7-2: Light Up the Night
LIGHT UP THE NIGHT
| 7-2: LIGHT UP THE NIGHT | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| |||
| General | |||
| Layer & Part | VIOLENCE /// SECOND | ||
| Challenge | Don't kill any enemies. | ||
| Music | Do Robots Dream of Eternal Sleep? | ||
| Tip of the Day | |||
Mannequins can be hard to hit due to their speed, but they lose air control when launched or shot down from a surface, making them unable to move for a short moment.
| |||
| Collectables | |||
 4 Soul Orbs 1 Blood Orb Alternate Shotguns | |||
| Enemies | |||
 4 Soldiers 1 Stalker 1 Sisyphean Insurrectionist 1 Swordsmachine 1 Sentry 12 Guttermen 7 Guttertanks 2 Cerberi 8 Mannequins
| |||
| Rank Requirements | |||
| Rank | Time | Kills | Style |
| S | 07:15 | 35 | 18,500 |
| A | 08:20 | 32 | 16,000 |
| B | 11:00 | 29 | 12,000 |
| C | 16:40 | 20 | 7,500 |
| Levels | |||
| Previous | Next | ||
| 7-1 | 7-3 | ||
7-1, 7-2, 7-3, 7-4 7-S
| |||
7-2: LIGHT UP THE NIGHT is the second level of Violence, taking place within the first circle of the layer, and introducing 
Yellow Hookpoints, 
Landmines, Guttermen, and Guttertanks. 7-2 also contains the Impact Hammer, unlocked by activating hidden slabs accessible via completing each timer-based Hookpoint section within a strict time limit throughout the level.
The music used in this level is Do Robots Dream of Eternal Sleep? for the starting area, and Hear! The Siren Song Call of Death for the level's remainder once the player heads into the outdoors.
Level
Start
The level begins in a white room with a single door and four inactive Mannequins standing in each corner. Heading through the door leads to a small hallway with a bottomless pit and a set of hookpoints at the far end of the room, which the player is prompted to hook across.
After crossing the first section, the player will be introduced to Yellow Hookpoints, which act as timers for doors and objects. Using the 
Whiplash on a Yellow Hookpoint will temporarily activate an object the hookpoint is attached to and give the player a slight midair boost upwards. Until the hookpoint's timer has run out (indicated by a ticking sound), an activated Yellow Hookpoint will be grayed-out and unhookable.
Activating the first Yellow Hookpoint will open a door leading to a winding corridor with a bottomless pit, followed by another hookpoint course, at the end, a Yellow Hookpoint is needed to open the door, where the player lands in a small room with a checkpoint.
Heading through the doors leads to a tall hallway with two pillars, each with a pair of inactive Mannequins holding a light source on top. Approaching the door at the room's end will start the player's first encounter with a Gutterman, who barges into the room by crashing through the doors. Being an introduction to the enemy, a health bar appears to show the difference in damage between aiming at the Gutterman's body and shield.
Guttermen are large, bulky, and fairly tanky machines that wield a rapid-fire rotary cannon and a shield that provides them with a great deal of damage resistance. The longer the player stays within the Gutterman's line of sight, the more accurate its rotary cannon will become. If the player approaches the Gutterman, it stops firing to bash them with its shield. Although it cannot ordinarily be parried, the player can break its shield with melee weapons like the 
Knuckleblaster or the Impact Hammer's primary fire, briefly stunning the Gutterman. Without its shield, the Gutterman will resort to punching the player, which can then be parried normally.
Outdoors
Emerging from the doors, the player will be met by a dark, war-torn battlefield, spotlights and anti-aircraft fire lighting up the sky, with the silhouettes of three 
Earthmovers visible in the distance, occasionally lit up by bolts of lightning. The surrounding area is dotted with various buildings and structures situated nearby the Phlegethon; a massive river made up of boiling blood, while the ground is made up of corpses of the dead. Most notably, a clock tower looms over the landscape.
A Terminal stands nearby the entrance, cut off from the rest of the level by the River Phlegethon which flows before it. On the opposing side, a large foundation with a domed pavilion can be spotted. Using a chained platform suspended above the River Phlegethon as a bridge to cross it, a prompt appears to inform the player of a method to break the Gutterman's shield:
KNUCKLEBLASTER. Swap arms with 'G'.
