Welcome to A LINE THROUGH T⌛ME, where I take the time to look
through your favourite franchises and work out how it all lines up.
House of the Dead is coming back thanks to the new remakes,
so let's talk about the timeline and spoil any games that might get remade after 2. Genius.
The House of the Dead released in September 1996,
six months after the first Resident Evil and has basically the same plot (hint-hint).
It was apparently being developed over the course of a year, so this may be
a Red Hood-Winter Soldier type situation. The story centres on AMS operatives Thomas Rogan and
"They call him only G" infiltrating the mansion of Dr. Curien, a mad scientist attempting to create
the ultimate lifeform. Rogan and G defeat this lifeform, the Magician, after it kills Curien.
The game technically has three endings, which are really just epilogues surrounding the fate
of Sophie Richards. Most endings in the series are either minor epilogues or setups for the sequels.
The House of the Dead 2 released in 1998, taking place in Italy in the year 2000,
shortly before the arrival of Giorno Giovanna. This time, we follow James Taylor and Gary
Stewart, AMS operatives who take over for G after he is wounded by an enemy. The AMS are up against
the financial backer of Curien's research, Caleb Goldman, whom they promptly meme into oblivion.
Goldman: "To protect the life cycle."
The following year, Sega released Zombie Revenge, a beat-'em-up following two AMS
agents and a special affairs agent who are hunting a terrorist with a zombie plague that uses the
Curien Mansion as his hideout, with the final two stages being a huge tribute to the first game,
even ending with the terrorist becoming the Black Magician. Being made without the involvement of
main series director Takashi Oda, the game's canonicity is unclear, but if it is canonical,
it probably occurs after the second game,
since the mansion is still abandoned by the time Goldman goes there before 2.
2002 saw the release of The House of the Dead III, taking place in a post-apocalyptic
2019. Rogan goes missing while assaulting the research facility that caused the apocalypse,
leading to G teaming up with Rogan and Sophie's daughter Lisa, who is something of a trendsetter
in horror game female character designs. She also marks yet another horror game series with a Lisa
and a James. Anyway, the two find Rogan along with Daniel Curien, the son of the doctor whose
research was all to save his son's life. Lisa and Daniel destroy Curien's final creation,
a digitised version of himself called the Wheel of Fortune. One of the endings sets
up the next antagonist, despite remaining the last event in the current timeline.
2005's The House of the Dead 4 is instead an interquel,
taking place in 2003 with James and newcomer Kate Green (presumably not the
Dead Rising character) teaming up to stop a nuclear strike that serves as Goldman's
final scheme. James sacrifices himself to destroy Goldman's final creation, The World,
and you've already had your JoJoke for the episode, so shut up. Two of the endings set
up the next instalment with appearances by G and the mystery man from the last game.
The House of the Dead 4 Special is a direct sequel released the following year,
picking up soon after 4 with Kate and G teaming up to stop a revived Magician.
The mystery man once again appears in an ending to set up the third game.
In 2009, The House of the Dead: Overkill was released on the Wii, with a PS3 director's
cut released in 2011. The game is a prequel set in 1991, starring a younger G with his
new F-word-loving partner, Isaac Washington, who almost singlehandedly earned the game the
Guinness world record for the most swearing in a video game. The two are hunting an unrelated
mad scientist who is creating mutants, which are mostly classic Romero zombies, with G being
adamant that they don't call them zombies, since those are exclusive to Zombie Revenge.
Prelude to an Overkill is a comic prequel about Isaac and Varla directly before the game.
The same year, Loving Deads: The House of the Dead EX released,
following a female creature Curien created that falls in love with another creature and
runs off to join Sonic and Sega All-Stars Racing as the reps for the "Curien Mansion" franchise.
I'm pretty sure you can use the word "dead" in a game for kids if you've put a fucking
zombie in it, guys. Yes, this rant is the only reason I mentioned this game, shut up.
The main story finally continued in 2018's House of the Dead: Scarlet Dawn. The game
sees Kate teaming up with James' brother, Ryan Taylor, three years after James' death.
Finally, the mystery man is explained to be a man named Thornheart, whose
ancestor formed the Thornheart organisation along with Curien and Goldman's ancestors.
This organisation is responsible for the first, second and fourth game's events. Naturally,
nothing can be done about this fact because Thornheart is still alive thirteen years later.
And that's it for the series so far. Hopefully, the remakes of 1 and 2 can
help to drum up interest in getting more of the series available on modern systems and
to get a sequel to III made to finally wrap up this Thornheart story. I mean,
come on, Street Fighter's finally moving past its third instalment,
so this series now has about five years to move forward before it officially becomes sad.
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If not, then make sure to share it with your enemies so they can suffer along with you.
Today's recommended video is Phelous' House of the Dead movie review. This was back when he
was doing his weird die every episode/Doctor Who bit so it's a bit weird for newcomers,
but this is a review of an Uwe Boll adaptation, so you know he's gonna have lots to talk about.