Venture (Video Game)

*”Are our lives meaningless? Perhaps from a certain point of view. One shudders to imagine our great insignificance in the grand scheme of the universe... but we create our own meaning on this planet. Have I done nothing in the face of a potential afterlife, the lack of one, or another galaxy? Maybe. But am I one of the wealthiest and most famous men on Earth? Yes. We must learn to set our expectations somewhat realistically, but never fall back when faced with the possibility of becoming more. Planet Venture gives us just that...”*

— Robert Jacob

## Venture

### Caption

Credits to the creator of “The Frontman” font

### Rating

Note: All content classifications are theoretical.T for Blood & Gore, Crude Humor, Language, Partial Nudity, Sexual Themes, Use of Alcohol and Drugs, Violence

17+ for Infrequent/Mild Alcohol, Tobacco, or Drug Use or References, Frequent/Intense Realistic Violence, Infrequent/Mild Mature/Suggestive Themes, Infrequent/Mild Sexual Content and Nudity, Infrequent/Mild Profanity or Crude Humor, Frequent/Intense Cartoon or Fantasy Violence, Frequent/Intense Horror or Fear Themes.

PEGI 16 for realistic-looking violence towards human-like characters and strong violence towards fantasy characters.

USK 16

MA15+ for Strong Violence, Strong Horror Themes (Many bootlegs with the same content are rated R18+)

GCAM 16

Brazil 16 for Violence

CERO D (17+) for Crime, Violence

Singapore M18

Taiwan 15+

PG15

**Venture**is an action/adventure video game created by 1001 Spears.

## Gameplay

Venture plays like a linear action/adventure game. Players navigate environments in attempts to reach a key location or find a specific item. Hostile creatures roam certain areas, and can be eliminated in a few ways; while combat is possible, the player‘s character is underpowered compared to most creatures (i.e. lower health, slower speed), and are recommended to use the environment against enemies in addition to standard combat. Weapons and items may make combat easier, but can also break from extended use.

The game's combat mechanics are based on those from *Middle-earth:* *Shadow of Mordor*. Players can engage in melee, ranged combat, or stealth approaches, with certain quests giving extra rewards for completing the mission in a particular manner. The combat uses an attack-chain system that enables the player to perform special moves after building the chain to a large value. The player can also block and dodge attacks. Stealth is a critical element in certain levels; should the player be caught near a nest, a call will sound and an enemy pack will arrive in an attempt to kill the player's character.

In addition to combat, players use tools to solve puzzles (e.g. cutting through vines with swords). Other puzzles require specific items found in levels, and other items must be found to complete levels.

### List of Puzzle Elements

* Simon Walls: Simon Walls are based on the memory game of the same name. Four patterned tiles glow in a randomly-generated pattern. After the pattern has been displayed, the player must repeat the pattern by pressing the tiles in the correct order. If the order is incorrect, the pattern is reset.
* ”Game Show” Walls
* Color/Symbol Item Match:
* Sokoban: These require a Strength Enhancement Elixir.
* Sliding Puzzle Walls
* Memory Match: Many overturned tiles are involved, with four possible matches for each tile. For each turn, the player flips over two tiles; if they match, the tiles stay overturned. Otherwise, the tiles go back to where they were.
* Bloxorz
* Fire ‘N' Ice
* Pipe Dream

### Unused

Players may use a variety of tools (i.e. picks, hatchets, spades) to destroy existing structures, flora, and natural formations to collect basic resources, mainly timber, minerals, and metals. The player may use these materials to construct shelters, barricades, or other structures, which are made from different combinations of four construction pieces; walls, floors, roofs, and stairs. Such construction pieces can be edited to add windows, doors, and/or trapdoors provided the player has enough resources.

Combat moves are done either by left clicking or using a combination of keys pressed. For example, a sword's slash defaults to X on an Xbox controller, while Y is used to counter or evade enemy attacks. Players can also press A to vault over creatures they have a height advantage on (any creature below 5' can be jumped over).

## Mantra

Brendan uses a mantra that the game will use the sword-fighting combat of *Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor*, the fistfighting of the *Batman: Arkham* series, and the gun-based combat of *Titanfall*, with Venture only using "the best elements from the two". Outside of combat, the game is much like the *Grand Theft Auto* series, with players getting the choice to either explore the open world or go on missions. The game is themed with a combination of medieval and modern fantasy elements.

## Setting

Venture takes place on the aptly titled Planet Venture, an “alternate reality“ version of the Earth. Levels typically take place in notable areas of the planet, including deserts, snowfields, rainforests, plains, alps, woodlands, caverns, oceans, or reservoirs. Certain chapters explore different “dimensions” of Venture, including a volcanic Underworld full of abnormal creatures and an isolated, floating archipelago named the Wyve.

## Synopsis

### Beginning

The player awakens in Planet Venture with no recollection of what has happened thus far.

### Backstory

As players continue their odyssey through Planet Venture, they learn of its past; 4 billion years ago, the Wyve Fish had evolved into Wyveslenders. They lived in peace with the planet and its inhabitants, until the Venturians, colonizers from an unknown planet, arrived. The Venturians, able to breathe in its atmosphere, decided to colonize the planet - and that included terminating the natives. The great war began - Wyveslenders versus Venturians. The Venturians' upper hand became clear very soon, and the Wyveslenders were forced to escape from their own planet to a barely-connected dimension, the Wyve (a dark dimension much like Yuggoth in the works of H.P. Lovecraft). However, this was not the end of their conflict.

For reasons unknown, Venturians turned out to be interesting to Pipipis. According to one of the Wyveslender paintings, it was common during the conflict for herds of Pipipis to leave the Wyveslender's colonies, where they were domesticated by certain Venturians. The latter adopted their newfound allies, going as far as to build homes for Pipipis alone.

The Wyveslenders, upon learning of the love between Pipipis and Venturians, performed a demonic ritual that affected most of the Pipipis, causing them to act aggressively towards Venturians. The Pipipis proceeded to wipe out the entire Venturian race, ending their reign over the planet. When the dust settled, the Wyveslenders sent spies to Planet Venture to assess the effects of their "offering" to the Venturians. It was immediately obvious that the malediction worked to its fullest potential. Where there once were Venturian outposts, there were now ruins and splinters. The Wyveslenders worked in attempts to fix the planet, hoping to repopulate once again.

