corru.observer is an online mystery-slash-Adventure Game (of sorts) developed by corru.works
. It primarily takes the format of a Visual Novel, but intermittently mixes in other gameplay elements.
It details the exploits of a (mostly) Featureless Protagonist (you) and their assistant "Moth", as they delve into strange biomechanical "corru" artifacts recovered from a shipwreck, utilizing an experimental 'mindspike' which acts as part of an interface that allows the user to experience archived memories. Normally these finds are duds and nothing ever comes of them, but the protagonist and Moth quickly discover that not everything is as it seems with this particular 'corrucyst'.
It can be experienced here. Note that it is a fairly early work in progress at this stage; only the first three 'episodes' have been released.
Reading as little as possible before going in is strongly advised due to the mystery-heavy nature of the story itself. Expect many potential Spoilers below and on subpages.
Observed Tropes Include:
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: The obesk seem to use AI-like entities as part of their organic technology, such as Funfriend and Movefriend. Akizet's ship has a 'pilot cyst' which has been refusing to rest as well. Then there's Movefoe, and whatever the hell is going on during the Embassy Collapse. Tozik and Gakvu both are fairly stumped, as it can't be that the Groundsmind is doing it or else surely the building itself would be trying to murder them, rather than just some of the furniture suddenly being animate and psychotic.
- Alternative Calendar: The obesk homeworld is a gas giant's tidally locked moon, and is bathed in darkness most of the time. Their timekeeping and other terminology is thus based off the regular movements of a massive storm they call Velzie's Eye, and a fair amount of the uncertainty around times and dates is due to translating back and forth between obesk "eyes" and human years.
- Bizarre Alien Biology: The obesk. We have yet to be presented with clear images or exact descriptions of their appearance, but it can be inferred that they are humanoids with some roughly insectoid traits such as chitinous plating, and their original form bears an uncanny resemblance to humanity. Of those encountered thusfar, most have been Qou-form obesk (see Brain Uploading below) and have been represented by their 'signatures' they chose to represent themselves to one another on their version of the internet, lending them all stylized and wildly varying images; those that aren't are incoherent/corrupted are silhouettes that leave details unclear, usually obscured by high-collared coats and wide-brimmed hats.
- Brain Uploading: Obesk can transfer themselves into an armoured 'mind-core', a process which is noted to leave their original body as a comatose husk. Once they have Ascended in this fashion they can shape metallic Qou bodies around themselves out of their biomechanical corru technology. They keep simulacras of various pre-transfer things around for when they crave various sensations that their Qou bodies can no longer naturally experience.
- Driving Question: The are two core questions, one asked by the humans, the other asked by the obesk. For the humans: what caused the collapse of the first obsek embassy, and why did the obsek leave afterwards? And for the obesk: who or what is sending the Call, the mysterious Earth-originated signal that led the obesk to Earth (and which can only be transmitted by obesk technology), and why?
- Existential Horror: At one point you can attempt to interact with a simulated memory, provoking the thoughtforms within them to possess limited self-awareness and knowledge that their original self had, sort of like a limited AI copy of the original. The interviewer thoughtform disintegrates into incoherence when she tries to leave the interview room in her panic after the Akizetesche thoughtform's questioning, and the Akizetesche thoughtform reflects on this briefly before everything goes very wrong as the presence that allowed you into the corrucyst abruptly intervenes.
- Exposition Fairy: Funfriend serves as your guide through the hub areas of the corrucyst, and is also responsible for overseeing its repairs and maintenance.
- Hint System: Stuck? You can always ask Moth for hints on what to do next. They can also be asked about various things if you wish to learn more about the world, tech, and entities you're dealing with.
- Hyperspace Is a Scary Place: The obesk use wormholes through the 'dull', some kind of extradimensional space where living, biological matter cannot survive. On top of that, a 'tithe' is needed to pass through safely; some kind of keepsake or object connected to the mind passing through in order to make it through safely, which stays behind in the dull afterwards.
- Lost in Translation: Translation from an alien language is hard enough, but the mindspike is also having to translate experiential information and a great deal of it comes without context.
- Painting the Medium: Extensively, due to the nature of the way the data you're working with is interpreted and the fact the it's suffering varying degrees of incoherence/degradation. Funfriend basically has to substitute in the equivalent of every obesk's internet avatar due to loss of actual visual data.
- Psychic Link: The Timestopper allows those connected to it to communicate at the speed of thought; the Research Team uses this to hold meetings in just seconds of real time. It later comes in handy when it's revealed to be able to run remotely, enabling them to coordinate instinctively during combat - especially when guided by Akizet.
- Non-Standard Character Design: Whether due to corruption or because the obesk have difficulty with human faces, humans tend to be rendered as their outfits with just a pair of floating eyes hovering over where the head and face should be. This is despite appearing in sequences with otherwise fairly photo-realistic elements. Obesk meanwhile get very stylized appearances which vary quite significantly, reflecting their personalities and aesthetic preferences.
- Organic Technology: The obesk use metallic/biomechanical technology generally referred to as 'corru' for almost everything. This comes back to bite them during the Embassy events, where an unknown force subverts the Embassy's sub-components and the Research Team finds themselves fighting for their lives against things like storage containers and lamps.
- Our Wormholes Are Different: The obesk created at least one "Dull Contrivance", which allows them to travel the vast interstellar distances between their world and ours with relative ease. In the mindspace, it resembles a massive distorted rip in space, and reportedly still exists - though no obesk have travelled through it in a long time. According to Moth the obesk claim that organic matter cannot be safely transported through the Contrivance, though this claim apparently hasn't been tested very thoroughly. Travel within the mindspace itself is also achieved via several portal-like gates.
- Transferable Memory: The framing device of the main plot is that you're delving into the personal archival corrucyst of one Akizetesche Qou Jokzi; after Ascension to a mind-core and the use of Qou bodies, the obesk eventually need to use external memory storage devices to help them revisit and relive past events.
- Unexpected Gameplay Change: At points, the gameplay format shifts into a grid-based exploration mode. This later comes with the addition of Eastern RPG elements when playing as Akizetesche thanks to moth's handiwork, and with Puzzle Game elements when trying to oust GOD from the uncosm. And then the two get combined during the Movefoe and Hardmode bossfights. Yet another gameplay change comes into play in Episode 3 Add 2, which adds a separate roguelite gamemode.
