Important! This game is completely standalone. No RPG Maker VX RTP is required to play.

One Night 2: The Beyond

Introduction

The Beyond is a freeware survival horror/adventure game created with RPG Maker VX. It is a psuedo sequel to the game One Night, however the story and locations are unrelated to the previous game and this game serves as a stand alone game.
The Beyond is not a normal RPG Maker game. In The Beyond, you find yourself trapped in a "haunted" mansion known as The Beyond, and are soon under attack by a strange, and evil power. Using your brain and your reflexes, you must think and fight your way to safety, solving puzzles and defeating horrifying enemies to make your escape.
In order to escape the terror, you'll first need to understand the cause of the nightmare. Make sure you collect all the clues so that you can understand the fate that has befallen the mansion. But, be careful. You are always in danger, and it is easy to let the fear overwhelm you. Don't give in to the evil.

The Beyond was my attempt at telling a story in other ways besides cutscenes. I wanted to create an atmosphere of being totally alone in this game, so having other characters in to tell you what was going on was counterproductive. Thus, the entire story of this game is revealed as you play via clues and discarded documents.

Note: I'm aware that a "haunted house" is perhaps the most cliched setting for a horror themed game. Keep in mind that I wanted to try my hand at using the setting and that the most prominent influence for this game is Alone In The Dark.

Story Outline

Mairstone Manor

Also known as The Beyond, this mansion was built in the early 1950's by renowned ex military general and historian Thomas Mairstone.
It is situated in the rural coal mining town of Black Valley in the isolated midwest. The entire town is isolated, being situated in a remote valley, and sorrounded by acres of dense forest. The locals fear The Beyond, and blame it for several disapearances of townspeople, including the mansion's owners, and bizarre phenomena that has been recently occuring in town.

Black Valley

An isolated midwestern mining town founded in the mid 1800's. The town's mining industry has been inactive since the 1920's due to the mines being closed for an undisclosed reason. Black Valley has a population of only 300, only a small fraction of the 1200 people it housed during the mining era.
Reportedly, Black Valley is a center for paranormal activity, with many bizarre incidents being reported each month.

Characters

Two playable characters are featured in The Beyond, each one playing in a different way and having their own unique reasons for being drawn into the mansion. Each character also has their own unique endings. To see all of the game's endings, you'll need to play through as both characters!

John Faraday

An ex police officer turned private detective. John has been hired to investigate the mysterious disapearance of a group of journalists conducting research on the mansion. John has decided to search for clues in the last place the group were known to have visited, and so heads for The Beyond itself.

Sara Wickson

A horror fiction writer seeking inspiration. It's been a while since Sara wrote a big top seller, so in order to gather material to write her next novel, Sara has decided to spend a night in the infamous mansion known as The Beyond.

Game Features

- True fear will take over as you explore the mansion, uncovering the many secrets it holds. Atmospheric graphics and sounds, combined with some genuine psychological engineering will make you feel the ultimate terror.
- A fantastic challenge awaits you, with fiendish puzzles to solve, horrifying enemies to defeat, and two different characters and four endings to experience.
- Streamlined systems such as a health indicator and custom item usage system help you keep track of notes, clues and items.
- Rivetting, tense combat, using the completely customized Decision Proximity Semi Active Battle system (DPSAB) which allows enemies to deal damage based on the direction they strike from, and allows actions performed outside of battle to affect your battle performance.

Screenshots















Download

You can download this game from the page here:

http://rpgmaker.net/games/1144/

Wow! That was quick, postponing my marathon of multiplayer to have a try of this.

Yup, it's a new record for me! This game took me only one month to complete, and it shows with it's somewhat short difficulty, but every second is well worth it, and I hope you enjoy it.

Well, I would get to testing right away, but whenever I try to download I get: Sorry, there are currently no free download slots available on this server.

Please try again later, or you can upgrade to FileFactory Premium below for instant access.

I will try to download it later. The game is looking good, from what I read though.

Awesome to see that this is released! I can't download it for a few days 'cause I'm well over my limit at the moment. =(

OOh this looks good, you are giving the man a run for his money ( LULife)

XP this time as well.

