The Way of Ira

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The Way of Ira

Developer: MariusArmand

Publisher: ModDB

Designer: MariusArmand

Engine: Build Engine (Blood mod; BloodGDX, NBlood, Raze), Kex Engine (Fresh Supply)

Version: v1.1.2

Released: September 22, 2019-July 28, 2021

Genre: First Person Shooter

Modes: Single-player, Multiplayer

Platforms: MS-DOS (original executable), Java VM (BloodGDX), Microsoft Windows (NBlood, Raze, Fresh Supply), Unix-like (NBlood, Raze)

UPC/A7: N/A

ISBN-10: N/A

Media: Download


The Way of Ira is a fan add-on for Blood by MariusArmand currently featuring two chapters, the first released on September 22, 2019 and the second on July 9, 2021. The title is derived from "ira", the Latin word for "rage" (or "ire"). The add-on features narration and new Caleb dialogue performed by David "Tekedon" Wikström, as well as tracks from the Blood Music Project.

Story[edit]

Chapter One[edit]

THE WAY OF IRA: CHAPTER I

Purge Night

"Years after dealing with the Cabal, Caleb lives on the outskirts of a small village. After having been almost fully erradicated, the last Cabal infiltrated the highest ranks of most religions and governments. Years passed by, more Cabal got recruited and step by step the people got mentally prepared to obey what was coming, one religion, one government, ruled by the Cabal. Cramon, an occult high-priest and new leader of the Cabal envisions to become the next incarnation of Tchernobog. To free the essence of Tchernobog from Caleb's bones, Cramon wants to face Caleb where fear and desperation rule, the Underworld. In the Underworld, Cramon is able to take on a demonic form, in which he can surely kill Caleb. To lure out Caleb, Cramon came up with a radical plan. Those that were expected to resist the Cabal were listed to be purged. Seeing how the Cabal would once again kill everybody around Caleb would surely trigger his rage. On purge night, all homes of possible insurgents get bloodmarked by cultists, that's the sign everyone in those homes can get killed by the Cabal legion. Caleb hears screams of agony and a neighbour runs into his house. Seconds later the whole door gets punched in and the neighbour gets shot, leaving bloody holes in the wall. Caleb gets knocked out. A cultist sees Caleb's cat Cleo cowering in a corner and grabs her. Things are about to get real bloody again." — Opening cutscene

Caleb storms out of his home, defends his yard and garden, and trudges down the rocky hillside into the besieged village. Fighting through some store fronts and façades, and around a newly central guillotine, he faces a throng of cultists praying in the nearby chapel.

This unlocks the graveyard gate and reveals the primary way out; the more persistent however, can reach a locked back alley leading out into the woods by blasting a wall crack in a wine cellar (IE1M01: PURGE NIGHT).

This more obscure route will take Caleb to a sprawling lakeside town, showing the full extent of purge night as the Cabal slaughter and torment from all sides and corners. Collecting a key to access a liquor store, he then discovers rail cars full of prisoners at the train tracks, then moves on to the police station, library, a restaurant, and finally a spider-infested dwelling (IE1M08: LAKESIDE GENOCIDE).

He then emerges into a forested area ran through with intersecting swampy rivers, and battles his way through several outposts, cottages and forts, collecting keys to access a subterranean passage (IE1M02: KNEE DEEP IN SLUDGE).

This exposes a molten pit connecting with a series of winding chambers, including drinking halls, ore smelters, holding areas and occult temples, all of which must be unlocked one by one (IE1M03: CABAL TOWN).

Caleb scrambles out onto the surface and comes across a Cabal operated asylum clearly engaged in punitive psychiatry, clearing the grounds and scouring the wards (IE1M04: ASYLUM FOR CRITICS).

Sailing into a loading bay, he accesses an atrium directing admission through various stretches of an abbey, culminating in a showdown in the main congregational hall that hides a pit into darkness (IE1M05: DARK ABBEY).

The underworld is revealed to be a sulphurous realm strewn through with rivers of blood. The Cabal have excavated a base encasing the skeleton of a massive plesiosaur-type monster. Caleb ascends a winding path around a circular cavern, before breaking through the barricades protecting the crumbling bridge to Cramon's palace (IE1M06: UNDERWORLD).

The main chamber contains a series of seals unleashing Cramon's top legions, as well as ultimately a stone gargoyle and Cerberus. Finally Cramon, dressed in red priestly robes, shows himself and Caleb eviscerates him and his beastly manifestation, rescuing Cleo from her cage (IE1M07: RETRIBUTION).

