Medievil (1998)

This was one of my favorite PlayStation games. It was tricky, but fun mostly. There were levels that were tricky, but other levels were incredibly fun

Summary

-You play as Daniel Fortescue, a knight who was killed in battle at the Battle of Gallowmere. He's brought back to life to fight an evil magician named Zarok, who plans to destroy the world

Info

-In each level, you pick up Ancient Runes. They are for Time, Moon, Star, Chaos and Earth. These runes can be used to access new areas, operate machinery or gain new powerups. Insert them into the correct hand by simply walking up to it and the stone will automatically fill the hand to give you a new powerup, access a new area or operate machinery

-Each level also has chests of money, worth 50 coins and bags of money, worth 10 coins. There will also be green fountains shooting up. These replenish your life meter. Once you deplete this fountain, it disappears, only showing as a black burn mark on the ground. Occasionally, you'll find small green vials. Collect these, as they are life vials. They also replenish your life meter. There are even life bottles you can pick up which add more life to you. You can also pick up different types of shields which add varying levels of protection. They include the Silver Shield, which is strong and the Copper Shield, which is weak

-Anytime you see green floating orbs around an area, this is the end of the level. Pass through the green floating orbs to exit the level

-When you kill enemies, their soul disappears. It fills a Chalice that you need to collect at the end. Each level has a Chalice that you need to collect

-When you retrieve the Chalice, you'll be taken to the Hall of Heroes. Here is where statues provide you with new weapons or powerups. Simply find the glowing statue and stand on the chalice icon in front of them until it glows. The statue will tell a short story before providing you with a new weapon or powerup

-On the map, you can choose what area you want to go to. A good tip to remember is that if you want to replenish your life levels and money, always replay The Graveyard. This will help you replenish money and life bottles

-Throughout each level, you will see either a book on a podium or a gargoyle. Both will tell stories related to the level

-There are also merchant gargoyles that allow you to purchase ammunition for your weapons and more. Approach one and watch as the eyes light up. Hit the action button (triangle) to activate it

-There are some chests that you see that do not contain a reward. There are exploding chests in here that, if you touch them and see them start flashing, run away! They are going to explode! They will be marked with an X

Levels

The Graveyard

-Just as it sounds, this is a graveyard. You will see both open and closed graves all around. The enemies you face here will be zombies. You will see the ground rising, as if something is coming above ground. And it will be zombies

-The Chalice is at the end, behind a gate. Slash the statue to open the gate and access the Chalice. Then proceed towards the Exit sign

Cemetery Hill

-Another cemetery, this one involves a witches circle. You must light the right torch to open all of the rooms. Use the Club to light the torch. To get the Club, you must go to an area off to the left near the entrance and drop down into a fenced off area. Once you get the Club, the gate opens

-The Chalice will be in one of the rooms near the Witches Circle. After collecting the Chalice, you re-enter the main area and proceed up the twisting and turning hill, dodging obstacles until you reach the top of the hill

Hilltop Mausoleum

-A mausoleum on the top of the hill.

-To access the basement area, there is a glass casket that must be smashed. Explore around, collect the chests / bags of coins and avoid the Imps running around. They will hurt you and one will steal your weapons. After picking up the Chaos Rune, use it on the appropriate holder to access a room with a block holding a fire. There will be a glass heart nearby. Once you push the block with fire under that heart, the heat will shatter it, releasing the energy inside. Once you go back upstairs, you face your first boss level, the Stained Glass Demon. The only time he is vulnerable is when his heart is outside of his body. Attack the heart and you defeat the Stained Glass Demon and get a Skull Key

-There is an organ player here who needs his Sheet Music. Find the Sheet Music and give it to the organ player to access the Chalice

Return to the Graveyard

-A return to the graveyard from Level 1. With the Skull Key retrieved from the Hilltop Mausoleum

-Here you go through a wooden door that was unable to be accessed in Level 1: The Cemetery. You now have a new enemy to face in this level: wolves. Defeat the wolves and proceed. The Chalice will be in a tunnel

-The boss level here are called Guardians of the Graveyard. They are wolves and will blink in and out of existence. Attack them when they are solid and you'll beat the level

Scarecrow Fields

-A creepy cornfield out of your worst nightmares

-DO NOT GO INTO THE CORNFIELD! The trolls that live here will kill you!

