Outer Bastion - The Dark Prophecy - Legacy of Kain: The Lost Worlds

Outer Bastion

article by Divine Shadow

Media

Concept Art [1/4]

Concept Art [2/4]

Concept Art [3/4]

Concept Art [4/4]

Description

This area seems to be divided into three sub area. The first is depicted in two pieces of concept art as some sort of lower courtyard area, and appears to be in a crumbling and dilapidated condition. There are numerous notes by the artist labelling "broken area" and "no access", suggesting that rubble and debris could be obstacles. There are what appears to be small abandoned buildings and roofed areas in the courtyard, and numerous barrels, various ladders and a wheel scattered about. One of the sketches may show a gaunt humanoid figure hanging from gallows. The artist has noted "spikes", "banner" and "flag" as being notable details in the area.

To the back of this courtyard area is a high and fortified wall, defensively facing the rubble. There are some fragile-looking ladders connecting the lower area with the fortified upper area. Beyond the fortification is an ascending stairway.

The second area depicted appears to be the most ruined part of the bastion, a highly weathered area experiencing a heavy blizzard. There are ladders visible appearing to descend to an unseen lower level, and sewers or guttering pouring an unknown liquid out of the structure. To the top right of this image we can see a toppling, heavily damaged structure that appears to be slowly leaning into the abyss below.

The third area is much better preserved, and seems to be a gatehouse partitioning the outer bastion area with the next location. On the visible side of the gatehouse we can see upturned barrels and what may be the remnants of a cart. The building is tall and lit by torches, with barred windows at both sides of the gate. Towards the top of the building is a large circular emblem of a winged sword, and above this four thin towers seem to rise over the area.

Annotated Image [1/4]

Annotated Image [2/4]

Annotated Image [3/4]

Annotated Image [4/4]

Story Speculation

One of the concept pieces is called "entrance from cave", suggesting that The Bridge and the Outer Bastion are linked by a tunnel through the rocky mountain cradling the Bastion. Kain may have entered a cave at the top of the previous level, and used the doors seen in the courtyard image to enter the outer Bastion area.

This area possesses a number of features that suggest it may have once been a settlement or work camp. The small buildings could have been dwellings, and the upturned cart, solitary wheel, covered areas, numerous barrels and other unidentifiable debris being the leftovers of the people who once lived and worked here. These people could have been the original workforce who built the Bastion, or servants of the Sarafan knights that lived in the inner sanctum.

The tall, thick, defensive wall facing this slum area could signify that these people may have actually been here against their will, and could have been present through slavery rather than employment. This would also explain the possible hanging corpse seen in one of the images, perhaps a slave who did not meet his or her work quota.

The upturned barrels and wooden debris suggests that this area may have been evacuated in a hurry. The ladders placed against the fortified wall could have been relics of a (possibly successful) escape attempt. The slaves, fearful of Malek's madness as one of the deranged "destroyers of hope", could have staged an escape and abandoned the Bastion completely. We know that Malek had a plume of human hair attached to his helmet, he may have acquired this while hunting down the escapee slaves.

This area does have lit torches, and rubble appears to have been cleared to allow some degree of passage. It could be that this areas only function in the present is to enable passage between the occupied Inner Bastion, and The Bridge.

The artwork suggests that Kain would have traversed the courtyard and former settlement area, assailed the fortified wall, passed through a heavily weathered and windy area, and reached a gatehouse. He would have likely passed through this gatehouse to reach the Inner Bastion.

Speculative Map

Speculative arrangement of this area in relation to others

Speculative progression through the game world

Source

These images were originally found in the DeviantArt account of Andez Gaston, and was later published on his official blog. Screenshots are preserved here for historical reference:

A page from Andez Gaston's blog [1/4]

A page from Andez Gaston's blog [2/4]

A page from Andez Gaston's blog [3/4]

A page from Andez Gaston's blog [4/4]

Andez and his brother Anderson were freelance conceptual artists hired by Ritual Entertainment in 2004 to work on The Dark Prophecy. Andez confirms his work on the game on their joint portfolio blog site, on his individual portfolio, and in image annotations in his DeviantArt account:

Legacy of Kain : Dark prophecy (cancelled game of 04)

while scoping YouTube I manage to run into a video of a project quite familiar and it brought back memories when we were still young.my brother and I had just been hired at a video game company at the time which was still known as ritual entertainment to work on a game that many people knew very well. though nothing came to fruition that project was to be legacy of Kain: Dark Prophecy for the PS2. for those of you interested in seeing some of the character/creature designs click on the link below

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Ritual Enertainment-Legacy of Kain: the dark prophecy(cancelled Game)concept artists (ag/dez) 2003-04

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Legacy of Kain : Dark Prophecy concept art

concept art done during our time at the company once known as ritual entertainment. for what was supposed to be the final chapter in the Kain series. the game was later cancelled for reasons unknown if given the chance i would work on this again in a heartbeat.- agartofgastonbros.blogspot.com

— artofgastonbros.blogspot.com

Legacy of Kain :Dark Prophecy game art(cancelled) the non interesting stuff about game development art. If you're planning to work in games be prepared to do a lot of breakaway concept art and props.

— douedgezword.deviantart.com

The concept pieces for this area were released with the original filenames kain-entrancefromcave, acrosscrumblingbridgerough, kain-maliekmaingate copy, and kain-MB1. The name "Outer Bastion" has been assumed as no official name for the area has been given, but the artworks all seem to depict the outer area of Malek's Bastion.

Links