I wish I could thank Radix and Nate enough for this site. Thanks for hosting; thanks for transferring from DVD; etc. Somehow, it has become one of my most addicting hobbies. Also, thanks go to dragonGOD for some early advice.

This, incidentally, is the first Xbox360 run for Speed Demos Archive, and this fact certainly produced a thrill for me in the last two or three weeks of recording the run. That being said, it's just another run, and the graphics are not necessarily as pristine as you might imagine, anyway. Still, I hope the run makes for an entertaining watch.

This is a minimalist run. A 100% would probably consist of the same routes, but with many tangents so that one could collect all of the achievements like finding all of the hidden metal pieces and bird carcasses, which, btw, are probably the coolest collectables, ever. But anyway.

Condemned: Criminal Origins is one of my top three favorite horror titles of all time, and that's a pretty significant compliment, coming from me. The first person view is truly immersive, and the demented characters you encounter constitute a wide variety of evil. Running this game succeeded in being unexpectedly pleasurable, and, aside from when I was begrudgingly faced with the abominable seventh level, I found difficulty in maintaining my ongoing academic obligations with the game consistently lying on the floor, all new and begging for a speedrun.

Think of the game as a mixture of Manhunt, CSI, and Doom 3, in terms of atmosphere, gameplay, and graphics, respectively.

Btw, keep in mind that I must run completely PAST a myriad of gangmembers and hobos throughout this protracted run, so if rooms appear barren when I enter them, you can probably often assume there were a multitude of malicious malcontents I just didn't let you see. Most of the ones who were at all persistent met the taser at some time or another, and the ones I actually stopped and killed pretty much MUST have been killed. Also, the red bar is health, and the yellow bar is stamina or sprint.

Note: Movies and cinematics are NOT skippable. I attribute this illogical directive to the same guy that added the absolutely baseless "Criminal Origins" subtext to the title. Also, there are often invisible walls preventing me from proceeding forward, usually instigated by scripted events such as the incessant phone calls, and these also contributed to lengthening the run. Finally, the video is profusely dark, so you might want to turn up your monitor until the control completely breaks off.

Okay then, we may finally proceed to the comments:

• Weisman Office Building:
  
  
  • Don't you love how we're immediately confronted with an at best dawdling introduction sequence AND an absurdly languid follow-the-ole-federal-agent scene? The old man does his damnedest to constrict movement and speed, so you'll just have to endure it. Once past this, we have the first of many CSI-inspired crime scenes. Being the showoff that I am, btw, I simply had to put away and then whip out the "laser light" (Note: simple green flashlight) JUST as the lights were cut. Don't worry; I didn't lose a smidgeon of time. Oh, and after the following movie, listen carefully for the most blatant f-bomb in the history of the world. I then run up the stairs, showing how easily you can elude many thugs, hit the invisible event-trigger down the hallway, and then use an excess of what ridiculously insufficient ammo I have on the first thug I bother to kill (I was going to lose the gun, shortly, so why not waste some bullets).
    
    
  • You'll see the first "vision" after a short while, when I'm proceeding down an indistinguishable hallway to what looks like an event horizon. There's actually an illusory killer running towards me amidst that copious blackness, but you may not be able to see him. And blah blah; after some more running about and forced dialogue, I get the invaluable fireaxe. Now, while I'm accustomed to the next couple of thugs sneaking a few extra attacks on me, I receive totally unanticipated "phantom damage" from one of them once I taser the next guy. Due to this, I break the first rule of running the preliminary segment to any run: NEVER MAKE A WRONG TURN! Luckily, the negligible mistake costs only maybe a quarter of a second, and it only resulted from being so disoriented by the phantom hit I had never taken before, but still.
    
    
  • Yikes, what a prolix commentary this has already become. Okay, long story short, the rest of the expository level went better than perfect, time-wise, although damage-wise, I was subject to ANOTHER phantom hit just before I reached the exit.
  
