Sanity: Aiken's Artifact
Encyclopedia
Sanity: Aiken's Artifact is a 2000
action
video game developed by Monolith Productions
and published by Fox Interactive
. The game's lead character, Agent Cain, was voiced by Ice-T
.
. Instead of weapons, the main character used various "psychic" abilities, both offensive and defensive. The abilities were represented by individual "cards"; the game shipped with a poster showing over 100 individual ability "cards".
. The serum would give the user psychic abilities, or "talents", which could manipulate the world around them, for example levitating or shooting a bolt of lightning. Talents were split into collections called totems, and each Psionic specialised in the use of one totem, others even founding their own. Aiken became the founder of the Science totem.
However, the adult mind was too advanced to allow manipulation of the brain, so the serum would have to be injected in utero
. To resolve this problem Aiken started the "Children of Tomorrow" project, where the children who could use Talents (nicknamed "psionics") would be raised in the labs. The first two to undergo this process were named Cain, who founded the Fire totem, and Abel, who founded the Storm totem.
Excessive use of Talents could lead to insanity, so a police - like force of advanced Psionics was created known as the DNPC. Cain joined the DNPC, and Abel took up a life of crime. Another generation of Children of Tomorrow were bred, who founded the Truth totem.
When the game starts, Cain has just been suspended from the DNPC following an incident with Priscilla Divine, leader of the Eye of Ra (a radical organisation who wish to destroy the CoT project for ethical reasons) and founder of the Sun totem. He is eventually recruited back and tasked with infiltrating the Eye of Ra, who have been operating under the guise of a psychic hotline, and apprehend Divine.
After breaking into the building and crashing the electricity grid, Cain receives an anonymous phone call telling him to terminate Divine at all costs. He refuses, but is forced to do so when she attacks him on the roof of the building. Before her death she proclaims, "it doesn't matter anyway. We're all dead. Golgotham will destroy us all!". He returns to the DNPC to find that they are protecting another CoT, Bobby (no reason is given for this, but Bobby claims that it's because he has exceptional psionic powers). Abel breaks in and tries to kidnap Bobby, but Cain manages to hold him off until the DNPC arrive and use Talent - suppressors, forcing him to flee.
Cain is later told that a shipment of Aiken's test serum from when the labs tried to make the serum suitable for adults was stolen. The magician Adrian Starr, founder of the Illusion totem, is a suspect, and Cain is instructed to visit and question him. After being forced to go through a deadly ride called the Deathtrap and participate in a life - or - death quiz show, Cain discovers that Adrian is in fact innocent. Whilst there Cain is visited by Golgotham, who summons some of the Eye of Ra's demon Psionic guards. Despite being an innocent man, Cain is forced to defeat Adrian in a show demonstrating the powers of Illusion.
With the only lead exhausted, Cain is instructed to see Aiken herself at the lab, where he is visited by Golgotham again. After fighting the Eye of Ra guards and Starr's showgirls, he enters the lab disguised as a tour group member. After sneaking off and being attacked by droids in a off limits underground lab where he helped some of the Children of Tomorrow, he meets Aiken, where she reveals her latest invention, the Brain Circuit. After an intense battle with both the Brain Circuit and Aiken herself, Cain questions her about the artifact, only to discover that Aiken has not had possession of said artifact for several years. She claims that a former colleague, Elijah Krebspawn, disappeared with the artifact and she had not heard from him since, so she assumes he still has it. Cain doesn't believe her, and is about to further question her when several of Aiken's security arrive, many carrying Psi-Suppressant grenade launchers and assault rifles, and Cain is forced to flee through a tunnel, proclaiming that 'it's not over yet'. Making his way out of the lab, Cain phones Frost, informs her about Krebspawn, and she organizes a car to take Cain to Elijah's house.
