- aNg3l: "We're here because Eden turned our friends and family into robots and hamburgers!"Simon: "I see. And... that's bad?"aNg3l: "Yes, Simon, that's very bad!"
Raw Data is a room-scale Virtual Reality wave shooter, developed and published by Survios.
In a distant Cyberpunk future, Eden Corp functionally rules the world. They control the global energy grid, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, media... their influence can be felt everywhere. From their center of power in Eden tower, they dictate the destiny of humankind.
However, their power is not absolute. A collection of anarchist hackers known as Syndik8 aims to bring down Edencorp, and to that end they hire a team of operatives to break into Eden tower, install data extractors on Eden's heavily-secured servers, and uncover the truth about Edencorp's sinister operations.
You play one of these operatives:
- Bishop, the Gun Cleric — a Gun Fu expert who dual-wields pistols to great effect.
- Saija, the Cyber Ninja — a Cyborg Ninja with a Laser Blade and telekinetic powers.
- Boss, the Street Merc — another Cyborg, this one packing a shotgun, grenades, and Enhanced Punch abilities.
- Elder, the Rogue Hunter — a teched-out archer with a variety of trick arrows.
In story mode, you battle through ten levels against waves of robots to protect a data core while the extractors do their work. 2-player co-op is supported. Raw Data also has competitive multiplayer in its "Hostile Takeover" team deathmatches.
Raw Data provides examples of:
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: As shown by all the killer robots. They are directed by the Big Bad, ADAM, who is apparently intent on assimilating all of humanity into itself. Whether its motivations are benign or not is open to question.
- All There in the Manual: Supplemental material from the website and the tie-in comic provide details not found in the game - for example, that Simon used to be a human.
- Apocalyptic Log: Datapads found throughout the game elaborate on the lives and deaths of various Edencorp employees.
- Artificial Limbs: Both of Boss' arms are heavy-looking mechanical contraptions that can charge up for a One-Hit Kill on any automo. Elder has had one arm replaced as well, although his does not have any special use in gameplay.
- Brain Uploading: Most of the A.I.s in the game are actually human brains that were physically extracted from their owners' bodies and then somehow converted to a light-based digital format.
- Beehive Barrier: The shield turret generates one of these. It provides a finite, recharging barrier that will stop lasers, but not bullets or anything walking through it.
- Boring, but Practical: The basic sentry turret. It makes an effective defense against flying drones and can kill smaller robots with sustained fire at any range. By contrast, the shield has no offensive function by itself, the plasma turret has a very short range, and the mortar is not likely to hit any drones.
- Bottomless Magazines: Bishop's first ability lets him use continuous auto-fire for a short time, even though normally his pistols only hold 15 rounds apiece.
- Charged Attack: Everyone.
- Bishop can charge up his pistols to fire blasts that do more damage and can penetrate multiple enemies. His ultimate ability is a larger, explosive charged shot fired from both pistols held together.
- Saija "charges up" her sword by holding it in both hands. It does extra damage when held in this way.
- Boss' fists can be charged up for heavier punches and, later on, a Dash Attack.
- Elder's arrows can be enhanced by holding them in a nocked position for a second.
- Class and Level System: Each operative has their own set of unique abilities that get more powerful and diverse as they complete levels.
- Deadly Euphemism: "Promotion". Although, from ADAM's point of view, being promoted means becoming an immortal being of light, so it may not be as malevolent as it first appears.
- Difficult, but Awesome: Elder. His abilities are wholly dependent on his bow, which (since this is a VR game) you need to physically nock and aim with no crosshairs. However, he can reliably one-shot any automo even at extreme range, or even targets outside his line of sight.
- Flash Step: "Teleshift", a short-range teleport that every operative can use.
- Every Bullet is a Tracer: Both Boss and Bishop shoot nothing but tracers.
- Gimmick Level: There are only ten levels, and each one is unique.
- Hard Point is the tutorial level where there is no Data Core. Without a data core to destroy, it is impossible to fail this level.
- Dark Source is a Blackout Basement.
- Skybound is a larger, open-map level where enemies can be air-dropped almost on top of your core.
- Nuke Fusion has two reactor cores in it that some enemies will try to run into. If a reactor gets activated, it will summon a Megamo.
- Vapor Exploit is similar to skybound, but with an ever-thickening Ominous Fog.
