Vivisector: Beast Within

Vivisector: Beast Within is a Ukrainian made first-person shooter game released in the Commonwealth of Independent States in 2005 and in Europe in 2006.

Inspired largely by the film Island of Lost Souls and the story The Island of Doctor Moreau, which the film was based on, the game is set on a covert military installation on Soreo Island, where a riot has broken out by renegade geneticist Doctor Morhead's experimental human-animal hybrid soldiers.

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A tropical island covered with an impassable jungle, hidden from stranger eyes by the endless expanses of the ocean. I guess that the ruler of human souls must have had enough fun sending us here. He must have spent a long-long time calculating the details of the hellish show made ready for us. He’s probably still waiting for a murderous outcome of this terrible story, this endless bloody fight for life. And he probably still doesn’t know the main thing. That he miscounted.

Prologue
Year 1878. Soreo Isle, a small, uninhabited, volcanic island in the Pacific. The Man, a masterful physiologist, well-known in scientific circles for his extraordinary imagination, howled out of England for his ambitious and rather disgusting experiments on animals. His name is Dr. Morhead. On this detached island he stepped aside from the world, to continue his twisted experiments. Violating the very foundations of nature, his work was aimed at the creation of a new form of living being. Dr. Morhead's work in his "Temple of Rebirth" sought to alter animals to look, feel and behave more like humans.

Many years of hard labor were spent in hopes of bringing his only desire into reality, the creation of a new type of clean and perfect community. He achieved remarkable results in giving animals a human look, but there was one thing he did not take into account: Animals are born as the children of nature, so their suffering bodies retained wild souls. The creatures' true nature could not be concealed forever, and the day came when Dr. Morhead fell prey to his own creations. "The Temple of Rebirth" burned into ruins.

In 1881, this island was visited by H. M. S. Spider. A party of sailors landed there, but found nothing living except some local animals, rather small.

Later, several newspapers stated that further information had been discovered. This mysterious information was under the rapt attention of the military, however it was not made public. Unfortunately, this information remains just a rumor without any official confirmation.

The Humanimals
The fate of mankind is in your hands as you do battle with horrible creatures spawned in the nightmares of a madman. The Laws of nature have been broken. Somebody is going to pay.

There is no peace in their hearts. They are not the children of nature. They are more than animals but not yet humans. They want to cry but do not know how. They want to smile but do not know when. They want to love but didn't see their mother. They want to believe but don't know who their god is. There is no place for two souls in single body.

Gameplay
The player has a full range of movement, including independent movement of gun aim and mobility, jumping, ducking, and even picking up certain objects (such as barrels and crates) lying around the map. An on-screen radar map shows an overhead layout of the immediate area, with different-colored dots marking hybrid and human soldiers and waypoints.

Aside from the vivisection point, killing enemies in certain ways and discovering hidden areas grant a player points which they can cash in at waypoints to upgrade their speed, aim, life, and strength. There is a minor emphasis in puzzle-solving, with a few timed segments included. There are also a few boss battles between game phases.

Vivisection point
The game is most infamous for its "vivisection point" feature, which allows the player to rend an enemy's flesh from their body with each shot (though, due to Germany's strict censor laws, this feature was removed for the human NPCs).

Waypoints
Unobtained waypoints emit green lasers into the air above to see. Size of beams vary. The waypoints close like fower petals upon obtainment. You can upgrade your character with points at waypoints. Some waypoints may need to be obtained by performing an action such as pulling a level next to said waypoint. Obtaining some waypoints may trigger enemy waves, loot dispersion, traps, loading screen, cutscene, etc. Some waypoints can be skipped while others are required for an event or future necessary waypoints to trigger.

Upgrades
Once you've obtained the transloader, you can obtain points that can be turned in at waypoints for personal upgrades including:


 * Speed: Upgrade this characteristic to allow yourself to run faster.
 * Resistnace: Enemies will hurt you less if you develop this ability.
 * Aim Stability: Train your arms to shake less in order to aim better.
 * Health limit: Increase the limit of health you can handle.

