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Returnal is intended to be a challenging experience.
Each new cycle presents new challenges, rewards and changes to the world.
Adapt and persevere to progress further.
When you die or close Returnal you will always be returned to the crash site, and all non-permanent progression will be lost. You can suspend your cycle by using the console's rest mode functionality.
[A small ship flies through endless space, studded with a multitude of stars. Its pilot, a middle-aged woman, notices a warning signal on her dashboard as she approaches a planet.]
APPROACH FORBIDDEN. Tracing signal: WHITE SHADOW
[She descends into the planet's atmosphere and at that moment her ship's engine is struck by lightning. The woman makes an emergency landing and leaves the ship.]
Selene: ASTRA. This is Selene. I've crashed on Atropos. I survived, but Helios did not. Suit status operational, but my sidearm is missing. I'm leaving comms open.
[She begins to explore the area of her forced landing.]
WARNING: Helios Abandoned
Selene: Abandoning Helios. Heading towards "White Shadow" broadcast... This forest contains extensive ruins of a xeno-type civilisation. Ancient walls, foundations, and statues.
[She finds a body of an astronaut.]
Selene: Scout Log: Atropos: I have found a deceased ASTRA Scout here. Checking identification on helmet. It's... (shocked) My sidearm. Continuing towards the signal's origin.
[She finds a plant called Silphium, which has long been mysteriously extinct on Earth. Here this plant helps fix the main character's costume.]
Selene: Discovered a potential resource. Positive analysis for suit repairs. Classifying as: Silphium.
[She encounters two creatures that look like creepy foxes.]
Selene: Encountered scavenger fauna.
[Using the gun she found Selene kills the foxes.]
Selene: Hostile fauna dispatched. Recorded log found. Adding to databank. Playing back now.
Selene: (on record) Scout Log: Atropos. Elapsed time... Thirty minutes since last crash. Whole areas of this forest are rearranging themselves like... a fluid puzzle after each of my... When—whenever I return. Per "Astra Protocol", I will not be recovered until I reach the broadcast signal. If you're hearing this, you are stuck here too.
Selene: (puzzling) I don't remember recording that.
Selene: I've discovered piled corpses of a Xenotype species, likely the architects of these ruins. This could be the sentience that broadcasts the White Shadow signal.
NEW DATABANK ENTRY - Eternal Void
Selene: (on record) It is impossible to escape. I have tried everything. I'm always brought back by— (sighs) There is a moment between death and rebirth: When tentacles drag me down. Screaming.
Selene: Encountered hostile predator.
Selene: Highly-aggressive, barely dispatched.
[Afterwards... she screams and dies. Before her eyes she sees streams of smoke, an old cosmonaut suit, tentacles and... she makes another emergency landing on the surface of Atropos.]
[Selene cries out and wakes up at the helm of her ship as if she had fallen asleep and had had a bad dream.]
Selene: Helios! ASTRA! This is Selene. I survived the—Can you hear me...? I'm in my ship...
[She walks around the ship's decks.]
Selene: Suit status operational and... I've already experienced this before.
[She approaches the computer.]
HELIOS: Unidentified item in Cargo Bay. Removal recommended. #0% attention this is #% ready to #0%
[ASTRA COMMAND PRIORITY DIRECTIVE]
Data File
//Defragmented
BROADCAST: DSE Origo -- RA 14h 50m Os | Dec +46° 0' 0
[*WARNING* #COMMUNICATION BLOCK INTRUSION DETECTED]
Selene Vassos, you are hereby ordered to return [CORRUPTED TEXT] abort current [CORRUPTED TEXT] FISCHER-265-1 (ATROPOS) and its [CORRUPTED TEXT] Scout Ship designation Helios [CORRUPTED TEXT] not been [CORRUPTED TEXT] further planetary study required prior to exploration [CORRUPTED TEXT] your immediate [CORRUPTED TEXT] including acknowledgment [CORRUPTED TEXT] in immediate and permanent [CORRUPTED TEXT] whereas, neglecting [CORRUPTED TEXT] despite previous [CORRUPTED TEXT] willful and blatant [CORRUPTED TEXT] is not [CORRUPTED TEXT]
[#COMMUNICATION BLOCK RESTORED]
[THE WHITE SHADOW SIGNAL]
Data File
//Defragmented
[FORCED START OVERRIDE -- LOG OPENED]
EMILY SANZER has started a conversation. SELENE VASSOS has joined. CECILIA CARA SCOTT has joined.
