"The Well: Ultimum" By Loki Eliot

By Bixyl Shuftan

Loki Eliot, the self proclaimed "digital mischief maker," is noted for two things. One is being the leader of the "Goonies,"  a group of adventuresome Second Life child avatars. The other is for being a skilled and creative builder, such as builds for the Second Life Birthday "The Behemoth" and "Dungeons and Nightmares."  A few days before Halloween, he came up with an adventure named "The Well: Ultimum."

"Ultimum" is the fourth installment of "The Well." The first he opened in November 2012 after Loki and his fellow Goonies visited a haunted hospital, and he decided to try and make something scarier. He came up with an adventure in which the player investigates the disappearance of a team that went down an old well to find a boy that fell down it. The second adventure took place a year later, with more areas to explore. The third, which ran from Halloween to early December 2015 started with the player waking up in a mental hospital and having to make his way out. Loki promises the latest "The Well" will be his last, describing it as a prequel that takes place before the other adventures.

To play "The Well," head to Escapades (218/232/3002). One board shows the recommended settings to view the game. Another has three buttons to click on. The first is to allow the games experiences to automatically affect your avatar. The second allows you to purchase a pass to the game (200 Lindens). The third allows you to start, you automatically having the game's HUD attach to you, showing your avatar's level of sanity (your own may be another matter).

The story starts in a boy's bedroom. Looking around, you find a boy's diary with all the pages torn out except one, in which he describes himself as being scared of "the THING." Leaving the room, you find yourself outside the house at night, with a station wagon still running and shining it's headlights onto a path into the woods. Looking around, you find a flashlight, and more pages of the boy's diary. Occasionally you will see a TV with a video, which require media to be enabled to view, but are not necessary to progress into the adventure. The pages help explain what's been going on, and one needs to get all of them to descend down the well, located at the end of the forest path.

Down the well, the player has to navigate a dark maze of tunnels. Unfortunately for you, the passages have ghosts floating around that in the darkness are barely visible. If one touches you, you hear a loud scream (real fun when you're wearing a headset), and your hud loses some of it's sanity level. Once you run out of sanity, you start back at where you first appeared under the well. Depending on your tolerance for shrieking, you may find yourself more terrified than frustrated as you try to get pasts the ghosts and tunnels.

There is a video available of the game, made by Strawberry Singh as she braved the spooky woods and terrifying caverns under the well along with Draxtor Despress and a few friends. There are more than a few spoilers if you watch it, so consider yourself warned. She found the ghosts more than a little frustrating, "Loki's trying to give me a heart attack! ... I don't have much sanity left, in both worlds."

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fc_0xrFzu18" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

All in all, a worthwhile adventure that fans of horror should enjoy that takes good advantage of Second Life's capabilities. Whatever Loki will offer next year, he's set the bar high for himself.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Escapades/218/232/3002/

Bixyl Shuftan

A Look at Horror-Themed Sims

By Theonlyjohnny Resident

Second Life is full of sims of all types. There are clubs, stores, rp sims, and many more. There are even horror sims, for people looking for a good scare. This reporter is one of those people, looking for the best scare I can find.

However, there is a bit of a problem out there. Most "Horror" Sims, aren't truly horror sims. Out of 50 horror sims I have visited, very few of them can be called horror sims. Of those few sims, only a small number, are actually up to their potential. The others, of these few, have not met their potential yet. The rest are either sims that have horror in their description to get more visitors, or sims that need a lot of work before they can truly be called horror sims.

Two of the great horror sims are, Toxian City (of course), and Larisa Incident. Some would argue that Siden be in there as well, however, Siden is more of a survivalists sim, not a horror sim. Of Larisa Incident and Toxian City, we can really see how genre doesn't matter. We have Sci Fi/Horror (Larisa), and we have Rural/Horror (Toxian City). Both sims have not only met their potential, but have exceeded it as well.

A trip to Toxian city is filled with mystery, as one doesn't know what might come out of the doorways, if anything. It is also expertly designed, for rural horror, with a dark air around a falling apart city. This sim is one of the very few true horror sims.

On the other side of the hand, we have Larisa Incident, a horror RP sim based around science fiction. Just going into the cargo hold, makes one feel scared. Not only due to the dark air around them, but also due to the quietness. It gives even this reporter the shivers, thinking about what might jump out and attack.

Some sims advertise horror, and might be trying, but either aren't trying hard enough, or are trying too much. Take a look at *The House on Haunted Hill, a superb ghostly haunt*. This sim even says it's superb in the title, so one might assume it truly is. However, I am sorry to say, they are a bit mistaken.

While the sim does have potential, they tried too hard to make it scary, and ended up making a house with so many scares, it borders on comical. In fact, in one bed, they have enough scares to fill a small room. Not to mention, in that same bedroom, they have another piece of furniture that moves, as well as a demon (or ghost) in the wardrobe. If they remove quite a few of their scares, they would be able to say it is superb, but right now, it's not true.

All that is needed to make a perfect horror sim, is a vision, a computer, and the knowledge of what is too much, and what is not enough.

Theonlyjohnny Resident