Leaked Unreleased Darkitect Boss Battle
Well, here we are. It's been over a year since LEGO Universe shut down for good. In the following months, so many people tried to find ways to get private servers to keep LEGO Universe running. As for me? Being a cynical realist, I told them that it was all for naught. Needless to say, they told me to shut up. Funny thing about that, though... because while I'm not one to boast, I was right. Now, most people have left behind their hopes of a private LEGO Universe server, and some have instead moved on to projects to recreate LEGO Universe instead... many of which are, quite frankly, laughable and never get off the ground.
Me? Well, I moved on. Sure, LEGO Universe was nice, and it's now even a little nostalgic, but life goes on. Until I see substantial proof that someone could legally get a private LEGO Universe server running or evidence that someone's attempt to recreate LEGO Universe actually goes somewhere, I'm not going to get myself excited over the possibility of playing this game again.
But you know... there's a funny thing about life. You tend to meet people. And the people you meet tend to know other people. And sometimes, if the planets align correctly, you might just have a certain connection. Either that, or a swirling vortex will open in the ocean and give you the chance to free the Titans and overthrow Mount Olympus and become king of the cosmos, but I digress.
As it turns out, last September, I became acquainted with a guy (whose name I shall withhold) who was really into videogames, from Far Cry 3 to World of Warcraft. Compared to him, I'm much more mellow about videogames. He's the kind of person who likes to go to these conventions like... oh, what was it called... Pax East? That was last weekend, in fact, if my memory serves me well. And when you go to these conventions, I guess you get to meet game developers and other such people.
He came back from Pax East with life-sized Minecraft tools and some cute little Portal 2 style flashlights and... err, a... bag... with pictures of... um... colorful horses that I refuse to offer judgment on. We chatted a bit about his day there, and he was talking about all the people he met there...
And then, recalling that I told him that I was a LEGO Universe beta tester, he mentioned that he met a game developer (whose name I am also withholding) who used to be a part of the development team of LEGO Universe. This caught my attention, and I decided to delve a little deeper. Before long, one thing led to another, and on behalf of the LEGO Universe community, I decided contact her via email.
Over the course of the next two weeks, I managed to stay in contact with her. She was really polite, and was even a little enthusiastic to talk about her work with LEGO Universe. I think she was happy to see that, even over a year after its closure, LEGO Universe still has its fans. She shed some light on upcoming worlds such as the Fire Temple, and even discussed the development of scrapped worlds like the Spider Cave. Quite interesting stuff; I'm currently in the middle of compiling all the info she sent me so that I can post it here, but that's for another day.
Then, she told me that, this week, she would have to be leaving for a business trip. Like many of LEGO Universe's developers, she found a job elsewhere after LEGO gave her the pink slip, so she would be busy developing some new game and would likely find it difficult to stay in touch. As my own work is piling up on me, I could easily empathize with her.
But then she wrote something else in her email that made my eyes widen. She still had the assets to run a LEGO Universe server, and just for a few hours over the weekend before she left, she offered to temporarily host a server for me.
My mind was blown. As soon as I regained control over my body, I quickly sent back a reply saying that I would like that very much and thanking her for doing such a thing. Yesterday, she emailed me back, saying that the server was up. She gave me instructions on how to change LEGO Universe's settings in order to access the server. In addition, she emailed me a number of exclusive macro codes so I could basically do whatever I wanted in the few hours that I had.
As soon as I read that email, I followed the instructions and then booted up LEGO Universe, but not before I started up Fraps to record what I was about to witness. When I signed in, I was so sure that this was too good to be true, and it would not log me in and instead display the message saying that LEGO Universe had closed. But my heart skipped a beat when this error message did not appear, and instead went straight to the character select screen!
At first, I was a little saddened to see four transparent minifigures at the select screen. I was hoping to see CaptainGreybeard, DoctorRex, and DoctorEinstein again, but as I recalled, those minifigures were exclusive to LEGO's Overbuild server and could not be accessed by this private server. Still, I decided to recreate CaptainGreybeard as my minifigure here.
As expected, CaptainGreybeard spawned aboard the Venture Explorer, which was under attack by the Maelstrom and evacuating its passengers. At first, I was about to complete the mission line for the Venture Explorer, but by the time I reached Sky Lane, I was eager to skip ahead past all the gameplay that I had already done, especially since I only had a few hours.
