Things to know about HotD

HOTD
AMS agents Thomas Rogan and G are sent on an assignment on December 18, 1998 to investigate a panicked phone call from Rogan's fiancée, Sophie Richards, and a series of disappearances at the Curien Mansion, home and laboratory of Dr. Curien, a biochemist and geneticist. Curien was obsessed with discovering the very nature of life and death, backed by the DBR Corporation and its scientists. The nature of the experiments, however, drove Dr. Curien insane, resulting in him releasing his experimental subjects into the world. When Rogan and G arrive, a mortally wounded man gives them a small field diary showing all the bosses and their weak points. They use it every time they confront a boss.

Amidst the chaos wrought by Curien, Rogan and "G" face many formidable foes, including The Chariot, an undead warrior who knocks Sophie aside with his bardiche and The Hanged Man, a gargoyle-like creature with bat wings and bat ears accompanied by a swarm of undead bats that takes Sophie back into the mansion at the start and killed two researchers in the courtyard. Once the AMS agents confrot Curien, he sends out The Hermit, an eight-legged spider-like creature that spits balls of webbing. While fighting it, Curien gets away.

Upon confronting Curien a second time, the AMS agents are treated to his greatest masterpiece, The Magician, a humanoid demon creature, with mastery over fire. After he releases the creature from its incubation chamber, the Magician realizes he does not have to serve any master and Dr. Curien is killed by his creation. To prevent the Magician from escaping the mansion and destroying the world, Rogan and G are forced to confront it in one final battle. They succeed in destroying Curien's creation and are given one last warning from the Magician.

The Magician explodes. Rogan and G leave the mansion, taking one last look at it from the outside. Then they go back over the entire trail with the closing credits. And then the game ends.

There are however, alternate endings in which the camera pans to the foyer one last time; the doors then open, showing either Sophie alive, running into the camera saying "Thank you!", or Sophie has now become one of the undead--the last corpse remaining, all depending on the player's score and the number of continues used.

Characters
Thomas Rogan: An AMS agent that was sent on an assignment to investigate a series of disappearances at the Curien Mansion. His fiancée is Sophie Richards, who gives him an alarming phone call to come to her rescue. He, along with G, head to the mansion in an attempt to rid the mansion of Curien's creations and deal with Curien himself.
G: An AMS agent that was sent with Rogan to the Curien Mansion. If players choose him as the first character, the in-game dialogue will differ, for example, Sophie will address him differently upon arrival at the mansion.
Sophie Richards: Rogan's fiancée. She tried to call Rogan for help when the zombies started to appear, and managed to get out of the mansion, but was somehow knocked unconscious and is seen lying in front of a fountain. She awakes and runs for Rogan/G but is taken back into the house by the Hanged Man. She can later be found in a room with the Chariot, but is fatally wounded. Her survival depends on the rating the player receives upon completion of the game.
Dr. Roy Curien: An acclaimed biochemist and geneticist that worked for the DBR Corporation. He was the mastermind behind the Curien Mansion incident. He was obsessed with discovering the very nature of life and death. This led to the creation of hideous monsters which spread from the laboratory to the outside of the mansion. Thanks to the help of Rogan and G, the creatures were repelled from escaping the mansion grounds.
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HOTD 2
The game follows the fictional events of February 26, 2000 fourteen months after the Curien Mansion incident in The House of the Dead. The secret international agency, AMS, has launched an investigation concerning the cause of the Curien case, in order to prevent the world from experiencing a similar outbreak. Strange occurrences, however, are reported to be taking place in the city of Venice, Italy, the last known location of AMS agent G, who has gone missing. Agents James Taylor and Gary Stewart are dispatched along with Amy Crystal and Harry Harris to investigate and evacuate the populace. Upon finding G alive but wounded, James and Gary are met with an undead horde developed by Caleb Goldman, the president of the eminent DBR Corporation and an expert on the genome theory who funded the experiments of the late Dr. Curien.
While converging on Goldman's headquarters, James and Gary face many formidable foes, including Judgment consisting of an imp-like monster Zeal and his giant, headless, axe-wielding puppet Kuarl; The Hierophant, an aquatic beast which heads an assault on Venice's waterways and Central Plaza; segmented serpent-like beasts stalking the sewer system known as The Tower; and Strength, a chainsaw-wielding giant which wounds Harry and chases James and Gary throughout the Roman Coliseum. Curien's masterpiece, The Magician, is resurrected by Goldman to oversee the birth of The Emperor, a horned, transparent, blue, devil-like being designed to rule over nature and "destroy and hate mankind". In its prototype stage, the Emperor was not as strong as Goldman would have hoped, and fell to the AMS agents. In order to evade being arrested, Goldman committed suicide by throwing himself off the roof of his building.
Players are given different endings based on the following conditions:

• If a solo game was finished as either player 1 or 2
  
• If both players defeated the last boss
  
• Number of continues
  
• Points earned
  

Characters

• James Taylor: An AMS agent sent to investigate strange occurrences reported taking place in the city of Venice and locate agent G.
  
