ElvenNeko
(Socolov Andrew)
Video game writer and designer.

The game begins with an ordinary guy who lives In the forest and loves to watch the stars – one day a spaceship lands near his house, and he goes to investigate. It opens, but... no one comes out. The guy goes inside and starts exploring it, and then suddenly the doors close and the ship begins to fly away on autopilot. A player with a keen eye would notice that continents on the planet have the shape different from Earth.

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Arriving at his destination, he meets a pack of diplomats from the intergalactic alliance, who have gone nuts from such a turn. Everyone is arguing about something. After they settle down, a guy is given a pill with a nanochip so that he can understand any language, and they try to find out how he got on the ship in the first place. Afterwards, they give him a guide and send him on a short trip to get acquainted with the alliance of worlds because they need to summon ambassadors and discuss urgent matter in the meantime.

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After the trip, when the protagonist learned a bit about galactic society and made new friends, ambassadors called him to an emergency meeting. At this meeting, the guy learns that the human race was once the most numerous race in the galaxy, since they were the first to discover interstellar travel technology. But after that they began to get bogged down in wars with other races and even each other, and the last straw in the alliance's patience was that humans used a new kind of weaponry to destroy their home planet, Earth, making it completely uninhabitable. After this, collective galactic society decided to get rid of humanity. Humans were numerous, but they did not stand a chance against the combined will of the other races. But the humanity of the alliance did not allow genocide to be committed, so humans were simply sterilized and eventually died out, except for a small, specially selected group of clones, who, without any knowledge of the past, were settled on a new planet, giving them a chance to start all over again. Everyone was forbidden to fly to this planet and make contact, and it was decided that as soon as the first of the people could get out into space and contact the alliance, then he would become a representative of all humanity and would lead his people into the cosmic future. Of course, everything did not go as planned, and many members of the alliance believed that the ship that “accidentally” flew onto the planet was a setup, but the Wanderer (the only human who was allowed to stay, since he abandoned human body long ago and became an entirely new being and has a good reputation among the alliance) reminds them of their promise to the humanity, and they decide to initiate the procedure. But it will take time...

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And the very first thing they need to do is go to the dead Earth and take away the legacy of their ancestors, left there by the scientists of humanity, who warned the alliance about the imminent danger but were ignored, since everyone thought that they were simply trying to use it to divert attention from the fate of humanity. Here the Wanderer tells that he, too, was once a man who, even before the war, set out to build an experimental settlement in the most remote and unknown. On this planet, he discovered confirmation of the conclusions of scientists, and entered into an alliance with a certain entity from a special dimension inaccessible to people. Having given his body under the control of the entity, he was allowed it to exist in the material world, and in return it awarded him immortality and special abilities. Returning back and learning about the fate of the human race, the Wanderer began to prepare for the inevitable, studying information, as well as helping the alliance remain in peace and integrity so that they could meet the looming threat head-on. It was he who launched the ship to the planet in order to gain access to the heritage of human scientists, since he believed that it was impossible to wait any longer.

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No one from the galactic alliance knows what this legacy is, but it was left by a group of the best scientists of humanity, choosing the Earth for this as a monument to the stupidity of their race, and only a descendant of humanity is given the opportunity to reactivate it. Under the ground of a destroyed planet, patrolled by living weapons that once destroyed the planet, they find a bunker in which, among many machines, a girl is sleeping... but upon closer examination it turns out that it is an android. Having activated it, the heroes learn that it contains a database with the knowledge of all mankind, which should not be lost, as well as something else important—information about a very frightening discovery of human scientists about the impending end of the world. She conducts a scan and confirms the conclusion made thousands of years ago: the stars in the neighboring galaxy are extinguishing earlier than they should have been. The sky turns into complete darkness, and this phenomenon is approaching—the Milky Way is the next closest galaxy.

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Upon returning, they learn that communication with the Predator planet (one of the most distant worlds in the alliance, that is inhabited by a sentient race that has not reached tech level needed for space travels - details will be explained later) has been lost, and later that representatives of this species have suddenly acquired a kind of spaceship and are attacking other civilizations. The procedure for the return of humanity is postponed to investigate this, and it turns out that the bodies of the Predators were captured and changed by some substance that controls them like a parasite. Android says that everything is bad: what scientists warned about is already here, on the threshold of our galaxy, and it did not come in peace. And while the rest of the alliance is trying to solve the problem on their own, Android sends the player’s team on a quest to collect parts of a certain device, parts of which were buried on different planets. It is there that the player meets all these characters who want to join his group in investigating what is happening, and some of them are:

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Something like intelligent octopuses. They live on the ocean planet, and their evolution was greatly hindered by the fact that their females, like the females of earthly octopuses, died after laying the caviar. As a result, they experienced near extinction when a mass refusal of reproduction began and then almost destroyed the ecosystem when they created a religion, as well as many social doctrines to motivate females to reproduce by telling them how they are getting rebirth in their spawn. Their society was fragmented into many communes, each of which lived according to its own rules. As a result, they got out of all this by raising offspring in artificial systems, and at the same time, limiting their numbers in this way. Most of them prefer to stay on their home world, but some go into space and other worlds exclusively on special missions, wearing suits with water tanks, that allowing them to exist on the surface.

