As the fifth episode of the adventure opens, the player is exploring a desolate city called “City on Water”. Surrounded by an infinite stretch of water, at close quarters the city resembles Venice: many of the buildings are inspired by those of the capital city of the Veneto Region, including the Basilica of St. Mark, the Rialto Bridge and the Doge's Palace. One of the buildings, however, evokes Palazzo Vecchio in Florence. More generally, the location appears to be the famous lagoon city in an apocalyptic perspective, set for the occasion in a noxious colour palette of oranges and yellows that evokes the sensation of being surrounded by the vapours of hell, suitably desertified and filled with horrible adversaries, ready to attack the player from every palazzo, calle and canal.
As the fifth episode of the adventure opens, the player is exploring a desolate city called “City on Water”. Surrounded by an infinite stretch of water, at close quarters the city resembles Venice: many of the buildings are inspired by those of the capital city of the Veneto Region, including the Basilica of St. Mark, the Rialto Bridge and the Doge's Palace. One of the buildings, however, evokes Palazzo Vecchio in Florence. More generally, the location appears to be the famous lagoon city in an apocalyptic perspective, set for the occasion in a noxious colour palette of oranges and yellows that evokes the sensation of being surrounded by the vapours of hell, suitably desertified and filled with horrible adversaries, ready to attack the player from every palazzo, calle and canal.
Grafting hellish horror onto the frenetic dynamics of first-person shooter, Painkiller lays out the story of the recently deceased Daniel Garner who awakes after death in Purgatory and is entrusted by the angel Samaele, messenger from God, with defeating Lucifer. The hero of the story accepts the task, on condition that once the demon has been defeated he may join his beloved in the heavens. Set in the depths of hell, the title from People can Fly pits the player against unending hordes of terrifying creatures in the desperate attempt to escape a tricky game between the gods that appears to leave no quarter.
