Line #15 VideoGame/SteppenwolfTheXCreaturesProject


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/steppenwolf_web_game_image.jpg]]
2	'''''Steppenwolf: The X-Creatures Project''''' is an episodic, web-based, adventure game developed by Creator/{{Sarbakan}} and published by Warner Bros. in the early 2000s. Told across six chapters, each containing four playable episodes, the story follows IntrepidReporter Meg Crimson as she travels the world documenting the existence of near-mythical creatures. On her first assignment in the heart of Africa, her boss advises her to find a scientist named Alan Kane, an expert on cryptozoology who went off the grid years ago and now lives as hermit known as the Steppenwolf. Not all is as it seems though, and it soon becomes clear that Meg and Steppenwolf are pawns in an international conspiracy centred on the X-Creatures Project: a failed scientific experiment based on using the DNA of cryptids to create a serum capable of granting humans immortality….
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4	Steppenwolf plays like a classic adventure game with the player exploring an environment, gathering/combining items, then using them to solve puzzles which would open up new areas and/or advance the plot. Depending on the episode, the player controls either Meg or Steppenwolf (depending on the chapter) each of whom have slightly different functions. Meg receives emails from various supporting characters which may contain hints or provide background information that helps further the plot. Steppenwolf has a GPS system that functions as a mini-map, giving details on the area and alerting the player to potential threats and enemies. Some episodes also include action segments involving platforming or avoiding various foes, and [[OnceASeason the final episode of each chapter]] always focuses on attempting to subdue one of the cryptids.
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6	What’s notable about the game is the sheer amount of depth the creators put into the story and visuals by the standards of Flash games, with fully-voiced cinematics, many context-specific animations, detailed backgrounds, and a surprisingly engaging MythArc that spans the twenty-four episodes.
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8	Unfortunately, sometime in the mid-2000s, Warner Bros. took down the site. While the playable episodes can still be found freely available on various online game sites and the Wayback Machine, the numerous biographies and cinematics for the game are quite difficult to find now. All cinematics and many of the biographies can be found on Wayback, but due to broken links and inconsistent URL naming conventions navigating them can be quite difficult.
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10	A functional fan reconstruction of the original site with the cinematics, lore and save game functionality restored is available at http://steppenwolf.epizy.com/home.jsp .
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12	Not to be confused with the band of the same name.
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14	!!''Steppenwolf: The X-Creatures Project'' contains examples of:
15	%%* ActionGirl: Meg Crimson.
16	%%* AerosolFlamethrower: Used in the Yeti Episode.
17	%%* TheAlcoholic: [=McAllister=].
18	* AntagonistTitle: The individual chapters are all named after the X-Creature the player hunts over the course of the chapter.
19	* ArcVillain: While Reggie Donovan remains the consistent BigBad throughout the series, the first chapter sees the [[TheHeavy main threat]] in the form of the natives who worship the Mokele Membe, the second chapter has a Tibetan militia looking for the Yeti, and the fourth and fifth have their own villains (respectively, [[AnimalWrongsGroup the Dagger League]] and [[ReligionOfEvil the Brotherhood]]) during Donovan's EnemyMine with Steppenwolf. [[spoiler: Derek]] also serves as this in the first two chapters.
20	%%* BadassNormal: Steppenwolf, Meg, and the Albino.
21	* BadBoss: [[spoiler:Reggie kills his own men once he turns into the Heruka.]]
22	* BewareTheSillyOnes: Despite his goofy hairstyle, serving as PluckyComicRelief, and frequent DamselInDistress and ButtMonkey status, Derek [[spoiler:works for the Donovan Corporation and is a dangerous man who has no qualms with killing Buddhist monks, and would have killed Meg and Steppenwolf were it not for the [[Main/KarmicDeath Yeti's intervention]].]]
23	* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: Steppenwolf kills Donovan and avenges Shelley's death, and the Donovan Corporation's island compound goes up in flames along with all evidence of the X-Creatures Project. However, Meg and Steppenwolf are separated once again as she sails to safety with Sanchez, though Meg hopes she'll see him again someday.]]
24	* ButtMonkey: Derek in the first chapter manages to get shot with poisoned arrows, knocked out with gas, imprisoned, cut with knives in preparation for a sacrificial ritual, nearly sacrificed to a dinosaur, and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking has to carry heavy luggage.]] Takes a dark turn at the start of the second chapter when [[spoiler: he apparently is killed.]]
25	* CliffhangerCopout: The final scene of Chapter 5-3 has the Albino indicating that he is going to attack the Brotherhood himself rather than leave the matter to Steppenwolf. In the next episode, he doesn't arrive until they have already been defeated and the blood sample obtained.
26	* CorruptCorporateExecutive: While his father was the founder of the X-Creatures Project and responsible for the cover-up of the Heruka incident, [[BigBad Reggie Donovan]] is — by all evidence — far worse than he ever was. He turned [[spoiler:Alan's wife]] into the bloodthirsty Heruka, tries to stop anyone who comes close to discovering the X-Creatures Project by sending the Albino after them, disturbs the habitat of several strange animals, and has numerous people killed, threatened or blackmailed, all in his quest for {{immortality\|Immorality}}.
