Surface
- Template
- Place
- Status
- Canon
- Kind
- Region
- Parent
- Military Base
1. Summary
Project Schwarzwald is not merely an underground scientific installation. It is an extensive, multi-generational military and research complex distributed across a remote region of the Brazilian Amazon rainforest.
The facility consists of a principal installation containing seven levels, D1 at ground level and D2 through D7 below it, and a geographically dispersed network of auxiliary facilities, military outposts, transportation corridors, maintenance installations, and concealed access points.
The surface complex includes:
- D1 — Main Surface Base: The original military installation and administrative center.
- A1 — Logistics & Supply Complex: Storage, cargo handling, and industrial logistics.
- A2 — Power & Utilities Complex: Electrical generation, distribution, and industrial power infrastructure.
- A3 — Environmental & Life Support Complex: Water treatment, atmospheric control, ventilation, and environmental infrastructure.
- A4 — Hazardous Materials & Disposal Complex: Decontamination, hazardous-material storage, and deep isolation.
- H1 — Concealed Heliport Access Terminal: A classified underground helicopter hangar connected to D2 by a dedicated passenger railway.
- Old Aerodrome: An airfield constructed during the early operational period.
- Peripheral Military Infrastructure: Guard posts, pillboxes, observation towers, checkpoints, garages, patrol stations, and other smaller military structures.
The installation extends across a large geographical area, with its facilities separated by substantial distances and surrounded by dense rainforest, rivers, wetlands, uneven terrain, and secondary vegetation.
The entire surface region is explorable.
The player is not restricted to predetermined routes between installations. Instead, the terrain functions as a continuous environment in which different locations may be approached on foot, by military truck, or by motorcycle.
The environment itself plays a major role in the game's atmosphere.
Dense vegetation, poor visibility, abandoned roads, isolated military structures, wildlife, hostile creatures, and active security patrols create a persistent feeling of uncertainty.
The surface is simultaneously a historical military landscape, a contemporary security perimeter, and a dangerous wilderness.
2. History
2.1 The Original Installation, 1939–1942
Construction of the original base began on April 3, 1939.
During the first years of Project Schwarzwald, the installation was relatively modest compared with its later expansion.
The original complex centered on what would eventually become D1, a fortified surface installation built according to German military engineering practices of the period.
D1 became operational on November 17, 1940.
The facility required an extensive external supply network, including dirt roads, vehicle garages, fuel storage areas, military checkpoints, and facilities for receiving equipment and personnel.
During this early period, transportation between the principal installation and its supporting infrastructure occurred almost entirely by road.
Military trucks carried construction materials, machinery, fuel, provisions, personnel, and other supplies through the surrounding forest.
The roads were maintained by military personnel and civilian workers under strict supervision.
There was no underground railway network.
The surrounding terrain was actively cleared, and regular maintenance kept the roads, drainage systems, checkpoints, and operational areas accessible.
Following the removal of German personnel in January 1942, the installation continued under Brazilian and American control.
Its infrastructure was progressively modified to support a much larger and more technologically sophisticated research program.
2.2 The Scientific Expansion, 1948–1960
Construction of D2 began on July 17, 1948, and the level became operational on October 17, 1949.
D2 introduced extensive underground industrial facilities, including aeronautical engineering, metallurgy, propulsion research, and other advanced technological programs.
The increasing volume of materials and personnel made the original road-based logistics system progressively less efficient.
At the same time, the expansion into biological and medical experimentation created additional security and containment requirements.
Construction of D3 began on May 22, 1951, with full operations beginning on December 8, 1954.
A few months after D3's construction began, planners recognized that the complex needed an underground railway and began building its first line, the A1–D2 freight railway.
As the scientific complex expanded, military planners began developing underground transportation infrastructure to reduce dependence on exposed surface roads.
The earliest railway connections were designed primarily for industrial cargo and logistical support.
Later developments introduced separate transport systems for personnel and hazardous materials.
This period marked the beginning of the transition from an interconnected network of surface installations into an increasingly integrated underground complex.
2.3 Increasing Isolation, 1960–1980
As new research levels were constructed, the underground infrastructure became the primary means of transporting sensitive materials and personnel.
D4, which became operational in 1966, introduced advanced computing, artificial intelligence, robotics, and experimental autonomous military systems.
