

Kya: Dark Lineage

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Title Screen

Kya: Dark Lineage

Developer: Eden Games
Publisher: Atari, SA
Platform: PlayStation 2
Released in US: November 14, 2003
Released in EU: November 28, 2003

AreasIcon.png This game has unused areas.
DevTextIcon.png This game has hidden development-related text.
DebugIcon.png This game has debugging material.

NotesIcon.png This game has a notes page

So very stubbly.
This page is rather stubbly and could use some expansion.
Are you a bad enough dude to rescue this article?

Kya: Dark Lineage is an action-adventure/platformer game for the PlayStation 2, originally released in 2003 and is regarded as one of the more underrated games on the console.


Miscellaneous tidbits that are interesting enough to point out here.

Hidden level ("Level Test" or LEVEL_13)

The /CDEURO/LEVEL/ directory of the disc contains subfolders with the files for the various levels inside. While NATIV and LEVEL 1 to 12 all contain levels or part of levels normally accessible in the final game, LEVEL_13 contains a hidden level that seems to be inaccessible during normal gameplay.
When loading the level, the player spawns in a circular room. There's a photo of the developers with a yellow tint in front of the spawning point, and the same photo with a red tint on the opposite side. The player has all ability items and bracelets up to the black one, but the Boomy is glitched for some reason.
In the pause menu, the level is titled "Level Test", and the game believes it has 6 shell elevator exits, all of which have placeholder images.
Kya- Dark Lineage-level13-devsphoto1.png Kya- Dark Lineage-level13-devsphoto2.png Kya- Dark Lineage-level13-tobo-maze-elevators.png Kya- Dark Lineage-level13-soccer-fight-elevators.png Kya- Dark Lineage-level13-pausemenu1.png Kya- Dark Lineage-level13-pausemenu2.png
There are four separate elevators that go to different sections, these being:

  • Tobo (short for toboggan), which is a slide that doesn't seem to belong to any of the levels accessible during regular gameplay, apart from the backdrop which is the same as the one in the Fortress.
    When the slide ends, the player is forced to fall down.

Kya- Dark Lineage-level13-tobo1.png Kya- Dark Lineage-level13-tobo2.png Kya- Dark Lineage-level13-tobo3.png

  • Kya-maze, which is a maze level inspired by Pac-Man, with Woofs instead of ghosts and magika orbs instead of pellets.
    The elevator takes the player to a platform with a teleport on it, which is probably supposed to warp them inside the maze but doesn't work correctly and instead takes them to Nativ City, meaning cheats are required to go around it. The magika limit is set to 50, but inside the maze there are 71 orbs, so it's also necessary to increase that; furthermore, when collecting the orbs the counter in the HUD doesn't go up, but they are getting counted in the background.
    After the player gathers all the orbs, they can use it to unlock a gate, which takes them inside a black cylinder, but then there isn't anywhere to go.

Kya- Dark Lineage-level13-maze1.png Kya- Dark Lineage-level13-maze2.png Kya- Dark Lineage-level13-maze-blacktunnel.png

  • Soccer, which is a two-player soccer-like game, where two players control two different Kya characters and try to score a goal by kicking a Micken in their opponent's net.
    On the field, there are buttons that can be stepped on, which activate either a moving barrier partially blocking the net, or a moving Amortos in front of it. There also are bombs that can be used by either player to stop their opponent for a few seconds.
    When a player scores, their score is increased by one, and the pictures of the developers seen in the beginning comes out for a few seconds.
    The Boomy works properly in this area, as it can be used to pop the Amortos.

    One peculiar thing about this (and the next) section is that they use local multiplayer with two controllers, while all normally accessible parts of the game never do so. The only multiplayer parts during regular gameplay are the minigames, where each player takes turns with only one controller.