  
  
• Metro Station:
  
  
  • This level was a chore if for no other reason than the obnoxiously long intro.
    
    
  • After meandering around for a while and killing the crowbar enthusiast, I then run through a couple of criminal-filled rooms, wait for a hidden loading area just beyond a door, and then proceed until I'm stopped by a phone call. Okay... I really apologize. I was regrettably absent-minded when I spun around janking the file size of the segment to interstellar levels.... wasn't thinking.
    
    
  • But anyway, after this and after playing the pacifist for a sequence of fights (thank the stars for that damn taser), and ANOTHER scripted phone call, I eventually made my way past a large lobby. A little further on, I was impeded by two resistant thugs. I attacked the first one (who appeared to simply loath janitors and their services), but he actually didn't die. As I finally managed to kill him while honestly aiming attacks at the other thug, I was actually able to run past the second thug without killing him. In other words, while this section may appear to detriment my run, it was actually an unusual and minorly fortunate event. Anyway, after I again obtain the fireaxe (a recurring theme throughout the entire run), I efficiently disabled a gauntlet of guys (and girl), chopped away a door, and took some life. After I killed the second hoodlum, I took some life which was not ultimately necessary; though, the typical randomness of an upcoming room justified it.
    
    
  • When I elevated to the equally-disheveled upstairs, you'll notice that I seemed to hang around the brown doorway for a while only to fight a pithy little addict. Well, this was done to remain in sanctuary from the menacing shotgun villain in the background. This was intentional, in other words, although, I wish the addict hadn't blocked as much. Finally, the run does also suffer an additional loss of maybe three seconds from the camera in the newspaper clippings room, which was terribly out of focus at the outset. Though, I made up some time by pwning in the "vision" fight, just afterwards. The level coasts from there. Gotta' love the gratuitous perpetuation of bird-slaughtering at the end. :)
  
  
  
• Subway Central:
  
  
  • Finally, no intro. This level went almost PERFECTLY, time-wise, but I make the most missed swipes, here, out of any segment. The first miss occurs when I routinely turned about to taser the determined thug following me (not to save time, but to conserve health). Usually, he is pretty persistent, but he was auspiciously passive this day. The next guy, who made a point to have a memorable entrance, somehow nailed a hit on me from maybe ten feet away with a 2x4, and then an addict shortly after appeared to wield the infallible power of "clipping fortitude." Doesn't it look like I should've hit him? Twice? Whatever. I fruitlessly attacked without leaving my route, anyway, so it didn't cost me time.
    
    
  • Then, after I killed the shotgun crook, I missed yet ANOTHER guy with an unflinching axe swipe. At this point, I think the X360 was overheating or something. Btw, notice how closely the guys with guns came to decimating my backside as I ran away? Smoke can be seen hitting the wall in front of me just a mere couple of inches above my shoulder!
    
    
  • After I take scripted phantom-damage and fall like an oaf down the stairs, I taser a criminal and again am nearly killed by a gunshot as I scamper past. At the end, I jump on the subway's caboose, use my apparently superhuman strength to rip off the handrail, and sit through a partially uneventful rail scene. Though, the camera really glitches up (overheating?), and the unrelenting addicts who apparently REALLY needed a lift came as close to killing me as possible.
  
  
  
• Subway Tunnels:
  
  
  • This is the last of the levels with natural transitions. I believe this is my worst looking segment, but I do NOT allege that the run is POOR, or even less than adequate. Keep this in mind, if you can.
    
    
  • Again, to my jocundity, we suffer no intro. You'll notice that most of the enemies in this level are "crawlers," who pose nearly no palpable threat, whatsoever. Though, one must wonder what types of malevolent vagabonds actually act like this, and for that matter, why they so vehemently desire my ruin.
    
    
  • Anyway, after I once again use the sluggish shovel inappropriately as a hacksaw, and scurry over and off the hanging scaffoldings, I then hustle to the first of many now-defunct subway cars and basically sit there for a couple of long minutes. Once I bludgeon the anemic girl, I make a small time-costing mistake by using the recently stolen sledgehammer twice on the Bigboy (or disgruntled ex-fireman) instead of kicking him to finish. One second loss, maybe.
    