2,000 years after the war between the Venturian and the Wyveslenders, Innovation J owner Robert Jacob has decided to genetically clone many people, using gene splicing to turn them into near-perfect recreations of the Venturian. Depending on which model the player chooses, one of the clones are chosen to embark on Project Venturian, where they will allegedly attempt to scout the planet and find out if it is habitable or not.

Upon the player arriving, the Wyveslenders planned on disposing of them but eventually decided against this, believing that only one Venturian is would be harmless. As such, the player is allowed to inhabit, the Wyveslenders waiting until the Venturian's inevitable downfall. However, there is one thing Wyveslenders will never forget; that the Venturians took their only allies. As such, the Wyveslenders started making masks as a test; if the Venturian is spiteful enough to remove the mask, the Wyveslenders will immediately go aggressive, and attempt to end the Venturian race once and for all.

### The Wyvern Crusade

After a while, the player finds a castle and decides to enter it. Navigating through the underground chambers, which are infested with earwigs, Wyveslenders, and other creatures, they reach a portal frame above a pit of magma. After placing Wyve Eyes in the twelve holes of the frame, the portal activates, giving the player access to the Wyve.

The player, arriving at the Wyve, battles the Wyvern, and, after a tense battle, slays the dragon. Escaping to an exit portal with the Wyvern's Egg, the player returns to the castle.

## Characters

### Playable

* Robert Jacob
* Robyn Jacob

## Creatures

* Comedenti
* Osseus
* Pipipi
* Crawler
* Wyveslender
* Goo Man
* Dlab
* Porcus
* Mollis
* Ululater
* Undead
* Decayer Knight
* Espouse
* Dlab Witch
* Ocean Guardian
* Statue Knight

### Bosses

* Lingua Ball
* Yedid
* Ocean Elder
* Flesh Construct
* Darkness Construct
* Lightning Construct
* Sandi
* Ventidenti
* Aquadenti
* Ignidenti
* Decayer
* Wyvern

## Tools/Weapons

### Tools

* Hatchets
	+ Stone
	+ Iron
* Iron Pickaxes
* Shovels
	+ Wooden
	+ Stone
	+ Iron
* Iron Bucket
* Fire Steel
* Elixirs
	+ Strength Enhancement Elixir
	+ Gill-Giving Elixir

### Weapons

* Swords
	+ Wooden
	+ Stone
	+ Iron
	+ Platinum
	+ Satanite
	+ Bloodstone
	+ Hellinum

* Blunderbuss

* Bows
	+ Wooden
	+ Bloodstone
	+ Hellinum

## Parents Guide (Technically not real, theoretical)

### **Sex & Nudity**

Moderate

* Animals that reproduce sexually are depicted with sexual characteristics, including modeled breasts and genitalia; the female members of these species have a birth animation which is accurate to life but graphic, including depiction of the vulva and ultimately a bloodstained child or egg.
* Female Dlabs can be seen with exposed breasts and the children are sometimes nude but other than that there's no nudity involving intelligent life.
* Statues of an erect phallus and a bleeding yoni are present in the Circle of Lust, alongside statues of people having anal sex without detail.
* Player models can wear skintight and/or revealing clothing.
* One nightmare involves the player getting stripped naked, although their POV is fixed upwards, and therefore no nudity is seen.
* Nude bodies of Robyn Jacob are depicted in one of the dreams, but with little detail (i.e. no nipples or genitalia).
* It's implied that young girls are getting sex trafficked in the opening scene but no sexual material is depicted aside from kissing.

### **Violence & Gore**

Severe

* The game's violence begins at a T level but gradually progresses to NSFW territory. Basically, the violence and gore go from "it's just nature" to "get the kids out of the room".
* When a creature is hit with a weapon, they react in different ways, but usually plume white blood to indicate damage and try to escape; upon a creature being impaled, they'll spray blood in a graphic fashion if the weapon isn't removed.
* Creatures have ragdoll physics applied upon dying and generally fall to the ground.
* Some creatures (such as the Carnids) have coloration that resembles bloody flesh; others have claws and teeth that are perpetually crimson (it's not blood since creatures on Planet Venture bleed white).
* The player's character can die from drowning, burning, falling, or getting killed. Upon dying from falling, the player's bones are seen and heard breaking.
* When characters or creatures are burned by flames or magma, they flail and scream before turning black.
* The player's character has nightmares throughout the game, many of which are violent or gory in nature.
* Upon getting killed, a neck snap and decapitation sound are heard (the decapitation itself isn't seen but the player's point-of-view shifts to the ground).
* You can skin dead creatures and cut out their flesh/meat (not super graphic but still gory).
* In one of the nightmares, a man is stabbed in the throat, causing white blood to burst out of it. In the end, the man reveals himself to be a "flesh construct" by causing his body to melt, upon which his organs, bones, blood, and other skinless lumps form a shapeless creature that charges at the player.
* A man is devoured by a group of Pipipis while he's still alive. You can see blood jetting from his throat and abdomen. The Pipipis are shown feeding on his corpse for a few seconds after he dies (graphic).
* One of the nightmares involves a man trying to cut a parasite out of a teen's leg with a blade. The leg is slashed open with white blood oozing out and the man's hand is inserted in their leg as he fumbles through the wound. This is extremely gory and difficult to watch, not helped by audible screaming.
* Humanoid monsters can have graphic deaths, including getting their heads cut in half with exposed brains or cannibalizing each other with intestines flying.

### **Profanity**

Mild

* Dialogue in memories and nightmares frequently use mild words such as "hell," "scumbag," “suck," and "damn." More moderate profanities like "bastard," "ass," "douche," "piss," and "bitch" are used infrequently, while stronger words like "shit," "asshole," "dick," "pussy," and "f\*\*got" are used rarely.
* Venturians discriminated against Wyveslenders, although you‘d only know this if you saw some of the nightmare sequences and knew the lore.