• Gary Stewart: An AMS agent sent along with James Taylor.
  
• Amy Crystal: An AMS agent sent to evacuate the populace, it's hinted in the game she likes Gary.
  
• Harry Harris: Another AMS agent sent to assist Amy.
  
• G: An AMS agent investigating strange occurrences in Venice. He is found seriously injured by James and Gary.
  
• Caleb Goldman: CEO of the DBR Corporation and an expert on the genome theory who funded the experiments of the late Curien, he unleashed all the zombies to Venice to destroy humankind. He commits
  

HOTD III
Set in the post-apocalyptic year of 2019, civilization has long since collapsed. Ex-AMS agent Thomas Rogan and his team of highly trained commandos investigate the EFI Research Facility, which may be linked to the world collapse. Thomas' 19-year-old daughter, Lisa, and Rogan's former partner, G, travel there two weeks later with shotguns in hand after contact with him is mysteriously lost.
Notorious for his role in the creation of the original undead horde, Dr. Curien's motives are explored through flashbacks. Several years before the Curien Mansion case, in an effort to discover the cure to his son's seemingly terminal illness, he began researching the nature of life and death. Over time however, he got so wrapped up in his research that he planned on using it to change the future, and began to lose his mind. Living in the shadow of her well-known father, Lisa muses with G about how she is often the subject of comparisons between her father and herself as the two explore the facility, only to come into contact with undead creatures such as EFI's giant one-zombie security force Death, who makes two appearances in the game, through the building entrance or parking area and then through the information systems department, a giant deformed sloth known as The Fool which had taken over the D.B.R Institute, and the EFI Genome Ward, and a mutant tendril-plant known as The Sun that had taken over the building's biological laboratories and plants.
At last, Lisa is reunited with her father. After that, a man wearing glasses named Daniel Curien (as seen from the flashbacks at the beginning of every chapter) walks in from behind the doors that G threw open. He told Lisa, Thomas and G that Dr. Curien was his father and Thomas told the others that he saved his life. As G leads Rogan to safety, Lisa and Daniel Curien [who has been seemingly cured of his illness] set out to destroy The Wheel of Fate, a metallic humanoid surrounded by a spiked wheel and the final legacy of Dr. Curien (which began around the same time as the Magician project in the first game.) The genes of both the Magician and the Wheel of Fate, according to Curien, would change the future. After the scientist's death, he underwent a resurrection in the EFI research facility that would take nineteen years to complete. Daniel hacks the Wheel of Fate's programming, and together with Lisa, put it to rest once and for all as a sign of their readiness to confront the uncertain future.
At the game's conclusion, Ex-AMS agents Thomas Rogan and G are shown leaving the facility at night. Rogan thanks G for taking care of Lisa, but G denies it, saying that Lisa did a great job taking care of herself, and that she's starting to sound a lot like her father. One of four endings is then shown.
The game's standard ending shows Lisa and Daniel walking out. For a brief moment Daniel pauses to face the building and bid his father a final farewell, and swears he will not let his father's efforts go to waste. He also mentions that "If humans go down the wrong path again, I'll come back to this place." Afterward, he and Lisa leave together and go home.
In the game's second ending, Daniel begins to go insane and loses the will to move on, questioning his future. Despite (or maybe because of) the antidote that has cured his illness, a close up of Daniel's face (and an ominous change to the tone of his voice) reveals that he has become a zombie. Lisa screams in the background. It is uncertain what happens to her in this ending.
In the third ending, Lisa sees the car driving away, thinking that her father is leaving her and Daniel behind. However, Rogan and G are behind them, leaving Lisa and Daniel completely confused. It is then revealed that a zombie is driving away in it. Lisa begins to give chase after the stolen vehicle, yelling, "Hey! That's my car, you slimy bastards! Say your prayers!" We also see Daniel briefly going after Lisa.
In the fourth ending, a mysterious and unidentified man in a business suit wanders through the laboratory where the final battle with the Wheel of Fate took place. On the floor, he finds one of the small glass vials containing the genes used as Daniel's antidote. Limping on his right leg, he picks up the vial and leaves, saying to himself, "It appears that he didn't understand its true purpose." and chuckling eviliy. This man makes an appearance in House of the Dead 4 (It is worth mentioning that the only plausible guess to this recurring mystery man is Harry Harris, due to his curious behaviour and the damage he had received in HOTD2, but this is only fan-based speculation).