Chapter Two[edit]

THE WAY OF IRA: CHAPTER II

"After going through the Underworlds portal, Caleb and Cleo arrived in Cramon's castle. Enjoying the view, Caleb claimed the castle as his own. Cramon's corpse didn't have the time to rot away before the Cabal High Council appointed a new leader, Ursus. During Cramon's reign, Ursus became notorious for the ruthless genocides across the lands. From the Citadel, Ursus demands an obliterating offence on Caleb's castle. It's late when Caleb hears uproar. He was expecting the Cabal to strike back sooner or later. Caleb says goodbye to Cleo and prepares for the inevitable." — Opening cutscene

Caleb awaits the onslaught from the bedchamber of his new castle, seized from Cramon, saying farewell to Cleo. He battles over the balconies, before scaling down the rooftops to the outer courtyard. He swims through the icy moat to gain access to the base of the castle, fighting through libraries and dining halls before collecting a key for the outer gate. He heads off into a small village where the Cabal has made an example of the locals, collecting more keys from the shops before entering the graveyard and facing a few Phantasms. Caleb descends into the crypt (IE2M01: ONSLAUGHT).

He enters a cavernous catacomb, descending into the darkest reaches to claim a key from a few Mother Spiders and passing through a sequence of jumping trials and crushers (encountering the fallen Lo Wang). He use a plunger to detonate dynamite to clear the path into a deeper chamber, coming across a Cerberus held within, before clearing out a congregation of cultists in a chapel (IE2M02: CRYPTIC RITUALS).

Caleb comes out onto snowcapped streets, tearing through the Cabal barricades before coming upon the tantalizing prospect of the Club 666 gentleman's establishment, complete with exotic dancers. He clears the front parlour and private booths before assaulting the back rooms, upstairs bedrooms, and finally out into the alley. Engaging in further battles along the thoroughfare brings him to Miskatonic Station, which features book and clothing stores, a vault, and finally a furnace Caleb must blow up. Descending to the platform, his train awaits him (IE2M03: SINS OF FLESH).

He begins from a storage car, moving on through low-class lodging, some kind of fluid processing, containment cells, a spider terrarium, a hell hound hold, high class accommodations, kitchens, dining car, bar, piston room and finally the front controls (IE2M04: CONTINUITY EXPRESS).

Caleb pulls the engine into Citadel Station, claiming the skull key, and takes the war to the city. He smashes through the Sav-A-Lot grocery store to pick up the eye key, Methany Meats butcher shop for the fire key, a showdown in the The Bloated Liver pub for the dagger key, and the Sorot Bank for the spider key. Now its time for a hospital visit, which conceals the moon key and the downstairs morgue. The Seal of Tchernobog marks the path to the Citadel proper, or a hidden sanctum reveals a portal (IE2M05: BEHIND CABAL LINES).

The portal materializes Caleb in a temple surrounded by pools of lava, with a passage through a cave bringing him to a cursed subterranean town. He ventures through a brothel, opera house, and finally a casino. He enters another building and discovers a prison in the basement, and another teleporter (IE2M08: DAMNED REPENTANCE).

He has finally arrived at the Citadel, a massive Cabal fortress with numerous offshoots emanating out from a vast central courtyard; these include the biological laboratories of one Dr. Mengle. He unlocks his way through the complex, before finding the passage to the depths below (IE2M06: CITADEL).

The underground palace contains a series of arenas for a Stone Gargoyle, Mother Spider, Cerberus, the demonic form of Tchernobog and a Beast (IE2M07: DESCENT), whose destruction leaves Ursus and his lieutenants defeated.

New One-liners[edit]

As performed by David "Tekedon" Wikström.

  • "They should have killed me better"
  • "I will find you Cleo"
  • "She reminds me of Ophelia"
  • "Hmm, maybe this opens somewhere else"
  • "I hear a gate opening underwater"
  • "It's over Cleo, let's go home"
  • "Where's the switch to open this?"
  • "Who Wants Some Wang"
  • "There's a draft"
  • "100 years and still no beard"
  • "This used to make the women crazy"
  • "I like my face bloody"

Development[edit]

"I've used my holidays to start mapping for my favourite game. Name of the episode (seeing it big again): The way of Ira. Name of the first level: Purge Night. The story in a nutshell: After a rough life, you've been living in the woods near a village. Over time, the cultists in the village became more and more corrupt until they finally decided to purge everybody in the village and you during Purge Night. You somehow survive and immediately start your revenge." — MariusArmand, Duke4

The project was first announced on January 3, 2019. The add-on features allusions to several conspiracy theories, being staged by the Cabal. The readme file remarks:

"All events and gags in The Way Of Ira, even those that seem to be based on real events/people, are entirely fictional. Some events and gags can be interpreted subjectively. If you experience any mental discomfort by playing this fictional content, an uninstall is strongly recommended." — Readme

Further development has been mooted.