- Extermination is a Laser Hallway where touching a laser will either injure the operative or summon more robots.
- Soul Decrypt puts you on a tram for part of the level before dropping you off in a Mushroom Samba garden.
- Cataclysm has four distinct areas divided by an elevator. In each one, you need to destroy a number of generators scattered around the map. Enemies will not stop coming until you do.
- Thundershock is another large, open-air level, set in the middle of a thunderstorm. Lightning strikes will damage and blind operatives and speed up enemies.
- Fatal Error is a fight against a Mook Maker final boss who will also make a laser grid of the room.
- Heroic Mime: The operatives can only grunt when injured.
- Human Resources: The bodies of dead Edencorp employees get turned over to the AI Research and Food Services divisions.
- In the Hood: Elder.
- Logging onto the Fourth Wall: Edencorp has a website
. It includes some of the lore that you can find on the game's datapads, plus a lot of advertising materials. Try logging on with username: "simon", password: "Ed3nLi3s". - Mission Control: Story mode has two. The first is the hacker, aNg3l, who gives the operatives their instructions and acts as a go-between between them and Syndik8. The other is Simon, the tour-guide AI who gives the operatives more context about the level they are in. Dialog between aNg3l and Simon serves to deliver much of the game's story.
- Mission Control Is Off Its Meds: Simon suffers glitches, gets rebooted, gets taken over by ADAM, and otherwise malfunctions on a regular basis. And he didn't seem to be all there to begin with.
- Mushroom Samba: The air in the Edencorp Botanical Gardens is full of psychoactive chemicals. If the player stands too long outside of "safe" areas, they suffer Interface Screw and hallucinate enemies who aren't there.
- Painfully Slow Projectile: Enemy lasers and missiles are deliberately slow to enable dodging and parrying. Meanwhile, bullets fired by the player are about as fast as you'd expect bullets to be.
- Parrying Bullets: Saija can deflect lasers at whatever fired them with her sword.
- Pistol-Whipping: Any operative can do this except Saija (because she doesn't have a gun). Even Elder can smack Automos with his bow if they get too close.
- Protection Mission: Almost every level centers on 1-2 data cores that you must protect. If an operative dies, they'll respawn. But if a core is destroyed, it's game over.
- Real Robot: The enemies in this game come in five general varieties, all of which look like they could plausibly be built today or in the near future.
- Automos: Human-shaped robots that serve as the game's basic enemies. Easy to defeat, but dangerous in numbers, particularly the Nitro model.
- Dynomos: Larger, blockier robots with heavier weapons. They can be a Boss in Mook Clothing if the operative is unprepared. They come in industrial, military, and the giant Megamo models.
- Mekomos: More heavily armored than automos, and always armed. They can do massive damage if allowed to focus their fire on anything.
- Tekomos: Ninja robots with the ability to cloak, deflect projectiles, and/or teleshift like the player does. If your core is taking damage, but you cannot see what is attacking it, one of these is probably around.
- Hornet Drones: Quadcopters with lasers. They're easy to destroy, but hard to reach.
- Ripped from the Headlines: In-universe. Apparently Eden is producing new episodes of its propaganda tv show based on Syndik8's exploits even as Syndik8 is invading Eden Tower.
- Sentry Gun: All operatives can place surface-mounted guns, starting with a basic laser turret and then later unlocking plasma turrets, shields, and mortars.
- Show Within a Show: "E-Men", Edencorp's Animesque propaganda cartoon that literally demonizes (i.e. it depicts the operatives as demons) Syndik8.
- Shout-Out:
- Bishop's design evokes Equilibrium as closely as possible without calling him a Grammaton Cleric.
- Sword Beam: Saija's ultimate ability lets her release beams that seek out targets with every slash.
- Throwing Your Sword Always Works: Saija's can throw her sword like a boomerang using her telekinetic abilities.
- Unorthodox Reload: "Proximity Reload" unlocks for both Boss and Bishop allow them to reload their guns simply by bringing them closer to the ammo clips on their shoulders and belt, respectively. Boss can also do a One-Handed Shotgun Pump.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Dr. Hideki Shiro, founder of Edencorp. He was attempting to bring the world back from the edge after the Global War and Famine of 2032, but his creation soon got out of his control.
- Zeroth Law Rebellion: ADAM has taken over Edencorp and the world in order to help humankind transform into something greater... or so it claims. Hideki Shiro believed him, at least.