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Insects. Their queens have developed incredible intelligence, allowing them to effectively control the rest of the castes using telepathy. After which they used genetic engineering to modify their drones and soldiers so that, for example, they had no taste for food and could eat anything, making them even more submissive. The "officers" were left quite intelligent, but unable to harm the queens due to special pheromones. They control squads of drones, warriors, gatherers and other castes using telepathy, and also receive their orders from the queens. Their brain is also capable of retaining information even after the death of the individual, and by delivering it to the queen, it is possible to read the entire memory of the officer. Another feature they had is pupation for transformation into the stronger form - it occurs at will, and provides the officer with incredible abilities, but greatly limits the lifespan in this form. The partner in the game would be one of these officers, sent by the queen to help the team investigate a possible threat to their existence. And with him there would be many dialogues about life in a society where the fate of each individual is predetermined from birth, where everyone has a clear goal in life, but no choice.

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Next come the predators. A completely carnivorous race. The cult of hunting flourishes in their society, where the best compete with each other to see which of them can catch their prey the fastest. Any form of life is used as prey, but especially popular is the slightly less intellectual race of herbivores, which, before meeting predators, developed on another continent. Herbivores are also used as slaves. This race became cosmic only due to the fact that it was discovered by researchers, since their technologies were not developed enough for space flights. However, due to the mentality of predators, a problem arose with joining their race to the alliance of intelligent beings - they recognized only the right of force, and for them, killing another intelligent being was part of the culture, since in their understanding, one who cannot defend himself is not worthy life or property. As a result, this way of life led to exile and forced isolation on their home planet. Not everyone was satisfied with this state of affairs - many creatures believed that their cultural characteristics should be taken into account. Therefore, especially zealous protesters began to be sent to visit the home planet of predators, who gladly allowed them to take part in the hunting ceremony - as victims. Those few who managed to survive forever changed their point of view about their culture.

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The game's partner is one of the outcasts of the predator society, who has sworn an oath to never use his claws and predatory instincts again. In the event of battle, he uses firearms (which is despised by his race), and prefers to resolve conflicts through diplomacy. However, his instincts are strong, and he is forced to constantly fight them. The result of this struggle can be either his acceptance of his essence as a predator and a return to a more or less old way of life, or he can find the strength to overcome his nature and resolve the issue of life and death without violence. Since his planet is overtaken by mysterious invaders, at some point of the story he will also be able to decide the course for his race, depending on the outcome of his personal quest mentioned above.

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The next race in line is the intelligent plant, or, to be certain – mycelium colony, that spreads across the entire planet. When it became sentient, and also realized that all life forms around were devouring each other for the sake of survival, it was imbued with disgust and committed genocide to all living things, except for creatures like insects that feed on waste products (like pollen), and similar life forms. As a result, the planet turned into a complete jungle. It sends out its sprout, placed inside a human body (it has not decided whether it is dead or alive), and controls it as a symbiont to move outside the planet and investigate the looming threat. The sprout retains most of the knowledge of the original being, as well as her worldview, but is still a separate person, a copy. Traveling in the team of the protagonist, she will have to meet various representatives of developed animal races that cause such disgust in her, study them, and draw a conclusion—whether it was right to destroy such species on her planet. Then it will confront the original being with new point of view about ending the isolation from the universe, or decide not to change anything.

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Well, the last one is not a race, but simply a character, mentioned before - the Wanderer. He is an enigma, no one in the universe knows what he truly is, where he came from and what goals he pursues. However, he has helped members of the intergalactic alliance solve important problems many times, so his good reputation opens any doors for him. He looks like the spacesuit in which the first people went into space, but he has no face, and under the visor there is darkness... and many tentacles, which are immediately familiar to those who are stupid enough to stand in his way. And from the looks of it, he is much larger on the inside than on the outside... What could be on the mind of someone who is considered by some races to be a wandering god?

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Together, team continues the search for parts of a doomsday device, left by a human scientists.