EM: Something major happened.
SV: Is this another emergency drill? I'm still in maintenance.
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CC: Where is this coming from? The void we're crossing has zero galaxies.
EM: Remember when we were diverted? I think this was the reason.
EM: Which definitely explains why the upper echelon was so evasive.
SU: This is a clear message, maybe a distress signal. We have to go.
CC: Atropos has been marked "Approach Forbidden". We wait for clearance.
SU: I know this. I've heard this before. It's hard to explain.
EM: You know this message? What do you mean?
EM: Selene?
[PROTOCOL & REGULATIONS:[PROTOCOL & REGULATIONS: SCOUT DIVISION]
Date File
//Defragmented
ASTRA PROTOCOL
1. Safety Precautions: Conduct missions within safe practice guidelines to ensure maximum chance of survivability.
2. Uninterrupted Communication: Maintain constant contact with team or handler immediately prior to a mission until its completion.
3. Freedom of Choice: Achieve objectives through the best means possible, altering mission plans as necessary due to conditions in the field.
SCOUT REGULATIONS
1. Threat Assessment: Identify and avoid dangers, subdue if necessary.
2. Environment. Analysis: identify safe areas and resources, utilizing as needed.
3. Information Retrieval: Survive at any cost or ensure successful data transmission.
In times of crisis, EVAC PROTOCOL supersedes all other PROTOCOL and REGULATIONS currently in effect regardless of mission status or overseer directives.
[SELENE VASSOS PERSONNEL FILE]
Data File
//Defragmented
[ASTRA COMMAND EMPLOYEE RECORD-- #0971595]
Name: Selene Vassos
Department: AstraSurvey
Primary Role: Reconnaissance Scout
Proficiencies: First Encounter, Data Analysis, Field Repair, Weapons Testing
Notes: Psychological Profile Flagged, Heterochromia (trauma-induced)
Current Mission List
Jaeger-675 Olympic Volcanic Vents
FO-212 Fossilized Gas Giant
EH-652 Mons Timore Peak Ascent
Arne-883 Aurora-Blasted Plains
Ambrose-415 Crater Site
Kepler-138 Petrified Forests
Flight over NL-604 Maelstrom
Salvage of VB Wreckage
[Selene leaves her crashed ship.]
WARNING: Helios Abandoned
Selene: The environment... wasn't like this before.
NEW DATABANK ENTRY - Silphium Vial.
Selene: Xenotype device acquired. I think this'll prove a useful tool.
Selene: New technology discovered.
NEW DATABANK ENTRY - Atropian Weapon Charger.
Selene: Augments my weapon with an alternative firing mechanism. Highly effective. This will be useful.
[She finds an alien rifle, similar to AUG.]
Selene: Acquired a Xenotype weapon, similar to our carbine technology. Discovered a massive wall beyond which is the White Shadow signal. I can't cross the chasm. For now... I'll change objectives and investigate the energy reading in the forest.
NEW DATABANK ENTRY - Paradox Implications
Selene: (on record) I have interacted with other versions of myself. But I worry one day I will re-experience these same... interactions from their perspectives. But are they truly me? Or just hollowed corpses? This may be the face of things to come.
[Selene continues to explore the strange planet. She finds a device connected to the spine of a dead alien.]
Selene: Discovered xeno-type technology on the corpse of a sentient. Scan is indicating potential for suit augmentation. Appears safe to repurpose.
[She connects it to her spine.]
Selene: System integration complete. Performing a function test to confirm.
PERMANENT EQUIPMENT UNLOCKED - Hermetic Transmitter
[She uses the upgrade to telepot via glowing ball.]
Selene: Con—Confirmed. Point-to-point teleportation. Location exit seems fixed.
NEW DATABANK ENTRY - Alt-Fire Coolant
Selene: Discovered xeno-type technology that produces other devices.
NEW DATABANK ENTRY - Reflex Stimulant
Selene: Evidence of rudimentary xeno-type language discovered. Currently lacking resources to decipher this xenoglyph.
NEW DATABANK ENTRY - Xenoglyph Cipher
Selene: Discovered a fragment of the xeno-type language.
[She finds some glyphs on a column.]
Selene: Is this translating correctly? "Severed Brethren"? "Maddening Agony"?
