Uploaded March 2013 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
There are two levels in the game that use this exact same map, and both can be completely skipped in exactly the same way using the Morph Pounce. This avoids a lot of needless fighting and Sync Node mess for each map, but it's a little tricky to pull off.
Morph Pounce: [ youtube.com/watch?v=4EqND43sh4M ]
In level 25 or 35, climb up the big stealth track and get as high as you can. Aim downward toward the exit door -- which will be blocked currently -- and perform the Morph Pounce. Get as much height out of the jumps as possible and manuever yourself to try to get over the first outcropping and a little to the right of the door. The exit area is a small tube, and falling through it at almost any point will end the level.
Since this trick is useful twice and it avoids so many unnecessary objectives, it's a really great tool for a speedrun. It is difficult to do, but it's worth any time lost on attempts.
There are two levels in the game that use this exact same map, and both can be completely skipped in exactly the same way using the Morph Pounce. This avoids a lot of needless fighting and Sync Node mess for each map, but it's a little tricky to pull off.
Morph Pounce: [ youtube.com/watch?v=4EqND43sh4M ]
In level 25 or 35, climb up the big stealth track and get as high as you can. Aim downward toward the exit door -- which will be blocked currently -- and perform the Morph Pounce. Get as much height out of the jumps as possible and manuever yourself to try to get over the first outcropping and a little to the right of the door. The exit area is a small tube, and falling through it at almost any point will end the level.
Since this trick is useful twice and it avoids so many unnecessary objectives, it's a really great tool for a speedrun. It is difficult to do, but it's worth any time lost on attempts.
![Ostrich Dive [glitch] - Dark Storm VR Missions](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/bpAYt5qs8rA/mqdefault.jpg "Ostrich Dive [glitch] - Dark Storm VR Missions
Heres an weird little oversight that lets you peer and shoot through the floor.
Once you have an Assault Rifle or SMG, you can press the middle mouse button to fire a rocket. Run forward, aim upward, and perform a Dolphine Dive. Before the animation finishes, press the middle mouse button to shoot off the rocket, temporarily locking Ambers upper torso in a different state than the dive. After you regain control, fire your gun once to keep Amber in this state, or she will snap back to the proper upper body position. Now until you change stances, you can shoot into objects below the floor.
I believe this is a miscommunication between the upper torso and lower torso, which are made independent for the purposes of animation. When Amber fires the rocket, the game tells her upper body to set to a specific state for a period of a few seconds, just like her upper body position changes when firing a gun. Without further input, Amber will move back into an idle state again, just like when you fire and then stand still momentarily. But by firing again, Amber is set into an active state, which Im guessing tells the game that her upper torso is positioned correctly.
Of course, with levels being very flat at the moment, this glitch doesnt provide much opportunity. While shooting beneath you could be absolutely incredible in a multi-tiered level and a sniper rifle, its just not applicable yet. You also have to be fairly careful when firing the rocket, because if the ceiling is too low, youll end up killing yourself.
I still havent managed to find the exact combination of movements to trigger the running glitch shown in the video (where Amber looks like shes running forward when shes moving in any other direction), but it has something to do with using your gun or fine aim mode.
Despite the video, I actually enjoy this game a lot even in this pretty glitchy state, and Id love to see it finished. If it looks interesting to you, be sure to check out the Kickstarter or download the demo on Steam and try it yourself.
Kickstarter: [ https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1201252455/dark-storm-ascension ]
Steam: [ http://store.steampowered.com/app/395150/ ]")
![Bridge Barrier Bypass [glitch] - RAGE](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/brp64ItZGGI/mqdefault.jpg "Bridge Barrier Bypass [glitch] - RAGE
You can skip over the laser barrier that leads to the final section of the game with a careful ramp jump.
Once you reach the Eastern Wasteland, drive over to the Authority Bridge, which is guarded by a laser beam barrier and two guards. Using a well-known aspect of the engine where ramps and stairs add greater height to your jumps, you can leap off of a small mound of dirt to the left side of the barrier and maneuver your way over. Additionally, you can also park your car next to the beams and use it as a stepladder.
This is the unfortunate result of not making the beams high enough. If they were spaced out just a bit more or there was another beam, this wouldnt be possible. I imagine its much easier to tie deactivation to an object and just build the collision into the object than it is to implement an invisible barrier on top of it.
The frustrating part is that this is only useful in the quest to deactivate the bridge lasers you cant use it to then access Capital Prime early, because you need the quest for that to trigger the console in its tunnel. Nonetheless, this seems faster and easier than going through the elevator path, or by launching over the barrier by car. From my lack of experience at the moment, though, I cant say whether this holds any use in a speedrun.
Check out the game on Steam: [ http://store.steampowered.com/app/9200/ ]")
![Initialization Chamber OOB [glitch] - Dark Storm VR Missions](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/bvD4Z02Rkn8/mqdefault.jpg "Initialization Chamber OOB [glitch] - Dark Storm VR Missions
A short video to show off that you can break outside of this opening room where you enter the VR machine, with very little effort.
Right at the opening of this section, use the Crawlevator to dive onto or nudge your way to the top of the stack of boxes. Once youre there, you can just go prone and push against the wall to rise up into it, allowing you to drop down into the black void just outside of the circle-shaped room.
Crawlevator: [ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RrmZtFXRKE ]
The only factor here allowing this break to happen is the wall being one of the few objects that pushes you upward with the Crawlevator. Without the wall, I think this section is wrapped up pretty tight to prevent the player sneaking out of the predefined areas.
Of course, its impossible to get out of the black void once you drop in, so its not like you can run off into some skybox or climb on top of the room.
These clips were recorded in Prototype 0.6.7.
Despite the video, I actually enjoy this game a lot even in this pretty glitchy state, and Id love to see it finished. If it looks interesting to you, be sure to check out the Kickstarter or download the demo on Steam and try it yourself.
Kickstarter: [ https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1201252455/dark-storm-ascension ]
Steam: [ http://store.steampowered.com/app/395150/ ]")
![Inverted FOV [glitch] - Dark Storm VR Missions](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/cea1LP-H1Pc/mqdefault.jpg "Inverted FOV [glitch] - Dark Storm VR Missions
Get ready to get sick: this is a really odd bug that messes with the camera, flipping it upside-down and cranking up the field-of-view to some ludicrous levels.
To start, reload the checkpoint by either accessing the menu, hitting F9, or typing quickloadgame into the console. Now, whenever you are in first-person mode, firing your gun causes the camera to jerk backward and widen the FOV over the course of a few frames shortly before returning to normal. During the time where the view is backing up, you can press F to switch back to third-person, locking the camera to the position it was at when you pressed the button. This can result in some really sickening angles, so be sure to not play with this for too long.
Obviously, theres some sort of issue where the game doesnt set the camera back properly once you reload a checkpoint, and its possible that firing the gun causes a change in a few values that begin to freak the whole system out. Only once the gun has finished the firing animation does the camera return to normal, meaning that this is likely tied to the kickback (recoil) of the gun. It strikes me like this is purely a mathematical oversight, triggered by an unusual situation and set of variables.
It doesnt take much to do this glitch, and it of course benefits you in no way whatsoever. But hey, its... entertaining, right?
These clips were recorded in Prototype 0.6.7.
I actually enjoy this game a lot even though its in a pretty glitchy state right now, and Id love to see it finished. If it looks interesting to you, be sure to check out the Kickstarter or download the demo on Steam and try it yourself.
Kickstarter: [ https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1201252455/dark-storm-ascension ]
Steam: [ http://store.steampowered.com/app/395150/ ]")