    
  • Then, after several more scripted events and attempts on my part to keep the audience entertained, I kill some more crawlers, turn the valve (where you'll first notice how uncooperative some of these button-prompts are), and make my way over a crisp addict-carcass down the stairs, I jump down two ladders and MISERABLY fail to kill the hermitic crawler in a timely fashion. Of course, some inexplicably missed swipes are again at fault, here, and it's quite irritating how poor they make the fight appear.
    
    
  • Anyway, I then kill Mr. and Mrs. Dysfunctional, grab a medkit, and ascend a nearby ladder. Okay, mistake number two. I embarrassingly miss a taser shot, causing me to lose a substantial portion of my lifebar. Luckily, a medkit rests at the top of the next ladder, but I must waste plenty of integrity and a couple of seconds in order to obtain it. In the room where I next cut another alarm pad with my shovel (seriously, wtf), I appear to waste too much time in a couple more miserable battles with standing crawlers (oxymoron). Actually, since I cannot leave the tight walkway until I've killed the third guy, and since I kill HIM pretty well, I don't lose any noticeable time.
    
    
  • Well, I'm contented to say that the next large room, the one with possibly six criminals, three of whom carry guns, went splendidly. And for the first time, I grab a firearm as well. You must understand; firearms are nearly worthless due to their utterly insufficient base amounts of ammo, and since they never replenish your bullets, ever, the only reason I typically ever carry one is only as a means to disarm the hazardous thug who brought it. And note: one of the thugs uncharacteristically sneaks away from this fight, way in the background, and unexpectedly comes back a few moments later.
    
    
  • After I grab the crowbar, I make the third annoying mistake. Yep, I get caught on a table. Ugh. Anyway, after I get on the last abandoned subway car, I again begin to spin in a fit of ennui. Damn phone calls. SORRY about that, 56kers. Finally, after escaping the train and taking some more phantom damage, I kill the tempestuous axe-girl, grab the life (thank god), and finish the level with the least amount of health possible. The final fifteen seconds are particularly rousing, as you can hear some passionate gun-toter or other chasing me down, and getting nearer and nearer with his blasts.
  
  
  
• Bart's Department Store:
  
  
  • D'oh; an intro movie. And I think either Ethan had some peanut butter stuck to his palate, or the character model artists neglected his "angry" face. Anyway, I love how everything important happens in a ridiculously decrepit and abandoned building in this game. This level is a nice change of pace, and this segment is nearly, if not, perfect. And yes, that's a freaking mannequin arm I'm using for my first weapon. It's not bad, either.
    
    
  • After I kill some mannequin-impersonating hoodlums and run around aimlessly (you know, the usual), I eventually reach another investigation scene. You'll notice that even when girls are filthy, rotten, murderers, they all still run like little prissy fairies. (Just kidding, Strangeness and Scarlet!!!) Anyway, I eventually acquire the now-unsatisfying sledgehammer, again, and break open another inexplicably locked door. If I lost any time, it may have been here, as the door begins to shut again, but it probably only cost half a second, (as far as I can tell, anyway, as part of the pause actually came from the automatic progress save). Also, immediately afterwards, I take the most "phantomest" of damage when I run down the escalator; I've honestly NO inclination from where it came.
    
    
  • I make my way through some more thugs, and then up around some stairs. After grabbing some health, and taking one mannequin-cult member's shotgun, I then run away from maybe eight pursuers, two of which possess their own shotguns. Fortunately, they weren't on their ball, that day.
    
    
  • After this, though, one of the most intense and thrilling visions occurs, but I was unfortunately in the process speedrunning and couldn't really show more than two or three seconds of it. Basically, a bunch of, um, inanimate mannequins start following you and cornering you. It's normally pretty entertaining.
    