### **Alcohol/Drugs/Smoking**

Mild

* There are elixirs (brewed or obtained from special locations) that can give you certain effects, such as increased speed, regenerating health, night vision, quick aquatic speed, etc.
* Looking at a Hell Portal for an extended period of time causes the screen to swirl around rapidly. After a while, the player vomits; intended to resemble the effects of heavy alcohol usage.
* Plants (none of which are tobacco or marijuana) can be made into blunts/joints and smoked. This rarely has an effect on players.
* One of the nightmares depicts the player being impaled with an arrow that drugs their body and disables them.

### **Frightening/Intense Scenes**

Severe

* The game is extremely terrifying considering it's only rated Teen.
* The game is often kept within the realms of a T however some nightmares and memories reach rated M territory. The only reason it's PEGI 16 and not 18 is because the violence and gore are often shown in dim lighting and rendered white rather than red. Although there's not too much traumatizing content, there's still a lot of graphic violence, especially in the nightmares.
* Nightmare and memory scenes often shove the limits of a PEGI 16 rating.
* Mods can be added to the PC which alter the way players interact with the game. There are many "Adult Only" mods which immediately change all of these ratings to severe. Mods take many steps to add to your game so you shouldn't worry about installing one inadvertently, unless you're on a sketchy website.
* Throughout the game, frightening and aggressive creatures attempt to hunt and kill the player, especially during the night. These sequences are rather terrifying since the game is meant to be played alone.
* The noises in caverns are super ominous, terrifying, suspenseful, and disturbing. The worst part is that these play in pitch-black, deep areas of the grottos.
* The music can make the game feel grim or suspenseful, depending on which track is playing.
* Players can enter a hellish, satanic realm called the Underworld, which is darkly-lit, filled with deadly creatures, and surrounded by a gigantic ocean of molten rock. The Underworld is an extremely intense and terrifying place for players to stay in and is a very blatant metaphor for hell.
* Dark areas typically involve a large number of hostile creatures. This will almost certainly leave players feeling uncomfortable.
* Upon going approaching an Underwater Monument, players get jump-scared by an apparition of a Prior Cyclo, as echoing screeches are heard.
* If the player enters a Dlab town after killing the head of a Blad cult, then the village will get massacred.
* Players can experience nightmares while sleeping, which, while somewhat short in length, are usually extremely shocking.
* Susevirs that inadvertently travel to Planet Venture from open Underworld Portals transform into Atrocities which hunt down and kill every animal near them aside from Pipipis.
* If the player's character harms a Ululater, Labman, Pinnatus, or Ictex, all of that monster in the area will become an enemy and attack the player until they die.
* Eidolons try to kill players at night if they haven't slept for at least 3 days, which often jump-scares players. Eidolons are difficult to kill without ranged weapons.
* Pracepted are aquatic Carnids that spit acid at players from far away, including when underwater (unarmored players die from getting hit by two of their acid balls).
* When in underground chambers, players can mine straight down and fall in magma or monster nests. If players mine straight up, magma can spill on them or piles of gravel or sand can fall on them, leading to suffocation.
* Pipipis are the most well-known creature in the game and are infamous and legendary for jump-scaring players. Pipipis are basically creatures that stalk players and, after they are close enough, will charge at the player's character and gore them. You are only given one second to dodge their attack.
* Wyveslenders are the most ominous, aberrant, disturbing, and overall horrifying creatures in the game. The Wyveslenders have a black body, elongated limbs, disgusting boils, and red eyes. If you look at the face of a Wyveslender, it opens its jaws, lets out an ear-piercing cry, and chases the player. Wyveslenders are extremely agile and charge at inhuman speeds. In the lore, the Wyveslenders committed genocide on the Venturian race by making their pets (the Pipipis) evil.
* Obculish can be pretty frightening, particularly if you're afraid of insects. They hatch when you touch bricks in underground castles, so if you touch too many of them then you won't be able to escape. Obculish bugs are even scarier in packs, and many can be summoned after touching just one brick.
* Exspiravits are known for being terrifying because of the noises they make and their eldritch appearance. Exspiravits make sounds akin to distorted and demented screaming and crying.
* Some of the sounds that creatures make are disturbing (i.e. tearing flesh when they feed on carcasses).
* The game is rated the equivalent of M/R in many countries and does most things it can to deserve it.
* Some Venture maps made by other players can get added to the game, including ones that have custom code made to terrify the player, explosive traps, and even mods that are installed to the game through them.
* The record 11, when played in a jukebox, is ominous and frightening but it is a rare item unless you spawn it in through commands.
* After every update, a sinister monster called Count Lionel, who looks like Robert Jacob but with white eyes, is seen once in a random location. Lionel disappears almost immediately but he could horrify more sensitive players, especially with the nightmarish lore surrounding him.
* Players can find discs with footage on them; one of them is incredibly disturbing and similar to a music video in *Nier: Automata*, with dolls getting destroyed in nightmarish ways. The disc ends with a figure resembling Count Lionel shooting the head off of a doll of Robyn Jacob that almost seems alive.
* During thunderstorms, if electricity strikes a Procus, they painfully turn into a Labman (which only kills when threatened), Dlabs become Beldams, Pipipis become Apocalypse Pipipis with a large poison radius (any Carnids, Osseus, Pipipis, or Hell Osseus that get killed by one get shredded to gibs and their heads can be collected) and there is a pretty uncommon possibility of Osseus summoning an army of Osseus riding Osseus Sedenum.
* Damned Towns are towns with Carnid Dlabs and destroyed homes filled with spiderwebs. However the Carnid Dlabs typically don't leave their homes when players are close to them, however the Damned Towns are still scary because of their deserted, decrepit nature.
* There is a realm called "The Wyve" with the final boss of Venture: the Wyvern, a dragon version of the Wyveslenders.
* The Decayer is a boss that is even trickier than the Wyvern which only comes after the player has a ritual involving spirit sand and Hell Osseus heads. The Decayer spits decapitated Hell Osseus heads at the player's character which detonates them and any entity or object caught within radius. When at half health the Decayer begins to obliterate all of their surroundings.
* If a player's character tries to sleep in a bed in the Underworld or the Wyve, the bed will explode in a fiery blast and usually murders everything within the radius.
* Buccinagore frequently jump-scare players who get impaled by them but players can run away while the Buccinagore still charges at their previous spot.
* The game has some references to horror and AO/NC-17 rated games/movies. You'd only get the allusions if you looked them up or have seen or played the films/games outside of Venture, as the game does not depict images from these. The game includes references to games like The Last of Us and Hatred as well as movies like Midsommar and A Serbian Film, which are suspenseful thriller/horror media.