D5, operational from August 11, 1978, greatly expanded the facility's biological experimentation and containment requirements.
By this period, the original surface roads were no longer the primary transportation infrastructure for the most sensitive operations.
The facility relied increasingly on sealed underground transportation corridors, industrial elevators, railway terminals, and automated logistical systems.
The older roads nevertheless remained important for construction, military patrols, infrastructure maintenance, and emergency transportation.
2.4 Late Cold War Expansion, 1980–1999
During the final decades of the twentieth century, the installation reached its greatest technological complexity.
D6, operational from September 27, 1986, introduced research involving advanced materials, unusual physical phenomena, consciousness, and recovered extraterrestrial technology.
The proposed D7 project, initiated on April 5, 1989, was intended to expand the complex even further.
By this period, the surface installation had undergone several generations of modernization.
Some older buildings had been abandoned, while newer security infrastructure and underground facilities remained operational.
The concealed heliport, underground passenger railway, modernized checkpoints, and automated security systems reflected the increasing importance of secrecy and compartmentalization.
2.5 The 1999 Emergency and Its Aftermath
The catastrophic containment emergency of 1999 ended the facility's normal scientific operations.
Following the emergency, the most sensitive underground research sectors were sealed, abandoned, or placed under restricted automated control.
The Brazilian military presence that remained on the surface is described with the armed forces. See: Factions › Brazilian Armed Forces
In the more than two decades that followed, large portions of the original surface transportation network deteriorated.
Roads once maintained by military engineering units became overgrown.
Secondary buildings were abandoned.
Checkpoints were deactivated.
Vehicles and construction equipment were left behind.
The rainforest gradually reclaimed significant portions of the former military landscape.
The result is a striking contrast between abandoned historical infrastructure and isolated installations that remain actively guarded.
3. Function and Contents
The surface world is the primary playable region of Chapter Four. See: Campaign › 4. Project Schwarzwald
3.1 Known Auxiliary and Support Facilities
The surface includes the original D1 bunker complex and its surrounding infrastructure. Known auxiliary or support facilities include:
- A1 — Logistics and transportation infrastructure, associated with the rail connection and movement of industrial materials toward D2.
- A2 — Power generation and electrical distribution facility. It becomes especially important in Chapter Five.
- A3 — Water supply and ventilation infrastructure.
- A4 — Hazardous-waste support infrastructure.
- H1 — Underground helicopter-hangar infrastructure.
- The old aerodrome, with surviving German-era aircraft and facilities.
- Roads, checkpoints, maintenance buildings, service installations, abandoned structures, and extensive rainforest.
These labels describe the world framework; they do not mean that all buildings are immediately accessible or that every facility requires a dedicated Chapter Four mission. The surface should reward discovery and observation. Some routes or documents found here may become relevant much later in the expedition.
See: Places › D1
See: Places › A1 — Logistics And Supply Complex
See: Places › A2 — Power And Utilities Complex
See: Places › A3 — Environmental And Life Support Complex
See: Places › A4 — Hazardous Materials And Disposal Complex
3.2 Optional Surface Exploration
The surface region is designed for extensive optional exploration.
The player may follow the principal story objectives without investigating every road, bunker, checkpoint, or auxiliary building.
However, optional exploration provides meaningful rewards.
Discoverable items include:
- Firearms and ammunition.
- Military bows and arrows.
- Medical supplies.
- Fuel and vehicle-related equipment.
- Access keys and identification documents.
- Historical reports.
- Military maps.
- Scientific records.
- Information about the Skull Helmet.
- Evidence concerning the 1999 emergency.
- Locations of previously unknown entrances or service passages.
These discoveries can affect gameplay.
A weapon recovered from an abandoned military bunker may prove useful during a later confrontation.
A map may reveal a route that avoids a dangerous checkpoint.
An identification document may allow a new infiltration attempt.
An overlooked maintenance corridor may provide an alternative entrance into an auxiliary installation.
Historical documents may also change the player's understanding of the people and organizations involved in the construction and operation of Project Schwarzwald.
The main story remains completable without exhaustive exploration.
However, the player who investigates the surrounding environment may gain significant tactical, logistical, and narrative advantages.
The surface is therefore not a space filled with arbitrary collectibles.
