Frozen Hell

**Frozen Hell** is the tenth and final level of *Switchback VR*.

## Before Level

The player is back on the flaming, overturned train and can look around as people scream in the background. Charlotte's distorted voice plays from another voicemail, asking a player to hold out a little longer as help is coming. The Curator appears in the middle of the train, staring at the player, and a piece of debris falls in front of him. After fading to black, the train is suddenly shown again with Belial in front of the player, screaming. After cutting to black again, she says, "You'll pay for this."

## Layout

The player emerges on the track from an empty train station and into an icy cavern full of icicles and adorned with some torches. The player rides through a broken skull gate and down a large room, where Belial's seal can be seen above as she laughs. The cart rides through a tunnel and past some mannequins before reaching a divergence that is the same as the first track choice in Into the Ship's Heart, with the cart going whichever way it didn't go in that level.

* Going left leads to a brig area of the ship warning the player to "keep quiet" that is full of demonic, barking dogs lying on the side of the track and trapped in the cells. The cart stops as an explosion releases several of the dogs in the cells, which attack by jumping onto the player. After killing them, the player proceeds.
* Going right brings the player through two wooden doors that have "DON'T BLINK" painted on them before entering a room full of the masked mannequins. Each time the player blinks, the mannequins shift position, and the player then enters an empty dining room that begins filling up with mannequins as the player blinks. Eventually, some of the mannequins start attacking the player after each blink, and only then can they be killed. After killing enough, the player rides through the room and through a bar room, each full of mannequins that do not attack.

Returning to the main track, the player goes through a section of the ship and returns to the icy tunnel, with a train quickly going past on the right. The tunnel emerges into a snowy forest with a divergence that is the same as the third track choice in Burning Trials, with the cart going whichever way it didn't go in that level.

* Going left, the player hears distorted laughing and stops in a dark section of the woods. Several scarecrow enemies jump down to attack the player, with more emerging from the darkness or waiting along the track as the cart proceeds. At the end of the path, a hanged scarecrow falls near the player.
* Going right, the player can shoot two Demon Crates and returns to the Clarke Family Home, entering through a hole in the second floor's wall. The room is full of dolls, which turn to stare at the player as they enter and watch them go into the next room. The next room is dark, and then lights up to reveal a doll dancing on a rocking horse. The lights go out and back on, revealing several dolls crawling on the floor, walls, and ceiling and chattering incessantly. The player must kill them all as they attempt to climb onto the cart. After doing so, the cart moves past a room full of the dolls surrounding a small table and through three bedrooms, where more dolls rise to attack the player and there is a campfire on one of the beds. The player moves out onto the second floor balcony, where more dolls sit, and goes down into the forest.

Returning to the main track, the cart rides back into the icy cave, which fills with screeches as faceless mannequins can be observed embedded in the ice and hanging from the ceiling. Belial says "Your bullets are useless here, this is my domain," as the cart reaches a perpendicular track suspended above a crashed train and stops. Belial rides down in her own cart with a soul gun in hand, asking if the player thinks they survived that crash and then saying that they died and there is no escape from here. She finishes with "I am going to enjoy ripping the flesh from your bones!" before laughing and riding off. The player proceeds alongside Belial as they go through the ice cavern down a winding, twisting track, and the player must shoot large ice spikes that fall onto the track to avoid damage. As the player rides through, Belial taunts them for each passenger they didn't save, and says it was delightful to hear Charlotte's despair, believing that the player enjoyed it too. Floating, flying trains also rush around the cavern, and Belial says she enjoyed watching the player judge all the passengers. Finally, the two carts ram into each other, and Belial asks if the player truly believes someone is coming to help them before the player's cart goes forward, causing hers to fall off the track and her soul gun to be caught by the player. She screams with rage as the player continues through a tunnel, going into another cavernous area and stopping when a train car lands on the track.

The car explodes, revealing Belial in her demonic form within. She proclaims herself to be the "Mother of Lies" and says the player will not escape her as she lifts up several large, broken car pieces around the cavern. A fight begins, in which the player must shoot Belial with the soul gun while destroying the icicles she launches at them. After damaging her enough, Belial says the player is hers alone to play with and the room darkens, with Sailor Girl appearing and walking up to the cart, turning into a screeching Burned Demon, then back into the Sailor Girl now floating in her oldest form with thunder behind her, then into The Ancient One, and finally into Du'Met. Belial whispers "animam tuam vorabo" as Du'Met gestures forward, then turns into the Burned Demon stomping on the track, before finally Belial appears in front of the player. She tells them that having her souls will not save them as the rest of the room is visible again, with the floating cars now on fire. A fight similar to the previous one begins, and when Belial takes enough damage, she lifts a car up but shouts as it falls in front of her, with the rest of the floating cars falling around the player and Belial disappearing. The cart rides past all the buses and into a tunnel with a divergence that is the same as the second track choice in Enjoy your Stay, with the cart going whichever way it didn't go in that level.