18 and up (at least when playing alone) due to frightening imagery and content.

## Certificates (Not real, theoretical)

* Australia: MA15+, R18+ (Mobile bootlegs)
* Brazil: 16
* Germany: USK 16
* Iran: 15+
* Japan: D (CERO)
* Mexico: B15
* New Zealand: R16
* Russia: 18+
* Singapore: M18
* South Africa: 16
* South Korea: 15
* Sweden: 16 (PEGI)
* Taiwan: 15
* United Kingdom: 16 (PEGI)
* United States: T

## Common Sense Media (Not real, theoretical)

* Age: 17+
* Quality: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
* Summary: Action/adventure spectacle filled with terror, complex themes.
* Review: Parents need to know that Venture is a multiplatform adventure game. Players explore an alien planet and use resources they find to build structures for protection, craft items to solve puzzles, and create makeshift weaponry for combat. Players must evade or fight predators, which are typically inhuman creatures, although humanoid "Dlab" characters can get killed. Although Venture is a standalone game, it has a rather large marketing campaign, with downloadable content available for purchase.
* Educational Value: ⭐⭐⭐ Players may learn creative thinking, geometry, and geology as they build structures and hunt for resources. Given the freedom to create multiple creations for usage in puzzle-solving or protection, players can attempt dozens of possibilities.
* Positive Messages: ⭐⭐ The game encourages exploration, creation. Players persuaded to explore the levels, solve optional puzzles. There is a survival aspect, which has players thinking strategically about ways to keep dangerous creatures away, although this typically results in some form of violence.
* Positive Role Models & Representations: ⭐⭐⭐ Although characters are occasionally stereotypical (such as a black man named Mohammed), a wide variety of ethnicities, genders are represented. Notably, both sexes have an equal amount of human (or humanoid) characters.
* Ease of Play: ⭐⭐⭐ While controls are basic enough to play the game, things get intricate as you move outside of fundamentals. Although an in-game book includes recipes for crafting items, materials best-suited for construction, and ways objects interrelate with one another, experimenting, trial, and error are still required at certain points. Boss battles require proper preparation to ensure success.
* Violence: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Game-play violence acted out by both the player and other species, be it killing animals for food or territory or defending themselves against aggressive creatures. Blood and injury details show up in various colors. Upon dying, creatures fall over and occasionally bleed out. In-game lore and “flashbacks” sequences involve disturbing content, such as the (offscreen) death of a child. The game also contains “nightmare“ sequences, many of which involve blood and gore.
* Sex: ⭐⭐ Animals can breed, although this is minimally depicted; they simply dance with one another, make mating calls, and/or lay eggs. Breasts and buttocks are visible on non-humanoid creatures.
* Language: ⭐ Rather mild language is sometimes used (such as the word "hell"). Unrestricted chat may have much stronger language.
* Consumerism: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Venture franchise has numerous licensed products, including paid downloadable content, toys, clothing, and books.
* Drinking, Drugs & Smoking:
* ***Parents say***
	+ Age: 16+
	+ Quality: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
		- Venture opinion
			* Age: 17+
			* Quality: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
			* Review: I am disgusted with these parents who take one look at the game and dislike it because of one below average experience, this game isn't super bloody or gore. Most of what you do is excavate underground, build structures, kill beasts to survive their nightly hunts (or sleep in a bed and skip the night), and under fairly uncommon circumstances do PvP (player vs player) killing but PvP is enjoyable once you do it. There is little red blood and gore in this game since most of it is white and when you fall, hit a beast/player all that happens is white blood comes out and stays on surfaces if you don't clean them, only the belemnites bleed red. I'd recommend this game to everyone as long as they are enough, it is an awesome game to let their creativity reach its maximum potential and to talk and make friends on the online servers. If your teen or tween is extremely disturbed about something crass in the game, they should very obviously not play it, there are a ton of adults playing the game, so there is strong language, for sure. If they are watching a Venture video and the person swears, do not blame the YouTuber if your tween adds those words to their vocabulary (unless it's a slur), blame your tween for using those words because they 100% know better.
		- Some parents don't like VENTURE for no reason
			* Age: 11+
			* Quality: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
			* Review: Parents think Venture is too graphic and gory LMFAO, if parents think Venture is the most violent one then they’re not gonna let their children play any game above the PG-13 level, it's rated MA15+ for a reason you coddlers. For those parents who think you murder the fauna and rip their flesh out for kicks [you are retarded] you do not, you slaughter them so you don't die of starvation, there's white blood and meat but most people don't care. And if you are wondering why you decapitate the Carnids and Pipipis and kill them, it is because they try to kill you and eat your guts, so never not like this game, get your tween the game Venture because it is appropriate for them.
		- The best game, but definitely talk with your teen.
			* Age: 17+
			* Quality: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
			* This exceptional former-indie game is the perfect chance for educating older teenagers and fellow adults, with the realistic alien biology and the ability to create and invent it fosters thinking outside the box, learning, and finding solutions. Mostly positive, however, exposure to an online community brings privacy concerns and exposure to the constructions of others, which are usually inappropriate. Know your teen, talk about how people on the internet often make crass builds in the game and use slurs and strong swears, and talk with them about how to handle such a scenario. Also, definitely make sure you talk about privacy and not saying your real name or where you live under any circumstances.