Kya- Dark Lineage-level13-soccer-secondkya.png Kya- Dark Lineage-level13-soccer-bomb.png Kya- Dark Lineage-level13-soccer-barriers.png Kya- Dark Lineage-level13-soccer-devsphoto.png

  • Fight, which is a two-player fighting game in a circular arena, with a raised part on the perimeter, some stacked empty boxes, a suspended walkway going to the middle, and a shredder in the center that instantly kills the player.
    The arena is initially empty with some levers on the ground. By activating one of the levers, an enemy spawns which is the one controlled by the second player.
    While the first player can only be Kya, the second player can control any of the following: another Kya, an unarmed Scrawny, a Scrawny armed with a club, an unarmed Grunt, a Grunt armed with a club, a bandaged Kronos, a black Kronos, Wolfun Frank, Wolfun Aton, and Brazul.
    Apart from Kya, all enemies seem to have the movesets that they use in the regular game when they're being controlled by AI, even having combos.
    Wolun Frank can grab Kya and throw her on the ground, and the Kronos, Wolfun Aton and Brazul can teleport.
    The game ends when either player dies from damage, or from falling in the shredder.
    The Boomy gets removed from the player in this area.

Kya- Dark Lineage-level13-fight-arena1.png Kya- Dark Lineage-level13-fight-arena2.png Kya- Dark Lineage-level13-fight-kyavskya.png Kya- Dark Lineage-level13-fight-frankvskya.png Kya- Dark Lineage-level13-fight-kyavsbrazul.png

The level can be accessed by entering one of the following cheat codes, then booting the game and starting a new game in any save slot or without a memory card:

Start new game at LEVEL_13 (USA)
206DA5B4 0000000D

Start new game at LEVEL_13 (EUROPE)
206DB5B4 0000000D

The broken warp before the maze can be bypassed with one of the following cheat codes, by pressing Triangle + Circle + Left after taking the elevator to the maze section:

Circle + Triangle + Left to teleport and to increase the magika limit (USA)
D0495B9C 0700CF7F
606F2D90 41DCC635
00020000 00000030
606F2D90 C1674937
00020000 00000034
606F2D90 428AAE6D
00020000 00000038
2042495C 00000002

Circle + Triangle + Left to teleport and to increase the magika limit (EUROPE)
D0496C1C 0700CF7F
606F3D90 41DCC635
00020000 00000030
606F3D90 C1674937
00020000 00000034
606F3D90 428AAE6D
00020000 00000038
2042545C 00000002

Alternative methods to access the level are available on the Notes page.

(Source: Original TCRF research)

Debug Menu

Kya- Dark Lineage-debugmenu1.png Kya- Dark Lineage-debugmenu2.png Kya- Dark Lineage-debugmenu3.png

A debug menu can be re-enabled with the below code which was originally activated by using a USB keyboard. This can be only seen on the exit screen. It's not clear if this actually affects anything in-game anymore.

USA code:

Enable Debug Menu
20468430 00000000
20468424 00000000
(Source: Original TCRF research)


In the root directory of the disc (as seen when inserted into a computer), a .ini file (BWITCH.INI, named for an early title of the game) containing global variables (some unused) is found:


	OpenAllTeleporters = 0
	EnableScenaricVarsCheat = 0
	// ReloadSameLevelIfGameOver = 0 // Now useless 

Perhaps for a debug mode? Note that the ReloadSameLevelIfGameOver has been rendered useless by a line in the next section of the file:

	SCN_GAME_COMPANION				= 1		// Companion validity
	SCN_ABILITY_JUMP_BOUNCE			= 1		// Hero ability to bounce on walls - 0 or 1
	SCN_ABILITY_CLIMB				= 1		// Hero ability to climb walls and ceilings - 
0 or 1
	SCN_ABILITY_BOOMY_TYPE			= 3		// Hero ability to launch the boomy - 0 to 3
	SCN_ABILITY_FIGHT				= 63	// Hero ability to fight - 0 or 1
	SCN_ABILITY_MAGIC_EXORCISM		= 1		// Hero ability to exorcize wolfens - 0 or 1
	SCN_ABILITY_MAGIC_REGENERATE	= 1		// Hero ability to transform magic into life - 0 or 1
	SCN_ABILITY_JAMGUT_RIDE			= 1		// Hero ability to ride the Jamguts - 0 or 1
	SCN_ABILITY_BINOCULARS			= 1		// Hero ability to zoom in internal view
	SCN_LEVEL_MAGIC_BOARD			= 2		// Level of the hero sliding board - 0 to 2
	SCN_ABILITY_RECEPTACLE			= 1		// Ability to see and take the runes
	SCN_LEVEL_LIFE_GAUGE			= 50	// Hero's size of life gauge at game begin -
	//SCN_LEVEL_LIFE_UPDATE			= 25	// Hero's life upgrades
	//SCN_LEVEL_LIFE_MAX			= 100	// Hero's max life
	SCN_LEVEL_MAGIC_GAUGE			= 10	// Hero's size of magic gauge at game begin -
	//SCN_LEVEL_MAGIC_UPDATE		= 5		// Hero's magic upgrade
	//SCN_LEVEL_MAGIC_MAX 			= 500	// Hero's max magic

