DreamCatcher may very well have a hit game on its hands with People Can Fly's Painkiller, an upcoming PC shooter that walks its own path with a combination of dark and gritty settings, a destructible environment, bizarre weaponry, crazy marauding denizens and a frenetic style that puts the action in your face. While we haven't gotten our hands on the game for a personal test drive, what we have seen is pretty impressive. Today we've got a myriad of information about the enemies, levels and other interesting gameplay elements you'll encounter when this game hits the street in early 2004. Let's begin our journey:

Creature Feature

Our first stop is a description of some of the dark creatures that dwell in the various realms of the game. Each creature has unique traits, tactics and a reaction (or rather action) when it is close to death. Check out the data below:



Evil Monk: The Evil Monk is a hooded creature that serves the Devil Monk. These beings are usually former members of the ultra blasphemous cult of Naamah, now serving the dark forces in the afterlife. You can never see this creature's face, which is probably a blessing in disguise. Dark Monks lack of any sort of armor and its large size make it a relatively easy target. One of the most notable traits of the Dark Monk is its incredible strength combined with a double-handed axe which he will usually use to try and behead the player. When close to death the Dark Monk will throw his axe at you causing a moderate to great amount of damage. He'll continue to do this until exhaustion sets in and he dies. Talk about anti-social behavior.

Psychonun: These creatures were once pure virginal creatures that were seduced by the demoness Naamah and transformed into an inhuman creature armed with a rather large and intimidating scythe. Like the Dark Monk, this female creature serves under the command of Devil Monk. There are two variants of the Psychonun that players will encounter - one wearing an iron helmet and one without. Psychonuns use the scythe to execute a basic swiping attack. These creatures also have the ability to cast a powerful attack that cast a curse on the player's weapons - locking them and making them unusable for a limited time. Psychonuns have one other special ability that makes them extra difficult to deal with - the ability to hover. This means that they can avoid using stairs or heights to reach you. Leaving these creatures unchecked is a sure fire way to get yourself in a lot of serious trouble.

Skull: The Skull is described as the bastard child of a demon and an undead that has some very serious demonic powers. The skull comes armed with a double-barreled shotgun which he can use on the player - and on his own skull to light it aflame, giving himself temporary immortality. Skulls also are known to use allies or any creature nearby as "human shields" - pun unintended. Skulls are very dangerous if left alive in a pack of monsters.

Zombie Knight: Zombie Knights are the soldiers under the command of Zombie Warrior. These once noble fighters committed suicide on the field of battle in lieu of being captured by the enemy. The internal price for such an act in this game is eternal servitude to the armies of Hell. Tsk tsk. Zombie Knights attack with Morgensterns and can live for a while after being beheaded. While most Zombies shamble, occasionally a Zombie Knight will have the ability to run, which can be bad for the player. These creatures are considered weaker than most that you'll encounter.

Saphathoraél: Saphathoraél, (or Thor) is a demi-demon who serves as one of Lucifer's lesser generals. His specialty is inflicting drunkenness in humans and he comes armed with a giant hammer. Thor has a fascination with the deity of the same name, hence the nickname and the use of a hammer. Hero worship can be so lame sometimes. Thor is by no means a lightweight - he uses his giant hammer to crush you or anything in the general vicinity of his strike. This can cause debris to fly around and hit the player adding an extra element of danger into the mix. When Thor loses his hammer he's content to smack the ground with both his fists causing stones to fly into the air -- and inevitably rain down of your head. Thor seems invulnerable to attacks but he has one slight weakness which we won't share with you.. Sorry.

The creatures in Painkiller are as creepy as they sound in the description above - and then some. You can get a closer look at some of them below.

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