Koudelka

The story is made in the mixed style of Survival Horror and tactical role-playing game. The video game is filled with Gothic surroundings and is close to gloomy, mystical thrillers. In some places, the gameplay resembles the games of the Resident Evil series, released on the PlayStation platform. Due to the mystical plot, the game is designed for a more adult audience compared to the average PSX game.

Like well-known game projects of that time (such as Final Fantasy VII , Parasite Eve ) in the game, fully polygonal characters move around pre-prepared background images. Battles in the game begin randomly, while moving through the game locations.

An important feature of the project is the complete absence in the game of the so-called “stores” in which the player could buy new items, armor, etc. All these things in Koudelka the player can only find in hiding places or receive trophies after the battle. Another notable feature of the project is that weapons tend to break. Control points with saving in the game most often occur only after defeating the next boss.

The video game begins in the foggy 1898 in the vicinity of the city of Aberystwyth , in the kingdom of Wales , in the center of the plot - strange events taking place in the Nemeton Monastery, and three main characters, by fate, involved in this mysterious story.

After a series of visions, Koudelka Iasant ( English Koudelka Iasant ), a young girl-medium, endowed with supernatural powers, arrives at the monastery for his own investigation. Here she will meet with two more heroes of the video game - the young adventurer Edward Plunkett and the holy father sent here by the Vatican - James O'Flaherty.

The story tells how many years ago a middle-aged mature man, the captain of the ship The Mary Alice , was in an accident. The ship's captain, his name is Ogden, was seriously injured and was blamed for everything in the circumstances of the accident.

He and his wife (her name is Bessie), still having means of subsistence from this ship, acquire an old monastery located in the vicinity of Aberystwyth. Ogden and Bessie become close friends with a friendly girl named Ellein, who believes that what happened to the captain many years ago on the ship is not his fault. Young Alleyn was married to an alchemist named Patrick.

A little later, another accident occurs, through the fault of the robbers who burst into the house, the pretty Ellein was killed. This is one of the key events in the prologue.

In inconsolable sorrows, they spend days in search of a way to bring it back to life. After a long search, Patrick finds an old manuscript on his exuberant head, which tells how to bring the dead back to life. Unfortunately, sacrifices are required to perform the ritual. And soon Ogden and Patrick begin to look for thieves and killers, and a little later, simply the inhabitants of the city. After 200 victims, the spell began to work, but everything went, as is usual in such stories, not at all according to plan. Ellein returned to life, or rather, only her body, but not her soul. She turned into a monster. In addition, all the victims of this spell came to life in the form of ghosts, monsters, and similar evil spirits.

Koudelka was called by the spirit of Elleyn. Edward came because he heard strange rumors, and James on personal matters.

In the Shadow Hearts video game, you can also meet Koudelka. However, in this game she is not a key character.

Tracks with vocals are compositions with the names Requiem (music from the opening video) and Ubi Caritas Et Amor (music from the final video). Most of the songs on the soundtrack are 30-60 second pieces of music from the video game itself, inserted into the game for drama and atmosphere (Background Music). Also on the disc there are four musical themes that are heard during the battles in the game. These songs are by name: Waterfall - music for standard battles, Incantation Again - music for boss fights, Patience - for battle with Ellaine, Kiss Twice - battle with the final boss.

List of Songs

Hiroki Kikuta is best known as the author of music for Seiken Densetsu 2,3, Secret of Mana , Soukaigi , released by Square (company) . In 1997, he founded Sacnoth. In the video game Koudelka , Kikuta embodied his idea of ​​a new dynamic combat system. He drew inspiration from making music from the first parts of Resident Evil .

• Koudelka Iasant WebSpace - Russian-language video game site Koudelka
• megaten - a site dedicated to the games of the series Koudelka, Shadows Hearts, Persona, Shin Megami Tensei
• Koudelka on Squarefaction - passing the game in Russian, including collecting all the secrets
• Walkthrough from ThreeTimes - walkthrough, script (English)
• GameSpot review - a review of the game from the GameSpot portal
• IGN Review - An Overview of Games from the IGN Portal
• GameFaq Koudelka section - reviews, Koudelka guides