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myzoowiktoriaizydorczyk · 4 years ago

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Until Dawn

“Until Dawn” is an interactive drama survival horror game developed by “Supermassive Games” and published by “Sony Interactive Entertainment”, it was officially released in 2015 only on PlayStation 4.

“Supermassive Games” was founded in 2008 and currently has 200 employees. They are known the most for creating “Until Dawn” and recently launched “The Dark Pictures Anthology” which is a series of stand alone horror games.

About

“Until Dawn” is a survival horror which is played in third person, throughout the game you switch between eight characters. The game is filled with quick time events which can decide weather or not the character you play lives or dies, but also relationships with other characters and interactions with the environment can also decide on the survival. You can die by failing a quick time event in the most action filled scenes or even by simply opening a hatch which is not even an objective during the calmest moment. Even if you suceed all the quick time events and your character needs someone elses help and that is someone you insulted they will not help you : resulting in death. Every decisions matters, it decides on your survival.

Story

Story of Blackwood

The mountain on which the story is taking place has been cursed by the Spirit of Wendigo. Anyone who finds themself starving on top of these mountains will be forced by the spirit to perform cannibalism, after doing so they will be lost forever.

Their limbs will start to grow, their teeth getting larger and sharper and their strength and speed increase massively. The most interesting feature is what happens with the Wendigos eyes as they become much more powerfull while simulteniously are the biggest weakness. The wendigo can only detect movement, which means it’s effective at catching a running away pray however by stealth it can even stand right next to you and not notice you.

In these mountains there are mines, which collapsed causing some people to result in cannibalism. However before their transformation they have been rescued and transported to a Sanatorium. There they transformed killing everyone in their sights.

The wendigos have been trapped in there ever since by a character we only know as the Stranger since killing the wendigos causes their spirit to be free and find another victim.

Prologue of the Game

Three siblings invite their seven friends for annual winter getaway, some of the friends decide to play a prank on one of the sisters - humiliating her. She rans out into the woods followed by her sister who wants to comfort her. After joining up together they ealise that something is following them- a wendigo- ,as they try to run they accidently fall of a massive cliff -resulting in death of one of the sisters and the other becoming a Wendigo.

Story of the Game

After a year the brother of missing sisters invites his seven friends once again to the mountain. However the brother has gone crazy after the disappearance of his sisters so he pretends that he is a psychopath that is there to kill them all. Eventhough he traumatises each of his friends by staging his own death and staging a scenario where they have to kill at least one or they both die, no one dies by his hand. However as his friends split up the Wendigo sister starts hunting others and try to murder them.

Game Trailer

The Game Trailer is amazing since it only focuses on the fact that there is a psychopath on the mountain hunting everyone down, but there is no mention whatsoever about any Wendigos and supernatural. It shows some deaths, but it does not reveal where or how they died and since this game is based on players actions some players might not even see the death shown in the trailer - and if they do they wouldn’t expect it since there are so many ways to die.

sources:

https://www.supermassivegames.com/about

https://until-dawn.fandom.com/wiki/Until_Dawn

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TT2HtIEUXuk

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bolivariantimes · 7 years ago

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The Battle of El Santuario, 17 October 1829

To mark the 188th anniversary of the Battle of El Santuario, here’s an extract from my book The Struggle for Power in Post-Independence Colombia and Venezuela (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012). A Spanish version, translated by Patricia Torres, was published as El Santuario: Historia global de una batalla, by Ediciones Universidad Externado de Colombia in 2016.