Hey everyone!

Thanks for posting and showing some interest. I know this game's been eagerly waited for.

@demonlord: I'm currently uploading it to RMN so in a few hours there will be an alternate download available.

Update:

I added two mirror links. One to MegaUpload, and one to RPG Maker.net. The MegaUpload one's ready to go but the RMN one will take another day or so to validate.

Me Playing this Game:
"Don't worry nothing scary ever happens outdoors... GAH!!!!! WTF!!!!!!"

Aahahahahahaha! Nice to see my scares are working properly.

Great work, your projects are really good.

Thank you very much! I'm planning One Night 3 at the moment, but it's a long ways off. Might I suggest you play again and try for another ending?

Update:

One Night: The Beyond has been featured and reviewed on www.tigsource.com a top indie game reviewing site. I'm very proud of this.

Also, I'm happy to report the game has hit 300 downloads already, in just one short month.

Good job Gaia! You're games definitely deserve the attention and praise they receive. Keep it up!

Here are a few paragraphs describing the endings imbedded within The Beyond.

New Update (V3.2)

I've just released the updated Version 3.2, which fixes a few small gameplay glitches that were present and fixes the problem in the previous version which prevented the ending selection working how it should be.

Download it now! The download links in the initial post have been updated!

i tried the game it is fun and it isn't much that horror.
this is no offense ok.

Could you elaborate a bit more? I can't exactly understand your comment. Are you saying it wasn't scary? Did you play it at night alone with the sound up?

I downloaded this a few days ago and played a few minutes, but stopped because it scaring the crap out of me o.o" Massive improvement from the last One Night and I liked how the good old wine bottle smash was in the start as well. Good job yet again!

i did not play it with sound up because my speaker were broken.

Well, you can't complain when it doesn't scare you then. In a 2D game, sound is instrumental in providing the scares.

@l33tpie: Good to hear. Try and finish it if you can, and just wait for the next one. That will blow you away.

Radical, Unforseen Update:

I'm desperate to get The Beyond to recieve the same level of popularity as my other games, as I feel it's my best so far and being overlooked at the moment. This being said, I'm moving this entire topic out of my forum into Full Games and Long Demos for a couple of weeks where it will hopefully get some exposure.

Yeah, good idea. Not everyone checks the subforums, and this is a game definetly worth playing. If you guys out there havn't played it yet, then download it now for a free lifetime supply of scares! If ya liked the first one night, then ya will definetly like this one.

Thanks demon for the support. By the way, I noticed that after I moved it, it somehow became pinned. I didn't mean to do that, so if the mods of this forum wanna unpin it, they can. I think it was because it was pinned in my forum when I moved it, so it stayed pinned here in it's new (temporary) home.

I do believe I played the original One Night, or at least part of it... It was scaring the crap out me, and then I died, so I said #*@$ it. But now that I'm a reviewer, I will definitively play through the whole thing.

And expect objectivity!

As a fellow reviewer, I would expect nothing else. It is our pledge good sir. I'll look forward to it!

Update:

I'm glad to announce this game just became GameJolt's top rated Puzzle/Adventure game!

Also, I'm issuing a personal challenge to any prospective players:

Who can complete the game in the quickest amount of time AND get a good ending?

So far, the record, from Ark Reaver, is 53 minutes.

It was my second playthrough, but I just finished it in 41:06 playing as Sara.

Well, we have a new record! And as Sara too! It's tougher to complete her game in a faster than average time as due to her low strength, a lot more backtracking to recovery points are required in her scenario than in John's. Excellent job! You got her "good" ending too (the one where she writes a novel) I assume?

I'll look forward to your review of the game as well.

Now, can anyone beat him?

Yep, I got the good ending. It wasn't easy though let me tell you, 3 saves, and exactly 3 first aid kits, and I still finished in critical health.

Sweet game dark Gaia!
Not to far into it yet but I love the atmosphere you're creating. Also loved killing that damn teddy bear! Ha ha! You're giving me some idea's for my own game with this.

Thanks and great work thus far!

