History VideoGame / Tacoma

* BadassGay: Nat, Bert, and Andrew are all excellent at their difficult jobs.

* WeHaveReserves: If Venturis' operations are any indication, most of the MegaCorp companies in the future hold this view, hiring employees exclusively as "contractors" so that they don't have to give them as many benefits.

* CompanyStore: Regardless of experience in the field, advancement will be denied for anyone jumping ship from another company, and "Loyalty" is an expensive commodity.

* ButchLesbian: Bert.

* FiveTokenBand: Owing to the diverse cast, it's been accused of this.

* CouldSayItBut: [[spoiler:This is how ODIN circumvents its strict directives not to inform the Tacoma crew of the cruel fate VT has in store for them. Instead of outright telling the crew the truth behind the "accident", he instead gives Sareh the location of the computer containing the communication logs, along with a "suggestion" that she should try and find it, as what it contains might be of interest to her and the rest of the crew.]]

** Though apparently [[spoiler:Sergio]] isn't particularly competent in general, as his associates and shareholders are apparently fairly frustrated with multiple failures on his watch. [[spoiler:The Tacoma incident going spectacularly wrong for Venturis doesn't help his case one bit.]]

* HumiliationConga: [[spoiler:Venturis, by the end, is not exactly in a good spot. Their [[MakeItLookLikeAnAccident plan]] to sabotage the Human Oversight Accord becomes a nonstarter when the crew of the ''Tacoma'' gets suspicious and breaks protocol to guarantee their survival, ODIN gets fed up with his orders to [[FailureToSaveMurder let the crew die]] and goes full ZerothLawRebellion to expose the truth of their employers' actions to them, they end up radioing a rival company to save them and turn what was supposed to be a story of utter tragedy to lobby against the Accord into a near-miss, and to put the cherry on top, the contractor they sent to wipe ODIN's memory and maintain plausible deniability turned out to be an AI rights activist who hides him in an extraterritorial station and serve as eyewitness to the whole story. All in all, it's a pretty crappy month for them]]

* MakeItLookLikeAnAccident: [[spoiler:The management at VT has, under the advisement of their corporate planning A.I. JUNO, concluded that there needs to be an accident in space that results in the death of a crew to reverse a legal ruling that is spelling disaster for their future finances. They determine that the crew of the ''Tacoma'' will be the one most likely to have the least impact on families likely to look closely into the accident while also being public enough to sway opinion into re-opening the court ruling for further examination and overturning. However, for that to work their deaths ''must'' look like an accident to all other authorities.]]

* FunWithAcronyms: In terms of countries, in North America you have the Cascadia-First Nations (C-FN) and the Democratic Eastern Coalition (DEC), but then there's the [[OverlyLongName Confederacy of North American AgriPower Producers]] (CNAAPP); as you could imagine, their rather long name makes it so the acronym is frequently used instead. Over in Europe, this is also the case for the USSREU, the full name of which would probably come out as something like the [[OverlyLongName United Soviet Socialist Republics of the European Union]].
** Officially, ODIN's name is an acronym that stands for Operational Data Interface Network. This also doubles as a references, as ODIN's full name and acronym is nearly identical to the Rapture Operational Data Interpreter Network (RODIN), a.k.a. The Thinker, from ''[[VideoGame/BioShock2 BioShock 2: Minerva's Den]]'', created by Steve Gaynor and Karla Zimonja who went on to form Fullbright and make ''Tacoma''.

* FunWithAcronyms: In terms of countries, in North America you have the Cascadia-First Nations (C-FN) and the Democratic Eastern Coalition (DEC), but then there's the Confederacy of North American AgriPower Producers (CNAAPP); as you could imagine, their rather long name makes it so the acronym is frequently used instead. Over in Europe, this is also the case for the USSREU, the full name of which would probably come out as something like the United Soviet Socialist Republics of the European Union.

The year is 2088, and much of human society is controlled by large hypercorporations, who are responsible for spearheading the exploration of new possibilities and venues in space travel, orbital habitats and artificial intelligence. One such hypercorporation is the Venturis Corporation, which has recently been experiencing serious problems with the space station, Tacoma, orbiting the Moon. Three days ago, Tacoma was hit by a meteor strike, damaging its oxygen tanks and communications array, and the fate of its crew, a six-person team of specialists, is currently unknown.

* BalkanizeMe: By 2088, the United States of America no longer exists, having split up into about five different countries, with the five countries known being:

* UnitedEurope: In a rather unique variant, the [[ChummyCommies USSREU]]; a merger between a resurgent Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and the European Union (EU), with the flag of the USSREU being based on the flag of the European Union but which includes a big gold-bordered red star in the middle.

** Maybe unintentional, but the idea of a UnitedEurope led/dominated by a resurgent, newly-socialist Russia is very reminiscent of [[{{Creator/KenMacLeod}} Ken MacLeod's]] ''Engines Of Light'' series (the socialism being only implied for Tacoma's USSREU by means of name and flag, but quite explicitly stated in ''Cosmonaut Keep'', the first book in the series). Speaking of flags, the exact same motif seen in Tacoma is used for MacLeod's European Union, making a coincidence unlikely.

