20 things you didn’t know about Monsters from the Ice
Monsters from the Ice is the third map in the GDLU or Geo-Descent Labs Universe. Set before the engineer’s dive to the depths in Monsters of the Deep, it sees an explorer... well explore an abandoned methane facility. Their quest? To restore power to the plant and figure out what happened to the missing scientists.
With all the mystery and drama going on, it can be pretty easy to miss the finer details, the little nuggets of information hiding in plain sight.
So join us once again as we dig down into Monsters from the Ice and maybe uncover a few hidden treasures you didn’t know about.
Number 1
GDL and IDC are opposites in almost every way, including their logos! GDL has a triangle pointing down symbolising the drill boring into the earth, IDC has a mountain pointing up into the sky.
Number 2
While they are opposites, all blocks used for the GDL facilities in Monsters from the Ice have an IDC counterpart. They are identical in texture but are coloured either yellow (IDC) or orange (GDL) for the corresponding company. Maybe they’re not so different after all.
Number 3
Before the facility was abandoned, a fridge thief was running rampant throughout IDC. Turns out it was actually Elsa - Ivan’s assistant. This is because the thief was wearing gloves when they took the sandwich. Elsa is the only member of IDC who is known to wear gloves, thanks to the ‘Elsa’s glove’ collectable.
Personally, I think these guys need to let it go. It’s just a sandwich after all.
Number 4
Dr Wulf is writing a book of motivational philosophy! This time it’s centred around the cold. You can find his book hidden in the world as well as actually hear what Dr Wulf sounds like as he complains that everything is better in Belgium...typical.
Number 5
In the IDC facility, if you go into the little storage room opposite the toilets, you can see all the armours you haven’t unlocked yet!.
Number 6
After unlocking the first hangar door, just before you collect the pickaxe, the tunnel rumbles and the lights flicker. In a ‘blink and you’ll miss it’ moment, you can actually see the Frost Worm slither past the icy hole in the ceiling, foreshadowing the map’s final fight.
Number 7
The Arctic Sap model had to go through a significant redesign during development. It was initially designed as a pile of goo. However, we found in testing that it blended too well into the environment and was often overlooked by players. So we changed the sap design to a log and altered the textures of the trees it’s found beneath. If you look closely, you’ll see that its bark has spots of the same orange goo on it.
Number 8
The bumbling Alan Columbus returns with another harebrained GDL venture, but he wasn’t always supposed to be so vapid. During early development, Alan was poised to be the villain of the story, who purposely sent Ivan a dangerous creature to destroy IDC for GDL’s gain. This idea was scrapped as we felt it was not in keeping with Alan’s character. Instead, the story was changed, and Alan sent Ivan a pet worm as a friendly gift, unaware of the chaos it would one day cause.
Number 9
While you’re running around fighting monsters and turning on the generators, GDL scientists are also hard at work. Every time you return after activating a new generator, the scientists will have cleaned up some more trash from the interior of the IDC facility and moved GDL boxes instead. They “dispose’ of all the trash in the large pile right in front of the entrance to the facility. Very eco-responsible those GDL scientists...
Number 10
The Ivandium that you find throughout the map was actually discovered by Ivan de Gamma who named it after himself! IDC is also named after Ivan, standing for ‘Ivan’s Drilling Corp’. However, if you listen carefully, you can hear some of the GDL scientist coming up with their own less friendly names.
Number 11
When you first wake up in your tent at the start of the map, Alan asks you to bring marshmallows with you for the hot cocoa. Turn around, and you’ll find that you actually did bring marshmallows with you on your arctic adventures! You can even take them to Alan and Sasha at the outpost. They won’t thank you for it though. How rude...
Number 12
Both Alan and Ivan are named after famous explorers. Alan Columbus is named after the famous Italian explorer Christopher Columbus who apparently ‘discovered’ the Americas during a failed attempt to establish an ocean route to India. Ivan’s namesake - Vasco da Gama - on the other hand, actually accomplished the goal of creating a trade link and helped the Portuguese establish an empire in Asia and Africa! Who’s the better scientist now?
Number 13
Sasha doesn’t have red shoes.
Number 14
Monsters from the Ice is one of the first Noxcrew maps to have ingame achievements! You can see which ones you’ve unlocked and which ones you’ve missed in the IDC archives.
Number 15
The gravestones in the village all detail the tragic passing of some of the village’s more ironic members like Alektra Kuted and Shi-Kud Enswim.
Number 16
Sasha’s calls for Alan while the explorer climbs the mountain were initially based on a ‘Talking Animals’ skit where a gopher calls out to his friend called Alan. This was eventually scrapped because it just didn’t translate very well. Should have called for Steve instead
Number 17
In a private audio recording, Alan states that it’s been 27 years since Barney and Minnowski were lost in their disastrous descent to the Earth’s core. He can remember it like it was the day before yesterday...kind of. Sasha would remember better.
Number 18
As the IDC facility powers and heats up, the snow on the glass ceiling melts and you can start to see through it. When you walk over the top of it, Sasha can hear your footsteps and looks up to see who it is!
Number 19
Whenever you activate the Freezanator 3000, little snowflakes come out to freeze the area!
Number 20
The Frost Worm is called Drugar, and his favourite food is cottage cheese!