"To be fair, Chapter I needs a revisit with stuff I learned in Chapter II. That will certainly be done. About a Chapter III..The High Council is still around and Caleb does need to put a definite end to that. First some months of pause and then I start again." — MariusArmand, July 16, 2021

Versions[edit]

Reception[edit]

"I have played through the episode two times and had a lot of fun on both runs. It lacks polish at times but it's definitely in the top ten of user episodes released for Blood. Some maps like "Asylum for Critics" were bland and may need more detail and fleshing out in future updates, while others like 'Lakeside Genocide' stood out well. One thing that was definitely gotten right was the enemy placement, neither too cheap or too easy/predictable. The bits of new art and references were also nice." — Dead Reckoner

"I don't like the temple designs much, but the exterior areas remind me of the minimalism of Craig Hubbard's levels, except perhaps not as expert in terms of scaling and texturing. Your shading skill has definitely improved a lot from where you started. You should perhaps start fresh with an entirely new campaign and plan things more carefully and think about thematic consistency and things like that. Maybe look into Craig Hubbard's levels specifically for reference about scaling and enemy placement as well since his style seems to be compatible to what you are doing. The level flow in retail maps is pretty much a golden standard so you can't go wrong if you try to mimic that in your own fashion. Overall your work is getting pretty solid. But I'd like to see a better opening to a campagin. Maybe do your best work on an episode and then make that the first chapter. But what I would do is call TWOI done and make a brand new thing, and maybe revisit this one later on when your skill has improved even further." — Dimebog

"A very decent campaign for Blood. Contains a total of eight maps (including the secret level). There's a pretty good variation of levels to keep things fresh, going from forest themed-levels to caves, etc. Difficulty was manageable even on Ultra Crispy, though some levels had some annoying enemy positioning (like cultists on wide open areas). I did die a few times but it was mostly due to some level design decisions on certain maps (there's this fissure on MAP04 that blends with the rest of the terrain that leads to your death if you're not careful). Finally, I found the story to be pretty interesting but there's no resolution in the end since the credits roll after you kill the final boss (what happened to Cleo?) All in all, The Way Of Ira is a good addition to Blood. Maybe not among my favorites, but certainly a very entertaining and engaging experience... PD: Cleo is actually there on the final level, but chances of missing him are high since the battle with the final boss is quite hectic and the mod ends once you defeat him." — Sylaro

"Sadly, I didn't like it so much. The level design was okay, but I felt like the originals' were much more detailed in comparison to. There is barely any ambient sound in any of the levels, it's so silent, it's like you're forced to enjoy the levels with the set of music, well I don't. The way you find the secrets is either very easy or just useless since you don't really get some cool stuff with it. The lore and plot itself, it's 'okay', I like it only because I get to save a cute little cat, but other than that it makes no sense. Without a doubt, it is worth playing, but don't expect anything amazing like RATM or NHIS has. I enjoyed the Blood campaign way more than this and I was hoping to at least be more amazed by having that in mind, but sadly no." — Strogglet15

"Overall map designs are pretty good, above average even comparing to the original Blood levels. There is a distinct lack of ambiance in some sections (snow/rain/thunder effects etc.) but the environments make up for that. Recommend tweaking the ending, seems to fall a little flat after all the build up. Just a straight up Dr. Wily Boss Rush with lacking map design in comparison to the bombast and extreme displays of the preceding levels, that is. Would also like to ask if you could re-tool the helium-caleb voice lines. I think if you boost the bass levels, lower pitch but maintain caddance you could have it sound very authentic. Works fine on Fresh Supply. Not sure why it needs the new tiles, which renders it incompatible with custom gameplay mods (in the future), and am wondering if there's a workaround to this somewhere. Good stuff eitherway." — dave_5430

"The 8 levels (7 normal, plus 1 secret) of Blood combined in one episode. We start with a short intro, which explains what happened after killing Tchernobog. After knowing that the monks stole our beloved kitty, we can go on blood rampage. The levels are great, they feel like from vanilla version, but with more enemies and supplies that are available to find. That is why I recommend to play it with highest enemy numbers, because it makes things more interesting and we will still have a lot of spare ammo lying around. Secrets are really easy to find, especially at the beginning. We start of with 'Purge Night' level, with some nearby forest and houses, nothing really hard for veteran players. There is a passage to a secret level "Lakeside Genocide", but it's so easy to find that I will not spoil it. It's way easier to die, since there are monks scattered everywhere in big groups and we have the extra ones from expansions included as well. Very fun level, lots of key hunting and secrets. After that we got "Knee Deep in Sludge", with swamps and small castle with some tight spots. After that, we visit "Cabal Town", which reminds me of "Tricks and Traps" from Doom 2, with most of the corridors being unlocked by a key, testing our shooting skills and endurance. Great architecture and pacing. We finally find our way out, just in time for a visit in "Asylum for Critics", which start in vast open area which tests our jumping skills, with some reconnaissance around the place, and finally the interior. We find the boat that takes us to "Dark Abbey", which is more claustrophobic, but similarly to "Cabal Town" divided into single (kill) rooms. We go wild after that, and visit "The Underworld", with lots of lava, skeleton of some ancient beast and it tests all your survival skills with lots of monsters waiting patiently around. There is a memorable key hunting moment, where we need to reach the top and raise some columns down below to grab it. 'Retribution' is the last level, and after a short journey we are in a small room that will be the center point of the upcoming battle. There are some closed doors which we will be unlocking and disposing waves of foes. We fight Stone Gargoyle, Cerberus and new (old) Tchernobog. Overall it's a fun episode, polished and interesting to play, with more supplies available the player can go wild and have some really good Blood session." — Ninja Destroyer

External Links[edit]

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