Hey man, I'm a fan of your game too! Lurking Under Life was a main inspiration for this game and it's prequel. I'm glad you're enjoying the game, it's definately the scariest of my games and I'm very happy to hear from you. Keep up your own good work and I'll look forward to hearing more feedback.

Update:

Octuple Thread has officially reviewed The Beyond. He gave it an 8/10. Find out why by reading the review here:

http://www.rpgrevolution.com/forums/index....showtopic=32002

i played this game with my audio fixed and i still don't think it is scary.

Man the first fight as Sara, scared the SH*T out of me, the little thing walking slowly towards me and OMG THE DOOR IS LOCKED!!
Great great game so far, the influence from Alone in the Dark 1 is felt and welcomed.

Yes, the original Alone In The Dark provided some of this game's inspiration. In that game you were constantly alone and with no idea where to go, and I wanted to replicate that. Glad you're enjoying it.

@Dark Sactum: Okay, that's fine. Maybe you're like me, so into horror games that it's really hard to get scared anymore. I'm sorry it failed to work on you. But in all fairness, you did know what was coming after you got your audio fixed, so the effect was lost.

i think so too but i don't really like horror games unless they have a shooting system,3D Bloods,Scary Musics and alot of people dieing.

Ah, then that would be why this game doesn't suit you. It's designed to convey the same kind of fear as Fatal Frame or Silent Hill. Those games go for lurking psychological fear rather than gore.

i just played the boy part and i am at the part where the glass break.

i am trapped at sara's part so i decided quiting it.

If you tell me where you're stuck, I can tell you where to go. John's game is the same as Sara's so you'll most likely get stuck again in the same place.

I downloaded this game yesterday, and I enjoy it. I don't think I'm very far into the game, because I'm stuck on a puzzle. I went through the backyard (park?) and into a little cabin where I have to input four words on a closet. I've followed all the hits and tried to put the code in countless time, but it won't open the closet. That's pretty much where I'm stuck.

On another note, the game has a great feel to it. It's definitely in the line of psychological horror games. It reminds me of Fatal Frame II. There's not much music, but lots of sound effects. The horror the player experiences isn't a chainsaw murderer kicking down a door and attempting to mow down a family. Rather the mood of the game takes effect of the mind. You don't know what's around the corner, you don't know when something will jump out at you, and the atmosphere the game projects is haunting. Well done Dark Gaia.

FINALLY!I'll be playing this,as a fan of the fantastic game,One Night.It'll definitely be fun and I'm a psychological wimp,so it'll probably be scary.

i am a big fan of this commedy game or for a lot of you horror game,i hope to beta test the scary one night 3 which will scare the dragon/bravery out of me i will make me a big wimp.

OMG my brother was scared to death when that stupid teddy appear i helped him complete that part no problem for me!
hmmm that freaking sound that scared my bro was zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz kind of sound hmmmm i decided.

Me playing this game:YIKES!THAT SCREAM!AHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!!!!!!!!!!!Oh?It's not..there..anymore.
Me in the teddy bear part:AHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!SCARY TEDDY BEAR!YIKES!
I was playing Sara.For my own safety,I'm turning my speaker OFF!

I'd advise you not to. You'll ruin the experience that the game can only provide with the sound on. Hehe.

To those stuck on puzzles: A readme in the game's install directory contains the answers to every puzzle. Make good use of it.

Then I'll switch it on.

Good Choice. Looking forward to further feedback.

Disclaimer:
Dark Gaia is not responsible for heart attacks or other shock related injuries that may occur as a result of playing this game.

Since this is the main site for this game I will post this here as well as at RMN...

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Griever plays One Night 2: The Beyond:

Gameplay: 10/10

I do not have enough praise for the playability of this game. It’s full of interesting and challenging puzzles, well-mapped exploration and has a custom ABS that actually works pretty damn well. I also appreciate the replayability and depth this game has. The game has two characters with two separate storylines to explore and each storyline has a good and a bad ending for you to work towards – this basically gives you two separate games for the price of one, with the possibility you’ll need to replay each scenario in order to see all the endings!

The only thing I think the gameplay is missing is a ranking system, as the stats given to you when you finish the game (time, saves made, medical items used etc.) are clearly geared towards this. It doesn’t take anything away from the gameplay, but I think it would be an easy addition to make and it would be an addition that would add even more replayability!

