Succubus (Noctropolis)

For other uses of the word Succubus, see Succubus (disambiguation).

Noctropolis video game box cover

Noctropolis video game box cover - Rear

Noctropolis is a 1994 DOS computer third-person adventure game by Flashpoint Productions, Inc. and published by Electronic Arts. In the game, the player assumes the role of the character Peter Grey, a lonely bookstore owner who winds up in the world of his favorite comic book. The style of game play is mostly third-person point-and-click, with some cut scenes. The player not only has to locate items but carefully choose dialog to gather information to help them progress though the game. Characters in the game were digitized from analog footage, allowing for real life characters to be placed in 2D digital environments. In this game is a character known as The Succubus.

Game Data

• Game Title: Noctropolis
• Developer(s): Flashpoint Productions
• Publisher(s): Electronic Arts
• Designer(s): Brent Erickson, Shaun Mitchell
• Composer(s): Ron Saltmarsh
• Platform(s): DOS
• Release date(s): 1994
• Genre(s): Adventure game
• Mode(s): Single-player
• Rating(s): ESRB: Mature
• Input methods: keyboard, mouse

The Succubus

The Succubus' Boudoir in the videogame Noctropolis

The Succubus was voiced by the actress Brittney Lewis in this game. The Succubus is, as you would expect, a villain in the game. She appears dressed n an outfit that is nothing more than a teddy, garters and high heels. She appears in the game the first time when Peter Gray, owner of a bookstore specializing in rare books discovers that his favorite comic book, the "Darksheer" series has ended. He falls asleep and has a disturbing dream where Succubus - one of Darksheer's foes - attacks him.

The next time she appears is in the comic book world where Peter finds himself in Noctropolis. Confused and lost, Peter decides to find Father Desmond, one of Darksheer's old allies. Unfortunately the Noctropolis cathedral is being guarded by a stone gargoyle which has mysteriously sprung to life, apparently at the bidding of the demon Succubus. Eventually, Peter dispatches the gargoyle and gains entrance to the cathedral.

When he tells Father Desmond that he, Peter Grey, is the new Darksheer, the good Father is naturally incredulous. But after a bit of convincing he agrees to give Peter the address of Stiletto. Unfortunately she has been nursing a bottle since Darksheer left her and is not in the least interested in anything Peter has to say. So Peter starts adventuring on his own.

After a while he is attacked by the demon Succubus again, but he is not killed - apparently Succubus wouldn't mind killing him but her new master Flux is against it because he has other plans for Peter. But Flux's plans say nothing about Father Desmond, so Succubus tries to take her revenge on the clergyman. Trying to be a good hero, Peter goes to help Father Desmond. The battle with Succubus is unexpectedly joined by Stiletto who apparently threw away the bottle, donned her tightly fitting black suit and pulled out her knives.

The demon is banished but Peter passes out from exhaustion caused by his wounds. Stiletto carries him to Shadowlair, Darksheer's secret hideout. She submerges Peter in a pool of Liquidark, mysterious dark liquid with healing powers. Afterwards Peter just needs to pick up Darksheer's gear and ha can become a full-time superhero.

Succubus appears in other scenes though the game as well, one of them shows a nipple peeking through her outfit for a single frame.

Game Review

The following review was found on the IMDb in the External Links below:

• Nice technology, modest game
• 22 May 2009
• Author: sergut-1

Noctropolis is an example of what you get when you let the technology push your ideas, and not the other way around. The graphics were great, and the video clips were a great innovation when this game appeared...

However, the game dynamics were quite modest. Noctropolis tried to be a cool graphic adventure, but the puzzles were kind of simple. Besides, the biggest difficulties came from the fact that, at some some points, you had to click on some precise spot on the screen (like, when having to try each and every single bar in a fence to find the loose one... either you click on the right pixel or you are stuck): while this might seem as "realistic", it made a game that was far less addictive than other adventures from the time (Monkey Island, anyone?).

The story of the game was very nice in principle, but the development was almost inexistent. You are supposed to deal with five villains before Flux itself, but you reach the end of Noctropolis while most of the villains are out there: the Diva, the evil doctor, the morpheus... all of them are free and you never encounter them again after they make yourself look like a loser. The plot is at some points more predictable than an A-team episode: one of the villains finds you (only once per villain), they kick your ass and you cannot help it, they leave you in some bad situation, they leave, you escape, and return to your pool to recover health, so that you can go to some place in the map where the next villain from the lot will kick your ass. Everything is very "deus ex machina".

In conclusion, a very nice technology for the time, but a shame the game was not up to the expectations. And let's not talk about the unnecessary nudes...

External links

• Noctropolis at Wikipedia
• Noctropolis at Moby Games
• This game at the IMDb
• This game reviewed at Justadventure.com