Hell: A Cyberpunk Thriller
Encyclopedia
Hell: A Cyberpunk Thriller is a point-and-click
adventure game
released in 1994 by GameTek
and developed by Take‑Two Interactive Software. It was available both for DOS
and 3DO
. The game was notable for being one of the first CD-ROM
-only games to use speech with hi-res graphics, and has been described as very similar to BloodNet
. Dennis Hopper
, Grace Jones
and Stephanie Seymour
are among the voice actors who lend their voices to characters in the game. Seymour herself also appears on screen at one point, while Hopper and Jones appear via computer animated representations.
The story is told through a variety of partial screen FMV movies. The game is set in a dystopia
n 2095, and the United States of America is under the control of a brutal fascist-theocratic dictatorship called the "Hand of God". Unlike the religious dictatorships of the past, this government not only has the ability to send sinners to hell - they can prove they have done it.
In this third-person perspective, dystopian environment, players pick between Gideon Eshanti, or Rachel Braque, two loyal police officers (and lovers), agents of a new law enforcement agency created by the theocracy - Artificial Reality Containment, or ARC, a Cultural Revolution
-like organization that enforces a ban on cybernetic technology in general and virtual reality in particular.
The story begins one night when they find they have been declared enemies of the state and on the run from the very government they worked for. Thus begins a quest to uncover the secrets behind the theocracy's reign of terror, one that will lead them from the corridors of power in 2095 Washington D.C. to the very depths of Hell. Along the way they recruit allies from the criminal underworld and run errands for the demons that now populate it.
Point-and-click
Point-and-click is the action of a computer user moving a cursor to a certain location on a screen and then pressing a mouse button, usually the left button , or other pointing device...
adventure game
Adventure game
An adventure game is a video game in which the player assumes the role of protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and puzzle-solving instead of physical challenge. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based media such as literature and film,...
released in 1994 by GameTek
GameTek
GameTek was a video game publisher based in North Miami Beach, Florida well known for publishing video game adaptations of game shows in the early 1990s. GameTek was a trade name for IJE, the owner of electronic publishing rights to Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune...
and developed by Take‑Two Interactive Software. It was available both for DOS
DOS
DOS, short for "Disk Operating System", is an acronym for several closely related operating systems that dominated the IBM PC compatible market between 1981 and 1995, or until about 2000 if one includes the partially DOS-based Microsoft Windows versions 95, 98, and Millennium Edition.Related...
and 3DO
3DO Interactive Multiplayer
The 3DO Interactive Multiplayer is a video game console originally produced by Panasonic in 1993. Further renditions of the hardware were released in 1994 by Sanyo and Goldstar. The consoles were manufactured according to specifications created by The 3DO Company, and were originally designed by...
. The game was notable for being one of the first CD-ROM
CD-ROM
A CD-ROM is a pre-pressed compact disc that contains data accessible to, but not writable by, a computer for data storage and music playback. The 1985 “Yellow Book” standard developed by Sony and Philips adapted the format to hold any form of binary data....
-only games to use speech with hi-res graphics, and has been described as very similar to BloodNet
BloodNet
BloodNet is a cyberpunk RPG / Adventure game published by MicroProse in 1993.A mix of future tech and gothic vampire story, in the cyberpunk style, BloodNet puts the player into the role of a man named Ransom Stark, who must battle a vampire named Abraham Van Helsing who is attempting world...
. Dennis Hopper
Dennis Hopper
Dennis Lee Hopper was an American actor, filmmaker and artist. As a young man, Hopper became interested in acting and eventually became a student of the Actors' Studio. He made his first television appearance in 1954 and appeared in two films featuring James Dean, Rebel Without a Cause and Giant...
, Grace Jones
Grace Jones
Grace Jones is a Jamaican-American singer, model and actress.Jones secured a record deal with Island Records in 1977, which resulted in a string of dance-club hits. In the late 1970s, she adapted the emerging electronic music style and adopted a severe, androgynous look with square-cut hair and...
and Stephanie Seymour
Stephanie Seymour
Stephanie Michelle Seymour is an American model and actress. Seymour has modeled for many notable fashion magazines and designers, and has been photographed by several well-known photographers including Herb Ritts, Richard Avedon, Gilles Bensimon, and Mario Testino.-Career:Born in San Diego,...
are among the voice actors who lend their voices to characters in the game. Seymour herself also appears on screen at one point, while Hopper and Jones appear via computer animated representations.
The story is told through a variety of partial screen FMV movies. The game is set in a dystopia
Dystopia
A dystopia is the idea of a society in a repressive and controlled state, often under the guise of being utopian, as characterized in books like Brave New World and Nineteen Eighty-Four...
n 2095, and the United States of America is under the control of a brutal fascist-theocratic dictatorship called the "Hand of God". Unlike the religious dictatorships of the past, this government not only has the ability to send sinners to hell - they can prove they have done it.
In this third-person perspective, dystopian environment, players pick between Gideon Eshanti, or Rachel Braque, two loyal police officers (and lovers), agents of a new law enforcement agency created by the theocracy - Artificial Reality Containment, or ARC, a Cultural Revolution
Cultural Revolution
The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, commonly known as the Cultural Revolution , was a socio-political movement that took place in the People's Republic of China from 1966 through 1976...
-like organization that enforces a ban on cybernetic technology in general and virtual reality in particular.
The story begins one night when they find they have been declared enemies of the state and on the run from the very government they worked for. Thus begins a quest to uncover the secrets behind the theocracy's reign of terror, one that will lead them from the corridors of power in 2095 Washington D.C. to the very depths of Hell. Along the way they recruit allies from the criminal underworld and run errands for the demons that now populate it.