Flash Game Retrospective: "From Heaven to Hell: The Cries of Lost Souls" (part 1)
I've been looking back at Flash games that I remember playing several years ago. One game series that comes to mind immediately was called "From Heaven to Hell: The Cries of Lost Souls". It was made by a developer that goes by a couple of names. They go by "Flash Dreams Studios" nowadays. However, they have also gone by "Lonely Boy16", "lifeisadream52", and "Michael Hernandez".
The protagonist of the series, Henry, is dealing with grief on the anniversary of his mother's death. For reasons unclear, he wasn't allowed to see her in the hospital to say goodbye. He plans to visit her grave. And then, one morning, he wakes up to discover that something strange has happened in his home.
The first chapter was released back in 2006. The second chapter was split into two parts and released in 2008. Then, the series sat without updates for about 10 years. The third chapter was released in 2018. However, it was very short, and it ended on a cliff-hanger. The developer has plans to re-make the games in the Unreal engine and tell the rest of the story.
A short demo for the remake of chapter 1 was released with a new title, "A Havens Descent: Cries of Distant Scars". However, development is currently paused in favor of an unrelated game, "Tracks of Denial". The last communication from the developer in 2024 indicated that they wanted to use the experience gained from "Tracks of Denial" to learn what they needed to know for the FHTH remake.
I want to talk through the games (including the Unreal demo) and give my thoughts. The series is a big point of nostalgia for me. This will spoil the series, of course. Mind you, the games have been out for several years now. As I said before, the story ended on a cliff-hanger, so only the developer can tell us the final story. Plus, if the Unreal engine remake is developed, it could have story differences from the flash version.
So, let's start with Chapter 1: Home Alone.
We start with a journal entry from Henry.
Dec. 19
It's almost been a year since I last saw you. It's different not having you around here... You allways [sic] loved Christmas. It gave you and I lots of hope in our hearts every year ... together. There's just a few more days left... I'm not sure what I will do but I will come see you ... The weather looks like it's getting pretty bas. But hey it's getting late, I'll write more tomorrow....
Love you and miss you,
Henry
And then we get some narration.
Henry then leaves his lamp on while falling asleep in his bed giving thoughts to memories of his mother. The nightmares get worse over night. But as soon as Henry wakes up in the morning, he then looks around the room and has a feeling as though something is wrong....
We wake up to the sound of someone or something knocking on the door.
It's snowing outside.
We proceed into the living room. All seems normal so far.
To our right, we find a locked room, our mother's old room.
Henry: This is her room... I haven't been in her room ever since the day she passed away...
Henry: Strange... I don't even remember locking this door. I must of put the key somewhere...but where?
We are startled to hear the knocking again.
Henry: ... ?!... What was that? ...
We decide to read the book that we found on the coffee table.
The English text on the first page is as follows:
Upon the heavens of the world, there rests darkness that lays deeps [sic] in the pits of restless souls. Leading paths of good or evil stand in every corner waitng [sic]. Gods of the depths of hell await their come by thy one gift that shall be enternal [sic] - the soul. Resting and waiting for their days do awaken. The day when all will be free, the doors shall open to thy slef [sic] and release and fate which no other has even receved [sic] before.
The section on the second page, which is in the Wingdings alphabet, is translated to English here.
❄︎♒︎♋︎🕯︎●︎●︎ ⬧︎♒︎♋︎●︎●︎
♑︎♓︎❖︎♏︎📬︎ ⬧︎♒︎♋︎●︎●︎
❒︎♏︎♍︎♓︎♏︎❖︎♏︎📬︎
☝︎□︎□︎♎︎ ♑︎♓︎❖︎♏︎■︎
⧫︎♒︎♏︎■︎ ♓︎⬧︎
❒︎♏︎♍︎♓︎♏︎❖︎♏︎♎︎
☜︎❖︎♓︎●︎ ♓︎⬧︎ ♑︎♓︎❖︎♏︎■︎
♌︎◆︎⧫︎ ♓︎⬧︎
◻︎◆︎■︎♓︎⬧︎♏︎♎︎📬︎
Tha'll shall
give. shall
recieve [sic].
good given
then is
recieved [sic]
evil is given
but is
punised [sic].
The final section on the second page, which is in English, is as follows:
The ones who shall obey this rule and will live thier [sic] way eternaly [sic] for all time.
The next page features a single word in the Wingdings alphabet, which is translated here.