    
  • After I drop down a couple of holes, I'm then in the basement. After I investigate the barely discernable footprint, I pull out the (now get this) "Gas Spectrometer," which is normally employed to locate birds, and blast the face off of a hobo and continue. After I ONCE AGAIN find a lonesome fireaxe, I make my way back upstairs and into a disturbing dressing cubical. I'm sorry this scene is so atrociously long. Well, no more Mr. Matchmaker. Too bad; he was such a good guy. After this, I first avoid and then kill a thug in order to gain access to the next room and let the upcoming villains spawn and, hence, kill each other as I tangle with the most recent pariah. The criminal with a rebar cement really wallops me, but I survive. After Ethan further tortures his cell phone bill, I dash to the exit and barely survive the final addict, yet again.
  
  
  
• Burnback Alley:
  
  
  • Even though this brief level only took a couple of hours to practice and record, the segment goes better than perfectly. And, it's the only segment which does NOT feature the precious fireaxe at some point or other! After I grab what is shockingly the most ideal weapon, the small pipe (unless you're into speed and prefer the weaker rebar), I kill the addict, trigger and experience the grappling hobo who grabs me from behind the gosh-dern wall, I run past two others and kill a third, who ignorantly chose to get in my way. After the next guy bursts through the wall (you know, whoever has been constructing the walls and floors around here needs to be fired), I choose wisely NOT to take his shotgun, and I then SOMEHOW skip a phone call!
    
    
  • I'm supposed to be again interrupted by Rosa just before reaching the window, but I don't and save maybe five to ten seconds. I've only ever witnessed this uncommon glitch once before, so I feel pretty fortunate. Anyway, I jump down, run past the hell-in-a-cell, and jump down once again. Here, I very luckily only encountered five criminals in the arena, when I normally face seven. I don't know why, and I don't care. For most of the time I let the overly aggressive criminals fight amongst themselves, taking the occasional cheap shot whenever opportune, and keep my eye on my health. Now, had anyone brought a fully-loaded gun or a rebar w/concrete into this fight, which infrequently does happen, I would've switched weapons. Seeing as this was not the case, though, and since locker doors and 2x4's absolutely blow, I was compelled to stick with the small pipe.
    
    
  • After I kill the last thug, I avoid the pistol man on the rooftop, taser the vagrant who fortuitously collapses behind the fence gate, and quickly hop into the dumpster, which is apparently resting in an alleyway recently slicked up with eight hundred pounds of grease. This portion went remarkably well, also, as I only needed to thwack the assaulters three times between the two of them. And why didn't the police, who look suspiciously like the deceased Officer Becker, see me run into the door maybe half a second before they ran past it?
  
  
  
• The Library:
  
  
  • Oh kill me now!!!!! I emphatically LOATH this level. This segment took approximately seventy-five attempts and nearly two whole DVD's to successfully record (on LP mode!), because of one thirty second section. Yes, it was even more difficult than the world-renowned Raptor jump. YEAH, I SAID IT; WORLD-RE-FRIGGIN-NOWNED!!! Still, the segment I recorded went nearly perfectly, but it was an astoundingly arduous road, getting there. Well, let's start with the overly elaborate and sardonic remarks, shall we?
    
    
  • Normally, I would have made this much more entertaining for the viewing audience, but I was in the sourest of moods during this attempt, which I was sure was doomed to fail like all the others.
    
    
  • After a few scripted events, I grab the super-taser (which seems less effective terminating my opponents than the regular, as it always requires a follow-up attack), and go through a couple more scripted events. Yay! Paper cutter! Anyway, after Rosa is SOMEHOW kidnapped at arm's length distance, I run to an ultimately pointless investigation scene (none of them, in this level, are ever explained, btw), and then trigger the axe-hobo to break down the door. The next couple of rooms are particularly precarious if you don't know what you're doing, but I'm proud to say I make them look excessively easy. I kill maybe six of the maybe dozen plus guys, so, again, remember there is more than you're seeing.
    