I decided it was time for the macro codes! I had printed them out on a sheet of paper, and then, just to test them out, I entered the code that would transport CaptainGreybeard to the Pirate Camp in Gnarled Forest. To my surprise, it worked, and the map loaded with CaptainGreybeard standing at the dock beside the beached Black Seas Barracuda, with Fermie LaBoosh's shop just a few paces away and all the pirates from Captain Jack Knife's crew lazing about on the beach as they always have.
Excited that the macro codes were working, I tested a few more of them out, raising CaptainGreybeard's level to 45, increasing his max Life and Imagination counters, giving myself several thousand coins, and automatically completing Pirate Duelist 3 to get a Captain's Cutlass. To my surprise, when CaptainGreybeard walked over towards Fermie LaBoosh to purchase an Improved Revolver, a dialogue bubble appeared over her head, saying: "Looking fer Pirate wares, ye swashbuckling seadevil?" With that, I realized that this was not just LEGO Universe, but in fact the trunk build for the unreleased Frostivus/Fire Temple update.
With that, I wondered what sort of worlds were accessible in this version of LEGO Universe that would not be found in the files of the last publicly-released version. Looking through the list of macro codes, I found codes to teleport to Frostburgh, the Ninjago properties, the Fire Temple, and even what might have been an early version of the upcoming Kingdoms world. It was all so incredible... but there was one code that caught my eye, because unlike all the others, I had never seen nor heard of this one before:
A code that teleported players to a "Darkitect Instance".
As incredible as it would have been to check out the Fire Temple, I knew that everyone knew about it. But this? This was first piece of evidence that anyone had seen to suggest that a boss battle against the Darkitect himself was already being developed when the game was canceled. Sure, there were numerous versions of instances revolving around his Spider Boss, but the Darkitect himself? This was game-changing!
My curiosity and excitement got the better of me. And so, typing in the macro code, I teleported CaptainGreybeard, armed with his Captain's Cutlass and Improved Revolver out of the safe, warm beach of Gnarled Forest... and into the dark and mysterious Darkitect instance.
When the map finally loaded, CaptainGreybeard spawned on a terraced slab of bright indigo rock suspended in space in the center of what appeared to be a swirling vortex of Maelstrom energy. Moving the camera around, I saw that there were a number of other slabs just like the one CaptainGreybeard was standing on, all lined up, floating in space, and seeming to coalesce to form a long staircase. The scene puzzled me, for it seemed familiar somehow... and then it struck me. This was the map used during the Darkitect's vision, which you see upon completing Something in the Maelstrom or by gazing into the Shadow Orb in Nexus Tower.
At first, I dismissed this as just nothing particularly important. If my hunch was correct, then all that this map would be used for was a mere cutscene, and exploring it without the cutscene taking place would be like trying to play certain Half-Life 2 levels in Garry's Mod with the AI disabled... empty, lifeless, and altogether pointless.
But then, my curiosity overcame me. After all, this was the same sense of curiosity that drove me to go out-of-bounds in Avant Gardens and Nimbus Station despite knowing that there would not be anything in particular of interest to me in those blocked off regions of the LEGO Universe. And since, as far as I knew, I was the first average LEGO Universe player to access this map outside the Darkitect's vision, there was something to be said about being able to be the first to explore the map.
So, in the end, I decided to explore it. I soon found that this instance, much like MoonBase, had lowered gravity, which allowed CaptainGreybeard to jump the gaps between the slabs of rock. Slowly but surely, I made my way up the staircase.
When I reached the final slab of rock at the top of the staircase, I noticed something interesting. There were several standard Stromling Invaders standing around on that slab of rock. They quickly reacted to CaptainGreybeard's presence and attacked, but even without wearing any special gear, CaptainGreybeard was able to easily dispatch the Stromlings with the Improved Revolver and Captain's Cutlass. I was wondering why there would be Stromling Invaders on this map, and why only the standard Stromling Invaders that were the easiest to defeat? Then again, I guess when you're as powerful as the Darkitect, you don't need to worry about protecting yourself with your most powerful minions.
After the last Stromling Invader was smashed, nothing seemed to happen at first. Then, I could have sworn that I saw the Darkitect's face flashing briefly on-screen, like it does during the Darkitect's vision, accompanied by a dark chuckle. Had I triggered the cutscene somehow? I dismissed that notion; it seemed especially odd that the Darkitect's vision cutscene would be triggered by smashing Stromling Invaders at the top of the staircase, especially since, in-game, it could only be triggered by completing a certain mission or by interacting with the Shadow Orb.