If the player does not have the Knuckleblaster equipped, the prompt instead reads:
KNUCKLEBLASTER. You should probably re-equip it.
Entering the pavilion will spawn a Swordsmachine and a Gutterman, who emerge from fallen drop pods. Killing either enemy will drop a second Gutterman on the platform.
Clock Tower
Upon killing all three enemies, two bombs will land on the top and bottom of the clock tower, causing it to collapse. Passing through the fallen building, the player faces off with two Mannequins who drop down from the ceiling above. Continuing onto the next section, two more Mannequins and three Soldiers spawn in. Further down the staircase, at the clock tower's foundation, a Gutterman and a Sentry spawn in from falling drop pods.
Tram Station
Following the encounter at the bottom of the clock tower, a hallway leads the player to a tram station, where a locked gate separates the player from the tram needed to progress further. When the player enters the following room, an open space with two glass walls, a Gutterman, a Stalker, four Mannequins, and two Cerberi spawn in. Killing all the enemies allows the player to continue to a second, brief parkour segment which incorporates Yellow Hookpoints tucked within large indents in the walls.
Gate Control
Reaching a control panel, the player can open the previously locked gates and move along the tracks on the tram. The level exit, marked by text written on the wall in blood, points towards a large pile of rubble made up of trams, which cannot be destroyed with ordinary weapons. A prompt appears when approaching the rubble:
Progressing further by boarding the tram and going in the opposite direction, the tram will follow the tracks until it is stopped by a closing barrier gate at a tram station. When attempting to reopen the gate, two Guttermen break out of their drop pods already present at the station. While opening the gate does not require killing the Guttermen, they can cause a hindrance during the return trip.
Red Skull Arena
Following the tracks, the tram stops inside a large, two-story tram station. The player can spot a bomb hanging above the tracks, but as denoted by a red pedestal, requires a 
Red Skull Key to open the door to access it. The Red Skull can be acquired from an area across the River Phlegethon to the side of the depot. Leaving the tram station via a door, the player follows a ruined bridge and a trench riddled with Landmines, where they encounter another Gutterman. Proceeding to the next area, there is a partially flooded ditch in the ground covered in Landmines. The Red Skull Key can then be found in an enclosed pedestal opposing the entrance.
Upon approaching the Red Skull's cage, a Guttertank spawns in from a drop pod that lands to the left of the cage, with two more appearing on the other end of the arena after the first one is killed.
Guttertanks are similar to Guttermen in that they are large machines with a fairly large health pool. However, they are much more dangerous than Guttermen, as they carry a rocket launcher that fires powerful rockets, occasionally place Landmines, and have an incredibly fast, unparriable punch if the player gets too close. While they can seem intimidating at first, they can be taken down fairly easily from long-range. Additionally, if the Guttertank attempts to punch the player and misses, they will slip on the floor and can be easily parried. Dodging or sliding out of the way can allow the player to fight them at close-range with the right timing. Their rockets can also be frozen with the 
Freezeframe Rocket Launcher, which can be used to damage other enemies, or if the player rides the frozen rocket, can be redirected to hit the Guttertank and kill it instantly. When activated, Landmines can also be parried to recover the player's health and stamina.
Killing all the Guttertanks lowers the Red Skull's casing and allows the player to collect the Red Skull Key.
Bomb Station
After placing the Red Skull Key on the pedestal inside the station, the player will then need to traverse a third and final Yellow Hookpoint parkour course. The first obstacle; consisting of three Yellow Hookpoints and two gates, requires the player to quickly open the gate and grapple onto the next hookpoint without falling, followed by a 
Blue Hookpoint zipping the player up to the second obstacle, a tall room with an endless pit and four Yellow Hookpoints in each corner, with three blocked by gates. This second course requires the player to keep themselves suspended in midair while grappling hookpoints until they hit the Yellow Hookpoint that opens the gate to the second floor, with a 
Green Hookpoint behind it to help the player get across.
