
interact with, but a disappointing endgame. The puzzles can, for the most
part, be solved using several different solutions. The game is fairly non-
linear, but each of the three levels of hell become increasing difficult, so
fighting skills and weapons must increase as you progress further into the
game. The graphics used in the game are tile graphics, with full portraits
and animation during combat and npc-interactions. Hercules, CGA, EGA
(512KB), TGA, and MCGA (640KB) graphics modes are supported, and all input
is from the keyboard (no mouse or joystick support). Copy protection is off-
disk (documentation) and consists of matching color bad-guy portraits with
black and white ones in the manual. This may present some difficulty to
players with CGA and Hercules displays.
One thing the player should be aware of is that the game maps are updated
whenever a new location is entered. So even if you get a really neat item
from a chest, save and exit the game, then come back another time, that
chest will be empty. There is a way around this, and it will be mentioned
later. This also goes for combat. _Don't_ save your game and exit just after
a big fight, because the monsters will be there when you return. Build up
your hit points and wait to save until you are in a _safe_ place.
The game manual has a very handy list of weapons with the damage that they
do, as well as a list of available armor. The manual also has a handy map of
the first level of hell. Fortunately, the second and third levels are fairly
simple, so mapping is probably not required. Inventory management may
present some problems as you are limited to 10 items per character,
including weapons and armor. There are never more than 3 people in your
party (30 items). Always give Richard (yourself) the best weapons and armor.
Don't use up any good weapons (Dark Pistols, Dark Rifles, SMGs) because
there is a location on level 2 where these weapons can be exchanged for new
ones. Generally, don't fight friendly characters unless you can't avoid it:
They are usually the toughest ones to beat. Golden tridents are scattered
about the landscape of Hell. Touching these tridents changes the time frame
of the game so that different monsters are more prevalent and certain
weapons won't work (ie. Uzi and MAC 10 SMGs won't work before they are
invented), but Dark Rifles and Pistols work no matter what time frame you
are in.
For "DOS-heads" _ONLY_!!!: If you want to continue to pillage chests, do the
following: Make a copy of your original map disk (for those playing from
floppies). Copy map files _ONLY_ into the Maps subdirectory of the Escape
directory (for those playing from a hard disk). It is a good idea to make
backups of the savegame, npcs, and history files to go back to a previous
location. This can be done with the copy command (eg. copy savegame
savegame.bak). The savegame file stores your location in the game. The
history and npcs files keeps a record of your (Richard's) abilities and
inventory and your party members', respectively.
Level 1: Building a party, City on the Edge of Eternity, Limbo, Training
Camp, Recruiting Cave, Lucifer's Landing
You begin the game in a small area just outside the entrance to City on the
Edge of Eternity (center). Limbo, the city of Virtuous Pagans, is located at
the bottom of the map in the middle. The Hell Guard Training Camp is located
in the upper middle of Level 1. The Recruiting Cave is on the upper east
side of the map, and Lucifer's Landing is in the lower east side of Level 1.
To begin, get the items in the chest (save the Holy Cross; you will need
this item two times in the game! The handset, however, is usless), and head
into the city. At this point, you will not be able to get past the skeleton
guard, so talk to the damned souls outside the city, then enter the city. A
party must be built before you can do much else, so add Khan to your party
in the Court Waiting Room, but stay away from the receptionist. Stalin can
be found in the Capitalists for a Free Hell building. Now exit the city
(don't worry, we'll be back before too long), kill the skeleton, and head
toward the place marked by the tombstone on your map. Talk to Horatio and
pick up a skull. Head almost due south and find Hamlet. Take everything from
Stalin. Talk to Hamlet, then _while facing him_, give him the skull. This
jogs his memory, and he will ask to join (replace Stalin). Now take
everything from Khan and give to Hamlet. Return to Horatio, and seeing
Hamlet, Horatio wants to join (replace Khan). Your party for the bulk of the
game now consists of Richard, Hamlet, and Horatio. Other combinations of
characters will work, but other NPCs seem to leave at inopportune times
(taking their entire inventory with them!), and Hamlet and Horatio have
well-developed dueling skills.
Throughout this walkthru, I will tell you when other npcs will join. I
played the game with Hamlet and Horatio, which I eventually substituted for
Alan and Guderian. This is for your information only, so that you may try
the game with other party members. It is a good idea to have Richard carry
any irreplaceable items.
Now, to really get started, head back into the City on the Edge of Eternity
to pick up a few things. First, get mirror shades from Melrose Amber in the
firepit; equip them to get some protection from psychic attacks. Head on
over to the Court waiting room, and in the upper left corner behind the door
you should pick up a garbage can lid for everyone. Trade your matches for a
pistol to the guy who died smoking in bed. Talk to the Lawyers in the
building next to the Courtroom for some vital information to help you in
your quest. Exit the city and head over to Limbo.
Save the game before entering the city of Limbo. When you enter Limbo, the
guards may fight you. If you lose the fight, you can restore the game. Pick
up a 'Tudes tape. Go to the Library and get archery skill from Thucidides.
If you can find Marc Anthony wandering around, he will teach melee weapon
skill. Head over to the dorms and get a shovel from the northern dorm (man
on toilet), and a wrist rocket (under the bed) and pistol (under the toilet)
from the southern dorm. Don't give the pistol plans to B. Arnold. Exit the
city and head over to the Recruiting Cave.
In the Cave, walk up to the desk Sergeant, talk to him, and when you sign up
as a Hell Guard you get a Hell Badge. Having a Hell badge equipped will
allow you to touch healing statues scattered about and get hit points back.
Without an equipped badge, touching these statues will make you lose points.