* ***Kids say***
	+ Age: 12+
	+ Quality: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
		- Complicated, entertaining video game is the definition of entertainment and the most addictive that I have played.
			* Age: 16+
			* Quality: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
			* Review: This game is the perfect video game for older teens+. It is one of the most purchased games ever and it's worth every pence. There are privacy concerns with multiplayer and you can jump into any public game without the need of an IP (multiplayer is THE BEST but still). The beasts are horrifying and disturbing, but you can set the game to Serene, which causes the deadly, terrifying bugaboos to instantly die off. You can get killed in explicit ways (the enemies eat you from a first-person perspective and the screen goes black creepily). This is a pretty appropriate game that is super addictive and pleasant, it's okay for slightly older players, and 100% worth playing.
		- 14+
			* Age: 14+
			* Quality: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
			* Review: This game is an awesome game for 15+, there isn't a lot of terrible inappropriate content in the game. The main issue is the torture chamber music, it is very terrifying since unpredictably (when by a torture chamber) a super freakish sound goes off like a demon's cry or heavy breathing, or a thunderstorm, another terribly inappropriate part about Venture is going on YouTube to look at other people's content most of the guys say the N-word and other strong language.

## System Requirements (Not real, theoretical)

### Minimum

* CPU: AMD A10-7800 APU 3.5 GHz or Intel Core i5-4690 3.5GHz or equivalent
* CPU SPEED: Info
* RAM: 4 GB
* OS: Windows 10
* VIDEO CARD: AMD Radeon R5 220 or NVIDIA GeForce 705
* PIXEL SHADER: 5.0
* VERTEX SHADER: 5.0
* FREE DISK SPACE: 4 GB
* DEDICATED VIDEO RAM: 2048 MB

### Recommended

* CPU: AMD FX 8350 Wraith or Intel Core i7 6700 3.40GHz or equivalent
* CPU SPEED: Info
* RAM: 8 GB
* OS: 64-bit Windows 10 or later
* VIDEO CARD: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 or better (latest drivers)
* PIXEL SHADER: 5.1
* VERTEX SHADER: 5.1
* DEDICATED VIDEO RAM: 6144 MB

## ESRB Rating

* Rating: T for Blood & Gore, Crude Humor, Language, Partial Nudity, Sexual Themes, Use of Alcohol and Drugs, Violence
* Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and S
* Rating Summary: This is a puzzle-adventure game where players explore the landscapes of an alien planet to collect supplies. From a first-person perspective, players travel through an “open-world” environment, avoid dangers, create structures, and make weapons (e.g., blades, hatchets, and guns) to protect themselves from beasts (e.g., humanoid, wolf, and skeleton-like beings). While rarely encouraged or required, players can engage in murderous acts such as burning mammals and killing them with weaponry. Explosions are heard as players use TNT to fend off monsters and dig for resources; some sequences involve mature thematic elements, including the killing of children. The game also features games in arenas where many players fight against each other; during these events, players kill their opponents with weaponry and objects. Characters emit splatters of white blood when hit and some attacks towards animals lead to instances of decapitation, dismemberment, and/or impalement. Some cutscenes depict dramatic and mature thematic elements as well as further instances of violence; a partly obscured surgery, people melting/exploding into white chunks of flesh, children getting killed. Some sequences depict animals excreting or vomiting; players can search through piles of feces to find items. Instances of mating and artistic/nonhuman nudity are present in the game, including exposed breasts on humanoid tribesmen and brief depictions of animals thrusting against each other. Throughout the game, players can make and consume alcoholic beverages, resulting in screen-blurring effects; similar results happen when players consume fictional plants (i.e. mushrooms). The words "sh\*t," "a\*shole," "d\*ck," and "p\*ssy" are present in the dialogue; one taunt involves players giving the middle finger gesture.

## PEGI Rating

### Advice for consumers

This game has received a PEGI 16 rating because it features strong and sustained violence and strong and sustained scenes of horror. Not suitable for anyone under the age of 16.

### Brief outline of the game

Multi-millionaire Robert Jacob creates genetic clones of people and sends them to a planet called Venture to learn of survival methods and what challenges a species would face there.

### Content-specific issues

This game features strong violence, involving the use of a variety of realistic weapons, including swords, flails, machine guns, throwing stars, muskets, and explosives. When creatures, including human-like characters, are struck, they cry in agony and white blood effects are used to indicate damage. Creatures fall to the ground once they are killed and players can extract flesh from their bodies and consume it. Stronger violence is present in finishing moves used to kill creatures, including decapitation, impalement, and dismemberment. Strong and sustained horrific images and scenes are present throughout the game, including nightmare scenes and visions where children are in peril and implicitly killed by horrific monsters, which is likely to disturb players. A disturbing and horrific atmosphere is sustained throughout the game, with many instances of dark lighting, jump-scares, and nightmarish imagery, including depictions of discolored gore.

### Secondary issues/information

The game also includes use of bad language ('shit', 'dick', 'pussy', and 'asshole') as well as the lewd middle finger gesture and discriminatory language such as 'f\*ggot'. Humanoid creatures are seen with exposed breasts and buttocks and the game depicts instances of non-humanoid creatures mating with no visible penetration. Players can consume psychedelic plants that distort the game's interface as well as alcoholic beverages that act similarly, but the use of these is not encouraged or rewarded. Flashbacks and nightmares include references to and minimal depictions of suicide, child abuse, discrimination, bullying, and sexual violence. Venture has an in-client store which is accessible from the main menus. Players can spend real world money on in-game currency, and then use that in-game currency to unlock a range of customizable options. There are revolving featured products, time limited offers, and bundles available for purchase with in-game currency as well, which some parents or carers may want to be aware of. Parents, carers, or other responsible adults should check to see what is being offered before making any purchase on behalf of a child. It should be noted that the game can still be played without the need to purchase such items.