Upon arriving at Elijah's house, Cain is able to talk his way past one of Elijah's butlers at the door, and is allowed to speak with Elijah personally. He leads Cain on a tour of his home, explaining that the artifact was dug up in the middle east by himself, Aiken, and another colleague. When Cain starts threatening Elijah, he is dropped through a oblivious trap door into a dungeon beneath the mansion. After getting all the demon stones, he leaves the five chambered dungeon to find Golgotham rise up through the floor for the third time and add some droids to his spawn. after defeating the summons, he reaches a teleporter. Cain wakes up in another hellish area, shaped like a giant chess board, with demonic symbols all over it, it is the hardest puzzle in the game, and Cain must solve out how to place two statue pieces on there corresponding symbol. Once completed, Cain unlocks the Artifact, and is surprised to see it is a talking head in a glass gar (later called "Ted the Head".) Upon finding The Artifact, Krebspawn shows up and trys to kill Cain (after a second, easier puzzle.) Once Elijah is dead, Cain leaves the mansion to be rewarded with a baseball bat over the head by one of the Bone Priest's men. Now, Cain must find find the head and stop Golgotham from destroying it, or the Sanity Devourer will be called and consume the world.
2000 in video gaming
-Events:* May 11–13 — 6th annual Electronic Entertainment Expo ; the 3rd annual Game Critics Awards for the Best of E³* June 26 — International Game Developers Association renamed from Computer Game Developers Association...
action
Action game
Action game is a video game genre that emphasizes physical challenges, including hand–eye coordination and reaction-time. The genre includes diverse subgenres such as fighting games, shooter games, and platform games, which are widely considered the most important action games, though some...
video game developed by Monolith Productions
Monolith Productions
Monolith Productions is a Kirkland, Washington-based computer game developer. Monolith is also known for the development of the graphical game engine Lithtech, which has been used for most of their games...
and published by Fox Interactive
Fox Interactive
20th Century Fox Games is a video game publisher and developer mainly concerned with titles based on 20th Century Fox properties, such as The Simpsons, Family Guy, Futurama, the Alien and Predator film franchises, Independence Day, Charmed, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The X-Files, Avatar, 24, the...
. The game's lead character, Agent Cain, was voiced by Ice-T
ICE-T
* Ice-T, an American rapper and actor* ICE T , a tilting model of the German InterCityExpress series of high-speed trains...
.
Gameplay
Sanity used a 3D engine to create a top-down view similar to GauntletGauntlet (arcade game)
Gauntlet is a fantasy-themed hack and slash 1985 arcade game by Atari Games. It is noted as the first class-based multiplayer game. Released during the emergence of popularity of other role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons, the game was a sensation, being one of the first true dungeon crawl...
. Instead of weapons, the main character used various "psychic" abilities, both offensive and defensive. The abilities were represented by individual "cards"; the game shipped with a poster showing over 100 individual ability "cards".
"Booster Pack" Expansion
Sanity:Aiken's Artifact had the option to purchase/download add-on various "booster packs" from Monolith's website to unlock additional in-game ability cards, a concept inspired by Collectible Card Games such as Magic:The Gathering. Free "booster packs" were also included with various game magazine CD-ROMs shortly after the release of the game.Plot
Several decades before the game starts, a world - renowned genetic engineer named Doctor Joan Aiken discovered a way to utilise the unused portion of the human brain via a serumSerum
Serum may refer to:*Blood serum, a component of blood which is collected after coagulation.**Antiserum, blood serum with specific antibodies for passive immunity*Serous fluid, any clear bodily fluid*any drug derived from an animal's blood or serous fluid...
. The serum would give the user psychic abilities, or "talents", which could manipulate the world around them, for example levitating or shooting a bolt of lightning. Talents were split into collections called totems, and each Psionic specialised in the use of one totem, others even founding their own. Aiken became the founder of the Science totem.
However, the adult mind was too advanced to allow manipulation of the brain, so the serum would have to be injected in utero
In utero
In utero is a Latin term literally meaning "in the womb". In biology, the phrase describes the state of an embryo or fetus. In legal contexts, the phrase is used to refer to unborn children. Under common law, unborn children are still considered to exist for property transfer purposes.-See also:*...
. To resolve this problem Aiken started the "Children of Tomorrow" project, where the children who could use Talents (nicknamed "psionics") would be raised in the labs. The first two to undergo this process were named Cain, who founded the Fire totem, and Abel, who founded the Storm totem.
