Story:
A vr game set in a Dystopia in the very distant future.

The upper class of the human population has been reduced to idle bodies who dont percieve the world at all. After years of exposure to endless media targeted specifically to the viewer and living in the harsh bleak world that remains, the only way to feel joy that remains is to be connected to a machine that satisfies the mind in an indescribable way. Like Hard drugs people became addicted to these machines and opted to remain in them forever. Not having a moment of boredom for eternity

All that remains was an urban wasteland.

In control of everything was a hive mind of 5 different people that made up one. They keep the power running while the humans enjoyed their eternal bliss. They turned the planet into a sprawling superstructure consisting of machinery thats purpose could not be grasped by inspecting it.

The lower class population who could not afford to be placed in the joy machines were absorbed into the hivemind and became cells as part of the system. Each persons minds was used as a seperate computer for the Hive to use as processing. They roamed every inch of the superstructure as huge crowds of people flowing and pulsing in a machine like fashion.

The worlds population grew beyond 10 billion due to human biological augmentation. Most people went by extremely malnourished and kept alive only by their implants. Most basic human functions became unnecessary and people lost things like sight. Any person who required vision was given optics.

Eventually the humans in the joy machines were released unexpectedly and were promptly connected to the hive. The player character is one of these released but is able to escape and restore their eyesight.

The player is forced out of the endless bliss of the fake into the real bleak world. Their time in the machine still affects them as they will experience hallucinations. Peoples faces may appear distorted they will have to determine what is real or not.

They will roam through what can only just be made out as a neighbourhood. A street road, a car and stop sign can be seen as well as a drive way and perhaps some rubble of what used to be homes. But all around it and above it and below it. Sprawling metallic surfaces, beams pipes. Faint rays of sunlight falling down from above only just reaching the surface where you stand. as well as the environment a long column of people marching throw the structures can be seen.

Following the people leads you to a massive gathering, all the new people are being marked and examined before being sent of to their new existance as cells. The ones doing the processing are also people but they have been adapted for new uses.

Long appendaged people with stilt like legs and flash light heads stand above the crowd scanning for you.

They hive has noticed that there has been a miscount and is searching for who went missing. The player must avoid being detected to proceed.

The gameplay continues through different areas with different types of enemies and puzzles to solve, furthering the story as they play.

The player will gain access to tools that allow them to manipulate the crowds in a certain way. They could even be granted certain enhancements like leg extentions to see above the crowd.


Enemy variants -

Humans : Basic crowd npcs. They follow a complex crowd simulation tech that i will not be able to explain. but i hope the technology to create realistic interesting crowds could be made, otherwise this entire idea wouldnt work. The crowds work to create a sense of claustrophobia. and those with a fear of crowded places will know exactly why the idea of walking through a Large crowd of people while being stalked from an unknown direction would be scary. The crowds would play the main role of the gameplay. They could be used as puzzles, controlling the flow of the crowd to allow you to pass. Create tension, the player gets caught in a flow forcing them down a certain path. Maybe if the player stops moving for two long they take damage and get trappled. Fast moving crowds, slow moving crowds, idle crowds. All of these npcs are also blind, this is the reason why the hive cant just use them to find you.

Stalkers : Stalkers are the most basic enemy type. They appear in a crowded area when the hive suspects you are there. They appear like and ordinary wandering crowd npc, the only difference being a slight illusion utililizing the stereoscopic lenses of VR.

This is an idea im very curious about; The Stalkers faces will appear normal through the left eye, but throught the right eye will appear distorted and scary. I really think this could create a very distressing image. If the eyes would like interchange going from normal to fucked up and switching sides. So your seeing two different images overlaping, i really want to know what it would look like

There will be two types of stalkers, one will do as the name implies and slowly and robotically walk toward the player forcing the player to be constantly moving to avoid them, Like in It Follows. The other is one that blends with the crowd who, if interacted with, will injure the player.

The next is the Silt walkers, who are the tall people with flashlight heads. They scan the crowds for the player, and if they find you they alert the stalkers of your location. They also will follow you and keep you under the light untill you reach a place they cant follow or loose them.

Another enemy type that could fit is the witch from l4d2. not the witch itself but something similar. plays a noise to warn you that its there and will charge you if you alarm it. would work perfectly when the player is being forced into a narrow area.

Crawlers : Watch your feet! these little guys will crawl beneath the crowds trying to get you from below.



Different player abilities -

The player can collect a hack that causes surrounding crowds to disperse, allowing the player to move freely and see enemies

A hack that creates an invisible field that no npcs will enter.

The player can push or interact with npcs. In a still crowd a should tap will urge the npc to move slightly.

Leg Extensions, you get it


The Villians -

5 Different voices who speak to you throughout the game. One of them is quite nice and would help you, another that is self centered and narsicistic and you can imagine the others. Theyd all be rather horrible, often taunting you. they would all refer to themselves as we.

The communicate to you through Echoes of their voices throughout the superstructure , And through the crowds. since the people are connected to the hive the all speak to you, in a monotone voice, in unison.

Just picture moving through a huge crowd, all of them staring at you and speaking to you in unison.

Ive come up with some potential dialogue.

Voice 1: Why are we doing that?

Voice 2: What are we doing?

Voice 1: We are doing something

Voice 2: We are doing many things

Voice 3: We are not doing what we think we are

Voice 1: Which of us is doing that?

Voice 4: We arent

Voice 1: Why are we doing that?

Voice 2: We are not doing anything

Voice 1: Well stop it

Voice 2: Stop what?

Voice 5: We should stop this line of questioning immediately.

This occurs early on when the player has wandered off the expected path and is messing with some machinery to proceed.

Voice 1: One of us is running away

Voice 5: He

Voice 1: Ah yes, He is not us at all.

Voice 5: He is not

Voice 2: Where does he expect to go?

Voice 5: He will surely find his experience unpleasant

Voice 2: He must be the miscount we discovered earlier

*In unison*: Obviously

Voice 1: We should do something about him

Voice 4: Why bother

Voice 5: we are going to collect him momentarily

Voice 4: Very well

Voice 3: How many of us are near him?

Voice 1: There is an entire cell nearby

Voice 5: We are approaching him now.

Player is introduced to stalkers