Prologue

General José María Córdova thought that he had chosen his positions well. The 370 men in his Army of Liberty were waiting at El Peñol, in the north-eastern Andes in Antioquia, Colombia, for the arrival of the government forces which were marching from Bogotá to suppress their rebellion. At 5pm on October 16, 1829 Córdova’s men were arranged so that they could converge on the government expedition as it emerged, tired, wet and cold from the mountain pass, and defeat it at Los Páramos, a plain to the west of Guatape, before it could regroup and exploit its numerical advantage.[i]

At El Peñol, General Córdova was in control – he was the man who five years earlier had completed the Independence of South America from colonial rule by vanquishing the Spanish Army at the Battle of Ayacucho in Peru. Now he was on home soil in Antioquia, a terrain he knew like the back of his hand, just miles from his family home in Rionegro. He was surrounded by loyal friends who trusted that his famous bravery and judgement would lead them to victory over the forces of tyranny. At Córdova’s side was his younger brother, Colonel Salvador Córdova. With them were their closest Antioquian comrades from the Wars of Independence. Capitán Braulio Henao had come out of retirement in nearby Sonsón when General Córdova called him to arms. Also preparing for battle were two merchants, Tenientes (Lieutenants) Francisco Escalante and Benedicto González. Standing at Córdova’s side as he surveyed the mountains for signs of the enemy’s progress were his assistants Francisco Giraldo, an old friend, and José María Arango, who had grown up in the Córdovas’ house in Rionegro while they were away campaigning and who now, still aged only 15, was about to experience his first taste of military campaigning. Alongside Arango were a host of other fourteen- to nineteen-years old boys, all born on these highland slopes, such as Eusebio Isaza and Bernabé Hoyos, who were both nervously awaiting their first ever taste of warfare.[ii] Sixty-five years later, Arango wrote down his vivid memories of the next twenty-four hours, which are the only detailed eye-witness account of the preparations for the Battle of El Santuario.

According to Arango’s account, at around 7pm a messenger, Manuel Antonio Gómez, arrived at Córdova’s camp at El Peñol. He reported that government forces had crossed the mountains through the San Carlos Pass, which was thought to have been “impassable” at that time of year, rather than the El Peñol pass where Córdova’s army now lay pointlessly in wait. Gómez said that he had been to the village of Vahos that morning, and that he had seen the army recovering from its endeavours and preparing to march down into Antioquia the next day on the road which passed through El Santuario, Marinilla and Rionegro. Córdova realized that his only chance to defeat the government’s forces was to intercept them at El Santuario before they reached Marinilla, a town which was hostile to Córdova’s rebellion and which he had threatened to burn to the ground only two days previously. Córdova realized that if he could not get to El Santuario by the next morning and cut off the government forces there, then his army would be easily defeated. He therefore ordered his followers to break camp and by 8pm the Army of Liberty was on its way. In normal circumstances they would have marched down the valley to Rionegro, and then up the Vahos road, but instead, as night fell Córdova led his men across country by the shortest route. Capitán Anselmo Pineda, who was born and bred in El Santuario, acted as a guide to the precarious and treacherous paths over the many streams and steep valleys that fractured the high mountain territory. Pineda was 24 years old, and had jumped out of the window of his disapproving father’s house nearby to join Córdova’s army. He led the soldiers in single file through the mountains until at around 3am they stopped at a ceramics factory, which occupied a hill about 3km from El Santuario.[iii] Here they paused and sheltered a while from the rain. Some of the soldiers collapsed, exhausted, whilst others warmed themselves by lighting small fires. At dawn they completed the journey down to the exposed plain of El Santuario.[iv] Arango’s narrative shows the state of the Army of Liberty as they prepared for battle:

At 6.am on October 17 the ragged troops began to reach their destination, the El Santuario plain, in complete disorder. Each soldier took off his clothes and wringed them out to try to get rid of the mud and water in which they had been drenched during the dark night’s march. By 8am their arms and weapons had still not arrived at the camp. There was no sign of the enemy and no news of their movements had yet arrived, because the local people had them well hidden. What little food our insignificant force had to eat was only meat, there was nothing else.[v]

That morning the cold was “glacial” and as the darkness receded “the clouds turned the sky into a foreboding slate shroud.”[vi] The effects of the improvised march quickly made themselves felt. The Army of Liberty was in no state to defend itself, let alone to launch the planned rout of the government forces. Córdova himself, exhausted, fell asleep leaning against one of his officers.[vii]