HOTD 4
In 2003, AMS agents James Taylor and Kate Green (somehow, she looks like Britney Spears) are gathering intelligence at the fifth basement floor of the AMS European branch office. The former of the two still has the events of the 2000 "Goldman Case" on his mind, and believes that the ordeal had not yet ended. A sudden earthquake rocks the room while they talk, collapsing the basement walls and leaving the agents trapped.
Several days later, Kate and James await a rescue team. James' PDA goes off, and a group of undead are seen on the security cameras. Realizing that they are in danger, James has Kate gather all the weaponry they can find in preparation for the arrival of their foes. Soon after, the two travel through the sewers to an information room where they uncover a plot to fire nuclear missiles worldwide within 24 hours' time, facing the four armed Justice and a pair of mutant tarantulas known as The Lovers along the way. Taking the subway into zombie-infested streets from an underground shopping district, the agents narrowly avoid attacks by The Empress, a double-ended chainsaw-wielding assassin, and the massive, obese, nearly impervious Temperance.
James and Kate then learn that the one-time president of the now-defunct DBR Corporation, Goldman, who committed suicide, is responsible for the resurgence of undead. After reaching the surface, finding the city about them completely obliterated, James and Kate receive a PDA message sent by Goldman: the nuclear missile launch will occur in one hour. After the agents set out for the abandoned Goldman Building, a levitating humanoid, The Star, prevents their advance in the foyer. Destroying the Star, the agents continue onwards. Ultimately, they arrive in time to halt Goldman's plans, though it is revealed that his true intention is to revert humankind to its original state in order to prevent them from harming the planet any further. As such, his final legacy, The World, an insect-like humanoid made of ice is released in the opening of "Pandora's Box" to fulfill its role as the successor to his original Emperor project in 2000, having developed underground since his death. As the AMS agents fight it, the World continuously alters its form to meet their threats, each time growing larger and more powerful. Following the World's second defeat, James sets his PDA to self-destruct, telling Kate not to give up hope, sacrificing himself, alongside the World, in the following explosion.
In the game's "standard" ending, the view returns to the computer in Goldman's office, continuing the former president's pre-recorded message. Goldman gives a final statement as he walks away: "Ah yes, there is one thing I forgot. The human race has not been eliminated. Travel north...hope is such a splendid thing." The bad ending is the same scene, but the camera then focuses on Goldman's face, which suddenly becomes zombie-like.
In one of the game's alternate endings, a mysterious and unidentified man (previously seen in one of House of the Dead 3's endings) sits at a desk in the corner of an office. He claims that Goldman was "soft" and that "wretched humans have no need of hope," stating that the "true end" will soon begin and that there is more than one "Pandora's Box".
In another ending, G claims that the undead crisis was not over yet and says: "We'll fight this back to the source. It's time for you to rest now, James." As G walks out of the camera, a zoom is made on Goldman's building.
At the end of all of the endings, it is written "The story continues in House of the Dead 3" which chronologically takes place after this game