If you try to walk by the Sergeant, the others will attack. Leave the Cave
for now (don't worry, we'll be back before too long!) and head over to the
Training Camp.
Save the game and enter the Camp. Ideally, you should have a Hell Badge to
keep the guards from attacking you. Go straight up to the Sergeant and get
rifle skill. Enter the training area and touch the leftmost trident. The
scenery changes, and you should practice your lockpicking skill. Now touch
the topmost trident and the scenery changes again, this time into a
graveyard. Make sure you have at least five inventory slots open before you
do the following. Use the shovel on the third grave from the right in the
second row form the bottom (under the rightmost trident) and you will find
some good armor and weapons. The rightmost trident will change the camp into
Dachau, and the bottom trident will restore it to "normal." There are eight
chests in each of the northeast and northwest corners of the Training Camp.
You may find a Hell Badge here, too. You are done here, so exit the Camp
(you may have to fight) and head over to the northeast corner of level 1 and
talk to the skydiver. Save before you talk, and ready your long-range
weapons so that you can fight the warriors and archers nearby. Trade the
'Tudes tape for a parachute and parachute skill. Return to the Recruiting
Cave.
Save the game before you enter; your toughest fight yet is coming up. As you
try to walk by the Sergeant, the others will attack. Wipe out the bad guys,
and build up your hits again before proceeding (DON'T SAVE). Take the
corridor to the south and fight the loggers. These guys are mean, and their
chainsaws wiped me out four or five times before I got them first. Check out
the cabinets and find a book which will improve your pistol skill. Build up
your hits again, and go up and around to the south. Use your lockpick skill
and open the locked door. After another tough fight, open the chests (make
sure you have one slot open for each chest). The item you really want is in
the bottom center chest -- a Demonic Shield -- which will allow you to enter
Lucifer's Landing.
Lucifer's Landing is a strange place. Messages are spelled out in the tiles:
"Satan Rules" and "#666." It is okay to save inside. Chests abound, but you
must fight to get at them. If you go north, you can talk to Flicka, a
friendly Hell Captain, who will teach you SMG skill and give you a "care
bracelet." You can get a clue to the location of "Flicka's Flame" (16N, 5W
from Moriarty); you will need some kind of boat to get there, however (this
is probably a red herring). You will find a lot of junk, so toss out
anything worthless. The southern portion of the Landing has better items, and
tougher fights. Don't step in the southern crater unless you are ready to go
to level 2, and save before you jump.
Level 2: Gangster's Guillotine, Los Diablos, Prison of the Damned, Satan's
Halo, Capone's City, Return to Level 1.
The locations in level 2 are: Gangster's Guillotine, center (just north of
where you dropped in); Los Diablos, middle east; Prison of the Damned,
southeast corner; Satan's Halo, northeast corner; and Capone's City is in
the southwest corner.
You land in the middle of a bunch of monsters. They aren't too tough: You
can beat them with hand weapons, so don't waste your good stuff. And
speaking of monsters.... Roaming Bugs or the like are about on level 2. They
are very tough, but fortunately travel singly or in small groups. Take them
out as soon as possible because they use Rocket Launchers and do heavy
damage. After this long fight, go north to Gangster's Guillotine. WATCH OUT
FOR THE QUICKSAND two tiles south of Gangster's Guillotine (the northernmost
green tile, directly SW of the signpost). Enter the city and go to the Bank
of Avernus. Make sure you have three inventory slots open, and get three
gallons of blood from Bonnie and Clyde. Alan is also here, but is under the
mind control of Capone. Ed the Electrician is here (no relation to me), and
will teach you Electrical skill. After we do in that Arch Devil, Capone,
we'll come back and pick up Alan. After you get the blood, head over to Los
Diablos.
When you enter Los Diablos (The Devils) don't step on the pentagram (the
star) unless you want to go to the Prison. The Bank of Undead is to the
left, Satan's Speakeasy is north of the Bank, Satan's Sauna is to the right,
and Al's Automatic Answers straight up. Al's is the place where you can get
weapons recharged. From left to right, they are 1) Pistol, 2) Rifle, 3)
Assault Rifle, 4) Dark Rifle, 5) Uzi, 6) MAC 10. Simply face the appropriate
table and ive the item. A new one will be returned in the first empty
slot of the party. For every gallon of blood you give Count Dracula in the
Bank, he will give you a bulletproof suit. In the south graveyard, Wyatt
Earp will teach you Rifle skill. In the north graveyard, Wild Bill will join
the party and is well-equipped. Don't take a drink in Satan's Speakeasy- you
will lose hits. Finally, visit Satan's Sauna and grab a copy of Rolling Bone
Magazine (The hottest mag in Hell!- fun, but not neccessary) and a Petrify
Rod (a handy-dandy weapon) which is holding the toilet paper near the toilet
(where else?). Now it's time to visit the Prison, so recharge all your
weapons and step on the pentagram outside.
In the prison are lots of Hell militia. The Hell Lieutenants and Captains
carry some heavy firepower, so use the same on them. There are also police
in the north of the city. SMGs are required to kill them. If you have a
sledgehammer, se it on the aquarium in "Abe's Tanks" to free the man who
will give you an Asbestos Suit and Bluffing skill. If you don't have a
sledgehammer, I found mine after some of the other prisoners attacked me.
Sparticus is a prisoner here and will join the party. Give Harry a Dark
Rifle and he will raise your picklock skill to 20. A Reload Shotgun can be
found in the building to the left. In the building to the right, Abdul will
teach you Explosives skill, you can get bombs from the terrorist here, there
is a Dark Rifle in the bookcase and a Dark Pistol in the toilet.