NEW DATABANK ENTRY - Broadcast Signal
Selene: (on record) Scout Log: Atropos. Who triggered the broadcast? "Do you see the White Shadow?" is something only I should know. And now, out of literally nowhere, I'm hearing it again. Were the sentients involved? But how would they have known...? I need to believe there are answers at the signal.
NEW DATABANK ENTRY - Suit Artifact
Selene: Detecting a strange energy reading. Setting a marker on my map.
NEW DATABANK ENTRY - Spitmaw Blaster
[She finds a spider-like octopus.]
Selene: Encountered a small lifeform. Seems docile… It has parasitically attached to my arm. Does not appear hostile. Somehow… it's strengthening and weakening my suit.
NEW DATABANK ENTRY - Large Silphium Vial
NEW DATABANK ENTRY - Pulsating Mass
Selene: That's... That can't be here.
[Selene walks up to... an ordinary American house standing in the middle of an alien planet. She can’t enter it though.]
NEW DATABANK ENTRY - Abandoned Home
Selene: (on record) I think I am reliving my memories in that house, but... not fully. They're corroded. Some parts are missing, others seem... manufactured. But I can remember the torment, feeling like I was losing my mind. There's no comfort here. No safe space. And the Astronaut keeps following me.
NEW DATABANK ENTRY - Stat Augment
NEW DATABANK ENTRY - Overgrown Ruins, Tableau 1
[She finds a kind of visual archive. The blue dots fly into one place, forming a three-dimensional image of some events. It’s a fight scene.]
Selene: Fascinating… I've discovered a kind of... technology that records... the past? Or a visual active of sorts?
NEW DATABANK ENTRY - Overgrown Ruins, Tableau 3
Selene: The sentients encountered the same hostile fauna... They built protection. This must have occurred centuries ago.
NEW DATABANK ENTRY - Dergi Ruins
NEW DATABANK ENTRY - Overgrown Ruins, Tableau 2
Selene: The fabricators. I've used those.
NEW DATABANK ENTRY - House Key
Selene: My house key... How could this be here?
[She finds another dead alien.]
Selene: Discovered a broken automaton—clutching... a potential tool. Appears safe to repurpose.
[It’s a retractable katana.]
Selene: A xeno-type blade weapon. Adding to equipment for immediate use.
PERMANENT EQUIPMENT UNLOCKED - Atropian Blade
Selene: Appears to be another teleportation device, but more complex in construction.
NEW DATABANK ENTRY - Anathema Key
[She returns to her house and enters it. Inside it's like a normal house.]
Selene: Exactly as I left it... But impossible. (picks up a diary) I logged my first missions in this binder. But this is stored in the Mothership's archives. (picks up her photo) This... was taken after I left. Why—
[The scene is abruptly cut short. You see someone walking through a field near a house, which abruptly turns into ruins. Selene frighteningly drops the picture. She hears footsteps on the second floor.]
Selene: Hello? Who is up there? (tries to open a door nearby but can’t) This should never be o—open.
[She goes up to the second floor and comes to the door, behind which she hears footsteps. She wants to open the door, but suddenly takes her hand away.]
Selene: I can't.
[She picks up a strange cube.]
Selene: Such strange markings... where did this...?
[The cube destroys in her palm. Selene looks out the window and sees the astronaut in the distance. She blinks and the astronaut disappears. Selene falls to the floor in horror and loses her consciousness. When she comes to, she is already outside. The house seems old and long abandoned.]
Selene: What is this meant to tell me? Am I supposed to remember this?
NEW DATABANK ENTRY - Astronaut Figurine
[Selene approaches a huge ancient temple.]
Selene: The strange energy source is beyond this. It might be tied to White Shadow.
[It goes down to the foot of the temple. An alien, similar to those whose corpses Selene has met before, emerges from the chalky tome. His name is PHRIKE. Selene is forced to fight and kill him.]
Selene: The fog has dispersed and the energy signature is gone.
[She picks up an item that PHRIKE left on the ground.]
NEW DATABANK ENTRY - Crimson Key
Selene: Acquired a new kind of unlocking mechanism. This could interface with a different kind of translocation device.
NEW DATABANK ENTRY - Datacube
NEW DATABANK ENTRY - Unfed Pod
Selene: The only alternative. I'll need to explore the other side. (uses the key) I've passed through the teleportation gate. Based on the coordinates of the broadcast signal, I'm… on the other side of the planet.
