Venture: Crusades

### Rating

T for Blood & Gore, Crude Humor, Language, Mild Suggestive Themes, Use of Alcohol and Tobacco, Violence

### Genre(s)

* Battle Royale
* Fighting

### Platform(s)

* Steam
* PlayStation 4
* PlayStation 5
* Xbox One
* Xbox Series
* Nintendo Switch
* Epic Games Store
* Humble Store

**Venture: Crusades** is a battle royale fighting game. As the name implies, it is a spin-off of Venture.

## Gameplay

The game plays like the *Minecraft*Hunger Games/Survival Games server plug-in, with players placed at the center of a large map near a "treasure trove", a pile of trunks filled with food, armor, and weaponry. Alternatively, players can set up matches that begin with skydiving from a massive aircraft or creature within a short amount of time, or randomly scattering players. In each match, the aim is to be the last player or team standing by killing all rival players. Every player begins with no items, giving no player a certain advantage at the start. Items used for battle, survival, or transportation are randomly distributed around the map, regularly at landmarks on the map, such as within houses in a ghost town. When the game begins, players may either compete over the central resources or spread out to find items stored in chests scattered around the area. Players need to explore the map for equipment while avoiding getting killed by other players, who cannot be marked or distinguished on the map, leaving players with nothing more than their vision and hearing to deduce the location of enemies. Items from dead players can be looted unless it's destroyed by fire or molten rock. Players who are killed are eliminated, with the last surviving player winning. The game combines elements of Survival Games with more recent, standalone battle royale games, such as the rapidly shrinking zone from *Fortnite Battle Royale*; various disasters are also present, such as collapsing ceilings and mountains, acid rain, and clouds of hydrogen cyanide.

Players are only given one life per game; any contestants who die cannot respawn. The match is over when only one player or team remains, and players are rewarded "Venture Coins" based on however long they survived and how many kills they made. Players may purchase cosmetic items with coins, such as player models and cosmetics, as well as maps for their own servers. Matches with varying spawn points, item positions, and a shrinking safe area enable the game to challenge players to think and act hastily and develop tactics throughout the match in an attempt to be the last man/team standing.

Players may also enter "squad battles", which involve teams of 3-5 players, and a 36-v-36 mode that pits two large groups against one another. Squad battles are largely the same, except that players enter a "paralyzed" state, once their health is depleted, giving allies the option to use a health potion to revive their teammates before they bleed out or are executed by an opponent. There are other modes that change the gameplay mechanics to some degree, such as Foreman's Fortune, where players collect resources used to construct defenses.

## Synopsis

In pre-apocalyptic Planet Venture, Dene Cantrip is sentenced to "The Abyss," a mutual death sentence for minors, after their bisexual and polymorous relationship with Anteef Pish and Brige Sexton is exposed. While things seem hopeless for Cantrip, the nature of The Abyss guarantees one survivor, but they must figure out how to survive each "level" of The Abyss and earn back their right to live. But even if Cantrip survives The Abyss, will Pish and Sexton be able to make it through, and what world awaits Dene if they ever find a way to survive the nightmarish arena?

### Characters

* Dene Cantrip: The protagonist (Chris Pine, Clemence Poesy, William Levy, Leslie Odom Jr, Yara Shahidi)
* Anteef Pish: Dene Cantrip's boyfriend. (Matt Smith)
* Brige Sexton: Dene Cantrip's girlfriend. (Abbi Jacobson)
* Plankmin: Undercover loyalist to Cantrip outside of The Abyss. (Sean Gunn)
* Superior Ashunas (Atsuko Tanaka)
* Superior Lania (Rebecca Sugar)
* Superior Eoel (Clancy Brown)
* Len (Tom Hardy)
* River (Davis Cleveland)
* Niel (Russell Tovey)
* Seph (Jake Gyllenhaal)
* Kudozawa (Subaru Kimura)
* TBA (Sean Gunn, Melissa Disney, Burt Ward, Chelsea Kane, Carter Hayden, Elliot Page, Melissa Benoist, Ryan Eggold, Marsai Martin, Sadie Sink, Jared S. Gilmore, Charlie Tahan, Ashly Burch, Jessica DiCicco, Robin Atkin Downes, Greg Cipes, and Lin-Manuel Miranda)

## Maps

* Cave (Cost: Unlocked from the start)
	+ Description: An age-old underground construction in a subterranean area. Excellent for fighters who like to creep up and ambush their opponents.
	+ Texture Map: Default
	+ Arena Events: Cave-in, hydrogen cyanide, avalanche, falling rocks, tsunami, lava flood.

* Bay (Cost: Unlocked from the start)
	+ Description: Attempt t' survive in the gentlemen o' booty's private encampment, complete wit' ghost ships 'n caverns!
	+ Texture Map: Default
	+ Arena Events: Cave-in, ship explosions, firing cannons, avalanche, demon invasion.