♒︎♋︎⧫︎♏︎
hate
The page is also marked with symbols. We get a fingerprint, followed by a slash mark, followed by another fingerprint, and followed by one final fingerprint.
The next page features another single word in the Wingdings alphabet, which is translated here.
◻︎♋︎♓︎■︎
pain
The next page features another single word in the Wingdings alphabet, which is translated here.
♒︎◆︎❒︎⧫︎
hurt
The next page features another single word in the Wingdings alphabet, which is translated here.
♍︎❒︎⍓︎
cry
The next page features another single word in the Wingdings alphabet, which is translated here.
●︎□︎■︎♏︎●︎⍓︎
lonely
The final page features more Wingdings, which are translated here.
⧫︎♒︎♏︎
⬧︎□︎◆︎●︎
□︎♐︎
♐︎♋︎⧫︎♏︎
the
soul
of
fate
Since someone was knocking earlier, we go to the front door and look outside. Nobody is there.
We go to the kitchen.
We observe the clock in the kitchen, as well as the words written upon it.
Henry: The clock has stopped at 7:00
Henry: "At Every Hour A Soul Is Lost"
Henry: I don't remember this on it...
The kitchen cabinet is locked.
We turn to face the living room, and we see the TV remote sitting on the divider between the kitchen and the living room.
Henry: Hm. Guess the cable is out. Must be the power.
Henry: I don't feel like watching tv right now anyways.
We turn to face two doors. One leads to the bathroom, while the other leads to the basement.
We remember that the door to the basement is jammed, and we contemplate breaking it open.
Henry: The downstairs door has been jammed for a while.
Henry: I'v [sic] never really needed to go down there though..
Henry: The knob wont [sic] budge or move at all.
Henry: Mabe [sic] there's something around here that I can use to take off the knob.
I've hit the image limit, so I will pick this up in another post.
I just saw Miles Morales2. The animation is dazzling and dizzying. But like all modern movies, I think it’s too long.
In case you haven’t heard, the is NO end credit scene. And this is Part 1 - Part 2 will be released March 2024.
I liked Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) and Spider Gwen (Hailee Steinfeld). Oscar Issac in back as Miguel O'Hara. I also enjoyed several of the new Spider-People introduced like Jessica Drew (Issa Rae), Pavitr Prabhakar (Karan Soni), and especially Hobie/Spider-Punk (Daniel Kaluuya).
One character I didn’t like so much the second time around - Peter B Parker (Jake Johnson). All Spider-Men have a specific character flaw - they make very stupid decisions (just look at Tom Holland’s version is all 3 of his movies). Peter B takes the cake. He brings his infant daughter along with him into very dangerous situations. If all Spider-Men are cursed with personal tragedies and bad luck, that baby won’t survive into her teens!
Mild spoiler: There are nods that the Macguire movies and Garfield movies are part of the multiverse (through very brief archival footage). Holland too but he does not actually appear.
So like a month back I started to read the Percy Jackson series and now I'm currently reading the "House Of Hades" which I think is the last book in the "Heroes of Olympus" series. Anyhoo I was completely distraught after reading "The Mark Of Athena" (the second last book in this series) because well SPOLIER ALERT ANNABETH AND PERCY FALL INTO FRICKING TARTATUS!!! So I open the next book only to find this...
Yikes!! and COME ON!!! The Mangaka really can keep readers on their toes. I want Hak to finally find Yona already... Even when Hak and the army are in enemy’s territory, they still cannot find Yona. And Yona is super strong and determined. LOVE HER. But I LOVE HAK BETTER. :D He’s tooooo funny and sarcastic for me. <3
I hope the wait won’t be so long as it was for this chapter. April 20th. Marking it down.
i just watched episode 14 of the legend of the blue sea, after waiting for how many daaaaaays, finally!!! I missed heo joon jae and sim cheong :(( and btw, the episode was such a cliff-hanger, i am expecting hugs from heo joon jae while he’s whispering to her “you cant die” ugh look how i am fascinated by romantic gestures. come & join me wait for episode 15
Cash and the Sorority Girl by Ashley Bartlett (Cash Braddock | Book 3)
Cash and the Sorority Girl by Ashley Bartlett (Cash Braddock | Book 3)
This is the third book in the Cash Braddock series. I live for this series. Live. For. It! I love the paradox that is Cash. This amazing human being with her genuine spirit just pulls to me. On the flip side, she’s a drug dealer so there is there conundrum you find yourself as the reader in. It’s glorious. Totally love Cash, you get it.
In this one, Cash is still a CI for the Sacramento PD, and…
