"You... shall all... DIE!!" - Dr. Roy Curien, The House of the Dead
Dr. Roy Curien is the main antagonist of the arcade rail-shooter game House of the Dead. A brilliant scientist, he worked for the DBR Corporation as a master geneticist. Seeking the means to control life and death, his obsessions drove him mad and he threatened to unleash death and destruction upon the world with a genetically engineered army of zombies. Though he was defeated and seemingly killed, he would return in House of the Dead 3 as the Wheel of Fate.
History[]
Pre-game history[]
Several years prior to the 1998 Curien Case, Dr. Curien sought to cure his terminally-ill son Daniel. Using his prowess in genetics and receiving financial backing from DBR's director Caleb Goldman, he tried to produce the ultimate cure, one that would rid his son of his disease and save humanity from death itself. Over the years, Curien became obsessed with his research, delving into darker and more depraved methods of sustaining human life after death, creating a state of "undeath". Horrified by what his work had become, most of Curien's research staff abandoned him, but the good doctor refused to stop.
1998[]
In December 1998, Curien released an army of undead creatures upon his staff at the Curien Mansion. A call was put out to the agents of the AMS stating that the doctor had gone mad and intended to destroy the whole world with his undead creations. Agents Thomas Rogan and "G" arrived at the mansion and confronted the hordes of zombies and genetically engineered monsters, eventually making their way to the basement laboratory where the doctor was waiting for them.
Curien congratulated Rogan and G on their progress but refused to surrender to them, introducing the two agents to his ultimate creation: a cybernetically-augmented creature referred to as the Magician. Curien activated the Magician but the creature would not recognise him as its master. Instead, it attacked Curien and killed him.
2019[]
Following his death during the 1998 incident, Curien's body was retrieved by DBR. In the years that followed, Curien's body was experimented on extensively at the EFI Facility. During this period, a plan put in place by Caleb Goldman was initiated and resulted in the collapse of civilisation, bringing the world to ruin.
In 2019, a commando unit led by former AMS agent Thomas Rogan infiltrated EFI, having learned of Curien's legacy. The team was massacred by the building's zombie security force, but Rogan himself was rescued by a mysterious individual, later revealed to be the late Dr. Curien's son Daniel. Daniel had been cured of his debilitating illness thanks to his father's work, but that same work had also led to the destruction of the world and Daniel had taken it upon himself to undo the horrors caused by his father.
Two weeks after Rogan's disappearance, his daughter Lisa and former AMS partner G had come to EFI in search of him. They succeeded in fighting their way through the hordes of monsters and zombies infesting the building, meeting with Daniel Curien and Rogan as they reached the centre of the facility. There, they discovered the Wheel of Fate, a cybernetic mutation created from Roy Curien's body. The Wheel of Fate awoke, addressing itself as Curien and stating that humanity had wanted to bring the world to its current state. The resurrected Curien then attacked, announcing that it intended to destroy and resurrect humanity.
Curien attempted to appeal to his son Daniel, saying that he needed him. Daniel refused to acknowledge the creature before him as his father and opened fire on it, joined by G and the Rogans. After a heated battle, the Wheel of Fate was destroyed and Dr. Roy Curien was finally put to rest.
Characteristics[]
Dr. Curien is depicted with contrasting personalities in the games that he is featured in. In the first House of the Dead, Curien appears to be intelligent as he is mad, concerned with nothing more than the destruction of mankind and the completion of the Magician. He expresses no guilt or remorse over what he's doing, and treats the struggles of the agents as if it were nothing more than a game, so confident in his success that he doesn't even consider them a threat to his plans. In the instruction manuals for the home ports of the game, it was mentioned that he had a son, but no further information was given beyond that.
In The House of the Dead III, flashbacks depict Curien with much deeper and sympathetic intentions as a loving father who would step into forbidden territory in order to save his son's life, and that his discoveries to control life and death were all for Daniel's sake. It was only after he discovered the genes that would change the future of humankind that he descended into complete madness. When he is shown in the present, resurrected as the Wheel of Fate, it bore very little resemblance to the father Daniel knew. When the Wheel pleaded to Daniel that he needed him, Daniel refused to recognize it as his father.
Wheel of Fate[]
The Wheel of Fate is the final boss of House of the Dead 3. Both super-strong and super-fast, it is one of the longest, most difficult bosses in the entire series. In this form, Curien's body is covered head-to-toe in a silver-chrome metallic coating. Around his body is a large mechanical ring, or wheel, that spins and rotates rapidly. The wheel shields Curien from gunfire and fires blasts of electricity which players can shoot to avoid taking damage. Boss analysis states that it is impossible to determine Curien's weak spot, but an obvious weak point is visible: the sun-shaped symbol on Curien's chest. Because of the wheel constantly getting in the way, however, striking this weak point is extremely difficult. Waiting for an opening is asking to be killed, so it is best to simply keep shooting and reloading constantly, chipping away the boss' health slowly but surely.
Trivia[]
- During early development of House of the Dead, Curien was originally known as "Dr. A".
- Curien's name is believed to have been derived from that of acclaimed French physicist Hubert Curien.
- Roy Curien shares a number of character traits with Resident Evil antagonist Albert Wesker. Both are genetic scientists who were betrayed and killed by their creations, both were resurrected as superhuman creatures and have each expressed misanthropic worldviews, addressing issues such as humanity's overpopulation and (self) destructive tendencies.
- An alternate version of the character appears in the film House of The Dead 2, now named "Professor Roy Curien." Played by veteran actor Sid Haig and depicted as a deranged college professor, Curien has taken his son Rudy's discovery from the first film and attempted to use it to further unlock the formula for immortality, which leads to a citywide outbreak being contained by the AMS. He is eventually attacked by his creations and himself becomes a zombie in the end.