aka Dark Messiah

The only thing you can do is
To run away and keep running

Is it life? Is it death?
An unimaginable horror is about to begin.

Hellnight aka Dark Messiah is (C) to Konami, Atlus,
and the other respective developers. I own no right
to the game beyond the copy that is sitting in my 
room. This FAQ, however, is (C) to me. 

This FAQ is allowed on the following sites:

0... History
1... Welcome to the Mesh!
2... Dungeon
3... Inside Rooms
4... Companions
5... Monster Survival Tips
6... Questions 
7... Future Updates
8... Thanks
9... Contact

[0... History]
January 25, 2005... version 1.0
This is the first version. Much of the basic info is here.
May or may not add additional information such as basic items.

June 08, 2006... version 1.5
Deleted useless text; rearranged some information; added some 

[1... Welcome to the Mesh!]
This space to be filled with relevant fluff later.

Some basic terminology in the meantime:

The Mesh: The vast underground city you find yourself trapped 
in. Houses many bizarre types of folk in addition to one very 
angry monster.

The Monster: The bizarre creature that chases you throughout the
game. Changes its appearance over time but remains just as deadly.

[2... Dungeon]
These are the 3-Dimensional first person areas you spend much of 
the game in. While you can occasionally stumble into people while 
moving through the Mesh, you spend most of the game moving from 
area to area, running from the monster when necessary. 

L1: Strafe left
A necessary device in first person shooters, for dodging enemy 
gunfire. Since the enemy here does not so much fire at you but 
chase you, it seems a bit useless. Can be handy for a quick duck 
into a hallway on your left, however.

L2: Look behind
Useful for those times when you want to check the monster's 
relative position but don't want to halt your fleeing.

R1: Strafe right
Just like Strafe left, only in the opposite direction.

R2: Use with directional buttons to look in 360 degrees
Useful for peering at levels below your own; 
other than that, useless.

Start: Map
Useful for obvious reasons. The map is filled in as you progress 
through eachlevel; however, important doors are not marked. 
Memorization of important locations is key. Your current location 
is marked by a pointer. Note: If you have Naomi as a companion and 
the monster is close to your position, it will be marked as a 
separate pointer on your map screen. 
See [3... Companions] for more information.

Up: Move forward
Down: Move backward
Left: Turn left
Right: Turn right

Triangle: Map
See Start: Map above.

Square: Companion
Companions are people you can meet who will travel with you. 
Pressing square during a moment of silence will prompt them to 
chat with you. They'll often offer advice or hints based on your 
current location or people you've just met. 
It can be useful to see what they have to say. 
If you are alone, you will ruminate on how hopeless the situation 
is. Pressing square while the monster is chasing will prompt your 
companion (as long as they're armed!) to open fire on the monster 
and stall it, thus leaving more time to flee. It should be noted, 
however, that their guns will eventually run out of ammunition, 
so use this ability sparingly. See [4... Companions] for more 
information on the various Companions you encounter.

Circle: Open door
Gets you into a room and provides a means of quick escape from 
a chasing monster (see [6...] Monster Survival Tips for more 
information). Note that not all doors will open, however!

X: Run
There will be times when the monster is too close for comfort. 
It is at these times that you should run. However, running should 
be used as a last ditch device; while it does greatly boost your 
speed, it will quickly exhaust you. Run for too long and you'll 
be momentarily paralyzed as you're forced to catch your breath. 
This is not good when you have a monster onyour tail. See 
[6... Monster Survival Tips] for more information. 

[3... Inside Rooms]
These are the still image areas that will often house people 
you can talkto or items you pick up (or, at times, both). Some 
people will be necessary to chat with; others will provide 
useless chatter. Either way, it's recommended that you check any 
and all rooms as you progress through the game.

Up/Down/Left/Right: Select different items/people

Select: Options
You can access various game options.

Triangle: Cancel
Exits a room or cancels out of an item/question.

O: Confirm
The opposite of Cancel; confirms or selects an item.

[4... Companions]
Companions are people you can meet who will travel with you. 
Companions will only travel with you if you are alone. Hence, 
if you want to travel with Kamiya, Naomi must die in some way, 
and so on. Companions can offer both conversation and act 
against the monster; just what they can do depends on the 
companion. See their descriptions for more information.
If you're apathetic enough, companions can also offer an 
extra hit of protection against the monster, though once 
they're struck by the monster, they're gone forever. 
Judge wisely.

See [2... Dungeon] for more information on Companion control.

Naomi Sugiura
Age: 17
Nationality: Japanese
Blood type: O
Occupation: Schoolgirl
Weapon: None
Ammo: N/A
Where?: You begin the game with her. 
Pro: She lacks a weapon, but she has the ability to psychically 
'sense' the monster. She will forewarn you of its approach a few 
times, and she will enable you to see its position on the map, 
provided it is actually close to you. 
Con: Completely defenseless due to her lack of a weapon. 
Due to this she tends to die more than any other companion.

Kyoji Kamiya 
Age: 28
Nationality: Japanese
Blood type: A
Occupation: Serial killer
Weapon: Heckler Koch Customized JP 70
Ammo: 18 rounds
Where?: You meet up with him in the Bar. 
Pro: Has a weapon with a good amount of ammunition. 
Meet him fairly early on.
Con: May try to kill people you meet. If you make a wrong
decision in his eyes, he may decide to off you.