Weapons can have one of three predetermined factors increase every chapter depending on use. An earlier version may have had them upgraded just like the personal upgrades.


 * Power (Knives): Increase the power of your weapon.
 * Accuracy (Machine guns): Higher upgrade levels will make this weapon more accurate.
 * Ammo Load (Optic Rifles, Explosives, Launchers, Energy): It is possible to increase capacity of weapon's magazine.

Crates and Barrels
The character can pick up various crates, boxes and barrels while others can only be moved by the blow of weapons. Crates must be broken to obtain the contents inside. This can mean sacrificing time to open with a knife, or sacrificing a bit of ammo to get items. But be careful, because you can use up all of a pickup even you only need a couple more points to reach maximum.

Events
After doing or obtaining certain things, a notice will appear on the left of the screen, above your radar (or above your health if the radar is disabled).

Main Characters

 * Kurt Robinson
 * Malica Catwalk
 * Liam Quaid
 * Doctor Morhead
 * General Dogstone
 * Lion

Humans

 * Guards
 * Miners (non-hostile)
 * Scientists (non-hostile or hostile)

ModBeasts

 * Electric Hyena
 * Flame Jaguars
 * Grenade Gorilla
 * Transparent Panther
 * BomBear
 * BattaLion
 * Rhinoceros

HumAnimals

 * Hyena Soldier
 * Cheetah Soldier
 * Ram Soldier

Overbrutes

 * Buffalo (non-hostile or hostile)
 * Black Wolf
 * Helix
 * Puma
 * Incomplete
 * The Panther Overbrute
 * White Wolf
 * Tiger

Weapons



 * Knives (Survival Knife, Scalpel)
 * Pistols (Pistol, PPSh 41)
 * Shotguns (Shotgun, Double-barrelled Shotgun)
 * Automatic rifles (M-16 Assault Rifle)
 * Machine guns (M-60, Gauss Rifle)
 * Optic rifles (Optic rifle, Armor-peircing optic rifle)
 * Explosives (Grenades, Mines (removed) )
 * Launchers (Bazooka, Howitzer)
 * Energy weapons (Tesla, Plasma Gun)

Locations
The mysterious world of Vivisector consists of a more than sixteen huge levels, logically put together to form an integral island. You'll have to fight your way through lush tropical jungles, deep woods and snowy mountains.

You'll move through huge experimental complexes to witness the achievements of human genius gone wrong. Encounter survivors, guards that were abandoned here to die, surrounded by bizarre creatures, afraid of every rustle, and firing at will...

Outer Perimeter
Operation time: 1907-1945. Subject: creation of soldiers using terrestrial animals as a raw material. Result: quadrupedal animals with weapons implanted, called modified beasts or ModBeasts. Experimental creatures had intellect below initial, but were unconditionally obedient. Project was cancelled in 1945 because of its inefficiency and inability of ModBeasts to make decisions. Present status: shut down.

Inner Perimeter
Operation time: 1945-1972. Subject: production of an intelligent soldier, an animal that looks and behaves like a human being (Humanimal), capable of making tactical decisions. Result: bipedal creatures, based on animal bodies with high intelligence level and an ability to make decisions. Every type of Humanimals is experienced in particular weapon usage. Production was almost closed in early 70's due to rising free-thinking, disobedience and frequent riots. An idea of creation of the intelligent soldier proved to be unsuitable because smarter creatures became recalcitrant. The most eminent specimen were transported to "Temple of Rebirth" for further modification. Present status: still functional.

Temple of Rebirth
Operation time: 1972-present. Subject: upgrading Humanimals to ultimate warriors, OverBrutes, using secret military biological and cybernetic technologies. Result: inorganic AI based bipedal creatures, programmed to fulfil complex tactical and strategical tasks under dynamically changing hostility conditions. OverBrutes have a strong ability to make proper decisions, without any ethical and moral doubts, which makes them firm and inexorable. Present status: developing rapidly.

