4-3: A Shot in the Dark

GREED /// THIRD
A SHOT IN THE DARK

4-3: A SHOT IN THE DARK
General
Layer & Part		GREED /// THIRD
Challenge		Don't pick up the torch.
Music		Dancer in the Darkness
Tip of the Day
Hitting an enemy with only the edge of an explosion will launch them without dealing much damage, making it a risky but effective tool against Stalkers.
Collectables
4 Soul Orbs  1 Dual Wield Orb
Enemies
6 Filth  5 Strays  10 Schisms  21 Soldiers  3 Stalkers  11 Drones  10 Streetcleaners  4 Malicious Faces  3 Cerberi  6 Virtues Mysterious Druid Knight (& Owl)
Rank Requirements
Rank	Time	Kills	Style
S	05:30	75	17,000
A	06:00	71	16,000
B	07:00	58	12,000
C	10:00	40	7,500
Levels
Previous		Next
4-2		4-4
4-1, 4-2, 4-3, 4-4 4-S

4-3: A SHOT IN THE DARK is the third level of Greed, set entirely within the layer's enormous pyramid. The level centers around darkness: with the level mostly being in completely pitch black and needing to use a torch to light up fire pits to unlock the path forward and light up the level. 4-3 also houses a secret boss encounter with the Mysterious Druid Knight (& Owl).

The song used in this level is Dancer in the Darkness.

Level

Start

The start of 4-3 lies a small corridor with a single torch in front of the player, which the player can pick up to hold as a source of light. Behind the torch's pedestal lies a fire pit, which will light up when activated by punching or hitting it with an arm.

The introduction to 4-3's main torch mechanic.

The next room forward contains a series of hallways to the left, right, and continuing forward, all shrouded in darkness. Moving straight forward will eventually reach to a door with 3 unlit torches, and a brazier in front. Lighting the pit will cause it to light with a pale teal flame and cause one of the lights to activate. The player then needs to find the other 2 pits to unlock the door forward.

Torch Hunt

Heading to the left entrance will lead to a set of darkened hallways, with the first hallway having a small shortcut in the wall to the torch pit to the right if the player wants to light it immediately.

One of the torches found to the left side of the torch maze.

Continuing forward will lead to a corridor with an unlit fire pit, which when activated will open the door forward. Continuing through the door will lead through a set of green brick hallways, which then exits to the room with the brazier to unlock the door.

The room that holds it is a long hallway with a set of stairs at the far end of the room with the brazier, along with a fire pit to the right of the player, and the shortcut from earlier. If the player lights the pit to the right, it will unlock a door that leads back to the central hallway. Walking towards the brazier will spawn a wave of 2 Schisms and 3 Soldiers nearby.

Heading to the right entrance from earlier will lead to a room with a walkway to the left of the player leading to the other brazier to unlock the door, along with a set of doors underneath it. When the player lights the pit, it will cause a wave of 6 Filth and 5 Strays to spawn in, with the Filth and 2 Strays in the hallway, and 3 Strays next a staircase by the first entrance.

Once the player lights all 3 needed braziers, the doors at the end of the hallway will open the path forward into the next area.

The torch gate fully lit up.

Pillar Arena

Inside the pillar arena, with all of the pillars activated.

The room forward is a large square room with 4 torch pits within each of the corners, with a hole in the ceiling above each pit. Upon lighting a pit, the section below it will start to rise up towards the ceiling. Each pit corresponds to a wave of enemies that it will spawn once it is lit.

• Bottom Right spawns a wave of 4 Schisms and 4 Soldiers.
• Bottom Left spawns a Malicious Face and 4 Drones.
• Top Right spawns 4 Streetcleaners and a Virtue.
• Top Left spawns 2 Cerberi and a Stalker.

Once all the waves are defeated, the player can traverse through the rest of the level.

Traitor Hallway

After the previous arena, the player will make it to a T-shaped hallway with the straightaway lined with murals of Filth leading to the intersection where they will find a depiction of Gabriel, with the word 'TRAITOR' scrawled across the wall in blood. To the left is a blocked off door, and to the right is the main path forward.