	SCN_GAME_LOAD_NATIVCITY_IF_GAMEOVER = 1 // 1 means Kya respawn at the last main checkpoint

Default variables for a new game:


	// "CdEuro/Level/" by default in the code
	SetPath		= "CdEuro/Level/"

	// "Level_T" by default in the code
	AddLevel	= "LEVEL_1"

Simply sets the default level path and first level.


//	SetVideoMode	= "PAL"			// PAL  : 512x512x32 at 50Hz by default in the code
	SetVideoMode	= "NTSC"		// NTSC : 512x448x32 at 60Hz
	//SetFrequency	= 50			// Could be managed on XBOX (PAL 60Hz)
	//SetFrequency	= 60

	SetOffsetX		= 10
	SetOffsetY		= 0

Note that this file is from an NTSC version; PAL versions would have the NTSC video mode commented out. Also, could an Xbox port of Kya: Dark Lineage have been planned but never released?

		HeroMagic		= 0
		NbEpisodes		= 8

		MinWolfen		= 0
		Scenery			= 1000
		Monster			= 2500
		Bet				= 1000

//			ITEMS:	Boomy Basic:			10
//					Magical Regeneration :	15
//				***	Bombes Traps:			XX

		MinWolfen		= 10
		Scenery			= 1000
		Monster			= 2500
		Bet				= 1000

//	SHOPS:	SHOP_02	(Closed SECT5 TO Open SECT4).
//			ITEMS:	Binoculars:				10
//					F. Arm Ring YELLOW :	1
//					Magical Regeneration:	30
//					Magic Board Jump:		30

		MinWolfen		= 20
		Scenery			= 1000
		Monster			= 2500
		Bet				= 1000

//	SHOPS:	SHOP_03	(Closed SECT17 TO Open SECT18).
//			ITEMS:	Climbing Gloves:		10
//					Electric Bombes:		1
//					F. Arm Ring GREEN :		1

		MinWolfen		= 30
		Scenery			= 1000
		Monster			= 2500
		Bet				= 1000

//	SHOPS:	SHOP_04	(Closed SECT9 TO Open SECT8).
//			ITEMS:	Ext. Life:				100
//					Jamgut BirdCall :		25
//					F. Arm Ring BLUE:		70

		MinWolfen		= 50
		Scenery			= 1000
		Monster			= 2500
		Bet				= 1000

//	SHOPS:	SHOP_06	(Closed SECT14 TO Open SECT13).
//			ITEMS:	Strong Boomy:			50
//					F. Arm Ring BROWN:		50
//					Magical Bounces:		50

		MinWolfen		= 75
		Scenery			= 1000
		Monster			= 2500
		Bet				= 1000

//	SHOPS:	SHOP_05	(Closed SECT22 TO Open SECT20).
//			ITEMS:	Magic Board Accel :		50
//					F. Arm Ring BLACK:		100
//					Gold Boomy:				100

		MinWolfen		= 110
		Scenery			= 1000
		Monster			= 2500
		Bet				= 1000

//	SHOPS:	SHOP_08	(Closed SECT7 TO Open SECT6).
//			ITEMS:	
//					F. Arm Ring SILVER:		1

		MinWolfen		= 200
		Scenery			= 1000
		Monster			= 2500
		Bet				= 1000

//	SHOPS:	SHOP_07	(Closed SECT16 TO Open SECT15).
//					F. Arm Ring GOLD:		1			


Data for all of the episodes in the game, note that "scenery", "monster", and "bet" are all the same values but "MinWolfen" changes from level to level later on in the game.