Once on the second floor, the player will be met by a large claw holding onto a large bomb and a screen before it:
LOWER
Pressing the "Lower" button lowers the bomb onto the tram, which then must be driven all the way back to the first station. If the tram is not present, the screen will present an error message:
ERROR
PAYLOAD
REQUIRES
TRAM
When the bomb is placed, the screen will change to a grim prompt similar to the one from approaching the rubble:
GIVE EM'
H E L L ,
KID
Ruined Exit
Upon riding the tram cart back to the other station, the player will be ambushed by a Guttertank and a Gutterman, along with numerous Landmines set up in the station. Once dealt with, the rubble blocking the tunnel can be destroyed using the bomb, allowing access to the archive.
Forgotten Archive
Diving into the newly opened floor, the player enters a library with towering bookcases. Across the room is the open exit gate, but attempting to leave without paying attention to the taken path closes the gate and spawns in three Guttertanks, with each kill lowering bookcases until none are left. When fully cleared out, two Guttermen will drop into the archive, with a third following soon after. Killing all the remaining enemies will re-open the exit gate and allow the player to clear the level.
Challenge
To complete the challenge, the player has to finish the level without killing any enemies, utilizing different methods to complete each of the objectives. The player can skip the first Gutterman encounter by running past it and heading directly outside, where the player then needs to skip the first outdoor encounter and the clock tower. Outside of the clock tower lies a small cross, which leads to a secret passage leading to the tram cart. After opening the gates and heading along the railway, the player can either rush to the gate control button in the arena with the dual Guttermen, or jump off of the tram before activating it and let it sail past the gate, then go around and reactivate it for a much safer method.
After reaching the building with the Red Pedestal and bomb carrier, the player then needs to head back outside, skip the bridge, and go to the outskirts of the Red Skull arena, making sure not to activate any enemies by stepping inside. The top of the Red Skull's case can be broken with explosives and then grabbed with the Whiplash to skip the encounter. The player should then head back into the building with the Red Pedestal and place the Skull onto it to continue through the normal path: going through the hookpoint section and placing the bomb onto the tram cart to head backwards to blow up the blocking carts, making sure to avoid the fire of the two remaining Guttermen.
Once the player reaches the end room with the forgotten archives, the player then needs to travel through the room in a certain way to avoid activating the enemy encounter. A hint can be found earlier in the level for this section, located by the Gate Control station in a hidden room behind the gates, which can be accessed by leaving gate "C" closed and heading around the tunnel through the other side to lead to an open door. Entering inside leads to a small passageway with a book to read:
If you are one who seeks shelter, take heed: The archive is trapped. A single misstep and reprogrammed protectors will activate. Write these instructions down and follow them carefully if you wish to take refuge on the other side:
To cross the archive, the player needs to interpret the directions as turn signals, starting at the first square at the entrance and heading to the next square with each direction. > is turn right, and < is turn left.
If the player successfully crosses the path without triggering enemies, the exit gate should remain open and allow them to finish the level.
Secrets
| #1 | Soul Orb - Inside the second Yellow Hookpoint parkour section at the Gate Control station, in a crevice to the left behind the indent in the wall where the second Yellow Hookpoint is located.
|
|
| #2 | Soul Orb - Located by entering the tunnel that leads out of the Gate Control station, then entering the first door on the left. However, the door will lock if the player opens the tram gates. The orb is found above a book which offers a hint for completing the level's challenge.
|
 
|
| #3 | Blood Orb - In a small gazebo-like building at the far right corner of the outside battlefield, past the tram tunnel. Collecting the orb spawns a Sisyphean Insurrectionist.
|
|
| #4 | Soul Orb - In the Tram Station building, by reaching the top of the roof and dropping through a hole in the right side of the ceiling created by an empty drop pod.
|
|
| #5 | Soul Orb - Located in a small cavity before the River Phlegethon beneath the tram rails leading into the Bomb Station.
|
|
Alternate Shotgun
Slabs
Found by each of the timer hookpoint sections lies a hidden button slab, with three in total for each hookpoint section. These slabs are attached to the Impact Hammer, the alternate form of the 
Shotgun, and can be found at the following locations:
- The first hookpoint section during the beginning of the level.
- The second hookpoint section at the tram station, found before gaining access to the gate control button and the tram.
- The third hookpoint section accessed after placing the Red Skull at the Bomb Station.