HOTD OVERKILL
Starts in 1991, AMS Special Agent G is given his first assignment and sent to a small town in Louisiana to investigate a series of disappearances and hunt down a deranged crime lord, Papa Caesar. Due to the presence of mutants, G is forced to team up with Detective Isaac Washington who is out to get revenge on Caesar for apparently killing his father.
In the first episode 'Papa's Palace of Pain', the pair first storm a mansion owned by Caesar out in the woods. Upon entering the basement, they find Caesar has fled, and the disabled scientist Jasper Guns, whom Caesar used, is horrifically mutated from injecting himself with an unknown substance. Upon defeating Jasper, G and Isaac meet Varla Guns, a stripper and Jasper’s sister who vows revenge on Caesar.
In the second episode 'Ballistic Trauma', G and Isaac track Caesar to a hospital that is swarming with mutants. After killing the mutants and a mutant woman called the Screamer, the hospital is set to explode. G and Isaac escape in the nick of time with Varla on a motorbike.
In the third episode 'Carny', they stop at a mutant infested carnival to investigate the mutant situation, in the process defeating former circus entertainers turned horrific creature Nigel & Sebastian.
In the fourth episode 'Scream Train' Caesar escapes on a train with G and Isaac giving chase while Varla is left behind. The pair made their way through the mutant-infested train, defeating a mutated mantis, the Crawler, in the process. The train then crashes in a swamp where Caesar drives off with Varla before throwing a tape to Isaac.
In the fifth episode, 'Fetid Waters', G and Isaac make their way to the swamps, finding an alternate way to wherever Caesar and Varla were heading for, and in the process, defeat another boss mutant called the Lobber.
In the sixth, penultimate episode 'Jailhouse Judgment', G and Isaac track Caesar to a high security prison. Before they enter, they run into the strange warden, Clement Darling, who noticed Caesar and Varla arrive but knows nothing about the mutants. As G and Isaac shoot their way through the prison they finally reach the electric chair theater where Varla and Caesar are strapped into the chairs. Clement then appears and, in a plot twist, reveals that he was behind the mutant outbreak and that Caesar was just an accomplice. Clement then executes Caesar, robbing Isaac of his revenge. Clement explains that his experiments were to save his dying mother (Following this, it is implied Clement has an incestuous relationship with his mother). Clement then descends on a giant elevator along with Varla, his mother, and Caesar's corpse. Seconds later, Clement tells G and Isaac to look at the stage behind them where two gigantic, physically enhanced, convicts wearing black masks lumber in through the door. Clement reads the two convicts previous crimes which include murder, assault, rape, and even eating a little boys puppy. One of the convicts, Brutus, suddenly turns around and beats his fellow convict to death before turning around and firing an arrow at G from a crossbow attached to his arm. The fight starts inside what seems a generator room where the player scurries from place to place while shooting Brutus's weak spot (The crossbow attached to his severed arm)
After descending the elevator in pursuit of Clement in the final episode 'Overkill', G and Isaac shoot their way through hordes of mutants inside Clement’s underground lab before finally reaching his center of operations. They discover Varla’s brain has been taken out, kept alive in a jar, while Clement’s mother’s brain has been transplanted into Varla's body. At first it seems the experiment was a success, then Varla’s body begins to vomit and she falls into a pit after being machine gunned by G and Isaac, mutating her into a giant monster. G and Isaac draw their guns and aim them at the newly mutated Mother. The duos' statements lead gamers to believe that they are about to play a frantic last stand shootout against the giant mutant, but then the screen cuts to a missing reel screen for a few moments. Once the reel resumes G and Isaac are outside claiming victory over Clement and the giant monster, thanking the use of miniguns they found randomly lying around nearby. However, the monster returns and the pair battle her again. Afterwards, Clement appears and seeks to atone for all the problems he caused by "returning to the womb".
G and Issac are picked up by a helicopter along with Varla’s (still active) brain in a jar, Issac releases the detonater to destroy the facility. G tells Varla of his feelings for her, prompting him and Isaac to discuss the moral and political messages in the game's storyline and potential backlash, particularly from feminists. Soon after, the two realize the helicopter is being piloted by a mutant.
After the credits roll, Papa Caesar's tape recording from before is played, revealing a message to Isaac that Clement's plans were small minded but he had powerful friends (possibly future characters Curien and Goldman), and that Isaac's father is still alive.

Characters

• Agent G: Inexperienced but already highly trained and deadly, he graduated top of his class at the AMS academy and is now on his first assignment.
  
• Detective Isaac Washington: A hard-drinking, ladies' man, Washington is also a habitual rule and heart-breaker. He took the assignment to exact revenge for his father's death. He has a habit of dropping F-bombs. GameInformer ranked him among the "Top 10 Heroes of 2009," declaring that "Foul-mouthed, uncompromising, hard drinking, and unceasingly funny, Isaac Washington keeps everything grounded when the world is going crazy all around him. With tongue set firmly in cheek, Washington is a stereotypical career cop who can't finish a sentence without a few expletives thrown in for color. He keeps the action going, and never fails to say what the player is thinking when the zombie outbreak gets out of hand."^[7]
  
• Varla Gunns: The hottest stripper on the Bayou City club scene, Varla is also the older sister to crippled scientific genius Jasper Gunns. She joins the agents to stop Papa Caesar, and a love triangle develops.
  
• Papa Caesar: Deranged crime lord Caesar has forced Varla’s brother Jasper into devising a strange compound with mutagenic effects. With the help of Warden Darling he sets to work transforming the innocent inhabitants of Bayou City into mutants and monsters. He also likes Chinese food. GameInformer ranked him among the "Top 10 Villains of 2009," declaring that "Many villains have unleashed genetic abominations and blown us up, but none did it while wearing a stylish ascot. Papa Caesar makes engineering the zombie apocalypse look good. Analogizing Isaac Washington's death to a sweet and sour Chinese dinner seals his position on the list."^[8]
  
• Warden Clement Darling: A strange and unsettling man who oversees a high security prison just outside of town, Darling is involved in gruesome scientific experiments to prolong the life of his elderly mother.