* Collapsing Castle (Cost: Unlocked from the start)
	+ Description: A disintegrating citadel constructed deep in the Underworld, with plenty of magma for your opponents to burn in!
	+ Texture Map: Default
	+ Arena Events: Cave-in, structural collapse, hydrogen cyanide, demon invasion, crumbling floors.

* Hideout (Cost: $2,000 Venture Coins)
	+ Description: Square in the Wyrm's hideaway!
	+ Texture Map: Fantasy
	+ Arena Events: Cave-in, Wyrm revival, demon invasion, border contraction, lava flood, geysers.

* Marble Cave (Cost: $2,000 Venture Coins)
	+ Description: This cavern is the lair of the Gorgons. Try thy hardest not to behold their eyes and they shall be well enow.
	+ Texture Map: Greek
	+ Arena Events: Cave-in, Gorgon revival, demon invasion, border contraction, crumbling floors.

* Sanctuary (Cost: $2,000 Venture Coins)
	+ Description: This concealed temple is set within the deepest rain forest. Watch out for opponents hidden in the treetops!
	+ Texture Map: Default
	+ Arena Events: Cave-in, arrow walls, falling rocks, crumbling floors, boulder, opening pits, wildfire.

* Atlantis (Cost: $2,000 Venture Coins)
	+ Description: Deep under the sea, a hidden metropolis lay in ruin. Atlantis awaits the attack.
	+ Texture Map: Greek
	+ Arena Events: Cave-in, crumbling floors, falling rocks, collapsing ruins, tsunami, geysers.

* Ruins (Cost: $2,000 Venture Coins)
	+ Description: Deserted and demolished, there are still mysteries left to be found in this dilapidated city. Struggle for the remaining resources and try to get through this perilous place.
	+ Texture Map: Modern
	+ Arena Events: Cave-in, crumbling floors, border contraction, hydrogen cyanide, building collapse.

* Siege (Cost: $2,000 Venture Coins)
	+ Description: Confronteth the enemies upon their barricades 'r defend the castle. War is upon us.
	+ Texture Map: Fantasy
	+ Arena Events: Cave-in, crumbling floors, border contraction, drawbridge raising, demon invasion.

* Fortress (Cost: $2,000 Venture Coins)
	+ Description: Coronate yourself in fame in the fortress' most wondrous hall.
	+ Texture Map: Default
	+ Arena Events: Cave-in, crumpling floors, border contraction, demon invasion, wall explosions.

* City Strike (Cost: $2,000 Venture Coins)
	+ Description: An extraterrestrial invasion has formed a deadly arena. Protect your rooftops but try not to drop to your doom!
	+ Texture Map: Science Fiction
	+ Arena Events: Cave-in, building collapse, wall explosions, mother-ship blast, alien invasion, EMP.

* Drydock (Cost: $2,000 Venture Coins)
	+ Description: Despite being a harbor in the clouds, far hence from the lightning and thunder, this port is aught but halcyon.
	+ Texture Map: Victorian
	+ Arena Events: Crumbling floors, ship explosions, cannon fire, border contraction, wall explosions.

* Old West (Cost: $2,000 Venture Coins)
	+ Description: It's high noon! Thin's ar fixing ta git wild in the frontier, so grab a fistful-a dynamite, slap awn a serape, and fix for an almighty brush between the daisy, the rotten, and the pug-fugly hideous.
	+ Texture Map: Western
	+ Arena Events: Cave-in, crumbling floors, building collapse, wall explosions, cannon fire.

* Excavation (Cost: $2,000 Venture Coins)
	+ Description: A snowy dig site remains abandoned. What indescribable thing have the researchers found under the ice cap? Observe, while fighting against both the weather and one another!
	+ Texture Map: Default
	+ Arena Events: Cave-in, crumbling floors, building collapse, wall explosions, demon invasion.

* Bedroom (Cost: $2,000 Venture Coins)
	+ Description: Are you a toy or is everything else extremely large? Be careful not to lose your sense of size as you battle your way across this ginormous room and clean up the contest.
	+ Texture Map: Toy
	+ Arena Events: Cave-in, building collapse, ship explosions, cannon fire, demon invasion.

* Night-Mare ($4,000 Venture Coins)
	+ Description: Something evil this way comes. Full of fatal thrills and menacing scares, it will scare everyone off their gamer chairs!
	+ Texture Map: Night-Mare
	+ Arena Events: Cave-in, building collapse, hydrogen cyanide, demon invasion.

* Chinese Dale ($12,000 Venture Coins)
	+ Description: Find your inner chi as you fight across this bygone realm of dragons! Map purchase also gives access to East Asian Player Models.
	+ Texture Map: East Asian
	+ Arena Events: Cave-in, avalanche, dragon revival, demon invasion, tsunami.

* Piss-Miss ($4,000 Venture Coins)
	+ Description: Get together with the mates for some scuffling in this seasonal arena. Guaranteed to be more enjoyable than pretending you like the Bigfoot slippers your grandpa gave you.
	+ Texture Map: Piss-Miss
	+ Arena Events: Cave-in, avalanche, wall explosions, hydrogen cyanide, blizzard.

