For more information about other missions, see Levels
The Revolver deals locational damage.
A headshot deals 2x damage and a limbshot deals 1.5x damage.
- The Tip of the Day.
THE MEATGRINDER is the second mission of the PRELUDE, filled with industrial crushers, grinders, and rivers of blood. This is also the first level with a Terminal. It is also the mission that introduces Swordsmachine, although you don't properly fight it until the next level (provided you didn't take the secret encounter). This is also the first mission where you can find a Blood Orb, and the first mission that has intercrossing pathways.
Contents
- 1 Major Areas
- 1.1 Grinder Arena
- 1.2 Crusher Demonstration Rooms
- 1.3 Crusher Hallway
- 1.4 Blue Pedestal Room
- 1.5 Parallel Arenas
- 1.6 Final Room
- 2 Ranking Requirements
- 3 Secrets
- 4 Trivia
- 5 References
Major Areas[]
Grinder Arena[]
There are two corridor segments before entering the arena: the first has 2 Strays on either end of the hallway, and the second spawns eight Filth on top of a glass panel bridge suspended over a grinder. The arena is a huge room with a large pit, with a grinder sitting at the bottom. A Cerberus sits between two pipes producing streams of blood that flow into the pit. Entering the room, Swordsmachine can be briefly seen running to the left through the open door before the door closes and the arena activates, summoning 6 Filth and 4 Strays.
Crusher Demonstration Rooms[]
A corridor and subsequent square room that demonstrate the operations of crushers. 2 Filth attempt to run to the player, only for them to experience the mighty mass of a hydraulic press. The room that follows has a crusher in the middle stamping a pool of blood and 4 dormant Cerberi sitting in the corners of the room. Upon entering too far, the doors lock and summon 5 Filth and 2 Strays.
Crusher Hallway[]
A hallway filled with blood with three doors at the end. The hall is equipped with 2 sets of crushers, and one end is blocked by a deadly spinning fan. 2 Strays will spawn in front of the first crusher once V1 enters the room, only to walk in the way and be crushed.
Once V1 is halfway through the hall, 3 more Strays will spawn at the far end, only to be killed by Swordsmachine as it passes through the door on the right.
Blue Pedestal Room[]
The door on the left will take you to a room with a blue pedestal in the middle. In front of it is a locked gate, and on the side is a small staircase going up to some small bridges with glass panes attached to the ceiling.
Parallel Arenas[]
The center door at the end of the Crusher Hallway leads to an arena with two halves separated by horizontal metal bars. The player and Swordsmachine arrive in this room at the same time, and are given identical combat encounters: 2 Strays appear near the divider wall, followed by a wave of 4 Filth and 2 more Strays.
Final Room[]
A room with a large channel of blood pouring from a gap beneath the entrance, passing through 3 sets of crushers and into a pit below. Once near the Exit, the arena will activate, summoning 6 Filth and 5 Strays near the entrance.
Ranking Requirements[]
| Rank | Kills | Time | Style |
|---|---|---|---|
| S | 53 | 2:00 | 6,000 |
| A | 50 | 3:00 | 4,250 |
| B | 40 | 4:00 | 3,000 |
| C | 20 | 5:00 | 1,750 |
Secrets[]
| Secrets | ||
|---|---|---|
| #1 |
| (Soul Orb) In the first room, with a Cerberus in the center, one of the pipes on the far wall is at a slant; walking up the pipe leads to an alcove. |
| #2 |
| (Soul Orb) In the first arena, one of the blood pipes is missing a deadly fan, making it safe to enter. It leads to a room with an Orb and a barrier through which Swordsmachine can be seen slaughtering a wave of enemies. |
| #3 |
| (Blood Orb) At the end of the Crusher Hallway, a vent (highlighted blue) near the ceiling next to the right door allows access to the room Swordsmachine entered. An unlocked door leads to a room full of grinders and crushers, with a Blood Orb on a platform at the far end. It is recommended to grab the next area's checkpoint before attempting to grab this Orb, due to the high risk of death. |
| #4 |
| (Soul Orb) In the Skull Pedestal room, a small vent can be broken, revealing an underground blood channel; this channel also acts as a shortcut to the final arena. |
| #5 |
| (Soul Orb) In the final arena, an alcove is revealed by passing through the bloodfall pouring into the last set of crushers. |
| Secret Encounter |
| From Secret #4, take the right path; a destructible vent above leads to a secret Swordsmachine encounter, where the Core Eject Shotgun can be obtained a level early. |
| Secret Mission |
| In the room just after the Grinder Arena, there is an open vent in the ceiling that contains a hidden Blue Skull. V1 can access the vent by climbing the Cerberus seated next to the opening, or by chaining Slam Jumps. Bringing this Skull to the Blue Pedestal by Secret #4 will open the door to [0-S: SOMETHING WICKED]. |
Challenge
BEAT THE SECRET ENCOUNTER
The Secret Encounter, as previously stated, is to defeat Swordsmachine. Unlike in [ 0-3: DOUBLE DOWN ], the arena here is much smaller, and the phases are not split between two arenas, making this a more challenging fight than normal. However, it is not required to kill Swordsmachine to S-rank the level kill count.
