Mad Castle

"In ages past, lords rode through the grounds of castles just like this one, hunting game. Now you can experience the thrill of the hunt surrounded by nature, except the hunters are all zombies, and you're the game! Bonne chance!"

- Area description text

Mad Castle is the third major area in MadWorld. It is located on the southeastern side of Jefferson Island and is the largest area overall. As its name suggests, this area's defining feature is a large medieval castle.

It is preceded by Asian Town and succeeded by Area 66.

History
The castle's true history is not known for sure, as Amala and Howard Holmes provide contradicting information about the castle.

The castle was built in Austria, and judging by its Gothic architecture it is safe to assume that it was built during the Middle Ages. Though it is never stated who had it built, it was probably someone very wealthy and powerful, given the sheer size of the castle, with its own dungeon and a sanctuary being part of the castle's sites.

At some point, the castle was deconstructed and rebuilt on Jefferson Island within a forest. It is unclear when exactly this happened; when Jack Cayman enters the castle's courtyard, Howard states that this castle "was moved brick by brick to Jefferson Island [...] over a century ago". However, as Jack enters the castle's dungeon Amala states that the current mayor "had that castle brought over from Austria and renovated it to be a hotel". Still, Amala's version seems to be more likely; she is a more levelheaded person, doing her research thoroughly, while Howard probably made that fact up in order to entertain the audience and giving the castle a more ancient and mythical vibe.

Involvement in the Jefferson Island DeathWatch games
By the time The DeathWachers attacked Jefferson Island, a private opening ceremony for the rich and famous was held at the castle, predating the grand opening of the hotel that was scheduled for Christmas. They apparently barricaded themselves inside the castle waiting for help. Naomi Ann Borras, the mayor's only daughter, was among them, so the mayor hired Jack to save her. However, she and the others never were in real danger, as they used their wealth to strike a deal with the DeathWatchers, and were instead celebrating and enjoying DeathWatch, much to Jack's anger.

Levels
Like all major areas, the Mad Castle has three levels.

The first level is the castle's courtyard. This level introduces the Zombies and Scissors Men Grunt Enemies, as well as Death Blade, a Grim Reaper-like subboss. The boss that Jack fights here are The Shamans, a bunch of savage contestants embracing their werewolf motif.

The second level is the castle's dungeon. A replication of a medieval dungeon, complete with torture and execution devices. Big Long Driller is the subboss that is introduced here, burrowing through the plentiful underground walls. Beneath the dungeons is the lair of this level's boss, Frank, a parody of Frankenstein's monster and the largest and toughest Zombie Jack will face.

And finally there is the castle's sanctuary. A church connected to the castle by a viaduct. The only enemies Jack will face here are its residing boss Elise and her swarm of bloodthirsty vampire bats.

Trivia

 * Howard claims that the castle originates from a country or region called "Eastern Zombiekistan", opposing Amala's statement of being from Austria. As with the date of the castles relocation, it is likely that Howard was just joking, making fun of the castle's apparent zombie infestation.
 * Mad Castle might be a parody of the Castlevania series of video games, considering how one of the subbosses is a parody of the Grim Reaper and the end boss of this area is a Vampire.
 * Mad Castle is one of two major areas to have a different theme for each boss fight. The other one to share this feature is Asian Town, which coincidentally is also the only other major area with a female boss.