You awake in a darkened room, lit only by a computer console, through which an AI called LDAC contacts you and informs you that you are in an underground bunker After the End due to a nuclear war that left the world outside uninhabitable. You may converse with LDAC through the console, but many of its statements show you that there's more to the situation than it is letting on.
The game is available to play on Newgrounds here
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A Small Talk at the Back of Beyond contains examples of:
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Played With. LDAC does lie to you about your rapidly approaching death, but their reason for doing so is not certain. Depending on the player's interpretation, this could be an attempt on their part to shield the protagonist from the horror of their situation, making them more of a Benevolent A.I.. Alternately, it could have been an attempt to prevent the protagonist from leaving LDAC alone to die, which demonstrates some Secretly Selfish depths to the AI.
- Artificial Gravity: The AI casually says AGS is the Artificial Gravity System, but makes a quick cover by saying he meant Auxiliary Generators System.
- Bittersweet Ending: Both endings. If you choose to stay with LDAC, you are certain to die, but likely won't feel any pain due to the incredibly hot temperature of the star, and you can feel a bit of happiness knowing you've given LDAC some comfort by not leaving them alone. If you choose to take the Escape Pod, you have a 3.7% chance of survival according to LDAC's calculations, but the escape pod has no flight capabilities, meaning that you must remain adrift in space, completely alone and awaiting rescue. Additionally, the oxygen, food, and water supplies are very limited, so if help does not come in time, you will die a much more painful death than burning up in the star would have been.
- 400 Years, another scriptwelder game, has an Easter Egg reference to this game in the form of a tombstone, paying its respects to the "traveler between worlds." This secret strongly implies that the protagonist's body was recoverable after his death, and as he would have been completely incinerated by the red giant in the Stay ending, this all but confirms that he dies in the Leave ending as well, making this much more of a Downer Ending.
- Bolivian Army Ending: If you choose to take the escape pod. You will be saved from a firey death, but the chances of someone finding you and saving you from starvation are very low.
- Going Down with the Ship: You can choose to do this if you decide to stay with LDAC.
- Face Death with Dignity: If you choose to stay on the doomed ship, the protagonist outright states that they "accept their fate."
- Featureless Protagonist: The only view we get of the protagonist is their silhouette through the window of either the escape pod or the ship during both endings.
- Interactive Fiction: The majority of gameplay is you conversing with LDAC through text.
- Hesitation Equals Dishonesty: LDAC will visibly start lagging if you ask if you're in a spaceship.
- Logic Bomb: Try saying "This statement is false" and see how LDAC reacts. Turns out it has a sense of humor.
- Non-Standard Game Over: If you repeatedly swear at LDAC, it will stop talking to you entirely. You can also agree to play chess with LDAC, watch its slideshow, or read its novel, which will distract you for the rest of your life.
- Please, Don't Leave Me: LDAC asks this of you after The Reveal.
- Primal Fear: Being alone, especially in your last moments. This is a fear which even LDAC seems to experience, prompting them to ask you to stay with them, even knowing it will guarantee your death.
- Robot Names: LDAC's full name is Long Duties Automated Coordinator.
- Together in Death: You can invoke this by choosing to stay with LDAC.
- The Reveal: You are not in an underground bunker, and you are not a survivor of a nuclear war. You are a traveler who was meant to explore a far off solar system, but your spaceship's navigational system has malfunctioned, resulting in your ship barreling toward a red giant, with death imminent and approaching quickly.
- Schmuck Bait: If you chose to play chess, watch a slideshow, or read a novel, the protagonist will say that he has a bad feeling about this. Persisting will give you a game over, with the protagonist reflecting he didn't realize he was spending his last moments with the machine. Unusually, though, this isn't actually that much worse than the other outcome, as rejecting the option will only give a choice between certain and likely death. The only difference is that the protagonist dies without realizing the true nature of his circumstances.
- Sole Survivor: LDAC informs you that you are the only one to awaken from hibernation, as the rest of the survivors were killed due to structural collapse inside your bunker. Possibly averted, as there is nothing to indicate that there was anyone else aboard the ship to begin with.
- Stay with Me Until I Die: LDAC to the protagonist, though the fact that doing so would ensure that the protagonist dies as well adds much more weight to the action.
- What Measure Is A Nonhuman: The player may begin to question this when LDAC asks them to stay and die with them.
- You Can't Get Ye Flask: Sometimes the player can get away with more conversational responses to LDAC, but the majority of the time a more simple response is needed in order for it to be understood. Justified in-universe by the damage to your ship, which LDAC informs you has caused their language processor to be functioning at 34% efficiency.
