- For the game chapter of the same name, see The Condenser.
A condenser is a device which can open rifts into the Infraworld.
Description[]
Condensers use electricity and dark matter in order to force open tears in reality, which connect the physical world with the Infraworld. The knowledge that went into building the condenser came from DPA research. The condenser system consists of several paddle-like emitters which generate energy to open the rift.
In all examples, the system is required to keep the rift open. If shut down or damaged, the rift will collapse in on itself. While active, it permits entities to come into the physical world.
Known Condensers[]
There are five known condensers seen in Beyond: Two Souls.
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“I think they get the message.” — Spoilers for Beyond: Two Souls follow. |
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ADA Condenser[]
Seen in the chapter "The Condenser," this condenser was a science project designed to open a gateway into the Infraworld. At the time, the scientists and researchers did not realize how dangerous the entities were until they came spilling through the rift, killing the entire staff.
Jodie Holmes is sent into the ADA Condenser Facility to shut down the condenser. Down in the research lab, she comes across the possessed corpses of multiple scientists as well as numerous aggressive entities. Aiden must fight them off long enough for Jodie to make it to the control room and shut the condenser down.
After the rift collapses, Jodie returns to the outside and into the waiting arms of Nathan Dawkins. She begs him not to let them build one of those devices ever again.
DPA Condenser[]
Years later, after Nathan receives funding from the Department of Defense, the U.S. government builds a second condenser in the underground DPA facility at the Pentagon. This condenser is used to open up a large rift, codenamed "Black Sun." Learning from their previous mistakes, the DPA develops a containment field capable of keeping the entities that emerge from the rift safely inside the condenser chamber. Any personnel entering the chamber are required to wear protective hazard suits and portable containment field belts.
The size and power of the rift enables the DPA to extract energy from the Black Sun. With the extracted energy powering the facility, the condenser - and therefore the rift - is self-sustaining. It fills a cavernous room at the center of the DPA facility, its pulsating, yellow light filling every corridor.
The DPA condenser was eventually destroyed when Nathan Dawkins, in a fit of grief and madness, turned off the containment field, intending to let the Infraworld spread through the real world so he could be with his family again. Jodie, along with Ryan Clayton and Cole Freeman, descended into the chamber to shut down the condenser. Eventually, Jodie managed to do this after experiencing the world on the other side of the rift. The resulting implosion destroyed the condenser totally.
Kazirstan Condenser[]
The CIA discovers a second condenser being built by the East Asian country known as Kazirstan. The Kazirstani military built a facility at the bottom of a frozen lake to house the condenser. The condenser itself was located in the water on the lake bottom.
Wanting to keep the technology out of foreign hands, the CIA and the U.S. military launch a covert operation to infiltrate the military base and destroy the condenser. Jodie, along with Ryan, Nick, and Vince, travel to Kazirstan to destroy the condenser.
Jodie and Ryan commandeer a submarine to get down to the base. Aiden possesses a Kazirstani officer, using him to escort them down to the condenser. Unfortunately, they walk across part of the containment field - more powerful than the version built by the DPA - which drives Aiden from the soldier's body and partially-disconnected his link to Jodie. Aiden manages to shut down the containment field and get back to Jodie, but not before she and Ryan are tortured for information.
Jodie tells Ryan to escape back to the sub while she dons a dive suit to walk out to the condenser. The waters around the condenser are swarming with entities. She plants explosives on the three emitters and blows the condenser up, starting off a chain reaction that destroys the base. She and Ryan barely make it back to the surface, where they are recovered by Nick and Vince.
Miniature Condenser[]
In his years as DPA director, Nathan tried to recreate the original experiment to generate a stable connection to the Infraworld that did not involve the creation of the rift. The purpose was to be able to contact the souls of his deceased wife and daughter. He built a miniature condenser in a small lab directly adjacent to his office. Eventually, he succeeded, creating a machine that could summon souls from the Infraworld if they were close enough. Thanks to Jodie's assistance when she was a little girl, Nathan knew that the souls of his wife and daughter were following him around, and thus were always nearby.
Activating the condenser, the swirling, smoky shapes of his wife and daughter appeared within the condenser emitters. They reached out to him, their mouths open, but he could hear nothing. He tried to find a way to allow souls to speak from the Infraworld, but nothing worked.
After the Kazirstan incident, Nathan reveals the existence of the condenser to Jodie as well as the souls that appear inside it. Just as when she channeled the souls of his wife and daughter years ago, Nathan wants her to contact them again so that he may speak to them. When Jodie does so, however, Nathan finds that his wife and daughter are not reaching out to him and talking to him - they are actually screaming. The condenser did not make contact with Nathan's family; it was keeping them imprisoned. They had been trapped for years, unable to cross over. Nathan's wife, Helen, pleads with him, telling him that they are in pain, begging him to just let them die.
In a fit of rage and grief, Nathan shuts down his miniature condenser, then goes to shut down the containment field of the rift at the heart of the DPA facility, believing that to be the only way to see his family again.
The Future Condenser[]
Though this condenser is never actually seen, it is known by the existence of the massive rift seen in the Epilogue. Jodie knew that after the destruction of the DPA facility, the government - be it the U.S. or some other country - would try to build another condenser. This condenser is self-sustaining, just like the DPA one, and it allows the rift to grow until large enough to swallow a city. At the end of the story, Jodie and/or Zoey can be seen - wearing containment shield belts - ready to walk into the city to face the danger once more.
Gallery[]