## Behind the Scenes

* The first concept of Venture originated as “The Adventure” in May or June of 2013. Brendan had since changed the name to “Venture” at some point in 2014 after Zachary had considered his old title to be a bad idea.
* The game was originally slated for a 1999 release, but it was changed to 2029 after Brendan realized that the former wasn't possible, as he was born in 2004. The release date has since been moved to at least 2039 (2049 at the latest).
* Enemies were going to be human at one point, inspired by a *Minecraft* fan-comic involving anthropomorphic, anime-inspired mobs. This inspiration had still been kept by 2016 (when the first enemy concepts were created), as “Cannibals” and Crawlers resembled mutilated/mutated humans.
* Many character designs were drastically changed from the original version:
* Robert Jacob was originally a redhead with light blues eyes rather than having graying brown hair and brown eyes. The initial ”redhead” Robert Jacob color scheme was created on Microsoft Paint, and was based on a peculiar system Brendan created where he got colors that were similar to (but still different from) Steve's in *Minecraft*. Keep in mind that Brendan was about 9 when he created the design.
* At one point, there was a character named Yitzhar Rocco Ahmed in place of Tyler Ferrari/Jacob.
* Athanasios originally had brown eyes instead of green eyes.
* Instead of Brendan O'Keeffe, there was a character named Mojave Jacob/Salazar.
* Robyn Jacob was slightly taller and would've had a mix of reddish-brown and orange/ginger hair. Robyn also had a significantly smaller derrière in her 2019 iteration but it was changed back in 2020.
* Teresa was originally a rather short (4'11”) Caucasian woman with (likely platinum) blonde hair rather than a fairly average-sized Indian woman.
* Tyra's hair was once reddish-brown, with ginger and dark brown highlights. Tyra was also planned to be much more curvaceous but had her design altered in 2019 to avoid accusations of objectifying women; her build wasn't changed back but for reasons unrelated to this.
* Athena was originally going to be a black woman with black hair.
* Sweden was originally a redhead named Scotia.
* Primrose would've been an albino with platinum blonde highlights in her hair.
* Cybele would've had dark brown hair and a buxom build.
* Boudicca was going to be a lighter-skinned (but still very tanned) woman with strawberry blond hair.
* At one point, the game could've estimably cost over $20,000,000 in development alone. However, Brendan made it so that there were only four or five main voice roles in 2019, which would've lower costs. Venture is no longer planned to release so more voices were added.