But one thing became apparent. After the brief flashes of the Darkitect's face, the entire world started to fade to black. The Maelstrom vortex swirling around the staircase disappeared, and all the other slabs of rock, except the one CaptainGreybeard was standing on, faded away into the shadows. Soon, it was only CaptainGreybeard standing alone in darkness.
And then the Maelstrom reappeared as a vortex hovering above the sole remaining slab of rock where CaptainGreybeard was standing. At least, that's what I thought at first. The more closely I peered at the Maelstrom vortex, I realized that it was not just a swirling mass of purple energy... it was the Darkitect's face.
It was unmistakeable once I recognized it. The top hat, the cuffs of his jacket, the goatee, and the skull-like facial features. And yet, it was horrifically distorted, as though it was painted by a surrealist from the 1920s. The Darkitect and the Maelstrom were nearly indistinguishable from one another, and I could not tell where one ended and the other began. His face was hideously warped into a spine-shivering grin as demonic laughter echoed all around CaptainGreybeard.
The Darkitect opened his mouth and swallowed CaptainGreybeard whole... and then everything went black.
It lasted only a few seconds, but I was shocked by what I saw. For a moment, I dared to hope that it was over. But then, the picture returned, and Greybeard was standing alone in pitch-blackness. He did not respond to my keyboard commands, and instead appeared stuck in a frightened idle animation.
And then the Darkitect's face returned, even more hideously deformed than before. I tried to turn the game's camera away from the Darkitect... but everywhere I looked, I saw the Darkitect's face. Everywhere. It truly messed with my mind to behold. And, to complete the disturbing imagery, there was something about the way that the Darkitect's faces coalesced together that subconsciously reminded me of a human fetus. At first, the Darkitect was chuckling softly, but by the end, he was cackling loud and ominously, the echoing laughter sounding like it came from the pits of Hell itself, as this abomination found sadistic pleasure in his torment of CaptainGreybeard.
Mercifully, it ended. The screen cut to black, and then CaptainGreybeard's life bar appeared before slowly draining down to zero. The screen faded to black once again... and then, nothing happened.
After about a minute of waiting, for it took me that long to regain my senses after that traumatic experience, I ended up performing the old Ctrl+Alt+Del trick to open task manager, and LEGO Universe was listed as "not responding", so I shut it down... this time, for good.
And then I then remembered that I had Fraps running. I had recorded everything. And now, I can never forget.
Since the developer is busy at her current job, she hasn't gotten back to the email I sent her, thanking her for running the private server and asking her about the Darkitect instance. Until she replies, I will be unable to do anything but speculate about this Darkitect instance. And since I've been unable to get my mind off of the Darkitect... I have speculated quite a bit.
What were the LEGO Universe designers thinking when they made this? I know many of us were taken aback by the Darkitect's vision and surprised that such a thing would appear in a kids' game... but this? At first, I thought it was some sort of sick joke, but then I realized... if this is the LEGO Universe, which is born around creation and imagination, then surely a force representing destruction and oblivion itself would be an unimaginably unspeakable horror for all those cute little LEGO minifigures.
And that... thing... that vaguely resembled the Darkitect... the only term I can use to properly describe it is an Eldritch abomination. The hideous distortion of the Darkitect's face as it swirled into a vortex of pure chaos... and the way that his face appeared everywhere in a horrific defiling of my senses... and the echoing demonic laughter that sent shivers down my spine... and, most of all, the fact that I cannot erase this image from my mind at all.
The designers behind this instance must have wanted to convey to us human players, who live in a world where destruction is only natural, that same sense of unspeakable terror that oblivion must mean to the denizens of the LEGO Universe. The vision of the Darkitect appearing as a minifigure silhouette and blasting your character with Maelstrom energy, while surprisingly dark for a kids' game, was not enough. This, which strips away all of the Darkitect's remaining humanity and elevates him to an Eldritch abomination, would have shown players the true horrors of the Maelstrom.
In doing so, it would have either broken you... or motivated you like never before to keep fighting until the LEGO Universe could have been rid of such an abhorrent entity, for once you saw the Darkitect's true nature, you would truly realize that this world, even this fictional world created for a kids' game, could be subject to this inconceivable evil... and you would never be able to sleep peacefully until it was vanquished.
But, for better or for worse, 2 million former LEGO Universe players will have never seen the true nature of LEGO's most vile villain. Instead, too soon, we have been cut off from the LEGO Universe, leaving the Nexus Force forever in peril... forever at the mercy of a horrible Eldritch abomination.
But for me? What has been seen... cannot be unseen.
Oh, and...
Jook Sonyu.
Credited to PeabodySam
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