On the hills above them, the Colombian army’s “Western Expedition” prepared to swoop down on El Santuario. Having outmanoeuvred Córdova and surprised him, they now prepared to destroy him. They were led by General Daniel O’Leary, an Irishman just a year older than Córdova, an old friend from their time together at Simón Bolívar’s side in the Wars of Independence. In contrast to Córdova’s friends and recruits, O’Leary was assisted by a group of European-born officers well-used to the rigours of Andean campaigning. Some of these had recently returned to military service in controversial circumstances. One such officer was Comandante Rupert Hand, an Irishman who had been retired from the Colombian army since 1826 when he was controversially cleared of stealing government funds in Mérida (despite overwhelming evidence of his guilt) by Court Martial in Bogotá. Another was Coronel Richard Crofton, also an Irishman, who had been court martialed only a month previously, charged with insubordination.[viii] O’Leary was leading his first campaign as a General and was anxious to prove his capability. During the long journey overland from Bogotá to Antioquia, which often took commercial travellers over a month, but which the Western Expedition completed in just nineteen days, O’Leary wrote to his wife most days, reassuring her that he was up to the challenge, nervously comparing himself to “a Roman legionnaire” and even “Napoleon … who was a mere corporal compared to me.”[ix] The government had invested significant resources in O’Leary’s expedition, leaving Bogotá almost defenceless by giving O’Leary 700 men.[x] By the time they reached Honda on the Magdalena river this had increased to 780, and they had rations and supplies for one month’s campaigning. The expedition had sailed downstream on October 5.[xi] On the journey O’Leary had set about re-organising his officer corps so that he could have complete faith in it.[xii]

The physical difficulties of the journey over the Andes in adverse weather conditions took their toll on the government’s soldiers’ bodies but steeled the will of their officers. As they began to climb the mountain paths into Antioquia, O’Leary wrote that “the roads are the worst I have ever seen, the river is abominable and the weather pretty terrible. Nevertheless, all goes well and everyone is happy with me, particularly the soldiers who say that the little white fellow [blanquito] is excellent and looks after them.”[xiii] O’Leary had to slow the pace of the march because his body could not cope with the exertion.[xiv] After struggling along what historian Humberto Bronx called “almost impassable paths”,[xv] O’Leary’s troops collapsed “starving and nearly naked” at Vahos on October 16.[xvi] They had avoided Córdova’s advance parties and sentries, having been assisted by local resistance, most notably from the town of Marinilla which sent messengers, funds and offers of horses and soldiers.[xvii] On October 17, O’Leary’s expedition set off early, reaching the Alto de María heights above El Santuario in the mid-morning after “a fatiguing march.”[xviii] Carmelo Fernández, one of the officers, recorded that the soldiers were pepped for battle by “water bottles filled with aguardiente alcanforado, a cardiac stimulant, and biscuits that made you drunk” to give them courage.[xix]

Advancing with his assistants to a lookout point, O’Leary observed Córdova’s troops laid out beneath him on the El Santuario plain. He saw that Córdova had kept his troops together, divided in three units. The right flank was commanded by Benedicto Gonzalez and Ramon Escalante, and the left flank by Salvador Córdova and Anselmo Pineda. The centre, with half of the soldiers in its ranks, was commanded by José María Córdova himself, and was formed in front of a small house. O’Leary could not see that a small detachment of this central section, led by Braulio Henao and Francisco Giraldo, was hidden behind the building.