PERMANENT EQUIPMENT UNLOCKED
Selene: I'm in a sprawling desert now… Detecting another strange energy from a mountain summit. Ascending towards destination.
NEW DATABANK ENTRY - The Summit
Selene: (on record) Scout Log: Atro— Beginning ascent of the mountain. I don't know which attempt this is. Despite knowing the hazards ahead, I'm having difficulty retrieving the technology. There are certain... obstacles I don't look forward to re-experiencing. But I feel as though something at the top is summoning me.
NEW DATABANK ENTRY - Spoiled Resin
[Selene finds herself in some half-destroyed ancient alien city. There she encounters a crab-like creature.]
Selene: Encountered armoured fauna. Shell seems highly durable. Considerable defence, but dispatched.
NEW DATABANK ENTRY - Sovered Minds
Selene: (on record) Xenoglyphs spoke of their single-mindedness, but did not prepare me for—I barely managed to dispatch the sentients that attacked me. I've never encountered such hostility and madness. But that writing... it spoke of these "severed brethren". I don't know enough to understand yet, but what conceivable force could have caused any intelligent life to become like this?
[In the depths of the ruined city, Selene encounters another living alien with small wings and wearing red clothes. The alien is writing something on the wall...]
Selene: A living sentient...
[The alien notices the heroine and picks up his sword. They fight.]
Selene: l dispatched the sentient. This must be the "Severed"...
NEW DATABANK ENTRY - Ascent from Bondage
Selene: (on record) I know why they became Severed. Divine punishment for failing ascension. Ascension! No sooner has the word escaped my lips than a vast image of the Transcendent Watcher in the Deep Below consumes my mind. I have begun having visions of where I have yet to go. They lead me continually downwards from Olympus and into myself. I alone am worthy.
Selene: What happened to... her? That is not me.
NEW DATABANK ENTRY - Broken Communication
Selene: (on record) I'm relatively confident the... Severed would have been incapable of sending out the white Shadow broadcast. Their fractured nature does not display any proof of higher cerebral functions. The other sentients must still be alive at its source beyond the wall. But without a proper means of communication, will they view me as hostile as well? I haven't come here to destroy.
NEW DATABANK ENTRY - Crimson Wastes, Tableau 4
Selene: Fear or worship? These pillars affect the Severed so... profoundly.
NEW DATABANK ENTRY - Crimson Wastes, Tableau 3
Selene: Wrapping themselves and the statues. A kind of... symbolic communication.
NEW DATABANK ENTRY - Crimson Wastes, Tableau 5
Selene: Confirms authorship of the xenoglyphs.
[She continues to explore the depths of the ancient alien city. Suddenly a multitude of white orbs appear before Selene. She tries to dodge them, but an alien walks up to her from behind and kills her. She wakes up in her ship again and crashes.]
WARNING: Helios Abandoned
[She continues to explore the ancient city, finds the white orbs bastard and kills him.]
Selene: There's a naturally occurring object here. Somewhat like an obelisk in appearance. Xenoglyphs are etched into it.
[She uses several teleporters and travels to the upper part of the city.]
Selene: I've reached my goal. I've finally summited. The energy signature is right here.
[She enters a vast arena in which an alien is tied to the pillars. The ropes break and the alien falls into the arena. He spreads his giant dark wings and soars into the air. His name is IXION.]
Selene: Encountered airborne fauna. What is growing out of it?
[She defeats IXION.]
Selene: Dispatched... something exalted.
NEW DATABANK ENTRY - Murmuring Cocoon
[The center part of the arena falls and rises again with several alien corpses on it.]
Selene: Found more xeno-type technology on another corpse. Scan is again indicating potential for suit augmentation. Safe to repurpose.
[It’s a grappling hook.]
Selene: System integration complete. Will perform a function test.
PERMANENT EQUIPMENT UNLOCKED - Icarian Grapnel
Selene: Test complete. Apparent function is to cross vast distances. Suit status...remains uncompromised.
[She continues to explore the city.]
Selene: Reached another teleportation gateway. Destination unclear.
[She uses the teleport.]
Selene: The teleportation gateway in the desert has taken me into the citadel. Beyond the forest's massive wall. "White Shadow" is nearly within reach. Scans show that the broadcast originates from the tower inside a citadel-like complex. Encountered hostile machines. Fully automated.