Religion/Faith
"Doctor Morhead: Faith. People lose faith every day. Our hourglass counts the depth of our souls. Each grain just adds to the void. Each of them has to believe. It doesn't matter in what. You just have to believe. Their faith will change them. Only then will the question about the meaning of life emerge. Once I hear that, I'll know it hasn't all been in vain. Newly born creatures wanted to believe. Everyone had to know why the new ones come and where the done go; to know that the sacrifice was worth it. They had faith and came to the sacred place they'd made for themselves. Came to ask the Creator. Not aloud, but in thought." "Doctor Morhead: (to General Dogstone) I started to have doubts about you. So naive and gullible. Well, you are human beings. Those ill-made beasts shouldn't live. The natural strength of their souls was eradicated by your quest for power. My discoveries and techniques are life changing miracles, but all you did was make a hideous army. That's not why I came here. I wanted to create something beautiful. We can make this work. From now on, everything will be peaceful. No heroes, no villains. No more human vices or flaws. A new beginning General, the way it was before. They will have purpose and faith. They will have God. The perfect creatures for the brand-new-world. That's why I needed you, Kurt, for what's inside of you. General Dogstone: Now I know you've lost it. By creating these monsters, you're going against the very ways of God. Doctor Morhead: You still don't get it, do you. I am the God."General Dogstone refers to the Ark of Noah and gets a nail through the hand like the Crucifiction of Christ.

Fate
The game is linear with only one ending. "Doctor Morhead: Wher are you running to Kurt? Hold on, look around. You are home. Don't you feel it? You've come into this world unprotected trying to go your own way. But you are not strong enough. Everything is predetermined. You aren't capable of writing your own plot. So, you won't know how it's going to end." "General Dogstone: See this land as a gist of destiny, Kurt, and calm down. As the rest of us did. You never know how miserable your life will end up." "Doctor Morhead: We have been awarded an eternal life. This is a change of generations. Everything has a beginning and an end. To stay in one's own time is the most important thing. This is the end of the road, Kurt. Let the newly born child become the future."

Man vs Nature; Natural Man vs Moral Man
The Modbeasts are created through artifical means out of something we would consider most natural, non-human animals. The

The guards are driven by man-made optic devices to harm the player while the Modbeasts, Humanimals and Overbrutes are driven by natural instinct to harm the player. "Doctor Morhead: Those ill-made beasts shouldn't live. The natural strength of their souls was eradicated by your quest for power."

"General Dogstone: Look around! Their animal bodies preserved a natural freedom of their souls. They could have stayed here forever. But their destiny is to restore a natural order to the universe. They go into the Depth to enter the shining Heights. Once evolution made an accidental mistake and created an odd creature — …man. Selfishness, vanity and folly are the steps leading to the throne of this self-proclaimed King of Nature. The laws of Nature have been broken! Someone has to restore everything to where it belongs." "Doctor Morhead: One cannot decieve nature. Only regeneration brings a new quality. …Nature is full of controversy." Drawings form Leonardo Da Vinci, a well known naturalist appear throughout the game.

Restoring Order and Justice
Kurt, Malica and their team are told that an armed political conflict/ rebbelion is taking place on the island that they have to intervene in. "Lion: For the last ten years, I've wathed soldiers die here. Not from bullets, but from fangs and claws. It's horrible. You were also sent to the zone of political armed conflict, for what? To restore Justice? For ten years, the cannon fodder has been brought here. We have to train. What if a war breaks out? Paltry humans. You have a penchant for self-destruction. So naive and gullible, to put it simply, you are human beings. You let the General go. Bring me to him."

"General Dogstone: Look around! Their animal bodies preserved a natural freedom of their souls. They could have stayed here forever. But their destiny is to restore a natural order to the universe. They go into the Depth to enter the shining Heights. Once evolution made an accidental mistake and created an odd creature — …man. Selfishness, vanity and folly are the steps leading to the throne of this self-proclaimed King of Nature. The laws of Nature have been broken! Someone has to restore everything to where it belongs."