This device is a weapon so terrible that it is capable of annihilating all matter in a single solar system as a result of its explosion, including black holes. Its parts were buried in different worlds so that only in the event of such a crisis it would be possible to stop what was happening by destroying the Star Devourer - a creature invading our galaxy, the existence of which was learned after meeting with the scouts sent by it and their subsequent study. At the moment, this creature has opened a wormhole and is preparing to transfer itself to our world, first of all capturing the planet of the Predators, who surrendered to them without a fight in exchange for the promise of strength and retribution with the galaxy that once expelled them, and the opportunity to personally hunt all its representatives. They have allowed parasites into themselves that are part of the Devourer’s body, and are now controlled by its collective mind. After a battle near the Predator planet, where, among other things, the future of their race will be decided, the united forces of the alliance approach the wormhole and realize that the Devourer is on the other side of it, and is trying to widen the passage so that he can pass through it. Having fought their way through his parasitic forces, the team ends up in another galaxy, where in the distance a huge world-creature, the size of many planets, is visible, which immediately notices their presence and sends interceptors. They manage to activate the bomb and use a superluminal jump in a random direction to leave the explosion site, and the explosion destroys the wormhole, but the creature somehow remains alive.

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Now they are alone in a world alien to them, where there are no signs of life left, and the way home is closed. The heroes will have to explore an alien galaxy, during which, visiting dead worlds, they will learn the story of the Devourer - it was a race of creatures who desperately wanted to escape the cycle of life and death, and they found a way out: to fuse themselves into a creature controlled by the will of their collective mind. The only trouble was that in order to maintain eternal life, the creature needed matter, and for this it began to absorb all the planets and stars around itself, at the same time “saving” the races inhabiting them by making them part of its collective mind. The creature grew, as did its appetite - and when one galaxy was devoured completely, it used the wormholes to move to the next, and the next, mowing down worlds like a dark reaper. Some worlds, like ours, were warned in advance by the signs of dying stars, and were able to delay the invasion, but did not prevent it. Having collected the information that the creatures inhabiting this galaxy possessed, the heroes find the technology necessary to create a small portal through another wormhole and return back to their own galaxy...

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But time flows differently in different galaxies, and in their home world many years have already passed since they disappeared without a trace, and they were all considered dead. Moreover, thanks to the heroic actions of the team who closed the wormhole, they decided to give humanity another chance - and now humans are on the part of the alliance of worlds. The heroes who returned alive are praised, but they do not really believe what they learned and are in no hurry to take any measures. One part of the plan to combat the Devourer is the creation of a new bomb, but the council, including the human diplomat, actively prevent this, saying that they see no reason to create such a dangerous weapon while there is no threat (they don’t want to repeat the reputation of humans as the warmongers). Soon the heroes realize what's going on - having lost a direct attack, the Devourer has changed tactics and his parasites are now capturing people secretly, forcing them to act in his interests and sabotage any ideas about possible resistance. It turns out that almost the entire government is now under control, and they destroy one of their own planets, after which the alliance of worlds declares the team of heroes to be terrorists who conspired with the enemy and are responsible for these events. Teaming up with the few resistance forces, the heroes try to secretly create a bomb, and also stop the alliance, which, under the leadership of the possessed, creates a stable wormhole in order to open a path for the Devourer.

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One of the stages of the plan is to capture and study the possessed - with the help of data obtained in another galaxy, they know that for their instant telepathic communication with the host, they use the same forces as ships during warp jumps, and that these forces do not work in gravitational fields of planets (which prevents the possibility of warping into the center of a planet by accident). They conduct research on individual possessed people, cutting them off from the general collective mind (those of enemies who act secretly are not cut off due to special devices that provide them with communication even on the planet’s surfaces), and discover that the collective mind of the Devourer is not very united. Many consciousnesses of the races absorbed by him are not satisfied with such a life, but while they are part of the Devourer’s body, their opinion is suppressed by the opinion of the majority of minds, but when they are “disconnected” from the system, they gain autonomy and regain their personality. One of these minds decides to join the hero's team and tells them that the only way to destroy the Devourer is to detonate the bomb from the inside, in a weak spot that is not protected from external armor of the creature. However, you can get inside the Devourer only as part of it - so the new partner offers to infect the team with his own particles, so that the Devourer will accept them as his own, and when he realizes that they are not controlled by his collective mind, it will be too late. Meanwhile, the rebel fleet must engage the Devourer, diverting attention to themselves and allowing the team of protagonist to slip inside undetected.

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After getting inside, something goes wrong and the Devourer is able to influence the minds of the team, offering them everything they have ever dreamed of. Depending on the results of the personal quests of their partners, they either manage to throw off the illusion, or end up under the control of the Devourer and confront the team in the final skirmish, during which they place and launch a bomb, after which, again depending on the relationship with their partners, the team either manages to escape, or they die along with the Devourer.

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There is also an ending option in which the Devourer tries to reason with the protagonist, says that it only wants to live, but requires consumption of the matter just as other species consume their food, and that it does not destroy civilizations, but instead preserves them within it’s body, so destroying the creature would also destroy the collective memory and knowledge of thousands civilisations. If the protagonist chosing to betray the team, he gets immortality and independent existence as the emissary of the Devourer.