-The Chalice is hidden in an old barn that can only be accessed by getting a harvester part to get the harvester up and running. You'll also have an ally. A serpent named Kal Katura. This giant serpent will attack everything in it's path for you and disappear after a while. He will follow you

Pumpkin Gorge

-A pumpkin patch gone wrong, where the pumpkins attack by attempting to crush you

-The Chalice is in a tunnel. Attack the roots in the tunnel to destroy them

-The pumpkins here can be smashed to keep them from hurting you

Pumpkin Serpent

-The Pumpkin King rules over this domain

-The Chalice is in a small building on the site. You must destroy all ten pods you see scattered around the area. Once you defeat the Pumpkin King, you now must fight Pumpkin Creatures. These are creatures with pumpkins for heads and vines and stalks for bodies

-With the Witches Talisman, you'll see a cauldron bubbling over a fire nearby. Give it to the witch, who will summon the Pumpkin King. Once you defeat him, revisit the witch, who will give you a Dragon Eye Gem

The Sleeping Village

-A village possessed under a dark spell

-Here in this level, the Chalice is at 55%. You'll see men, women and children running around. DO NOT KILL THESE PEOPLE! They are simple villagers under a dark spell and killing them will lower your Chalice and tell you a good soul was taken

-Towards the end of the level, soldiers under the command of Zarok will start filing into town. These are the enemies you kill to fill the chalice

-There are buildings you must go into to get various items. Like a Crucifix Mold, a Landlord's Bust, a Shadow Artifact and a Safe Key. These items are used to complete various mini missions to get additional items

The Asylum Grounds

-A lush garden outside of a Victorian-era mental asylum

-Here you must solve riddles issued to you by a character known as Jack of the Green. These riddles are as follows: 1.) find all five star-shaped trees, 2.) Make all of the faceplates smile to cheer up the sad clown, 3.) Near where you pick up the Chaos Rune, have the mouse follow you to scare the Elephant. 4.) push the statues towards the implants at the lonely house. Finally, use your knowledge of chess to knock the pieces into their correct spot. They can be easily moved, but once in their correct spot, they are locked in place and cannot be moved. Once you beat the giant chessboard, you can proceed to the Asylum

-The Chalice will be at the end of the initial corridor in which you enter the area

Inside the Asylum

-The inside of the Victorian-era asylum

-This level can be a bit tricky. The enemies here are the lunatics that run around. The Chalice will be in a cell you must pass through to exit the level. Remember to talk to the resident of the cell to get the Dragon Gem. In this level, you only pick up one Ancient Rune, an Earth Rune

Enchanted Earth

-A magic-filled forest where the plants and other fauna attack back

-The enemies you kill will be Shadow Demons. They will come out when you collect the Shadow Talisman. After killing all of the demons, you can collect the Chalice

-There is a door shaped like an owl. In order to open it, use the Shadow Artifact to gain access. A puzzle will need to be solved. Knock the four tiles in a certain order that goes: Fire, Earth, Water, Wind. Once you complete this, all gates will open

-There is an area where you ascend a giant tree, which contains a bird's nest on top. Push the eggs out of the nest to smash them. At the same time, duck when the talons of the giant bird swoop down. Collect the prizes and return to the forest floor

-The boss level of this level is a giant chessboard that will tilt, attempting to knock you off. At the same time, defeat at least one of the demons to keep the board level. Once both demons are defeated, you will ascend to another area and this area will return you to the forest

Ant Caves

-A busy ant mound

-The main boss level here is the Queen Ant

-To access the Chalice, free all of the imprisoned Fairies. In order to access the Ant Caves, use the Witches' Talisman you picked up in Level 2: Cemetery Hill. There will be a bubbling cauldron in a small wooded area in Level 11: Enchanted Earth. And there will be a small ant mound nearby. Give the talisman to the witch and she will shrink you to enter the ant caves

-Collect the Amber you see throughout the caves. Then present them to the witch for a reward

-In order to get the Chalice, kill ants and leeches

Pools of the Ancient Dead

-A swampy battleground littered with the corpses of the dead

-It's tricky to navigate some areas here, as there is little to no room to jump from place to place and the paths can be quite narrow

-To exit the level, you must collect 8 souls for Charon, the Boat Man who will take you to the next level. You will see bridges connecting various areas. Once you collect these souls, these bridges will disappear. The easiest way to kill the heavily armed soldiers is to knock them into the swampy water before they do that same thing to you. They will use their massive stomach to hit you and knock you off the path. There will also be ghosts of soldiers floating through the air who will throw fire at you. Kill them to get the Chalice, which is at the end of a narrow path