NEW DATABANK ENTRY - Broadcast Origin
Selene: (on record) This is it... The journey is almost over. The origin of White Shadow is right here. Soon I'll know why-and-and bury these horrible memories in the past. So much desolation. Is this their city? It's only inhabited by corpses, broken machines... I'm heading towards the broadcast tower now.
[She continues to explore the deserted city and stumbles upon several alive aliens.]
Selene: The Severed are alive here. Not even the outer defences could repel them.
[She fights and kills them.]
Selene: Severed dispatched. They seemed... lost. Forsaken. As I am.
NEW DATABANK ENTRY - Repair Enhancer
NEW DATABANK ENTRY - Deeper Layers
Selene: I'm staring into a breached wall.
NEW DATABANK ENTRY - Fractured Society
Selene: (on record) Despite the destruction throughout this area, the buildings have mostly withstood time's erosion. Whatever the reasons for the conflict, it would appear that this was the high-water mark of mutual annihilation. I almost wish I could go back, if only to experience their society across the planet before it collapsed under its own weight.
[Continuing to explore the surroundings, Selene finds a large mold resembling an alien body, as if they were cast from some material.]
Selene: Discovered a device with a sentient-shaped imprint. Conducting field test.
[She enters the mold.]
Selene: It scanned me. But for what purpose?
NEW DATABANK ENTRY - Endless Song
Selene: All evidence suggests an exceedingly regimented Hivemind. Activated pylon. The tower is now accessible. I'm currently crossing the bridge, proceeding towards the tower broadcasting White Shadow.
NEW DATABANK ENTRY - Another Failure
Selene: (on record) I was so goddamn close this time. If Helios wasn't broken we could prepare a strategy. The fact that his database retains my scans after each return... it's like he transcends time and space. I can't even tell what's real anymore. The endless fall, the giant with a face of flames. I always survive the shockwave and then die immediately afterwards.
NEW DATABANK ENTRY - Derelict Citadel, Tableau 2
Selene: Hivemind defended by the automatons. They would have been slaughtered without support.
NEW DATABANK ENTRY - Derelict Citadel, Tableau 3
Selene: Again, that wrapping. What were the Severed trying to say? No one was listening.
NEW DATABANK ENTRY - Derelict Citadel, Tableau 1
Selene: Tearing apart buildings, not other lifeforms. Perhaps... an indication of complex thought and expression. Or simply madness.
NEW DATABANK ENTRY - Derelict Citadel, Tableau 4
Selene: Apex of the entire city. The journey's almost over. ASTRA, I'll find a way to contact you. Now that I've encountered the laser security systems all across Atropos.
NEW DATABANK ENTRY - Security Systems
Selene: Now that I've encountered the laser security systems all across Atropos, I can safely conclude this: the Hivemind developed this network in order to contain the Severed. That was the intent. But the execution? Failure. It only slowed them down.
Selene: This is the origin of the broadcast… White Shadow. Just like he said.
NEW DATABANK ENTRY - Knowledge Threshold
Selene: (on record) I know these recorded logs will be psych evaluated. But that isn't why I'm hesitant to return to my life… The idea of waking up to routine... gym, coffee... books, interacting with... people. Sleeping, rarely dreaming. It sounds so alien now.
Selene: I sound—She sounds like she's losing focus.
NEW DATABANK ENTRY - Leeching Nanoswarm
Selene: What is the truth behind "White Shadow"? Why do you repeat my buried past? How can you know - out here in the void?
[He meets another not so dead alien lying on a stone bed like a hospital patient. He waves his hand and Selene’s head is piercing with pain. She falls to the floor. When Selene regains consciousness, she finds herself in a large arena with a blue skull in the distance. This skull is called NEMESIS. Selene has to fight it. Having won, she returns to the hall with the alien “patient.”]
Selene: No more obstructions. Finally, I'll have an answer to White Shadow
[He walks over to the "bed" and looks into the hole at its ossification. We see several stark flashbacks from Selene's past.]
ASTRA: DISTRESS SIGNAL ACKNOWLEDGED.
ASTRA: EVAC CONFIRMED. STAY IN PLACE.
[Selene sits on the ground.]
Selene: ASTRA received my signal... Then... that's it. "White Shadow" you were how I escape.
[She is being evacuated from the planet. We see a news report with the following headline.]
Breaking News
ASTRA DEEP SPACE SCOUT ESCAPES ROGUE PLANET
Additional details to be revealed as the story continues to develop
[Selene lives her life... loves... enjoys... ...and dies in the years to come. Her body is buried in a coffin and... she wakes up on Atropos.]
