Asgard Building

The Asgard Building was located near the Brooklyn Bridge, and it was used as a meeting place for the Inner Circle in 2001.

Characteristics

The building predated the New York City Hall by two years, which made it the oldest municipal building that was still in use in the city by 2001. The building was large and imposing and it was comparable to other historic buildings around the city with a Federal-style architecture, including brick, stone and marble construction, metalwork railings, stone column supports throughout the structure, and a combination of rectangular and arcaded windows.

The Asgard building consisted of a library, a security control room with numerous CCTV monitors, a conference room, an outdoor courtyard, an enormous, high-ceilinged entrance hall that had a monument as a centerpiece, and a vast basement level, which contained the building's archives. Woden's office could have also been found within the building, which had a secret bunker for Woden, complete with a television, bed, and a wardrobe that contained BDSM toys and outfits.

The site appeared to have been well protected, with numerical keypads on nearly every door, metal detectors at every exit and explosive laser traps, similar to ones that were set up at the Cold Steel complex; however, no security guards were seen by Max Payne during the 2001 Valkyr case.

Events

In 2001, Max Payne met Alfred Woden at the Asgard Building for the first time and was introduced to the Inner Circle. The group discussed their connection to Valkyr, Project Valhalla, as well as who Max's enemy was, and they assisted him in locating and getting close to his target.

Shortly after Max arrived at the meeting place, Killer Suits stormed the place and killed every Inner Circle member present in the conference. Payne jumped out of a nearby window into an enclosed, outdoor courtyard, then headed back inside, made his way through the building's corridors and shot the numerous Killer Suits and Mercenaries before they were able to take him out. When he came across a security control room with several CCTV monitors, Max saw Alfred Woden rise from among his dead comrades, seemingly uninjured.

Max continued to navigate through the grand old building and eventually reached the nearest exit, but he found the doors as locked and when he saw signs that indicated the direction of another exit, Max followed them down into the basement archives. Once down in the basement, he climbed over collapsed storage shelving to reach the other side of the enormous room, and he made it out after he crossed the upper walkway that led up and out of the basement.

Payne followed the exit signs through hallways, rooms, and stairwells until he reached the exit he and Woden used to first enter the building. When he reached the cavernous entrance hall, one last group of Killer Suits flanked Max and attempted to stop him from escaping the Asgard building alive, but they were unsuccessful; Max escaped from the building and prepared for the final confrontation of his violent and revenge-driven vendetta against Nicole Horne.

Weapons Located

Television

When Max was in Alfred Woden's private bunker, the season finale of a science fiction show entitled The Void was playing on the bunker's television.

Behind the Scenes

In Norse mythology, Asgard is one of the nine worlds and where the æsir, or highest, group of Norse gods reside. In Max Payne, the Asgard Building is the location of the Inner Circle, who are a part of, as well as have connections to, the highest levels of power and influence in the world.

The Asgard building appears to be inspired by the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, due to the similarities in architecture and the reference photo of the historic courthouse that can be seen in the Secret Finale.