by September 2004

Realms of Fire (Ramey Elali, 2002) Walkthrough

I came across this game by accident. I was intrigued by the comparisons to The 7th Guest and The 11th Hour and was inspired to download it when I saw it was only 3.6 MB. Don’t laugh, you all with cable Internet access. Of course, you can imagine my disappointment when I found the link was down. Without much hope of a reply, I sent an email to Ramey Elali, the creator of the game, who lives in Sydney, only an hour or so away from me. He replied within a few days and proceeded to arrange to make his game available to me and anyone else. I thank him for all the effort he made to allow me an opportunity to review it.

So…I downloaded the game and proceeded to play it.

I played this flash game all the way through to write a walkthrough but I really didn’t find anything noteworthy in the whole thing. Comparing it to either of the Stauf titles is a gross comparison. Admittedly, he did it all himself, but perhaps there are reasons why many games are developed by teams rather than individuals…

The best thing about this game is the atmosphere, which Ramey creates with horrible and terrifying images and sampled music, some of which he altered to make it off key! They come from a variety of sources, most of which aren't credited adequately (i.e. Halloween movie instead of John Carpenter, the composer and performer of the Halloween soundtrack), which gives a mishmash feel. I did notice improvements to the graphics as the game went on. I also started to see the semblance of a story emerge toward the end of a game. Before this, however, it was just a melange of images, sounds, and confusion.

A small warning: the game features some disturbing images, sexual themes, and language not appropriate for children. These themes could not be described as excessive, but the language and sexual imagery may upset some players not expecting it in a game. Most images and movies are grainy and low quality and could not be mistaken for reality. Fortunately, there is little of the game to complain about-it can be finished in about ten minutes.

WALKTHROUGH

You wake up (or do you?) in an unfamiliar place. You know you must get out.

-Go out the door and then left when given the opportunity.
-In the hall with an arched window with a burning torch, go right.
-From the pool, exit into the bathroom.
-Go left into a long hallway and then out the doors at the end.
-Do not go outside. Instead, exit right.
-Exit right from the torture room.
-Go inside the barn.
-Go back outside. It’s night now.
-Go left.
-Leave the Grim Reaper by going right.
-Go past Freddy Krueger through the door.
-“Warp” out of the church when the fire starts by clicking on the black mark in the right-hand stained window about half way up the window.
-Enter the ruined building.
-Go on the mine ride.
-Get off when you’ve had enough (no, you have to wait a couple of seconds!).
-Exit from the dungeon cell.
-You meet Jovah. Agree to take her help. You are transported back to 1951.
-By the shores of what looks like Crystal Lake, go right.
-Go left into the side entrance of Chez Arnaud.
-Take the monument (bottom right of screen-the pale green blob).
-Turn the light on. Jovah is dead!
-Click on the bald bad guy from Hellraiser repeatedly to beat him. Five times did it for me.
-The end…or is it?

We can only hope so… A guy called Seth Pilavci tested it. Now, if he’s a friend of Ramey’s why didn’t he tell Ramey what it was like? It’s only an adventure game in the loosest sense of the word but completists or those who doubt the veracity of my review may wish to play it. Play it from this link: http://ic1.deviantart.com/files/f/2003/51/4/3/realmfire.swf (or right-click and save it to your hard drive).

Of greater interest to some may be Ramey’s website. He has a great interest in the paranormal and features pictures and information about ghosts and other strange goings on in Sydney. Check out Ramey’s Realm and give him feedback at rameyelali@optusnet.com.au about the game. He says that he’ll do a sequel if there is interest.