Selene: No... No I can't be here, I escaped, I was—Helios... you're still here too...? ASTRA!? Is anyone listening? It's Selene. We're both trapped. At the bottom...
[She struggles to walk through the alien jungle. It looks like she's hurt.]
Selene: The cycle remains. I didn't escape. It wasn't a lie. But my return to Earth changed nothing. I need to find release.
WARNING: HELIOS ABANDONED
Selene: Sixty-three years, and I return...? But far more time has passed… Helios... how old would you be now?
[She finds another corpse of her own.]
Selene: Helios, have I always... been here? I've become part of the—No. No, no…
[A bunch of tentacles rushes out if the corpse’s spine.]
Selene: This isn't me.
[She hears melodic music...]
Selene: This is.... the song I was always playing.
NEW DATABANK ENTRY - New Cycle
Selene: (on record, frightened) I should have ignored this place all those years ago. I shouldn't have abandoned everyone to come here. Has nothing changed? I sat at the piano and for once... I felt. The music is calling me now. How do I stop this? I don't want to become that woman who speaks madness with my voice.
NEW DATABANK ENTRY - Eternal Return
Selene: (on record) I can smell my corpses rotting. Some are watching me from high above, others from pits. They refuse to speak with me except to say: You are severing. What have become?
[Selene finds her house again.]
Selene: No! My home on Atropos. Every time I leave, I return. It's open again.
[She enters it. She walks over to the dresser by the wall and picks up a book.]
and left Retribution roaring through a wake of dead stardust. Exactly as the fog pouring from the funerary urn's maw had predicted. For the first time since the ship's fatal accident, Tali felt alive.
“They are burning to ashes,” she admitted in a detached voice no longer her own, feeling the bulkhead against her pinned shoulders reverberating as another god guttered into smoke in the engine's crematorium. "You will not get him back. Gods and titans, ashes upon ashes... My ship is dying. I am dying. But you will not save him. They are all trapped behind a lock tighter than Tartarus was deep."
RAGE.
LOATHING.
IMPOTENCE.
She felt them all, like the unpredictable hot winds of her desert homeland, wash over her from the Astronaut's unseen gaze. It knew she had won.
#
Tali awakens again, this time in a pool of blood that is mostly not hers. This time, in her time. Past and future be damned. Slumping on the ground, she looks down the hallways. The Astronaut is gone. Probably in another failed attempt to break the autopilot subsystems. She had to extend some respect to it for being as driven as she was.
Her starship would crash. That is inevitable now. The descent is predictable, its mathematics a sickening prophecy. But there is an if outcome remaining, assuming she can have the words of it interpreted another way by Oracle.
Amid the destruction spreading from the hole pierced through the hull of Retribution, Tali Acheron finds her centre. The blood soaking up through her pants is absorbed into her veins. Heart rate quickens into the thrill of adrenaline, the unconscious patterns her fingertips lightly draw in the aether. That which destroys now creates. There can be no paradoxes in a world without end or beginning.
EVERYTHING IS PERMITTED IN MY DOMAIN.
In the Astral, she turns the regret-rusted key in the lock. The door opens. Solace. Now returning to the hallway where she chased. Astronaut to the shadow-stained gate. Though the barrier pushed her away before, she finally has the means to compel entry.
"Mother's ire. Smothered fire. I affix each one. Glory: reignite the sun," Tali intones.
Silence.
"GLORY." The booming voice of Oracle, ten million whispers united into
the unyielding force of eternity.
The sunface totem evaporates from Tali's second sight. The pang of loss grips her soul feebly, then likewise is gone. We must forget to remember. We must leave to return. We must die to live.
And the gate shimmers to transparency, allowing the first mortal passage in countless millennia. Tali descends into Pythia's inner sanctum. Each step, eternity's weight. Her name whispered. She finds the throne, illuminated by a single beam of golden light. She sits. She wills herself to be Oracle for only the single instant it will take to disintegrate the world, sanctioning Retribution to pass unharmed, though the cost will be
Selene: The fog seeping inside. Am I not the only thing that can enter here...?
[She plays a few notes on a piano.]
Selene: This melody... I remember that.
[She puts her hands inside the TV.]
Selene: What are you doing? Wake up.
[She hears a voice coming from the phone.]