The Lake

-A creepy lake filled with an ominous silence. This creepy lake has a massive whirlpool or maelstrom, as some might call it, ringed by a circular boardwalk. To stop the turbulent waters completely, insert all four Ancient Runes into their correct holders

There will be creatures who jump out of the water. They will hunch over, making them impenetrable. The only time you can attack them is when they are standing straight up. Jump when they shoot fire at you

-Here you collect four Ancient Runes: Earth, Chaos, Star and Time

-The Chalice will be in an room that can be accessed only by inserting all four runes into their correct hands and stopping the whirling waters and sliding down them. This will take you to a tunnel underwater and lead you into a sort of outbuilding

-There will be a switch near the beginning that can change the direction of the boardwalk. Remember this as it will help you access different areas

The Crystal Caves

-A crystal-filled cave

-There will be a room with a Dragon image. Insert the Dragon Gems you collected in previous levels. Defeat the Dragon and you will be awarded the Dragon Armor, which allows you more protection and the ability to breathe fire

-The Chalice will be in a room near the start of the level. As you are descending (carefully) down the thin path leading to the caves, defeat the black, fiery-eyed demons you see flying around to fill the Chalice

The Gallows Gauntlet

-A sort of cave where you see the swinging bodies of dead men

-There is one area where you need the Dragon Armor to safely pass through. There is a chest that will automatically open and release a red version of the Kul Katura serpent you met in Scarecrow Fields. This serpent is not your ally, but your enemy. He will be wearing a skull mask, unlike the previous serpent. He will do massive damage. Outrun him until he disappears!

-There are two end goals here. The first one is located just around the corner from the Dragon Gate and will lead you back to the world map. Avoid this one. The actual end goal is located at the far end of the room

-The Chalice is located in a little room near the end of the level. To fill it, kill the hanging gallows men who come after you

The Haunted Ruins

-Welcome to King Peregrin's castle

-Upon entering the level, you'll notice that the Chalice is already at 12%. There will be an area where three men were sentenced to hang, and they are hanging over fire. Use the Club or Hammer to put out the fire to save their lives

-The Chalice is located in an overlook near the beginning of the level

-In order to lower the drawbridge, release the chickens so they can eat the feed and reveal a switch. To exit the level, you must find King Peregrin's crown and bring it to the throne. His spirit will briefly appear and then you'll have 2:15 to finish the level, killing enemies and collect the Chalice. You'll need to destroy 2 stone golems using the Dragon Armor and use the Earth Rune to dry the oil pond. Then activate the catapult, which will send you flying out of the castle

Shadow Demon. This is one of the enemies you start facing later in the game

The Ghost Ship

-A floating pirate ship

-If you see white piles of bones, they will automatically assemble to form ghost pirates who will attack

-As you will see, this ship appears to be in the midst of battle. Cannonballs are flying, pirates on the loose, cannons firing from side flap doors

-The Chalice is located in an area near some swinging bridges and hanging cages

-The boss of the level is the Pirate Captain. To defeat him, use the Club as a torch, light it on fire and use it to fire the cannons at him

-This is the toughest level you will have faced so far

The Entrance Hall

-A hallway filled with ancient magic

-This is, by far, the easiest level you'll face, apart from the early levels of the game

-The Chalice is located in an alcove at the bottom of a swirling stone staircase about halfway down from the entrance to the level

The Time Device

-This area is obsessed with time

-The Chalice is located in a small room near some faces that shoot out lasers. Arrange the lasers to form a square grid to shatter the crystal. This will lower all laser beams in the level

-There is a massive clock at the center of the level. There are two doors that will open only if the time on the door matches the time on the main clock

-In the round Train Room, push the wooden stick to control the direction of the train. Once you have completed your goals and collected the Chalice, push the train in the direction of the exit and hop on

Zarok's Lair

-This will be the boss level. Surprisingly, it's not all that difficult. It's tricky, but not impossible

-Fill up completely on life, ammunition, everything you'll need

-You'll have troops fighting the evil hordes created by Zarok. Use the Good Lightning on the skeletons turning red. That will renew their life. And when this battle is over, go around collecting the life bottles

-Next you fight The Horseman. He'll have a shield around him occasionally. When the shield drops, throw everything you can at him

-Finally, it's time to take on Zarok. The preferred weapon would be the Magic Sword. It does the maximum amount of damage. The only time he's vulnerable is when he rears his head and spews acid. Keep running around to keep from getting hurt. Once you defeat him, you've beaten the game