The only bit of the gameplay in the first instalment that seemed broken was the battle system and since that has been patched up really well I can’t do anything but give a perfect score in this area.

Characters: N/A

Unlike the first game, One Night 2: The Beyond doesn’t focus on character development. Because of this, I won’t be giving a score in this area. However, I will say that I actually think this suits the game quite well…

Storyline/Setting: 10/10

Just like a lot of other horror games, the storyline in One Night 2: The Beyond isn’t something that you have shoved down your throat via cutscenes and is instead something you need to piece together from all the information you find throughout the game. This kind of presentation is pulled off really well in this game and I appreciate the effort Dark Gaia has put into piecing together a decent back-story for the horrors your characters are put through. The back-story itself is, for a horror game, also quite well written. The story you piece together over the course of the game manages to keep you guessing and also credibly explains the many strange phenomena taking place around your characters.

The setting is also tackled extremely well in this game. The horror element the game possesses has – just like the gameplay – been greatly improved upon compared to One Night, relying far more heavily on creating an atmosphere than using cheap gimmicks to make people jump. The game does still try and make you jump, but it tries a lot harder to make you jump than its prequel and it doesn’t use effects that are as cheesy or as tacky as they were in One Night. Although I am not a jumpy person myself, I am sure a lot of people will jump out of their seat at least once whilst playing this game.

Graphics/Mapping: 9/10

The graphics in this game work pretty well. I much prefer the RMXP style to the RMVX style and I am glad the game uses the former as the latter would not fit in well with the horror genre at all. Using the slightly more human-looking RMXP sprites allows the horror elements to work a lot better and prevents any of the graphical choices becoming comical when they are meant to be gory/horrific. I also quite liked the lighting effects used in this game, especially the limited field-of-view you have, as they really add to the setting Dark Gaia is trying to achieve. Lighting effects are sometimes over-used in order to make the mapping in a game seem flashier, but Dark Gaia uses lighting effects with due discretion and manages to get the best out of them.

The mapping is also extremely good and I have a lot of admiration for it. The mansion is well laid out, backtracking is properly utilised and nothing is ever so intricate that you’ll get completely lost or you’ll forget where something is. Equally, there aren’t many misplaced tiles (I think I saw one or two over the course of the whole game) and I didn’t encounter any passability errors or anything of that ilk.

The only problems I have with the graphics in this game are the awful-looking trees in the outside areas. There are also some places where the monsters look kind of silly, but in the whole they are handled very well. These really are little things in comparison to the general competency the graphics are handled with, though.

Music/Sounds: 9/10

All the music used manages to set things up properly and there aren’t any tracks I think are out of place in this game. I especially like how the music always manages to keep the tension going, keeping you on your toes and making those occasions where the game tries to make you jump more likely to do so than they otherwise would. There are also many occasions where the music tries to make you think something is about to happen, even if something isn’t about to happen, and this sort of thing is nicely pulled off. The sound effects used are also chosen, for the most part, exceptionally well. However, one particular screaming sound effect is quite annoying and is also overused and I quickly got sick of hearing it; it only has to be a scream to help make people jump, it doesn’t have to be an annoying one.

Overall: 9/10

With One Night 2: The Beyond, what you get is a marked improvement on the first game in the series; it is clear to see that Dark Gaia has taken the criticism of the first game to heart and made the required improvements whilst developing this instalment. Since the first game in the series was pretty good in its own right, you should definitely be downloading the sequel!

One Night 2: The Beyond is easily the best horror game I have seen come out of an RPGMaker.

Hi Griever! I was just coming in to link this topic to your RMN review, but you already wrote it down here! Well, thanks anyway for the great review and I loved reading it. I'm glad you enjoyed the game.

omg dark gaia
Dx iknow the first time ilooked at it ithought well its a sprite game it cant be that scary
but it bloody scared me more then even the silant hill games x[

not joking
ahhhh teddy bears Dx
oh by the way awesome game really

Thanks very much for the feedback. That teddy bear gets everyone. I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it.