In Bram Stoker's novel Dracula, the character Jonathan Harker visits Bistrița (rendered as "Bistritz", the German name for the city, in the original text) and stays at the Golden Krone Hotel (Romanian: Coroana de Aur); although no such hotel existed when the novel was written, a hotel of the same name has since been built.
In the PlayStation 2 game Shadow Hearts, Bistrița (where it is spelled "Biztritz") was a major place and home to the role-playing character Keith Valentine.
Setting and characters Edit
From the New World is set in an alternate reality, taking place in 1929 during the Prohibition era and mingling historical events and people with supernatural elements including divine beings and cosmic horror.[9][10] The story is set exclusively in the Americas, with locations ranging from North American areas including New York City and Las Vegas, and South American regions such as the Guianas and ruins of the Maya civilization.[9][11] While taking place in the same reality as and featuring cameos from Shadow Hearts and Shadow Hearts: Covenant, the story is separate from the rest of the canon.[9][12]
The main protagonist is Johnny Garland (voiced by Jamie McGonnigal[13]), a teenage private detective who is searching for his forgotten past following a car accident that killed the rest of his family. He is saved from death by Shania (voiced by Kelly Ray[13]), a Native American priestess capable of transforming into monstrous forms in battle after forming pacts with powerful spirits. The pair are joined by Natan (voiced by Matt Hoverman[13]), Shania's bounty hunter bodyguard; Frank Goldfinger (voiced by Marc Thompson[13]), a self-proclaimed master ninja; Master Mao (voiced by Marc Thompson[13]), an anthropomorphic cat; Ricardo Gomez (voiced by Sean Schemmel[13]), a mariachi-playing gunman; and Hildergard "Hilda" Valentine (voiced by Bella Hudson[13]), a member of the recurring Valentine vampire clan.[7][14]
The main antagonists are Lady, a mute woman who can infect others with Malice; Killer (voiced by Matt Hoverman[13]), a serial killer who becomes her companion; and Professor Gilbert (voiced by Scottie Ray[13]), an immoral researcher obsessed with Malice. A key supporting character is Roger Bacon (voiced by Marty Keiser[13]), a 12th-century philosopher who achieved imperfect immortality and a recurring character in the Shadow Hearts series.[14][15]
Plot Edit
Johnny is hired by Gilbert to track down Marlow Brown. Upon finding him in an abandoned opera house, Brown is terrified of Johnny, and is shortly killed by a monster that appears from a portal. Johnny is saved by Shania, who was hunting the monster. Since the release of the dark energy Malice into the world during the events of Covenant, Shania and her companion Natan help keep monsters spawned from Malice in check, along with hunting for those who destroyed Shania's tribe. Johnny and Shania team up and locate Gilbert at Arkham University, who reveals his true intentions to unleash Malice upon the world before escaping. Meanwhile, in Brooklyn, a wanted criminal codenamed "Killer" escapes police pursuit and is fatally injured. He encounters a mysterious mute woman who kills his pursuers and gives him a "Kiss of Malice", healing his wounds. Grateful, he dubs the woman as "Lady" and stays with her.
As Johnny and Shania investigate—picking up Frank and Mao along the way—Lady makes her way across North America, seeking out concentrations of Malice. Shania identifies Lady as the being responsible for the attack on her tribe. At one point, Lady gives her Kiss of Malice to Gomez's girlfriend Edna, who is corrupted and turned into a monster Gomez is forced to kill; this leads him to join Johnny's party. They also rescue the vampire Hilda and Roger Bacon from Area 51. At the same time, Gilbert teams up with Lady and a reluctant Killer as Lady is drawn to several South American ruins, unlocking the seals on concentrated pockets of Malice. This summons a massive structure known as the Gate, from which Malice and monsters would pour into the world if opened. The group fail to stop them, and during one encounter Lady kisses Shania, infecting her with Malice.
To stop the Gate from opening, Johnny's group travels to Salar de Uyuni to locate an artifact imbued with the power of "Will", a blue light that counterbalances Malice. Killer arrives and attacks them, fatally wounding Johnny. Johnny transforms into a being similar to Lady and attacks the group, forcing Shania to release the Will and return Johnny to normal. This stalls the Gate's opening, but does not stop it due to Lady's presence there. Suspicious of his past, Johnny returns to his family home and discovers that he and his sister Grace died in a car crash. His father teamed up with Brown to steal the mystical Émigré Manuscript from Bacon and perform a resurrection ritual on Johnny and Grace using the combined energies of Malice and Will. The ritual went wrong, and Grace sacrificed her Will to preserve Johnny, turning her into Lady.
Johnny accepts the need for Lady's death and travels to the Gate with his companions. Before the final battle, Shania reveals that she may become a monster due to the Malice inside her. The group storm the Gate, fighting first Killer—whose death causes Lady to show emotion for the first time—then a Malice-mutated Gilbert. The party kill Lady, escaping before the Gate vanishes, and go their separate ways. After this point, two endings are unlocked. In the "Bad" ending, Shania is consumed by the Malice. In the "Good" ending, unlocked by obtaining an optional Fusion and maxing out Shania's powers, Shania is cleansed of Malice and works with Johnny at his agency.