* Going left brings the player through rooms with burning debris on the floor and dolls standing nearby. The player can shoot a Demon Crate and distorted whispering can be heard before the cart stops in front of a doll, which plays a laughing sound as it hops toward the cart. It jumps onto the cart, and laughs when it is shot off, allowing the player to proceed into a section of the hospital full of blood, with vents in the ceiling opening up to unleash more blood into the room and two more Demon Crates nearby. The player passes by hundreds of full of dolls standing on tables and in the blood, some of which ask "Are you my mummy?" as a vent above the player releases dolls instead of blood. As the player passes by more chattering dolls, one climbs onto the cart to attack. The player enters a red-lit hallway and stops as a wave of blood enters from ahead, carrying several dolls with it. The dolls laugh and continue chattering as several attack the player. The cart speeds up through more blood-filled room as more dolls climb on before stopping in front of a giant doll head with human teeth that rises from below, repeating "Are you my mummy?" in a loud, deep voice. After shooting out one of its eyes, it jumps over the player and the cart proceeds, with a few more dolls attacking as the player exits the blood-filled rooms.
* Going right brings the player past a staircase where a soccer ball bounces down and through some rooms and hallways, stopping in the middle of a corridor with another hallway to the right. There is a masked mannequin holding its right arm in both hallways, and they begin moving toward the player whenever the player does not look at them. After killing both, the cart proceeds through a red-lit room with another arm-holding mannequin in another room before stopping in a long hallway with one on the left and one on the right, along with a third one being revealed when the doors in front of the cart open. After killing them, the player must kill five more in a large room with several entrances before proceeding.

Returning to the main track, the player goes through a broken skull gate and back into the ice caves. The cave is full of red mist, and ice spikes jut out along the track as the player goes down a steep incline and stops in front of a long row of spikes, with mannequins representing all the passengers who weren't saved embedded in the ice. Belial, with her demonic wings now torn, jumps out and asks why the player keeps clinging to their life, questioning if it is because of Charlotte. She says Charlotte doesn't cared and never did before telling the player to die, leaping back as the ice spikes break to allow the player to continue forward. A two minute timer appears in front of the player, and fifteen seconds are added for each passenger the player saved, with each saved passenger also saying some reassuring words to the player. The timer then moves to above the player's score on the cart, and the cart proceeds.

The final battle with Belial consists of her periodically leaping backward onto ice columns and screeching as the player rides forward, having to shoot ice spikes that fall onto the track, icicles that Belial launches at the player, and Belial herself with the soul gun. Train cars eventually begin jutting out from the floor as well, and must be dodged. After approximately 80 seconds, the player loops back around the room, having to dodge several moving cars as they return to the start of the loop and stop. In this final phase, Belial jumps between six different ice columns while launching icicles, and this continues until she is defeated or the player runs out of time.

Regardless of if Belial is defeated in time or not, she jumps onto the track and launches a car at the player before screaming and holding her head. The caverns begin falling apart, with stalactites and cars falling around the track, as Belial crawls toward the player and says, "This is not possible! This cannot end here!" She continues screeching as cars ram the ice near the player and a fiery pool opens up beneath her, pulling her in. The player must dodge some of the cars as they go forward through the cavern, are shown their score, and re-enter the empty train station.

## Endings

### Belial was defeated

The player is back on the flaming, overturned train and sees a crow in front of them. The crow then disappears and the player sees a fireman nearby as he clears the debris from the path. The screen goes dark before showing the firefighter kneeling in front of the player and asking how they are still alive.

The player, equipped with their basic pistols, rides along a long track going through a red, misty sky as the credits appear above the track. The credits can be shot, and shooting at least 70% of them unlocks a special message from Charlotte after the scrolling credits screen ends.

### Player ran out of time

The player is back on the flaming, overturned train with a fireman nearby as he clears the debris from the path. The screen goes dark before showing the firefighter kneeling in front of the player and telling them to stay with him. As he asks if the player can hear him and tells them to stay awake, The Curator appears behind him.

The player, equipped with their basic pistols, rides along a long track going through a red, misty sky as the credits appear above the track. The credits can be shot, and shooting at least 70% of them unlocks a special message from Belial after the scrolling credits screen ends.

## Trivia

* The sole option on this level's *Journey So Far* screen is "You survived/did not survive the nightmare."
* Forsaken Ruins is the only level category that is not revisited with a track divergence.
* The level is based on Cocytus, the ninth circle of Hell in Dante's *Divine Comedy*.

## Gallery

The Curator stares at the player.The Curator as the crow in the good ending.The Curator stands behind the fireman in the bad ending.