Nocturne

Moby ID: 990
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Description official descriptions

It is the end of the Prohibition, and the beginning of the Great Depression in the United States of America. The Stranger is a mysterious operative of a secret organization known as "Spookhouse", founded by President Theodore Roosevelt to combat supernatural creatures. He investigates four cases, which can be played in any order and involve teaming up with a half-vampire to retrieve a powerful artifact from a castle in Germany, liberating a Wild West town from a zombie assault, fighting reanimated mobsters created by the mafia boss Al Capone in Chicago, and solving the mystery of a house with deadly traps.

Nocturne is an action game with survival horror elements. The game features 3D characters and pre-rendered backgrounds with fixed camera angles. The Stranger mostly fights with firearms, and has to confront monsters and mythological creatures. The player can opt to aim manually, or choose the auto-aim option from the menu.

Spellings

  • 厄夜驚悚 - Chinese spelling (traditional)

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Credits (Windows version)

46 People (44 developers, 2 thanks) · View all

Lead Programming
Programming
Additional Programming
Level / Scenario Design
Additional Graphics / Artwork
Music / Sound
Marketing
Writing / Dialogue / Story
User manual produced and printed by
  • Mars Publishing Company[www.marspub.com]
User manual Authorship by
  • After Hours Productions
Manual Publisher
Manual Coordination and Design
Manual Graphic Artist
Playtesting
[ full credits ]

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 80% (based on 31 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.7 out of 5 (based on 34 ratings with 6 reviews)

A beautiful mess.

The Good
This game had several strong points going for it. The characters are interesting, complete with personalities and unique abilities. The game has a lot of cool dialogue and interaction. All four episodes had a good story involved. No illogical puzzles or busywork.

The graphics are amazing. Background scenes looked really good. The rendered shadows were very cool. However, on a current p4 computer, the Strangers coat looking like it was pulsing instead of being thrashed by the wind. Very effective job with light and shadows.

The sound was great. The voice actors did a good job. The recordings were top notch. Unlike some games, you don't need to adjust the volume every so often. Music was influenced by 60's style horror movie scores like "Psycho."

The Bad
The actual gameplay. More than once I've had a character stuck in place with no way to get out. I had to save my game every 3 screens and hope for the best.The controls are very sluggish and unresponsive. A very limited interaction with the environment. Weird sound and graphic bugs crop up frequently, destroying any immersive mood. An unusually high disgust factor after trying to overcome all the above listed flaws.

The Bottom Line
Turn on the god mode and play it like a movie. You'll enjoy it more.

Windows · by Scott Monster (986) · 2003

This game sure is purdy... but that's about it.

The Good
First of all, the graphics in this game are amazingly detailed. Everything from a balcony crumbling under your feet to the main character's trench coat waving in the wind seems to have been honed to realistic quality. The movement of all creatures (human or otherwise) on the screen are very real-looking. You don't see any of the inconsistencies in the graphics like being able to walk partially through a wall or whatnot. The storyline is equally well-developed. Everything that happens has a distinct, well-explained reason. It goes far beyond "Hey, there's werewolves here, go blow 'em up."

The Bad
The interface is brutal. If you don't have the instruction manual, you will never be able to play this game (and since my Dad's dog pooped on it, it looks like Nocturne will sit on a shelf and collect dust for quite a while). The camera angles are difficult as well. There are quite a few locations in which players will die several times because something is blocking their view of the scene. And, most notably, Nocturne just isn't very, well... Horrific. Most of the scary parts are monsters jumping out from around a corner. The plot itself doesn't really add any fear effect, mainly because of the attitude of the characters that there is no way in hell that you will ever fail in your mission.

The Bottom Line
Nocturne is a Steven King novel (maybe one of those that would get a movie deal) trapped in a computer game's body. It's great to look at, but actually playing it is something else. There is invariably a point in every level in which you will get stuck and just run around in circles until you give up. You'd be better off watching scary movies.

Windows · by Sam Tinianow (113) · 2001

More of an action game than horror.

The Good
Yes this game is definitely more of an action title than a horror. Nocturne packs thrills and firefights around just about every corner. If only Terminal Reality would have made some sequels, then I think this series could have really shone.