    
  • After I acquire the fireaxe, and kill two guys, you'll notice that I arbitrarily peek behind a bookshelf. I do this as, nine times out of ten, a nefarious criminal with a pistol is waiting here to swiftly demolish my backside. For whatever reason, he does not appear, even though I still waste a second searching, but I also still saved time when compared to normal, as I didn't actually have to kill him, either. Destroy door. Investigate. Take crowbar. Run around. Open gate.
    
    
  • Now, when I enter the dreaded elevator, realize I am about to undergo the most grueling experience known to my gaming life. When I reach the top, I am reacquainted with an immense room that NOW has three muggers in it, EACH with his own gun. One has a pistol, one has a shotgun, and one has the first sub-machinegun in the game! Now, I initially ignore these fools, open the gate, and run up the stairs while dodging the debris, only taking a couple of shots from behind. However, after I kill the next thug and steal his pistol (does this make ME the thug?), I enter a room where the three gunmen below are actually able to SHOOT UP THROUGH THE FLOOR!!!! Yeah, I know; the bastards. You wouldn't believe how long I examined every nook and cranny of that room to find the source of my perpetual pain. Only when I noticed my own blood ON THE CEILING did I realize the shots originated from below.
    
    
  • Anyway, after I SOMEHOW fail to kill the other upstairs thug, even though I appear to land two or three bullets in him, I run into the hazardous rare books room, which is oddly quite populated. At this point, my heart is ready to burst, as you can hear their echoed shots blasting from underneath and causing disproportional amounts of damage. After I grab the sledgehammer and witness the bullet smoke on the crate signifying how close the upstairs hobo came to killing me, I in turn murder him, release and move the ladder, and climb it. Once I drop down to Rosa, I'm finally in the clear.
    
    
  • Awww, Mr. Serial Killer X didn't know how to use the interweb.
    
    
  • After another torturously long scripted event, I follow Rosa (if I precede her, I am again susceptible to the phantom damage) to the counter, take both medkits, and make my way into the labyrinth, also known as the cindered remains of the library. This maze is somewhat difficult to memorize, and every inch of the place looks identical to the ones before and after it. However, I have the route more than rehearsed at this point, and proceed past it and fall through another poorly supported floor.
    
    
  • Thought I was just looking at my feet for no reason, didn't ya?
    
    
  • After the scripted event, which would normally be creepy if I were less tepid and more in a mood to show it off, I run through the middle portion of the labyrinth. After I drop down, yet again, I take what may have been an unnecessary medkit (again, justifiably sought for randomness in an upcoming battle), and run through the rest of the intricate maze. I survive and triumph the only other difficult fight scene almost perfectly, and then reunite with Rosa The Inconsequential. After one last scripted event, I then efficaciously kill the final four guys (occasionally difficult), one of which had a gun but only brought two bullets, and frantically jump about my room in joy, hardcore style.
    
    
  • Watch as Rosa eats my venting. Stupid Rosa.
  
  
  
• Secondary School:
  
  
  • After the seventh level, ANYTHING is easy. This level went very well, but it did feature a couple very minor mistakes. I run through the opening areas, monotonously grab yet another sledgehammer, and proceed upstairs. Apparently, that elusive crawler thinks he's the proverbial white rabbit or something.
    
    
  • After my brief but ultimately postponed encounter with The Butcher, a.k.a. The Lunch Lady, a.k.a. The Big, Obese, Amorphous Blob, I then proceed through a couple of classrooms, killing more of these students who REALLY chose the wrong school. After, you guessed it, another faulty floor and some more damage to Ethan's perpetually suffering internal organs, I run through a couple more rooms of unscrupulous crawlers and jump over a bar.
    
    
  • This section went perfectly. I utterly clobbered the oblivious thug who sprints into the room, evaded the other, killed the pistol guy with minimal damage, and then fried the bewildered hobo before confiscating his sub-machinegun. A few rooms and a few ridiculously undemanding fights later, I finally arrive at the meat locker.
    