Theia: Selene...
[Selene sits on a coach and watches the Astronaut on the TV. The report jumps from one part to the other as if it were an inaccurate recollection.]
Selene: Waiting for me... like the Astronaut...
Newsreader: When we look back at the monumental success of the first crewed -- tragic car accident occurred in the Okanogan-Wenatchee -- lunar landing. It is impossible to divorce -- the forest. Although authorities have yet to identify -- the mission's significance in itself, from the effects -- the cause, as road conditions were optimal. The car broke through a guard rail and plum -- witnessing world -- into lake... The driver, Thea -- the collective and conscious understanding -- has suffered major spinal injuries. Her daughter miraculously -- of humankind's place on earth -- and thereby the universe -- originated from the moment we stepped upon the surface of another celestial body -- survived unharmed.
[The TV turns off. The Astronaut appears.]
Selene: What do you want?
[He leads Selene into the basement.]
Selene: It's you, isn't it, mother? I told you to...
[She once again wakes up near her now dilapidated house. Selene continues to explore the planet.]
NEW DATABANK ENTRY - The Intruder
Selene: (on record) I'm starting to see patters that I know are not there. I cannot trust my memories. The planet knows me better than I know myself. The Hivemind and the Severed are real. Helios is real. The Astronaut... is missing.
Selene: (reads another xenoglyph) "And phantom roses of the mind"? Has the... Severed language evolved?
NEW DATABANK ENTRY - Blown Nightlight
NEW DATABANK ENTRY - Restart Location
Selene: (on record) After developing an acceptance of the nature of this... cycle, I need to learn if I can alter these devices. The ones that temporarily prevent me from returning to the ship after the crash. This proves... somehow... I can "restart"... elsewhere. If only that were permanent.
Selene: A tower. It draws me as the White Shadow tower did. So long ago.
NEW DATABANK ENTRY - Mothership Psych Evaluation
Selene: (on record) Why has my transfer been delayed? I have... ways toaded with that. A have ways to deal with that. "Delusions"? No, they're helping me stay... balanced. I’ve made a lot of progress. What is everyone expecting to find? If they shine a light at me, they'll see the shadow they expect every time.
Selene: I remember that day... I wish I had stayed.
[Ominous organ music plays throughout the tower.]
Selene: The song is so... loud. I have to silence it.
[She finds an alien playing on some kind of organ. The alien is called HYPERION. Selene decides to fight him.]
Selene: The song. Why are you playing it?
[She kills the alien.]
Selene: Finally... silence. It was too much. Too much.
NEW DATABANK ENTRY - Fractured Key
[The floor collapses and Selene falls into the depths of the tower. She uses the key and teleports into snowy wastelands.]
Selene: This isn't—No, it is. The same coordinates as the desert. ...I recognise the mountaintop. But... where are the ruined structures and...? Helios? When are we?
NEW DATABANK ENTRY - The Abyss
Selene: (on record) Beginning descent of the glacier. I don't know which attempt this is. It's becoming reassuring. Despite knowing the promises ahead, I'm having difficulty relinquishing the technology. There are certain… sacrifices I do look forward to re-experiencing. But I feel as though something at the bottom is rejecting me.
NEW DATABANK ENTRY - Altered Ego
Selene: (on record) This is where the Hivemind retrofitted their autonomous machines, altering each one with a new purpose: kill the "Severed brethren". I still remember that phrase... and I feel myself altering too. Then it becomes irresistible. If I can reach the depths. I can destroy what destroys me. I’m stronger than the Severed and the cycle.
PERMANENT EQUIPMENT UNLOCKED - Promethean Insulators
NEW DATABANK ENTRY - Hadal Key
Selene: The first key for the vault. Will I unleash the titans?
NEW DATABANK ENTRY - Before Severing
Selene: Glaciers in my mind ablate into a desert of severed thoughts. I follow their footsteps back to the wheelchair. Once I climbed the mountaintop, hoping to ascend. Soon I will sink in dark waters, transcending as all light is smothered. What wonders I soon will see in that emptiness!
NEW DATABANK ENTRY - Fractured Wastes, Tableau 3
Selene: The Severed flooding in...
NEW DATABANK ENTRY - Fractured Wastes, Tableau 1
Selene: Severed working together to reach...? More symbolic than literal.
NEW DATABANK ENTRY - Fractured Wastes. Tableau 2
Selene: Hivemind retrofitting automatons. Severed wrapping themselves. Both failing ascension...