The mural of Gabriel stained with blood written hatred.

If the player had not picked up the torch at this point and makes it to the intersection, the music will cut out and a loud harrowing screech will play: foreboding the presence of Something Wicked, along with the titular quote from 0-S: Something Wicked, only to be revealed as a bait and switch:

Something wicked this way comes.

Just kidding :)

The event will not occur if the player hadn't yet completed 0-S, picked up any light source, or had lit any torches within the area.

Proceeding Arenas

Inside the room before the final arena

Turning right from the Traitor Hallway, the player will make it to a series of walkways over a tall drop, with unlit torches leading up to a platform with a fire pit next to the door forward. Lighting the pit nearby will cause a wave of 3 Drones, 2 Streetcleaners and 2 Soldiers to spawn by the walkway leading upwards.

Moving forward will lead to a room with a shallow pool of water and a Cerberus statue, along with a series of steps that lead to a lit door. In front of the entrance lies a locked door hidden by the darkness.

Within the main room, walking towards the door will cause a Malicious Face and a Virtue to spawn, along with causing the Cerberus to awake. Moving along through the door will lead to a hallway with a checkpoint, which proceeds the final arena of the level.

Generator Room

The arena consists of a large set of 6 platforms each connected by small walkways in a hexagonal shape, surrounding a generator shaft within the middle of the room. Above on the ceiling also lies small overhangs that the player can also reach up to. On the furthest walkway above to the right lies a bar of soap, which on contact will instantly kill any enemy, the same as the previous bar of soap found in 1-3: Halls of Sacred Remains.

Upon the player entering the arena, in front of them lies a stone pedestal, being the counterpart to the torch found at the beginning. If the player then places the torch, the hidden soap in the Generator Room, or the Blue Skull found in the Tomb of Kings, it will cause the central generator to light up and start to spin, with each item causing different effects:

• Torch causes it to light up with a green glow.
• Blue Skull causes it to light up with a blue glow and rapidly spin the generator, lighting up more of the arena.
• Soap causes the 4 faces of the generator to each light up a different color: red, yellow, green, and blue, forming a rainbow pattern.

Lighting up the arena will trigger a large enemy encounter, starting off with 4 Drones, 4 Streetcleaners, 4 Soldiers, and a Virtue to spawn at the far half of the arena, with the Virtue at the furthest platform. Killing the Virtue or 6 of the other enemies will trigger another wave of 2 Malicious Faces, another Virtue, and 2 Stalkers to attempt to sand the Malicious Faces. Killing the Virtue, Malicious Faces, and Stalkers will gradually spawn in the final wave, consisting of 4 Strays, 4 Schisms, and 2 more Virtues at the left and right ends of the arena. Defeating the final wave will unlock the end of the level.

The generator room fully lit up.

Challenge

For this level's challenge, any type of explosive, such as the alternate fire of the Core Eject shotgun, is capable of lighting the fire pits just as the torch would. The Overheat Nailgun's overheat fire can also be used as a makeshift flashlight for navigating otherwise-dark rooms.

To complete the level, the player either needs to find the Skull in the Tomb of Kings where Mysterious Druid Knight (& Owl) is found, or alternatively find the hidden bar of soap in the Generator Room up in one of the upper platforms. The player can then use either item to activate the pedestal and then finish the encounter to exit the level.

Secrets

Secret Orb Locations

#1	Soul Orb - In the room with the first fire pit encountered on the left. Directly above the fire pit is a small crevice in the ceiling that leads to an upper gap with the orb.
#2	Soul Orb - On the right path in the Torch Hunt section, under the bridge leading to the fire pit is two locked doors. To unlock the doors, find a small hole on the side of one and slide under, revealing a fire pit that can be activated to unlock both doors and reveal the orb.
#3	Dual Wield Orb - In the Pillar Arena, riding on any of the pillars after they've been activated will cause the player to rise into a room in the ceiling, containing the orb. Collecting the orb will cause the player to fall back down into the arena.
#4	Soul Orb - One of the Filth murals in the Traitor Hallway has a large crack, which can be broken to lead to the orb. This is also the entrance to the Tomb of Kings.
#5	Soul Orb - In the arena just before the Generator Room, sliding under a crevice on the right side of the shallow pool of water leads to the room containing the orb. Activating the fire pit below the orb allows an exit.

