Levels of health.
Health represents Daniel's and Justine's physical condition. Getting attacked by Gatherers, Suitors, and Kaernk(s), standing in the red organic substance left by The Shadow, touching (or clicking on) certain objects and hazards and suffering long falls will decrease health.
Levels
Measured in the same way as sanity, health has four levels with colors associated with them and can be seen by bringing up the inventory screen. Listed from highest to lowest states of health:
- All is good. (Green)
- A few cuts and bruises. (Yellow)
- A wound is bleeding quite badly. (Orange)
- Barely concious. (Red)
Health can be slowly recovered over time when in the "wound is bleeding" and "barely concious" state, although this will stop at the "few cuts and bruises" state. Laudanum can also be used to increase health much faster than just waiting, as drinking one bottle of laudanum will instantly increase the health by one state. The only way to get to the "all is good" state is to use Laudanum or enter some new areas.
Gameplay
There are many ways to avoid health loss, and other ways where it can't be avoided. For example, there are some small areas the player must go through to make progress, but these areas are covered in The Shadow's red organic substance, making it very hard to pass by without it hurting the player. Another example is what the player must do to enter the Orb Chamber - when the player must sacrifice blood to open the way. Touching some hazards over and over may bring the health down to the lowest state, but will never kill the player.
Indicators
When Daniel or Justine suffers any form of damage, the screen will give a quick red flash and a bloody decal will appear off-center. If Daniel's or Justine's health is in the "all is good" or "few cuts and bruises", no visual alterations will occur. While in the "wound is bleeding" state, the screen will be slightly darker with a slow-acting noise effect. In the "barely concious" state, the screen will be the same as the previous health state but with a red tint and heavy breathing noises from Daniel and Justine.
Death
If Daniel loses all his health, he will fall to the ground and the screen will go black with text saying things such as "You have to carry on..." or "The Shadow is closing in..." Sometimes the text will display hints in context to the situation Daniel is in. After the black-screen message, Daniel will wake up where he died, or somewhere behind the area where he died.When Justine loses all her health depending on the cause she may either be taughted or eaten by a Suitor if one of them manage to kill her or simply die from a fall or hazard and cause the player to start from the begining of the Cells.