Its rewards emerge from the actual military and scientific history of the installation.
3.3 Fuel Reserve
Concealed or abandoned fuel-storage infrastructure on the surface: an old fuel-storage installation or recoverable supply whose contents can be used to maintain a serviceable truck later in the expedition. It holds a large but finite reserve of fuel for the truck.
The reserve for the truck is separate from the large industrial diesel tanks associated with A2's elevator emergency generator.
The side quest The Fuel Reserve plays here. See: Campaign › 4. Project Schwarzwald
See: Places › A2 — Power And Utilities Complex
See: Systems › Vehicles
3.4 Serviceable Truck
In Chapter Five, Hamish marks a serviceable truck on Edmund's map for travelling between the installations. See: Campaign › 5. Mystery Base
See: Systems › Vehicles
4. Architecture and Style
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4.1 Surface Geography and Environmental Design
The surface region should feel geographically substantial.
Individual auxiliary complexes are separated by meaningful distances, making travel between them an important gameplay consideration.
The terrain includes dense tropical rainforest, muddy roads, small rivers, marshes, seasonal wetlands, forest clearings, artificial embankments, drainage channels, and elevated observation positions.
The environment is not uniformly accessible.
Some areas can be traversed by military trucks.
Other areas can only be reached by motorcycle or on foot.
Dense forest, fallen trees, damaged bridges, flooding, and steep terrain restrict vehicle movement.
The terrain should communicate decades of changing human activity.
Recently maintained military roads are relatively clear, while abandoned routes may be barely recognizable beneath the vegetation.
Older installations exhibit substantial deterioration, including corrosion, structural damage, collapsed roofs, exposed reinforcing steel, and heavy biological growth.
Some buildings are almost completely concealed by trees and climbing vegetation.
Abandoned trucks, military equipment, construction machinery, and transport containers may be discovered along former supply routes.
These objects help communicate the scale of the original operation.
The surface should never feel like a collection of isolated game levels connected by empty terrain.
Instead, it should resemble a coherent historical installation whose geography, buildings, roads, and infrastructure developed over many decades.
4.2 Architectural and Visual Identity
Every surface and auxiliary installation should communicate its historical period and function through architecture.
The original D1 structures retain a distinctly early military character.
A1 emphasizes logistics, storage, loading infrastructure, and heavy industrial transportation.
A2 is dominated by machinery, power systems, heat, mechanical vibration, and industrial-scale electrical equipment.
A3 emphasizes reservoirs, pumps, water-processing equipment, ventilation systems, and utility infrastructure.
A4 becomes progressively more restricted, reinforced, and isolated as the player descends.
H1 represents a later generation of military engineering, combining massive mechanical systems with concealed architectural design.
The old aerodrome reflects the earlier logistical organization of the installation.
Abandoned checkpoints and defensive structures reveal the extent of the original security perimeter.
The rainforest progressively obscures these distinctions on the surface.
Older buildings may be almost entirely consumed by vegetation.
Certain underground facilities, however, remain unusually well preserved.
This contrast is essential to the atmosphere of Project Schwarzwald.
The exterior suggests abandonment, deterioration, and historical decay.
The deeper installation reveals sophisticated systems that continue functioning long after the people who created them disappeared.
4.3 First Sight of the Installation
The expedition first sees the installation from a high overlook at the opening of Chapter Four. See: Campaign › 4. Project Schwarzwald
5. Security and Access
5.1 One Continuous World
The entire Schwarzwald surface region is one continuous world, rather than a succession of disconnected stage-sized maps. The player can move through the rainforest and among reachable surface facilities without an artificial chapter-based lockout. Legitimate physical barriers, military protection, locked infrastructure, environmental hazards, and mission-specific restrictions may limit particular entrances.
5.2 Early Threats
There are no monsters in D1 or D2. The early threat comes from the militarized territory, human decisions, exposure, terrain, mechanical risks, and the unknown purpose of the installation. The first creatures are reserved for D3 and Chapter Six.
6. Connections
7. Concept Image
The site layout map of Project Schwarzwald, used as the reference for the surface.
Kept in the game repository at environments/military_base/children/surface/concept.png (Project Schwarzwald site layout and underground infrastructure).
8. Open Questions
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