## Does the Dog Die?

* Is There a Dead Animal? Animal carcasses stay for a while before decaying to the skeleton. Meat and dead animals are also found in slaughterhouses.
* Does the Dog Die: Although they aren't technically dogs, Ululaters CAN die. However, the player can heal them if they are a pet.
* Does a Dragon Die: The final mission involves killing a dragon called the Wyvern. However, the Wyvern is corrupt and very deadly, so you shouldn't feel guilty.
* Does an Animal Die: All animals in the game can expire and killing them provides meat. However, there are ways of avoiding animal cruelty: 1. Go vegetarian. This one is difficult, but possible: fruits and vegetables can be consumed and some are easy to find. 2. Don't sleep. You need fur to create a bed, but you don't need to sleep so you can just stay awake the whole game. 3. Shave animals instead of killing them to obtain their fur. 4. Kill Crawlers instead of Lana to get fur. Crawler silk can be used to make felt, and the Crawlers are evil so you don't need to feel sad about killing them.
* Are Animals Abused: You can attack and kill animals but most abuse can be controlled.
* Is There Dog Fighting: Other Ululaters can fight with your pets if you attack an untamed Ululater. If an enemy player in the game has one, the Ululaters WILL fight.
* Are There Bugs? Crawlers and Obculish resemble spiders/insects.
* Does a Horse Die: The horse-like Ungulus feature, and like Ululaters and Mollis, they CAN die, but you can stop them from dying.
* Are There Spiders? The oversized Crawlers are some of the main enemies.
* Does a Cat Die: The game features wild cat-like animals called Mollis. Both free and domesticated Mollis can die, but like Ululaters, their loss can be prevented.
* Does Someone use Drugs: Elixirs can be brewed and consumed.
* Is There Addiction: No.
* Does Someone Abuse Alcohol: Nauseating Elixirs create a similar effect but it's not alcoholic.
* Is Someone Burned Alive: Players and creatures can get burnt alive. One memory quest ends with a man getting incinerated alive while he laughs.
* Is There Eye Mutilation: Some finishers involve removing eyes from creatures, with white blood and mangled flesh depicted in the empty socket. The eyes can also be stabbed but not completely removed, causing white blood to come out of the eye. Eyeballs can be removed from Crawler corpses but it isn't technically mutilation since they are already dead.
* Is There Shaving/Cutting: Swords and axes are used in combat and can hack off creatures' limbs or heads. Lana can have their fur cut off with scissors.
* Are Any Teeth Damaged: Players can have their teeth chipped or knocked out upon receiving blunt trauma to the mouth. There is an option to make these injuries permanent.
* Does Someone Break a Bone: Some melee kills involve neck snaps. If the player falls from a height of four meters or higher, a bone is heard cracking and it sticks out of the leg.
* Is there Cannibalism? One of the nightmares involves the player eating noodles, only to enter a slaughterhouse and find out that they were made from dead Venturians.
* Is Someone Tortured: Creatures can get tortured but this is up to the player.
* Is There Excessive Gore: While all of it is white the game is extremely brutal for a T-rating, you can tear aliens' eyes out and there are flashbacks that show heads exploding and people getting hacked in half.
* Does a Head get Squashed: Creatures can get bludgeoned to death but there isn't much obvious disfigurement. Robyn Jacob recounts getting her head smashed against a metal wall in one of the tutorial videos, but she claims that it simply resulted in a swelling rather than anything gory.
* Does a Kid Die: Baby Dlabs can die, but this is somewhat uncommon and sometimes preventable. Other baby creatures can get killed, including by the player.
* Is a Child's Toy Destroyed? There's a disc in-game that shows real footage of dolls getting crushed, burned, exploded, and drilled open, the most pertinent example being a doll of Robyn Jacob getting her head blown to pieces by a shotgun. Some of the flashbacks/nightmare scenes involve toys getting destroyed. Damaged toys belonging to children are also found in many areas.
* Does a Parent Die: Technically, the parents of creatures can be killed, just like everything else. However, these deaths are preventable. Robyn Jacob's mother died and there are many nightmares about this.
* Are There Clowns? Some player models are themed after clowns.
* Is There Audio Gore? There are tons of bone-breaking and flesh squishing sounds, primarily when you're in combat or skinning a creature.
* Are There Jumpscares: As it is a 3D game, beasts can quickly creep up behind the player's character. Players can turn a corner in a cavern and get frightened by creatures. Pipipis charge behind the player and try to gore them. Wyveslenders can charge at the player's character startlingly and the Elder Paladin will cause a ghostly image to appear in front of the screen.
* Are There Ghosts? Exspiravits, ghost-like animals, are in the game. Exspiravits can be evaded by not going to the Underworld.
* Does Someone Fart or Spit: Some creatures can spit and emit mucus. Some enemies spit out balls of green or purple acid.
* Does Someone Vomit: The player can vomit after eating a poisonous fish or staring at an Underworld portal.
* Does Someone Self Harm: You can shoot arrows straight up and have them fall back and impale you. The player can also light themselves on fire as well as consume harmful elixirs.
* Is There a Claustrophobic Scene? The player's character can fit in space, as long as they are crouching and it's five feet tall or higher. Caverns can get very claustrophobic, with tight walls that must be fit through to progress.
* Does Someone Die by Suicide: Players can choose to kill themselves with the aforementioned arrow launching, self-immolation, poisoning, etc.
* Is There Shaky Cam: The camera bounces from side to side in the first-person mode, but this can be turned off under "View jerking". The "nausea" status effect causes the screen to shake uncontrollably and could cause motion sickness.
* Are There Strobe Effects: Lightning and other electricity create a flashing strobe effect.
* Is There Childbirth: Creatures can give birth to children by laying eggs or through a typical mammal fashion with visible vaginas and anuses.
* Is There Sexual Content: Animals can breed with each other in graphic detail, genitalia is visible.
* Are There Incestuous Relationships: Creatures can get bred with each other, regardless of if they are siblings or not. Robert Jacob is implied to have feelings for his daughter, but you'd only pick up on this if you've seen The Young Life of Robyn Jacob.
* Does the Black Guy Die First: Only if you quickly die while playing as Athanasios Mohammed or Boudicca Amari.
* Does an LGBT Person Die: Robyn, Terrence, Boudicca, Prisco, Primrose, and Mojave are LGBTQIA+ and they can die.
* Are There N-Words: If you are playing Venture online, then other players will likely use the n-word in the chat. This can be evaded by only playing offline or with people you trust.
* Are There Homophobic Slurs: If you are playing Venture online, then other players are likely to use homophobic slurs in the in-game chat. However, this can be avoided by only playing offline, or with people you trust.
* Is There Ableist Language or Behavior: If you're playing over Xbox Live then you'll probably encounter some.
* Is Santa (et al) Spoiled? There's a character named Satan Claws who replaces Santa Claus. Santa isn't explicitly spoiled but Satan Claws' existence could help kids figure it out.
* Is There Antisemitism: Dlabs are similar to goblins in that they have large noses and are rather greedy. There is no explicit antisemitism in the game aside from the obvious Holocaust metaphor with the Archs and the creator is against it but he is very partial to including bigotry in his works as a means to discourage it.
* Is There Domestic Violence: Robyn Jacob was abused as a child, although this is rarely depicted.
* Is There Blood/Gore: Creatures emit white blood and can get dismembered or decapitated. Dead animals can have meat torn out of their body and eaten raw, causing blood to drip down the player's mouth. The only red blood in the game is in the form of a few player models and crushed slugs.
* Does Someone Struggle to Breathe: If the player remains underwater for too long, gets buried, or falls in the void, they will realistically suffocate.
* Is There a Hanging? Gallows and hanging skeletons are seen but there are no live executions.
* Is a Child Abused: Baby creatures can get abused, but this is preventable. Robyn Jacob mentions getting abused in some of her tutorial videos, but she makes it clear that she is on better terms with her father. Part of the lore involves Robert Jacob choosing to save his daughter from a disaster but failing to rescue his son.
* Is There a Nuclear Explosion? Black powder, acetone peroxide, and fire projectiles can explode but don't resemble mushroom clouds.
* Does Someone Fall to their Death: Falling to one's death is likely, however, the player always respawns outside of Permadeath mode. Some of the lore involves a child falling to his death.
* Does a Car Crash: Mine trolleys can crash against each other, but this rarely injures characters. The child death mentioned above involved a car crash and this is depicted.
* Is There Gun Violence: A dragon/blunderbuss and a fictional arrow rifle can be used to kill creatures, along with a mounted minigun that is very difficult to make.
* Does Someone Drown: Drowning is possible for NPCs and for the player's character. One of the nightmares involves the player drowning in a freezing lake as their family refuses to rescue them.
* Is Someone Buried Alive? Burying oneself in caverns requires no effort if you aren't cautious. Some quests involve crumbling caves and structures that can trap players under rubble.
* Does Someone Struggle to Breathe: If the player is underwater for too long or gets buried alive then they will suffocate.

## Behind the Scenes

* A Virtual Reality version was originally planned and would come to HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and Quest, and PlayStation VR. More limited VR experiences, based around the "nightmare" sequences in Venture, were going to come to Google Cardboard, Google Dream View, and Nintendo Switch, the latter of which would've only been used with the Nintendo Labo Toy-Con 04: VR Kit.
* The game is supported by NVIDIA Experience and RTX, which allows the game to implement highly realistic anti-aliasing and ray-tracing.

