"Artifact1a", also known as the "Artifact room" or "Artifact 1a room", is a secret location in Legacy of Kain: Defiance which contains most of the artifacts and items from the game. A holdover from the development of the title, the room is only accessible through Debug menus.
Profile[]
The artifact room is a debugging room found within Legacy of Kain: Defiance.[Defiance][1] Like the Push and Test rooms of Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver before it, the artifact room was intended as a secret room where aspects of the game could be tested in a controlled environment within the game engine. The room could be accessed through Debug menus and notably contained every item available to collect in the course of the game - with the exception of the Balance Emblem fragments.[Defiance][1][2][3]
The room itself is something of a bare wireframe with steel blue/gray background and white 'wires' arranged in a square pattern. On the floor of the chamber were positioned a number of items with ever object and item found through the course of the game including four that were cut or otherwise removed.[Defiance][1]
- Puzzle artifacts in the room included in order: the Silver Half of Vorador's Crest, the Gold Half of Vorador's Crest, the Soul Stealer, the Heart Seeker, the Blood Drinker, the Falcon Insignia, the Faceted Orb, Kain's Family Crest, the Ornamental Shield, the cut Unused artifact, the Bronze Disc, the Stone Disc, the Decorative Sword, Malek's Shield, Malek's Sword, the Carved Stone Skull, the Rusted Scales, the Sphere of Energy, the Wheel of Life, the Library Seal, the Dark Scripture, the Obsidian Sphere, the Howling Heartstone, the Heart of Darkness, the Golden Ouroboros, the Earth Globe.[Defiance][1]
- The room included weapons such as the variants of the Reaver/Wraith Blade - in order the Dimension Reaver, Flame Reaver, Balance Reaver, Lightning Reaver, Time Reaver, Spectral Reaver, Material Reaver, Dark Reaver, Light Reaver, Water Reaver, Earth Reaver, the final Soul Reaver, Air Reaver, Fire Reaver and the Spirit Reaver.[Defiance][1]
- Finally three placeholder artifacts were present - the Crimson Chalice of Evisceration, Mystical Gold Chalice and the Blue Chalice - each inspired by similar items from the classic Atari 2600 game Adventure.[Defiance][1]
Notes[]
- Entering the Artifact Room will always default the character to Raziel in the Material Realm - although it is possible to enter the Spectral Realm no items can be interacted with and there are no Burial sites to return to Material. Lines relating to items or weapons will always be read out by the appropriate character in the game, not the character played in the artifact room.[Defiance]
- The room includes several items that were not used or cut from the course of the regular game including the Unused artifact, the Crimson Chalice of Evisceration, the Mystical Gold Chalice and the Blue Chalice. The three chalices are believed to be placeholder used for items while the game was in development. The Unused artifact may be related to a design for Raziel's shield - however the files associated with the item clearly label it as a key item (puzzle artifact).[Defiance][1]
- The unused artifacts all have different names or audio in the inventory, all read out by Kain (regardless of the character used at the time). Picking up and selecting the Blue Chalice will result in him saying "Nightmare's Hammer" . Selecting the Mystical Gold Chalice also gives a Special attack: this time "Sanguine Censure". Selecting the Crimson Chalice of Evisceration meanwhile leads to Kain saying the words "medallion piece" - it is unclear what this relates to but it may be to do with another cut artifact. Any attempt to select or load the Unused artifact in the inventory will crash the game.[Defiance][1]
- The Debug menus relating to the artifact room slightly change between the Defiance beta and the final game. In the beta the area is reached by selecting "Units">"artifact">"artifact 1a", whereas in the final game it is "Units">"Store Room">"Artifact 1A".[Defiance][2]
- The artifact room seems to be highly related to the Push and Riley's Test Area rooms found in Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, which were similar developer testing areas.[Defiance][1][Soul Reaver][3]
See also[]
The Artifact 1a Room at The Lost Worlds (by Ben Lincoln)- The Push and Test Rooms at The Lost Worlds (by Ben Lincoln)
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8
The Artifact 1a Room at The Lost Worlds (by Ben Lincoln)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 The Debug Menu (Defiance) at The Lost Worlds (by Ben Lincoln, Andrew Fradley and CMX)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 The Push and Test Rooms at The Lost Worlds (by Ben Lincoln)