27	* DecoyProtagonist: Meg Crimson. While she does eventually become the deuteragonist, the story is very much about Steppenwolf and his past with the X-Creatures project and the Donovan Corporation.
28	%%* DeadpanSnarker: Steppenwolf and Meg.
29	* DefectorFromDecadence: Octavio Sanchez, who used to work for the X-Creatures Project, helps Meg in her ambitions to expose Donovan.
30	* DoingInTheWizard: Downplayed, but noticeable. The series revolves around cryptids mythical creatures that are often given magical attributes in some form or another, but they're referred to as "beasts of science" in the intro for chapters 3 and 4, and really don't seem to be a whole lot more than animals that the general public simply ''believes'' to be myths. It is, however, unclear why the Chupacabra responds to the tune of the Brotherhood's whistle.
31	* TheDragon[=/=]TheHeavy: The Albino to Donovan.
32	* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The very first episode doesn't have a jump function. Beyond that, the save/load function doesn't exist until season 3.
33	* EnemyMine: Steppenwolf and Meg reluctantly give up the first few blood samples and team up with Donovan to collect the last two as going along with his plan is the only way to possibly rescue [[spoiler:Shelley]], although they make an effort to get out of it in the fourth chapter.
34	* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: Averted with Steppenwolf, aka Dr. Alan Kane. Meg sometimes calls him by his real name. Played straight with the Albino.
35	* {{Expy}}: Olaf is pretty obviously inspired by [[Literature/MobyDick Ahab]]. [[AnimalNemesis He wants revenge on the Kraken]] because it took one of his legs.
36	* FanserviceExtra: A busty nurse is shown applying some sort of concoction to Donovan's face.
37	* GoryDiscretionShot: One potential death scene involves Meg on a conveyer belt, rapidly making her way towards a few saw blades. Should she fail to jump in time, there will be a cutscene of her horrified reaction, but thankfully, nothing of her being cut to bits.
38	* HighVoltageDeath: [[spoiler:How Meg tries to do in the Albino, and how Steppenwolf successfully kills him.]]
39	* ImmortalityImmorality: Donovan is a sufferer of Werner's Syndrome, and seeks to cure it by injecting himself with a DNA cocktail of various cryptids. He uses Steppenwolf's wife, Shelly, as his personal guinea pig, testing the original samples on her and transforming her into a violent, flesh-eating beast known as the Heruka.
40	* ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy: Reggie's guards have terrible aim, as seen in the chapter 6 prologue.
41	* KnightOfCerebus: While the plot is never exactly light, the mercenaries in the second chapter are far more threatening and effective than the natives in the first and the chapter darker in tone, and the stakes are always much higher when the Albino is around.
42	%%* LargeHam: Reggie, especially in the final season.
43	%%* MacGyvering: Steppenwolf is a master of this trope.
44	* MegaCorp: The Donovan Corporation who own the World Geographical Magazine, perform genetic experiments in the Antarctic and own their own private island complete with a security force, cryogenics facilities, and nuclear submarines.
45	* MonsterOfTheWeek: Each chapter has two: the titular X-Creature and an antagonistic human group that hinders the protagonists.
46	* NonMaliciousMonster: The eponymous X-creatures are really nothing more than animals that have gone unseen by most people. While the Mokele Membe and the Heruka appear to be genuinely hostile, the Yeti and the Kraken actively avoid human contact and the Chupacabra only attacks those marked by the Brotherhood.
47	* ObfuscatingStupidity: Derek, Meg's ButtMonkey partner, [[spoiler:is actually TheMole for the Donovan Corporation, sent to acquire the blood samples of cryptids.]]
48	%%* OnlyKnownByHisNickname: The Albino.
49	* OurCryptidsAreMoreMysterious: Featured in this game are the following: the MokeleMbembe, [[Main/BigfootSasquatchandYeti the Yeti]], [[Main/KrakenAndLeviathan the Kraken]], and [[Main/{{Chupacabra}} the Chupacabra]].
50	* PrecisionFStrike: The series never gets more profane than "hell", "damn", and "bastard". But in the final episode, if Steppenwolf [[spoiler:kills Reggie in the steam trap, his final line will be "It's been a pleasure, you son of a bitch!"]]
51	* RasputinianDeath: [[spoiler:Reggie. In the final episode, he becomes the NighInvulnerable Heruka. He is — in no particular order — trapped beneath pylons, shot at with a cannon, forced into a cloud of steam, shot with a cannon again, and finally, electrocuted by exposed wires and shot yet again, and finally destroyed.]]
52	* SelfDeprecation: In the Q&A on the game's website, one of the devs mocks the mechanics of ''VideoGame/ArcaneOnlineMysterySerial'', which was made by the exact same dev team.
53	* WhamEpisode: Chapter 3 as a whole provides the first major info dump on Steppenwolf's backstory and the X-Creatures Project of the past as well as the current conspiracy by Donovan.
54	* WhamLine: [[spoiler:"And from the creature emerges the creator!" Cue Steppenwolf punching Reggie in the face.]]

Context VideoGame / SteppenwolfTheXCreaturesProject