Excessive use of Talents could lead to insanity, so a police - like force of advanced Psionics was created known as the DNPC. Cain joined the DNPC, and Abel took up a life of crime. Another generation of Children of Tomorrow were bred, who founded the Truth totem.
When the game starts, Cain has just been suspended from the DNPC following an incident with Priscilla Divine, leader of the Eye of Ra (a radical organisation who wish to destroy the CoT project for ethical reasons) and founder of the Sun totem. He is eventually recruited back and tasked with infiltrating the Eye of Ra, who have been operating under the guise of a psychic hotline, and apprehend Divine.
After breaking into the building and crashing the electricity grid, Cain receives an anonymous phone call telling him to terminate Divine at all costs. He refuses, but is forced to do so when she attacks him on the roof of the building. Before her death she proclaims, "it doesn't matter anyway. We're all dead. Golgotham will destroy us all!". He returns to the DNPC to find that they are protecting another CoT, Bobby (no reason is given for this, but Bobby claims that it's because he has exceptional psionic powers). Abel breaks in and tries to kidnap Bobby, but Cain manages to hold him off until the DNPC arrive and use Talent - suppressors, forcing him to flee.
Cain is later told that a shipment of Aiken's test serum from when the labs tried to make the serum suitable for adults was stolen. The magician Adrian Starr, founder of the Illusion totem, is a suspect, and Cain is instructed to visit and question him. After being forced to go through a deadly ride called the Deathtrap and participate in a life - or - death quiz show, Cain discovers that Adrian is in fact innocent. Whilst there Cain is visited by Golgotham, who summons some of the Eye of Ra's demon Psionic guards. Despite being an innocent man, Cain is forced to defeat Adrian in a show demonstrating the powers of Illusion.
With the only lead exhausted, Cain is instructed to see Aiken herself at the lab, where he is visited by Golgotham again. After fighting the Eye of Ra guards and Starr's showgirls, he enters the lab disguised as a tour group member. After sneaking off and being attacked by droids in a off limits underground lab where he helped some of the Children of Tomorrow, he meets Aiken, where she reveals her latest invention, the Brain Circuit. After an intense battle with both the Brain Circuit and Aiken herself, Cain questions her about the artifact, only to discover that Aiken has not had possession of said artifact for several years. She claims that a former colleague, Elijah Krebspawn, disappeared with the artifact and she had not heard from him since, so she assumes he still has it. Cain doesn't believe her, and is about to further question her when several of Aiken's security arrive, many carrying Psi-Suppressant grenade launchers and assault rifles, and Cain is forced to flee through a tunnel, proclaiming that 'it's not over yet'. Making his way out of the lab, Cain phones Frost, informs her about Krebspawn, and she organizes a car to take Cain to Elijah's house.
Upon arriving at Elijah's house, Cain is able to talk his way past one of Elijah's butlers at the door, and is allowed to speak with Elijah personally. He leads Cain on a tour of his home, explaining that the artifact was dug up in the middle east by himself, Aiken, and another colleague. When Cain starts threatening Elijah, he is dropped through a oblivious trap door into a dungeon beneath the mansion. After getting all the demon stones, he leaves the five chambered dungeon to find Golgotham rise up through the floor for the third time and add some droids to his spawn. after defeating the summons, he reaches a teleporter. Cain wakes up in another hellish area, shaped like a giant chess board, with demonic symbols all over it, it is the hardest puzzle in the game, and Cain must solve out how to place two statue pieces on there corresponding symbol. Once completed, Cain unlocks the Artifact, and is surprised to see it is a talking head in a glass gar (later called "Ted the Head".) Upon finding The Artifact, Krebspawn shows up and trys to kill Cain (after a second, easier puzzle.) Once Elijah is dead, Cain leaves the mansion to be rewarded with a baseball bat over the head by one of the Bone Priest's men. Now, Cain must find find the head and stop Golgotham from destroying it, or the Sanity Devourer will be called and consume the world.