Blood Ritual - Win32 EXE file

Final and only version of Blood Ritual

Blood Ritual REQUIRES that your installation of Unreal 2004 be patched to at LEAST version 3355 and have the Editor's Choice Bonus Pack installed.

NOTE: After installing the Bonus Pack, you may be required to re-apply the latest patch, as the patches update files contained within the Bonus Pack. If UT will no longer run after installing the Bonus Pack, this is the problem and you must re-apply the patch.

A Never-ending Conflict

The story behind the ancient Blood Ritual is one best left untold. Even though it is at the heart of an ancient conflict between two alien races, the ritual's origins have long been intentionally forgotten by both of its participants. The Skerji and Naguaar found that ignorance is more than just simple bliss in regards to the Ritual; it is a way to hide from a sad and terrible truth; a way to escape the demons that haunt one's mind; a way to survive. Ignorance is a double-edged sword though, and because of it, the Blood Ritual continues.

It is difficult to describe the never-ending conflict between the Skerji and Naguaar. Not even the races themselves understand it fully. This ancient “war” is unlike any seen on earth and difficult for the human mind to comprehend. The Skerji and Naguaar are bound to each other through this struggle. They have watched their cultures and technological advancements merge because of it. They have defined themselves in terms of each other. Battle between them involves more than simple violence or territorial disputes. It involves the thrill of the hunt, the quest for honor, the humiliation of the enemy, and always, inevitably, the Ritual of Blood itself.

In the game Blood Ritual, players are given the opportunity to choose sides and participate in this mysteriously brutal and ancient ceremony.
Game Rules

The core gameplay of Blood Ritual is highly reminiscent of Unreal's built-in Team Deathmatch mode. What makes the game rules of Blood Ritual unique is the focus of gameplay on the acquisition and deposit of enemy heads. In fact, collected heads represent the score in Blood Ritual, and a team may only win by amassing a large enough collection of heads on their team totem, located in their team base.

The rules regarding heads can be mechanically summarized as follows:

• When a player dies, his or her head becomes a game item that may be picked up.

• When a player touches an enemy head, that head is picked up and placed in the player's possession, up to a maximum of 3 heads.

• When a player touches a teammate's head, that head is spiritually released (destroyed), and is no longer useful to the enemy team.

• When a player touches the team totem, the carried heads are placed on the totem. Only then do the heads count toward the team score.

• All carried heads are dropped when a player dies, and behave just as if they had been newly removed from their original owners.

• A head that has not been touched for 30 seconds disappears.

The addition of heads and totems introduces an element similar to the Capture the Flag game rules found in Unreal and many other games, but without the extreme emphasis on the support and protection of a single flag or flag carrier. In Blood Ritual, every player can be thought of as a simultaneous combination of a flag and flag carrier.



Runes

The mystical energy of the Blood Ritual has the power to infuse special talismans with magical powers. These runes are placed in strategic locations throughout each battlefield, and provide the holder with a specific bonus. The strength of the bonus increases as the rune bearer collects more heads, but if the player deposits those heads on their team totem, the power of the rune is reverted to its original level. This decision – along with runes in general – represent an element of strategy in a game otherwise dominated by carnage.

A player may only carry a single rune at any given time, and may walk over another rune in order to swap. If a rune carrier dies, the rune is dropped and can be immediately collected. A rune that has not been touched for 20 seconds will return to its original location, ensuring that runes cannot be permanently lost.

Though each arena may provide a different set of runes, the available list of runes includes Speed, Invisibility, Berserk, Ancestral Aura, Trophy Seeker, and Trophy Collector.

Speed and Invisibility are reasonably straightforward: the Speed rune allows a player to run faster and jump further, whereas the Invisibility rune makes an individual more difficult to see. A player with the Speed rune will get faster with each head carried; a player with Invisibility will become increasingly transparent.




The Berserk rune represents something of a sacrifice by an individual warrior. Carrying the Berserk rune saps the bearer's health, and more quickly with each carried head. The allure of the Berserk rune comes in its effect on the bearer's team: their health is increased, and their weapons will inflict more damage. The carrier must continue to regain health in any way they can in order to prolong the bloodbath inflicted by his or her teammates.





Ancestral Aura harnesses the spiritual energy of the carried heads toward regeneration of teammates and damage to enemies. With each head that the bearer collects, the visible aura generated by the rune increases in size. Friends within the aura will be healed, where enemies will be damaged.





Trophy Seeker binds the souls of the dead to the bearer's projectile weapons. Projectiles fired under the influence of Trophy Seeker will guide themselves toward enemies, improving accuracy and ensuring that every shot counts. The strength of the guiding force increases with the number of heads carried by the bearer of the rune.





Trophy Collector acts as a beacon in the spirit world, attracting fallen heads as moths to flame. Heads nearby the bearer will lift up from the ground, floating toward the rune and making the task of collecting the heads trivial. Trophy Collector leads naturally to a supporting role, perhaps retrieving the spoils left by a teammate's skilled use of the Stalker.