Tomb Of Kings

Going back to the entrance of the Traitor Hallway, by the left-hand side of the wall is a segment of the Filth murals with a large crack in the wall. Breaking it will reveal a small room with the third Soul Orb, connecting to a room behind the closed off door with a firepit and another room to the left. Activating the firepit will link back to the Traitor Hallway.

To the left lies a blocked off door with a cracked wall, and with planks and a 'Keep Out' sign boarding up the entrance. Breaking it with explosives will lead to a torch-lit room with 7 Egyptian styled sarcophagi placed throughout, with one at the far end of the room and 6 placed along the walls, along with a Blue Pedestal at the far end. Entering through will activate prompt appearing below:

TOMB OF KINGS

This room acts as a tribute to a selection of Youtubers and Lets-Players who had picked up the game early on in development, and had caused an impact on the game's prevalence and popularity with their audiences. Within each of the sarcophagi lies a skeleton referencing a person or channel each.

Inside the Tomb of Kings.

From the left side away from the door includes:

• GmanLives
• Icarus LIVES
• WoolieVersus and Pat Stares At

And on the right wall:

• Matt McMuscles
• Markiplier
• Vinesauce Vinny

Inside the tomb of Matt McMuscles lies a Blue Skull Key on his skeleton, which the player can pick up. Picking it up and placing it onto the pedestal by the far end will cause the coffin nearby to start shaking and then open up, awaking the Mysterious Druid Knight (& Owl): a skeleton with a knight's helmet and a small brown owl on their shoulder, being a reference to Mandalore Herrington and Joy Young, who also voice the duo.

Secret Boss Encounter

The Mysterious Druid Knight's move-set consists of just 2 attacks; "Full Auto" and "Fuller Auto", which MDK will say the name of proceeding the attack. Full Auto consists of 4 rapid barrages of 7 Hell Orbs, and Fuller Auto consists of a large swarm of 40 Hell Seekers that will swarm the player, which can be knocked back to damage the Druid Knight. For their behavior, MDK uses the same AI as the Drone: with them floating within the air and occasionally strafing to the side.

MDK has four health bars in total, more than any other enemy in the game. Each one has 20 HP, and when depleted will give MDK an effect tied to the third and fourth one. Their fourth health bar is represented with purple, then with a pink health bar for their third, before reverting to dark red and red for second and last, like other enemies.

• In its first phase, they will be normal and have no extra status effects.
• In its second phase, they won't receive any other changes to their behavior.
• In its third phase, they will gain the Enraged status effect.
• In its fourth and final phase, they will gain the Sanded status effect.

Once their final health-bar is depleted, they will careen towards player, exploding on contact with the player or a wall, with the explosion similar to the Mindflayer's suicide explosion. The player can also parry the divebomb, redirecting MDK away from the player.

Once MDK is defeated, within their coffin lies a small stone tablet, emphasized by a glow around it. Picking it up will cause an except to appear, acting as the hint to unlock the Sawblade Launcher in 4-4: Clair de Soleil:

---

Within the PYRAMID lies the chamber of THE FELINE and THE RODENT.

Within the CHAMBER lies a pool of clear WATER.

Within the WATER lies a SECRET...

But only those who wield the ELECTRIC magic of the Druids may find
it.

Trivia

• The title of the level is a reference to "A Shot in the Dark" from the album Naked City by John Zorn.
• In the room to the right of where you exit after aquiring the torch, there is an out of bounds glitch that has been intentionally left in the game. In the upper left corner of the room, if you are standing on the walkway and facing the brazier, a small part of the roof lacks collision. Going through the hole displays the message
  "THE FILTH IS GONE, BUT THE MEMORY REMAINS"
  T. HAKITA
  This is in reference to a similar glitch that used a filth to clip out of bounds, but has since been patched.