    
  • Okay, god knows why the Butcher thought that meat hooks straight to the spine would provide the most effective supplement for her minions to defeat me, but that's what makes her unique. That, and her disgustingly rotund physique.
    
    
  • Even though she's the first of three bosses in the game, she's quite easy to kill, as you can see, and I believe I scored 100% in head shots! I would've shot more relentlessly, of course, but the damn gun only has about three seconds of ammo; believe me, you do NOT want to fight her with the butt end of a sub-machinegun. Of course, my victory was slightly marred by an unresponsive button prompt just afterwards, but ah well.
    
    
  • Anyway, I then reach the gymnasium, lower the hoop, kill the lingering thug with another taser shock, and then make the most blatant of all mistakes in the run. For whatever reason, I accidentally put away the camera before using it! Well, four seconds lost. And who knows how in the hell Mr. Tibbits freaking ARM wound up in the basketball hoop net, which was incidentally raised to the ceiling. For that matter, who knows why he was still at the school, since, according to seventh level who's name shall not be uttered here, the place has been closed for five years!
    
    
  • Anyway, for the millionth time, I jump down after this, run away from another uncommitted crawler, and climb an easily overlooked ladder. I eventually reach the playground area and observe a doofus (me) lying dead on the ground, preluding a very difficult fight scene. There are always five particularly vicious men, here. The first and most whiny I promptly kill, the second I kill just after, the third I think was the cause of the phantom damage and then disappeared or something, the fourth was shooting on a rooftop, and the fifth arrived EARLY, allowing me to leave through the newly-opened gate after I killed him, ALSO EARLY (five to ten seconds, even). Yay for beneficial glitches!
    
    
  • After another CSI moment, I run through some rooms, kill a few mutinous thuglings, and make my way to the notorious locker scene. If you are squeamish, you may want to shut your eyes. But if you're squeamish, then you shouldn't download speedruns like this. Ya' idiot.
    
    
  • Once Rosa has seemingly conveyed her life story, I grab the shovel and eventually find myself at the derelict pool. Now, dragonGOD claims you can skip this imaginary fight scene, but I tried an innumerable amount of times to no avail; it just, wouldn't, work. Maybe only certain X360's allow for this, since the somewhat unbalanced systems are so inconsistent, anyway.
    
    
  • After I completely massacre the brood, I get out, grab the umpteenth fireaxe, and obliterate the door. Though this is the only door I've found in the game that does NOT allow for a double-chop, making me look like an imbecile, in this case. From here, I pretty much just run to the end of the level and sit through some more unremitting scripted events.
  
  
  
• Apple Orchard Estate:
  
  
  • If you're NOT speedrunning this game, the ninth level can take an exorbitant length of time to finish. Obviously, I didn't let it; this segment actually went most immaculately. Most of this level revolves around clue-hunting. In fact, only the basement and attic harbor criminals until the outside gauntlet begins to infiltrate the house.
    
    
  • After spelunking the first floor and basement for the first three clues, and effortlessly killing some crawlers with the small pipe, I head upstairs for the fourth and also for the sledgehammer. The damn things grow on trees, I tell ya'.
    
    
  • I then ascend to the attic, kill the first ninja in the game relatively quickly, and wait for the ephemeral wooden planks to completely vanish before my eyes. Oh yeah; on tape, baby.
    
    
  • The fifth clue is in the room below. Stairs? No, a hole straight down, as always.
    
    
  • From here, we return to the basement and discover the secret room even before Rosa reveals the answer to the cryptic riddle. More investigation and me playing around. Hark! An unidentified noise upstairs!!! Well, once I get up there, and see some piano abuse, I then have to fight a considerable sequence of burglars who enter the house on TIMED QUEUES ... that is to say NOT by the death of the previous one. So, as long as I kill the last addict somewhat quickly, I can't lose time here, only health. Though, I do a mighty fine job of killing each of them quickly, anyway, if I do say so myself. Btw, I think I counted eleven intruders. The first six I anticipate, but the seventh just sort of disappears..? You can hear him break in from somewhere, but he doesn't emerge until later when he sneaks up on me after I kill the ninth criminal. Btw, what's with the guys in green overalls? Anyway, once I'm back upstairs, the pre-boss cutscene begins, where we see our Ethan's witty plan completely fail. Once it's over, watch my glory as I kill this normally intricately involved boss in about one minute flat.
    