## Weapons

### Venture (Fantasy)

#### Swords

 Zwiehander
 Bastard Sword

### Pathways: Jacob's Fortune (Western)

#### Long Guns

 Hunting Rifle
 Army SMG

### Comedenti: The Condemned (Modern)

#### Long Guns

 Sniper Rifle
 SMG

### Pathways: Lunar Society (Science Fiction)

#### Swords

 Lunar Longsword
 Chainsaw Blade

#### Long Guns

 Neoshotgun
 Battle Rifle

### Venture: Azuma (East Asian)

 Wakizashi
 Nodachi

## ESRB Description

   Platforms: PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox Series X and S, Xbox One,

Rating Summary: This is a fighting game, set in the Venture universe, in which players assume the role of teens condemned to a gladiator ring. From a first-person perspective, players traverse arenas, avoid hazards, and gather potions and weaponry (e.g., knives, battle axes, muskets, maces, explosives) and defend against waves of other players by striking them repeatedly until they are killed. The frenetic combat is highlighted by cries and grunts of pain, realistic impact sounds, discolored blood splatters, and large explosions; opponents collapse to the ground when killed. Story material includes more intense acts of violence and thematic elements; teens having their eyes gouged by an invisible force; a girl getting dramatically impaled by a spear; a teen snapping a boy's neck. One cutscene includes brief depictions of children killing each other, leading into an extended sequence depicting child corpses under large pools of white blood. Sexual material is referenced in the dialogue (e.g. "Don't make too many meringues in your pants," "Yes, we had sex, so what?"); one sequence depicts two scantily-clad teenagers making out and grabbing each other in bed. Human-like creatures are depicted with exposed breasts and buttocks; some adult player models are also depicted in revealing outfits (e.g. thongs, fishnets over breasts). Players can also urinate and defecate after eating, leaving realistic waste on surfaces; fecal matter can also be applied to weapons to create a poisoning effect. Over the course of the game, references to narcotics are made (e.g. "you're tripping on that weed, man," "these leaves are great for me, but don't tell mother I have them"); in one sequence, a teen character hides smoking drug paraphernalia in his room; in another, a teen sells another powder in a sack. The words "sh\*t," "p\*ssy," "a\*shole," and "d\*ck" are heard in the dialogue; one "emote" depicts characters flipping their middle finger.

## Reception

### Trigger Warning

Venture: Crusades released on June 7, 2022, two weeks after the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas, where a gunman fatally shot 21 people and injured 18, including his grandmother at home. In the wake of the tragedy and given that the game's narrative is centered around helpless children, including a sequence with graphic images of child corpses, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment added a warning screen and cancelling further advertising for the game. The warning screen, which players must manually acknowledge before playing, is depicted unanimously in United States copies and international ones if players select US English as their language, reading:

> "*Venture: Crusades* is a game about standing up against hate, discrimination, and violence with strong themes of tolerance, especially LGBTQ+ pride, but we can't predict the future. Recently, a tragic shooting occured at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, so players will likely find the graphic violence against youths in this game, particularly in the skippable opening credits, distressing and triggering. We are deeply heartbroken by the absolute abomination of violence that hit Robb Elementary School and our hearts go out to every family mourning those killed, for the sake of your wellbeing you must acknowledge this warning before playing."
>
>

A trigger warning regarding the content of both Venture: Crusades and Comedenti: The Condemned was also included alongside the ESRB rating on North American copies of Venture: True Complete Pack.

## TV Tropes

* Big Fancy Castle: Siege and Fortress, Collapsing Castle is hardly fancy.
* Cave Behind the Falls: The cave map naturally has a few of these, but they also exist in the bay, all of which hide a loot trunk.
* Censored Child Death: During the massacre in the opening, most of the preteens are killed but save for one or two deaths this isn't shown, only their bodies (with the copious Alien Blood, it's hardly any less disturbing than showing what happened would be, though).
* Cruel and Unusual Death: Len fractures his victim's limbs and jaw before gouging their eyes out... using invisibility elixirs to make sure nobody can suspect him, no less.
* Death of a Child: The campaign is about minors being put in a battle royale but the opening massacre has the most and (Alien) Bloodiest instances, although only their bodies are seen in this case (Censored Child Death).
* Gangplank Galleon: The bay map, a substantially more serious example that alludes to pirates stealing and murdering slaves, though.
* Haunted Castle: While no ghosts are present in the game, something is off about all of the castle maps, especially Collapsing Castle.
* Hollywood Teen Casting: Seeing as the game uses motion-capture and not just voice acting, most of the casting qualifies but especially **Tom Hardy** as a 17-year-old.
* Lethal Lava Land: Collapsing Castle, which is set in the Underworld (Fire and Brimstone Hell), which also incorporates factory elements into a few areas.
* Underwater Ruins: Atlantis, to some extent, although this interpretation still has a roof over it which prevents the structure from being fully submerged.