Leroy Ivanoff
Age: 30
Nationality: Russian
Blood type: B
Occupation: Commander of "Organ"
Weapon: Hydra-2
Ammo: 12 rockets 
Where?: You meet up with him in the Storage room in 
the Research area.
Pro: He has a weapon with midrange ammo.
Con: The monster is all over the area you meet him in. 

Rene Lorraine
Age: 27
Nationality: French
Blood type: A
Occupation: Journalist
Weapon: Ingram M11
Ammo: 5 rounds
Where?: Soldier's Quarters
Pro: Has a weapon. 
Con: Low ammo count. 
She appears near the end of the game.

Age: N/A
Nationality: N/A
Blood type: N/A
Occupation: ???
Weapon: Energy Attack
Ammo: 2 rounds?
Where?: The Hive
Pro: Effective attack, 
and provides companionship if you lack any.
Con: Low number of attacks. 
Doesn't stick around for long.

[5... Monster Survival Tips]
This section basically restates some information mentioned above,
but is critical to survival. Read each of these tips carefully.

- If you have Naomi with you, constantly check the map. 
If the monster is close, its location will be revealed to you, 
and you can make immediate plans to escape. Remember that the monster 
is represented as a triangle, while the player is represented 
as the arrow. 

- Even if you don't have Naomi with you, constantly check the map. 
You may find yourself backtracking into areas you've already touched
upon in your efforts to escape the monster. You want to be sure that
you don't accidentally stumble into a dead end!

- Listen carefully for its noises. The closer it gets, the louder it
gets! Should the sounds become too loud, use L2 to check to see if it's
closing in on you (or check the map, if you have Naomi).

- Always duck inside a room if the monster is right on your tail. 
The monster will typically run right past the room, leaving you 
with some safe distance. However, some doors can be locked, 
so choose wisely.

- The monster, as fast as it can be, has a relatively slow 
turning speed. While this can be difficult to get down, you can
actually try to dash past it as it turns towards you. This is much
easier to attempt with Naomi, as you can watch the monster's approach
on the map, but with practice, it can be done with all of the 

As an example,

         |O    |
         |     |
         |     |
         |     |
In this case, X represents the approaching monster, and O 
represents the player. The monster seems to have a psychic sense 
and can often home right in on you if you remain 
still for too long. 

         |O    |
         |     |
         |     |
         |     |
The monster, having been heading right, stops in the center
of this intersection and swings towards you...

       <--- X
         |O    |
         |     |
         |     |
         |     |
And, if you get your timing down right, you can swing down
the way it was heading and take off. This is a risky tactic, 
so only use it when absolutely necessary... it's
far too easy to kill your companion/yourself attempting this!

- Holding X enables you to run. However, running for too long
will slowly cause the screen to fill with red and 'pulse'. 
You'll eventually be paralyzed entirely, which is not good 
when you are being pursued by the monster! The way to overcome
this is to run in spurts: hold X down briefly, let it go, hold
X down briefly, let it go, etc. If you can't risk its getting 
too close to you, then feel free to hold it down and run until 
you've lost it by several squares of distance. Then, you should
rest and wait for the red/pulsing to fade. 

[6...] Questions
Q: What is this?
A: Hellnight, aka Dark Messiah. This is a first-person 
"survival horror" which involves you trying to escape the "Mesh"
and underground Tokyo, and dodging the attempts of a 
horrible monster on your life.

Q: Is it Dark Messiah or Hell Night?
A: Dark Messiah is the JP release title, 
and Hell Night is the EU release title.

Q: What's the difference between the two regional releases?
A: With the Japanese release, unsurprisingly, the game is entirely 
in Japanese. The European release retains language support for English,
German, and Spanish, and despite some hilariously bad engrish, 
the translation <seems> relatively competent.

Q: Why it I've never heard of this game?
A: This title was only released in Japan and Europe, and supposedly, 
reviews weren't very good. Thus, sales were low. This is a shame, as
this title, despite some rough issues, is a very solid, 
unique piece of gaming.

Q: Where can I get it?
A: eBay. Check around in Europe, Australia, and Canada, as a few 
copies crop up for sale amidst those areas every month or so. Be 
prepared to pay any range of prices in pursuit of the game. Should 
you not want to spend the time actually paying for a piece of gaming 
history, then there should be a torrent floating about on the Net with
a well-burned ISO of Hellnight. 

Q: How many endings are there?
One for each of the companions, and one by yourself. 

[7... Future Updates]
I would like to add information on:
* The items. The Mole provides information on every single item you 
can receive in the game. Should check with him for that information.
* Backstory. Can always check the manual for this stuff.
* Step-by-step walkthrough? Not likely due to the length of the game 
but possible.

[8... Thanks]
I'd like to thank 16bitman of Chris' Survival Horror forum 
(www.dreamdawn.com/sh/forum) for sending me an actual copy of the game!

I'd also like to thank Chris of Chris' Survival Horror (www.dreamdawn.com/sh)
for providing a site focusing on one of my interests. Without the site, 
I would have never learned of Hellnight's existence!

[9... Contact]
If you want to contact me about Hellnight/Dark Messiah, 
e-mail me at endaso@gmail.com, with "Hellnight" in the subject line.