Section V: Story...............................
Game Progression Overview
As the game begins, it is night, and Torque is brought by boat to Carnate Island and
Abbott State Penitentiary, where he will eventually be executed for the murder of his
ex-wife and two children. Torque’s boat ties up at the docks on the east side of the
island, and he is then moved to a short, black school bus that transports him up to the
prison. The bus passes numerous landmarks during the journey, including the town,
the lighthouse, and the World War II fort. In the prison, Torque undergoes the standard
admittance procedure and is then escorted to his cell by two guards who discuss his
crime between them along the way. Once they reach his cell, one looks at his watch and
mentions how, if his watch is right, the prison has just now finally executed Willie
Wiggins after ten years on the row. The guard drops off a box containing Torque’s per-
sonal effects, including an artist’s sketchpad.
Locked inside his cell, Torque has a minute to look around. Looking at the artist’s
pad, he sees a few drawings falling out of it, one of them a version of what the player will
later become introduced to as Torque’s monstrous form, the image of his “dark side”
that he came up with as a child.
Suddenly, chaos erupts outside his cell and Torque hears people screaming and
other bizarre noises as the entire building shakes as if an earthquake is happening. Soon
a creature rips off the door of his cell, and Torque is able to move about the death house
structure. Initially, Torque’s primary goal is to keep himself alive as he navigates his
way through the building, including its various execution chambers and abandoned
basement. Torque acquires weapons as he goes that makes staying alive possible.
Leaving the death house, the player meets Dallas, a prisoner who befriends Torque
and wants to help him. Dallas presents the first of many bogus theories Torque will hear
about why the monsters have come to Carnate: there were government scientists
experimenting on prisoners and those experiments have gone horribly awry. Dallas
leads the player through the several areas of the prison, and eventually the player is
able to open a gate, which allows Dallas to make a break for freedom and safety.
The player proceeds cautiously through the prison, navigating his way through a
cellblock, and eventually making his way into a guard tower. From the top of the guard
tower the player is able to see the island’s lighthouse to the east, shining its light
through the fog accompanied by the intermittent wail of its foghorn. In the guard tower
Torque meets Luther, a large guard who has mentally snapped, and is now afraid of
everything he encounters. Using a spotlight to scare creatures away from Luther, the
guard leads Torque into the communications building so they can call for help. Unfortu-
nately the radio has been damaged and needs parts to be fixed. Luther explains that the
guards use the abandoned asylum on the far west side of the island as a place to relax
away from the prison and away from their families, who live in the small town on the
east side of the island. In the asylum they have another radio that should have the parts
this radio needs. If Torque can go there and return with the parts, they can get the radio
working and summon help to the island.
Luther suggests that the best way to get to the asylum is to leave the prison
through the graveyard entrance. Following his instructions, Torque successfully makes
630 Appendix B: Sample Design Document:The Suffering