## Tropes

* Accidental Aesop: While it's very possible that these were intentional, they are still up to players' interpretation.
	+ Pointed out by some reviews. You begin in a pleasant world. After a while, you look back and realize you have razed a sizable piece of nature and terraformed areas just to make that massive skyscraper of yours. What you once loved is now terminated because of your compulsion.
		- Some private servers have a "minimal intrusion" policy explicitly to evade this. (Underground grottoes are customarily sweet pickings, though.)
		- The reverse is also interpretable, though, if you begin with a spot of bare, arid wasteland and crushingly change it into a green, productive farm.
		- Also note that you can readily plant new trees, so you can act on this Aesop. With enough fertilizer, you can make woods overnight.
		- Several players have found a very different message through years of play and fear: *The only harmless woodland is a destroyed one.*
	+ The very effective monster farms of Venture seem nigh impossible in reality, but real-world industrial farms do abuse their livestock similarly. While it's clearly not to the extent Venture lets you go to (eg: jamming 100 infant Volatiles into a meter of space and cooking them in the same cell they grow up in), Venture farms parallel customary practices real industrial farms use: crowding animals in as limited space as you can, giving them the minimum requirements of survival, and massacring them as soon as you can.
* Funny:
	+ Ululaters shake the water out of their fur whenever they get wet, leaving it comically fluffy.
		- Robyn Jacob also does this.
* Heartwarming:
	+ After you slay the Wyvern, you are treated to a discussion between two eldritch deities. What they say, and what they say to you, is unusually heartwarming.
		- The outline of Robyn Jacob's life and how, despite being an Abusive Parent, Robert truly loved her. If you're playing as Robyn Jacob, it's even more special.
		- The last few lines pull a No Ending, challenging the player to improve.
		- The deities go out of their way to remind you that You Are Better Than You Think You Are.
* Nightmare Fuel: The caves of Venture are much like *System Shock* due to how isolated you are in them, the complete darkness, and the Body Horror creatures. And those are the least of your worries.
	+ The overall setting of Venture has many unsettling and sinister, disturbing elements to it. There are multiple stranded and destroyed buildings around such as churches, houses, and mines, implying that there was once an advanced civilization on the planet... besides the Dlabs and their modest huts, there are no other signs of enlightened beings (except for the hateful Labmen). Add in the ubiquity of weird and horrifying monsters such as the Carnids, Osseus, Wyveslenders, and Nothing is Scarier than wondering what *happened* to this planet?
	+ The ancient designs of the sunken remains (coupled with the idea of how they got swamped in the first place) emphasize how remote these constructions are. Now think about the Pracepted. They saw the destruction of a wealthy empire and drowned with it to the bottom of the sea, doomed to haunt it endlessly beneath the tides.
	+ Hearing a beast shouting out of nowhere, but not being able to identify where.
		- This is taken Up to Eleven with Exspiravits, whose cries can be heard as if they are right next to you regardless of how far away they are.
		- It's even worse when there are no obstructions that could be blocking the monster from your view, yet it's still invisible nevertheless. To demonstrate how terrifying that is, it's still nightmarish even if the beast is a Crawler and it's daytime and therefore not hunting.
	+ Carnids were once the most vulnerable, easily-killed carnivores in the game. They were a dull and basic foe with no special ability. But they kept getting updated to the point where they became a serious threat. Carnids can now smash wood doors and kill Dlabs, wear armor, hold weapons, and transform the Dlabs they attack into more Carnids. The most disturbing change was when they were programmed to cluster and hunt in massive numbers. Now Carnids can see you from unreasonable distances and will track you long before you are conscious of them coming. Carnids can see the player from far over 53 feet away. Although it is still easy to execute solitary Carnids, attacking any Carnid increases the number of Carnids coming after you, primarily on hard difficulties.
	+ Deserted mines; these are deep under the surface, pitch-black, and isolated. The shafts become maze-like and incredibly easy to get lost in while listening to the noises of Osseus, Carnids, and Crawlers (both standard and Cavern Crawlers) contrasting against total silence (aside from the occasional ambiance, which is frightening enough as is). The beasts could lurk forwards or backward, or they could be behind a wall somewhere, anticipating you to dig and free them.
		- Something about the shafts' design is extraordinarily unsettling, too. Minecart tracks constantly vanish over the edge of what resemble perpendicular mine shafts, but unlike in a real mine, they do not have a fixed height or depth. Just wood supports towering up imposingly and falling away into pitch-black darkness...
			* There are implications that the mines are an Eldritch Location, with how long they seem to go on for. Before looking it up, some players assumed that they went on almost infinitely.
* Tear Jerker:
	+ Robyn Jacob just needs a break. Getting abused as a child and bullied apparently weren't enough, as she ended up having to watch her mother die.
	+ The Genocide of the Angels. It's a pretty generic Humans are the Real Monsters story about the Venturian race driving them to extinction while trying to turn their wings into a commodity. What makes it sting is that the Venturians almost immediately recognized the error of their ways and immensely regretted their decision. It's no wonder why the Angels are celebrated so fondly in practically every Venturian culture.
	+ The overall sense of isolation in the game (unless you're on Multiplayer or playing with mods that add characters you can interact with). Playing alone on single player is often a crushing, depressing adventure, since there is nobody around you to talk with, as Dlabs can't even say a single comprehensible word and you can only interact with them by exchanging items. You are by yourself, in a planet with a nearly endless, and it is exclusively for you to explore alone. No people nor any kind of amenities to defend, and nobody to protect you from the enemy monsters. Your pets and tranquil animals are the closest you have to companions. The dejected soundtrack plays as ambience in the background as you explore an immense planet all by yourself.
	+ Listening to a wounded Ululater cry can bring any player to tears. It is exceptionally depressing when the owner of said Ululater does not know or care that you can feed a Ululater to renew their lost health points. Luckily, players can feed Ululaters domesticated by players other than themselves.
		- If you and your Ululater fall into a 1x1 meter pit that is two meters deep or more in Nondestructive mode (digging and destroying is not possible on objects and surfaces without the Can-Destroy tag), you have to murder your Ululater to build something and get out, unless you have Wyve Opals with you.
		- If you forget to tell your Ululater (or Mollis for that matter) to rest and wait before going to a Pyramid, it is possible for them to run on the weight plate that initiates the dynamite trap before you can disable it. At that point, it is impossible to save your pet, and all you can do is build a column to save your life.
	+ The sound Equus make when they die will unquestionably make you stick to Lac for collecting skin instead. It is terrible enough that they are one of the few critters in the game that can help you during travel, meaning you most likely killed a member of your trusted ride's family.

## Trivia

* Similar to *Red Dead Redemption 2* and *Cyberpunk 2077*, two separate discs/cartridges are included in the game's physical Nintendo Switch and Xbox One copies, respectively. One disc is used to install the game's data, while the other is intended for playing the game. The PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 versions include one disc only, as does the "Xbox Series X only" copy of the game.