    
  • Basically, I developed a formula and used it to determine from where he would next attack when I approached spot X. Routine: take shotgun, pace twice to both ends of the hallway, shoot Serial Killer X at far end five times, retrieve firepoker in original room, grab one health kit (no more, no less) in bathroom, pummel him as he comes from the hallway, chase him into the ending room, and get yo' self knocked the hell out (this last part being a scripted event).
  
  
  
• Processing Plant:
  
  
  • Another perfect segment. Btw, the level is so dark and umbrageous, I was essentially forced to alter the video settings. The level you see is roughly 50% brighter than default. Hardly made a difference, didn't it?
    
    
  • You know, our turbulent Serial Killer X and his overly energetic voice actor are a bit on the eccentric side.
    
    
  • After Ethan has been Frodo-fied, I grab the 2x4-on-fire and head out of the incendiary barn. Despite that the damn thing brightly illuminates the screen with its fiery presence, the weapon kind of fails to deliver the damage. Oh well. After I pass over the bridge, you may notice a distracting graphical error. I can't determine what caused this on the DVD, but I'm led to believe that the fire initiates the effect when it darkens in color, as its sustained image requires an intensive graphical display. I don't know. Anyway, you'll probably only notice the discrepancy in HQ and IQ, anyway.
    
    
  • The rest of the bucolic level is pretty much just running from point A to point B, grabbing various weapons along the way. Once I reach the climactic processing center, though, and after they've FORCED me to collect the first and only bird carcass in the run, the dirty infidels, I enter the final room. I purposely attack The Hate as he stands on the floor above, as this, I discovered, causes the crawlers to assault me earlier. I save maybe ten to twenty seconds just from this. And no, I don't know how I figured it out. Anyway, after a barrage of thugs, the Hate eventually jumps down right when I accidentally almost leave the fireaxe when I'm attempting to attain a medkit, and begins the final fight.
    
    
  • As you've probably noticed by now, the most formidable attack method for this level is the fireaxe poke, which kills large thugs and Final Bosses alike. A few hits, and I dismantle his shoulder armor via a finishing move assigned to the directional pad (I don't use these anywhere else in the run, but I must in order to proceed with this fight). One laughably tardy crawler later, and I must finish him off. Four or five more hits, and there goes... ugh... his pull cord? Well, whatever it is, I bet it hurt like f*ck to have it ripped out. After we visit the "vision" world, I bamboozle him for the last time and pull out his metallic jaw. So, he ALREADY lost his jaw? Geez. And after a quick snap of the neck, down goes our ultimate foe who is somehow connected to the rest of the story, in SOME way or other. I guess he represents the innate hatred within us all or something... I guess.
    
    
  • Of course, the disjointed level hasn't ended yet. Oh, you were fooled, weren't you?
    
    
  • After a cutscene, where Ethan finally displays some balls (no, not literally), I must make a choice to either kill or spare our odious Serial Killer X. It's quicker to put a bullet through his contemptible face, so that's what I do. In fact, since I'm positively SLAUGHTERING the trigger button during the cutscene, you'll notice that he's dead almost before you can tell what happened.
    
    

And with that, the run and comments are finished. Wow, you actually read all that? You're awesome. I still think the whole story was all in Ethan's head, but of course Rosa has to come and spoil my fun. A cult? Oh, only the most stereotypical explanation, ever.

I really, really, really hope everyone enjoyed this run and my comments. This is my first significant run in terms of length, so I hope I delivered. And if you're into survival horror games, I imperatively suggest purchasing or renting this title. Happy mugging.