To access the slabs, the player needs to speed through the Yellow Hookpoint sections as fast as possible, as each one is locked behind a grate tied to the timer of the first Hookpoint of each section. Speeding through will lead to a hidden passageway at the end of each section, which reveals the corresponding slab along with a nearby Hookpoint to exit the passageway.
Failing the first timer section will require the player to restart the level due to the door closing behind the player, however, the other two hookpoint sections can be redone after the player crosses the exit by backtracking. The first hookpoint is active for around 7 seconds before closing, the second one takes around 5 seconds, and the third one takes around 9 seconds.
The third timer challenge can be avoided by completing the challenge normally, and then reactivating the first hookpoint and quickly rushing up through the doors leading to the second floor.
Tram Station
After activating all three slabs, the player can then head to the large building found next to the Gate Control section.
Heading to the roof of the building, the player can find a small hole near the right side of the roof leading to a small room with a Soul Orb, an empty drop pod, and a Gutterman's coffin.
If the coffin is broken open, a skeleton with a crushed head can be found inside, as well as a book. The book reads as follows:
I know I know I should not miss you so, but mother of me, I do. Your pained breaths that rasp'd and reverberated in your rusted iron tomb... The blood of your breast that nourish'd me and warmed me in its caress, when corpse and cruelty were all I witnessed...
Mother, mother... Mother of me,
I know I know you would hate me so, and mother of me, I do too. But I would not feel, not think, not dream, were it not for you in my rusted iron womb... Your tortured love brought me to this war, that I could take the heart of another, and need you no more.
Mother, mother... Mother of me,
Following the entrance to the foyer, a generic coffin can be found at the back of the room below a cross, and three indicators which light up based on the slabs that were activated.
If all slabs have been activated, the coffin will open, revealing a hole in the wall behind it. Upon entering the hole, the player can find a small crevice on the floor leading into a tunnel.
Inside the tunnel, the remains of an unknown, ruined machine called an Excavator seeped in a pool of blood can be found wielding the Impact Hammer which the player can now collect.
Picking up the Impact Hammer will trigger a short prompt about Alternate Weapon Variants:
They can be equipped at the SHOP.
Exiting the doors outside of the tunnel will trigger another prompt about the Alternate Shotgun itself:
Move fast to deal more damage.
After collecting the weapon, the player can return to the foyer and exit through the main doors, next to which a Terminal can be found.
Easter Eggs
- The drop pod models were directly taken from a custom Tundra level made by Vvizard, creator of the Developer Museum.
- The clock tower and clock gears correspond to the player's system time.
- Found inside the clock tower after skipping the first outdoor encounter and making it to the top, a lone
Filth can be found sleeping on a bench.
- The "Z" icons were directly taken from the 2015 indie role-playing-game Undertale.
- The Filth's cartoon snoring sound effect was recorded by lead developer Hakita.
- Using cheats to no-clip into the bomb loaded onto the tram, a hidden Hakita plushie can be found watching an animation play on a screen, titled "Fuckin Finland" made by Frej.
- Within the animation itself, a reference to the comic "Loss" can be found.
- The Gutterman that appears during the ambush after returning the bomb to the tram station does not have a coffin. This coffin can be found in the ceiling alcove in the Gate Control station where the Impact Hammer is unlocked.
A Filth sleeping on a bench.
Hakita found within the bomb.
Trivia
- The level's title is a reference to "Light Up The Night" from the album Act II: The Father Of Death by The Protomen.
- "Do Robots Dream of Eternal Sleep?" is a reference to the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick.
- The Earthmovers in the background do not appear if the cheat "Disable Enemy Spawns" is enabled.
- The tower originally did not have clocks; the addition was requested by 3D-Artist Victoria Holland who wanted to reference Bluesky/Twitter user Katie Tightpussy (@Juicysteak117) who drew a clock daily in Microsoft Paint for five months.
- It is the same clock used in the album cover for the Garden of Romance EP by Heaven Pierce Her, as well as his Bandcamp profile picture.
- "WE'RE GONNA NEED A BIGGER BOOM" is a reference to a line spoken in the 1975 movie Jaws.
- The unknown machine holding the Impact Hammer has been referred to in the files and by its modeler and 3D artist Victoria Holland as "Excavator."
- The flag fixed to the machine's back reads "Vegter van die volk", which is Afrikaans for "Warrior of the people".