Trivia[]
- Swordsmachine follows a consistent route through the level, with a course of locked arenas and combat encounters parallel to the player's own.[1] The beginning and end of Swordsmachine's personal level are each related to the mission's biggest secrets.
- The parallel level encounters, and particularly the side-by-side combat arenas towards the end of the level, are inspired by the Cameo System in Devil May Cry 5.[2]
- Though vulnerable to damage in all its physical appearances in this level, the Swordsmachine in cutscenes has an inflated health bar to make it difficult to kill in unintended situations. However, the exact health it has and the thresholds at which it'll transition into its second phase vary based on the cutscene it is spawned for.
- For the initial doorway cameo, Swordsmachine has 175 health total, 160 health in its first phase and 15 health in its second phase. Swordsmachine in this scene also spawns directly under the ceiling vent before walking past the door, reinforcing the implication that it enters the level through here.
- For Swordsmachine's first visible combat arena, it has 250 health total, 235 health in its first phase and 15 health in its second phase. This instance of Swordsmachine immediately despawns upon exiting the room, and so it cannot be observed again until the Crusher Hallway.
- In the Crusher Hallway cutscene, Swordsmachine has 250 health total, 175 health in its first phase and 75 health in its second phase. Before this Swordsmachine despawns, it trails off toward the room with the Red Soul Orb rather than turning to enter the next arena.
- In the Parallel Arenas, Swordsmachine has 250 health total, 150 health in its first phase and 100 health in its second phase.
- The blood and gore of enemies killed by Swordsmachine can be found in the rooms where it fights off-screen even if blood and gore has been disabled in settings.
- The corpses of Schisms can be found in the rooms where Swordsmachine fights off-screen, a full level before their proper first appearance in [ 0-3: DOUBLE DOWN ].
- If you move fast enough, it is possible to reach the door the Swordsmachine goes through in the crusher hallway while it is still open. Unfortunately, even though the door is open, an invisible wall blocks V1 from following the Swordsmachine through.
- When Swordsmachine is seen at the end of the Crusher Hallway, it will often miss one or more of the Strays.
- The Blind Enemies cheat breaks some elements of this mission, making it unbeatable; for instance, the door at the end of the Grinder Arena becomes impassable, even when it opens.
- In the first hallway in the level, it is possible to climb on top of the doorframe you entered through by jumping while holding crouch. From there, the player can clip on top of the hallway. Doing this causes the message '"WHAT'S UPDOOR?" T. HAKITA' to display. This clip is one of several that have been manually preserved for the speedrunning community when the bugs that enabled them were eventually patched out during Early Access.
- If a Stray's body is completely destroyed in combat, their torso will show in the entrance of the start elevator; this is exclusive to 0-2 and 5-S (with cheats).
- This sorta applies to 4-2 as well, though it applies to a Schism insteam of a Stray
- This sorta applies to 4-2 as well, though it applies to a Schism insteam of a Stray
- During the first playthrough, a red door in the entrance blocks the player unless the player has interacted with the terminal. This red door does not show up again even when starting a new save file.
References[]
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