Selene: It's done. The way is open, but I may have caused the Gods to abandon me.
[She finds a corpse on an altar.]
Selene: Another technology from the gods. Then I must accept the burden. This allows me to go deeper.
[She puts special clips on her legs to strengthen her legs.]
PERMANENT EQUIPMENT UNLOCKED - Hadal Ballasts
[She jumps into the Abyss.]
Selene: Water's suffocating embrace. It welcomes me into its arms… The Deepest of the Deep. I recognise all of this. And so I know what awaits at the bottom.
NEW DATABANK ENTRY - Hidden Places
Selene: (on record) When I shut my eyelids, there are scarlet lights staring back. I dive deeper now. But what if I find nothing waiting there? What if the pit continues downwards never ending and what remains is a return to Helios? Another end, another beginning and my home in the cycle.
NEW DATABANK ENTRY - No Exit Yet Located
Selene: Terminal escape. I descend the final step of the cycle to the fractured sanctum. My shadow follows: will it sacrifice itself too?
Selene: So far down, it's impossible to see the sun.
NEW DATABANK ENTRY - Lurking Watcher
Selene: (on record) Beyond the crack in the world, the sleeper of the deep ascends in dangerous dreams. It offered the Hivemind answers, but severed them instead. It offered the Severed godhood, but crippled them instead. But it has not yet offered me anything... why does it remain silent? After everything, am I still unworthy?
[Selene finds another dead alien with equipment on him.]
Selene: I accept this sacrifice.
[She takes the visor off his head and puts it on.]
Selene: Visions of the future or visions from the past? They are exactly the same.
PERMANENT EQUIPMENT UNLOCKED - Delphic Visor
NEW DATABANK ENTRY - One Final Confession
Selene: (on record) I need to talk. I know I keep putting this off, but… Everything has gone way too far this time. This is the part where I say, "I'm sorry!" So why don't I feel like I am? I try, but... it sounds so... hollow. What is this shadow inside me? I've felt this before, I can't describe it except that it feels....
NEW DATABANK ENTRY - Blade Balancer
[Selene jumps into another hole into the abyss.]
Selene: Sunken halfway to depth... a pressure is building within me.
NEW DATABANK ENTRY - Faceless Mass
Selene: I have seen the jet black skull behind the visor of the Astronaut. I recognise parts of myself within those shadows, fighting to be free. If it can show the world one face, then another... have I met it before? What was the name that sat on its head? Was it the first one who said... "Do you see the White Shadow"?
NEW DATABANK ENTRY - Abyssal Key
NEW DATABANK ENTRY - Doctor Consultation Appointment
Selene: Would it be safe for me to drive afterwards? I had no idea. But what about prep time and recovery? I'm... in the middle of a lot right now, so... No, no, no it's... I wouldn't want anyone present. No one can know about this. Everyone is overbearing and controlling and... I haven't even told a single person about— If they found out I was here, that we were talking...
[Selene is getting rougher and rougher. When she reaches the bottom, a creature named OPHION appears before her.]
Selene: Pitch black guilt. Guardian of Hades, do you cast the White Shadow?
[She makes her final jump into the abyss.]
Selene: "... I will go there now. As you will."
[She finds a car on the bottom of the alien ocean.]
NEW DATABANK ENTRY - Fatal Crash
Selene: (on record) I remember everything now. I know why’ll deserve to be here. The crash. That's why I belong. It's always the crash I return to.
[Selene encounters an enormous monster covered in blue light.]
Selene: (in awe) Are you... the one who brought me here? Is this what you wanted me to see?
[We are abruptly transported to earth. A car is driving along a night road in a dense forest.]
Child: Mom, do you see the White Shadow?
[The driver is... Selene. She grumpily adjusts her rearview mirror so she can't see her daughter's face. The music on the radio starts making noise. Selene is confused to dial the device when suddenly an astronaut appears on the road. Selene tries to avoid him and falls off the bridge into the river. At the bottom of the river she sees that very monster. Selene reaches out to her daughter, but cannot reach her. Nearby, a toy octopus flies by. Something pulls Selene out of the car. The game logo appears.]
Selene: (offscreen) Do you see the White Shadow?
[Credits.]
[The Astronaut appears. Selene returns to her ship.]
Selene: I birthed destruction. I am destruction. For the cycle to end, I must not just remember.