Gray Morality
In the gameplay there are three teams: You and allies, Guards and Humanimals. Even when on the General's side, the Guards are too distracted by protocal to be informed of exception. And when on the Lion's side, the Humanimals' killer instincts can't be quelmed. Your alliance with the scientists fractures when you kill one with a sticky bomb on them that would've killed you if you hadn't acted. "Doctor Morhead: From now on, everything will be peaceful. No heroes, no villains. No more human vices or flaws."

"General Dogstone: Kurt, I know how it feels when you're betrayed by those you believed in. The bright white line between the bad and the good first goes dim and then vanishes. You have been used, the way I have been."

Death and Rebirth
First hinted at with the moth/butterfly, since moths/butterflies must go through metamorphisis.

Doctor Morhead experiments on animals so he can eventually perfect humanity. He studied how to make lower lifeforms from scratch so he could learn to raise up the current highest lifeforms, humans. This is done during the Doctor's experiment on Kurt as a baby.

The Humanimals are put through darwinian battles where they kill each other and the survivors can become Overbrutes. "General Dogstone: They go into the Depth to enter the shining Heights."

Kurt thought Malica had died. But she survived, and what more, she is pregnant.

General Dogstone mentions the Ark as in the Ark of Noah, referring to the great deluge myth where the earth was washed away clean from sin to be reborn. Later General Dogstone's right hand is impaled by a nail. Possibly alluding to Christ who in Christianity was resurrected from the dead after being tortured to death by being nailed on a cross to die for most, if not all, the sins of humanity. "Doctor Morhead: Don't be afraid to fall down, Kurt. It allows us to rise. You cannot rise without falling first. That's how you can know who you really are. The stairway of desires came too high for the General. My stiarway is even higher, but I choose to stay on the lower steps. The wind is blowing hard upstairs, and the light is often bright. Watching you I realized no 'magic transformation' occured. One cannot decieve nature. Only regeneration brings a new quality. You stayed the same so only a child may become the beginning of a new perfect society. YOUR child is that miracle. But — are you really qualified to raise it? Nature is full of controversy. We have been awarded an eternal life. This is a change of generations. Everything has a beginning and an end. To stay in one's own time is the most important thing. This is the end of the road, Kurt. Let the newly born child become the future!"Having physically gone down, Kurt returns to the surface in a boat with Malica and their child.

Inter-generational Social Contract
"Doctor Morhead: Only then will the question about the meaning of life emerge. Once I hear that, I'll know it hasn't all been in vain. Newly born creatures wanted to believe. Everyone had to know why the new ones come and where the done go; to know that the sacrifice was worth it. They had faith and came to the sacred place they'd made for themselves. Came to ask the Creator. Not aloud, but in thought." Morhead is displeased at General Dogstone for using his "children" as soldiers and sees much more for them. Morhead is pleased that Kurt still knows the person he impregnated and can take responsibility as a co-parent with Malica."Doctor Morhead: Don't be afraid to fall down, Kurt. It allows us to rise. You cannot rise without falling first. That's how you can know who you really are. The stairway of desires came too high for the General. My stiarway is even higher, but I choose to stay on the lower steps. The wind is blowing hard upstairs, and the light is often bright. Watching you I realized no 'magic transformation' occured. One cannot decieve nature. Only regeneration brings a new quality. You stayed the same so only a child may become the beginning of a new perfect society. YOUR child is that miracle. But — are you really qualified to raise it? Nature is full of controversy. We have been awarded an eternal life. This is a change of generations. Everything has a beginning and an end. To stay in one's own time is the most important thing. This is the end of the road, Kurt. Let the newly born child become the future!"

Comparison to other versions

 * Island of Lost Souls (1932 film): The doctor works toward eventual reproduction of his experiments.