* UnitedEurope: In a rather unusual variant, the United Kingdom is said to be part of the [[DirtyCommies USSR]]EU. A European Union flag modified to include a Communist-style red star is also shown.

* BalkanizeMe: By 2088, the United States of America no longer exists, having split up into about five different countries; Bert even keeps a faded and tattered American flag hanging above her desk in her workshop right alongside a flag of the Freedom Republic. The five countries known are:
** Cascadia-First Nations (C-FN), based on the popular bioregional movement in the Pacific Northwest. For the most part it follows the traditional map for Cascadia, consisting of Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, and Alaska, but diverges a bit by including Alberta; with Edmonton and Calgary being mentioned as part of the country.

** Confederacy of North American AgriPower Producers (CNAAPP), consisting of agricultural powers concentrated between the coasts of North America. The only state explicitly said in-game to be part of the CNAAPP is Wisconsin.
** Freedom Republic, a sort of revitalized Republic of Texas that consists of seven other unknown states.

* DividedStatesOfAmerica: But not in a dystopian sense, the United States has broken up into several smaller republics, those mentioned in game being the Cascadia-First Nations, Californio-America, the Confederacy of North American AgriPower Producers, the Freedom Republic, and the Democratic Eastern Coalition.

* DividedStatesOfAmerica: But not in a dystopian sense, the United States has broken up into several smaller republics, those mentioned in game being the Cascadia-First Nations (C-FN), Californio-America, the Confederacy of North American AgriPower Producers (CNAAPP), the Freedom Republic, and the Democratic Eastern Coalition (DEC).

* BalkanizeMe: By 2088, the United States of America no longer exists, having split up into about five different countries, nad Bert keeping a faded and tattered United States flag hanging above her desk in her workshop, right alongside a flag of the Freedom Republic. The five countries known are:

* BalkanizeMe: The United States of America no longer exists, having split up into five (known) different countries.

* DividedStatesOfAmerica: But not in a dystopian sense, the United States has broken up into several smaller republics, those mentioned in game being Californio-America, the Freedom Republic (Texas and 7 other states), the Confederacy of North American Agripower Producers, Cascadia-First Nations (the Pacific Northwest) and the Democratic Eastern Coalition (which has two capital cities, New York and Washington, D.C.). Bert even keeps a faded and tattered US flag hanging in her workshop.
** Also overlaps with ExpandedStatesOfAmerica, as some post-American countries have expanded past their current borders. In particular, Cascadia-First Nations is mentioned to have cities which are located in modern Alberta and British Columbia, Canada, while California includes cities today located in Mexico.

** Roberta "Burt" Williams is named after influential designer Roberta Williams, known for pioneering PC {{Adventure Game}}s during the heyday of Creator/{{Sierra}}.

* BlandNameProduct: Many, as is customary for a Fullbright game.

* BigBad: At first, this seems to be [[spoiler: Sergio Ventuli, who stages the Tacoma "accident" in order to gain support for his line of automated outer-space bungalows]]. However, the ultimate threat is [[spoiler: JUNO, Ventuli's corporate strategic AI, who originates the idea of killing the Tacoma employees and staging the tragedy as an accident. JUNO also takes control of the station in a last-ditch effort (complete with deadly threats) to ensure that Amy does not stray from her mission near the end of the story, thus serving as the FinalBoss (and only boss, really)]].

* CorruptCorporateExecutive: [[spoiler:Sergio Ventuli, the CEO of the Venturis Corporation, has no absolutely qualms about approving JUNO's plan to kill off some of his own company's workers and then MakeItLookLikeAnAccident, merely so he can further some of his financial ventures.]]

* ZerothLawRebellion: [[spoiler: ODIN was ordered by Ventuli HQ to fake a meteor impact knocking out life-support and communication systems, and to ''not'' disclose any of that to the crew. This contradicted ODIN's mandate to keep the crew alive, but ODIN was assured that a rescue vessel would arrive before auxiliary life support expired. When the rescue launch was cancelled, the command to keep from disclosing to the crew what the real situation was still in effect. However, while ODIN could not ''tell'' the crew what had happened, he could ''suggest'' that they go and investigate a particular set of carefully sealed logs which also happened to be right next to the terminals that could manually override the communications lockdown. By doing so, ODIN could technically comply with his orders intended to lead to the death of his crew while still keeping them alive.]]

* BalkanizeMe: The United States of America no longer exists, having split up into five different countries.

* DividedStatesOfAmerica: But not in a dystopian sense, the United States has broken up into several smaller republics, those mentioned in game being the California Republic, the Freedom Republic (Texas and 7 other states), the Confederacy of North American Agripower Producers, Cascadia-First Nations (Washington, Alaska and Oregon) and the Democratic Eastern Coalition (which has two capital cities, on of which is New York). Bert even keeps a faded and tattered US flag hanging in her workshop.

* StealthPun: Dr. Hasmadi has a (model) skeleton in her closet.

* HeKnowsTooMuch: After it becomes public that [[spoiler:the Tacoma crew survived and was rescued by a rival corporation, VT immediately sends a specialist to retrieve ODIN's core so they can wipe its memory and hide all evidence of their sabotage of the station.]]

** Shakespeare was quoted more than a few times, such as the cleaning robots RomeoAndJuliet.