Córdova’s rebel Army of Liberty was waiting for the official Colombian Army to present itself. Rousing themselves after their tiring night’s exertions, their clothes still damp and their stomachs empty, the soldiers listened to General Córdova’s appeals to their bravery and their patriotism. Out of their sight, O’Leary formed his forces ready to attack. The cavalry, commanded by Crofton and Hand, was to charge down the hill and into the Army of Liberty’s right flank. The infantry, who were to engage the centre, were in two units under two vastly experienced European veterans of the Napoleonic wars, an Italian, Carlos Castelli, and a German, Heinrich Lutzen. When O’Leary perceived that all was ready, at around 11am, he led his troops over the crest of the hill and down towards El Santuario. José María Arango recalled the moment when O’Leary launched his attack:

And then we saw them, first the high black leather hats on those veterans’ heads, and then we could make out their clothes, which were worn and dirty, showing the marks of the terrible journey they had made in order to confront us; we could see that they had passed many days and nights of hunger and exhaustion, and that these were men who had made many sacrifices, and who were accustomed to suffering. We saw three officers appear at the front of the army as it halted on the heights. They observed us for a few moments, then they began the descent, and behind them we saw the hill begin to be covered with soldiers marching with great order and discipline.

When General O’Leary had arrived near to our positions, our whole army heard these words ring out:

“Córdova, Give yourself up, don’t sacrifice these few recruits for nothing!”

General Córdova replied with a strong and resonant voice which marked his irrevocable resolution:

“Córdova will never give himself up to a vile foreigner, a mercenary and a wage-earner like you; he would rather succumb!”

So O’Leary turned and walked back to his position.

With the heights covered with such a well-organised force, the cornet was sounded, and the silence was broken by their suddenly opening fire on us from all angles, so well trained and well executed, and down below we began to be covered with hails of lead and a huge black cloud of smoke from the gunpowder. It looked like the most horrific storm as all this descended upon us.”[xx]

The Battle of El Santuario had begun.

[i] A figure of 373 comes from [Anon], Observaciones a la pastoral del Illmo. Sr Obispo. Most observers estimated between 300 and 400.

[ii] Information on Isaza and Hoyos, and a wealth of similar individuals, comes from AGNC HDS. More detailed citations to these and others are provided in later chapters.

[iii] Arango, El Santuario, 26.

[iv] Ramirez Gomez, El Santuario, 23. Ramirez Gomez was the priest in El Santuario for much of his life. His great-grandfather Ricardo Ramirez fought at the Battle of El Santuario in 1829, and his historical writings draw from a mixture of archival sources and oral histories.

[v] Arango, El Santuario, 26.

[vi] Bronx, José María Córdova, 145-51.

[vii] Ramirez Gomez, El Santuario, 23.

[viii] R. Urdaneta, September 28, 1829, AGNC R GYM, Vol.462, 98 for Hand.

[ix] D. O’Leary to S. O’Leary, October 5, 1829, Pie de Sargento, in Carbonnell, General O’Leary, íntimo, 215.

[x] R. Urdaneta to D. O’Leary, September 26, 1829, Bogotá, in O’Leary, Narración, Vol.3, 468.

[xi] R. Urdaneta to S. Bolívar, October 2, 1829 with an October 5, postscript, Honda, AGNC R GYM Vol.462, 312.

[xii] R. Urdaneta to Jefe de Estado Mayor, October 17, 1829, Bogotá, AGNC R GYM, Vol.462, 188.

[xiii] D. O’Leary to Soledad O’Leary, October 9, 1829, Juntas, in Carbonnell, General O’Leary, íntimo, 215.

[xiv] D. O’Leary to R. Urdaneta, October 13, 1829, La Aguada, AGNC R GYM, Vol.462, 369.

[xv] Bronx, José María Córdova entre la historia y la fábula, 106.

[xvi] Arango, El Santuario, 25.

[xvii] This news was published by the Registro oficial del Magdalena, Extraordinario, on November 1, 1829, drawing on the letters of Federico Rausch, who may have received the news from his countryman Heinrich Lutzen. The translation into English was published in The Times on August 1, 1830.

[xviii] O’Leary to The Prefect of the Department of Magdalena [Mariano Montilla], October 19, 1829, Rionegro, English translation published in The Times, August 1, 1830. It was later alleged that O’Leary and his officers had been carried over San Carlos pass by peones cargueros. Arango, El Santuario, 25.

[xix] Fernández, Memorias, 60.

[xx] Arango, El Santuario, 26.

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