In Nocturne you are thrust into the role of The Stranger, the mysterious and gravelly voiced bad-ass, with a skill for killing the things that most men fear. An agent of The Spookhouse, an agency funded by the government to fight the things that go bump in the night. Nocturne features are great back story and plot in general. Nocturne also does a good job of mixing history with the supernatural. And it pays homage to all the horror gods. Stoker, Poe, Shelly, and Lovecraft. Among others. The game unfolds over several years as the story comes full circle. It is a shame we never got to see more Nocturne games. Nocturne would also make an interesting movie, or graphic novel.

The Graphics are incredible. Even today, years after the games initial release it still looks great, either using software rendering, or if it is supported your 3D card. Lighting effects and shadows are all realistic looking and nice to look at. The characters are all well designed and unique. The Stranger is such a cool character! The monsters are appropriately creepy. The back rounds are pre-rendered, and are all sharp, and clean. Be warned this game is very dark. You will either have to play in the dark or turn up your monitors brightness. Playing in the dark is more fun however.

All is well in the sound department. The voices are all appropriate to the character that they belong to. The sound effects are a little loud but convincing. And the music what little there is all good, particularly the ending theme, the only one that has lyrics.

The Gameplay is where the game drops the ball. The missions are all well designed and can be great fun, but the execution is where the game falters.



The Bad
The imprecise controls make jumping and dodging harder than they need to be. Further frustrating is the fact that there are some parts of the game where you have to make a jump or die. And you probably will die many times at these parts. You can save your game at any point so be sure to do so at these points. Also The Stranger’s greatest enemy is not a werewolf or vampire, but the games camera. Which cannot not be manually controlled. And the game almost always picks the worst camera angle possible. Making this game to much like the horrid Resident Evil series.

The Bottom Line
Fans of horror will find a lot to like here. But this one is far from perfect. Also be warned that this game carries a M rating for a reason. The is graphic violence. Like limbs being blown and ripped off. Gratuitous language, and nudity.

Windows · by MasterMegid (723) · 2006

[ View all 6 player reviews ]

Trivia

Cover

The picture on Nocturne's Box is an overexposed photograph. There was a time when people thought that overexposed photos were proof of ghosts and otherworldly spirits.

Dreamcast version

Nocturne was going to be ported to the Sega Dreamcast. The console's early death killed the port as well.

Legacy

The three Blair Witch Project games use Nocturne's engine. In fact this was announced by the developers well in advance. That's why we see the characters from the "Spookhouse" again in Blair Witch Project 1. In Terminal Reality's later game Bloodrayne, the character of Svetlana Lupescu was originally going to be the protagonist, before Rayne was introduced.

Music

Much of the music heard in Nocturne is also heard in the background of various episodes of TV's Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

References

Like any good game with horror element this one has its fair share of horror references. The mobster-monsters are akin to Frankenstein. The vampires are from Dracula. There are also many references to H.P. Lovecraft, Doc Holiday went to Miskatonic University. And the mission in which The Stranger faces an Elder God.

Title

Ever wondered what Nocturne means? It's "a pensive, lyrical piece of music (especially for the piano)". It has got nothing to do with noctural or nightly activities.

TV series

In 2002, a television series based on Nocturne was in development by Collision Entertainment. As of 2012, it seems the project was cancelled. Their website description of the project was:

When Teddy Roosevelt's 1898 hunting expedition in Cuba exposes him to a werewolf, he later founds "The Spookhouse", a secret research facility to covertly investigate the supernatural. Decades later, FDR orders Chicago secret service agent and unsung Untouchable Tabby Kildaire to find the Spookhouse and shut it down. Tabby reluctantly agrees, beginning a journey more dark and disturbing than any case he's ever investigated and to his horror, learns that monsters are real. Based on the video game by Terminal Reality and G.O.D.

Awards

Information also contributed by ClydeFrog, Mark Ennis, MasterMegid and Roger Wilco

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by MAT.

Additional contributors: Accatone, Sycada, Jeanne, Paulus18950, Patrick Bregger.

Game added March 7, 2000. Last modified February 28, 2024.