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Protagonists
An unwilling cat and an amnesiac robot. Circumstances have led them to cross paths, and working together, they may be able to find a way out of the city. The Cat
An ordinary ginger cat who lives in the wilderness with his siblings. After falling by accident into the city, he seeks a way home.
- Accidental Hero: He frees B-12 more or less by wandering around and pawing at things as well as helping the city to exterminate the Zurks of the surface.
- Ambiguous Situation: Whether or not the cat is intelligent or doing everything it does by sheer accident. It's plausible a cat could accidentally activate a drone by playing around, less likely it would bring a musician sheet music.
- Animals Lack Attributes: Word of God confirms that the cat is male, something not shown on the character model because it's irrelevant to the story. Male cat behaviours, such as spraying and defending territory, are also absent.
- Badass Adorable: He's a pretty tough customer, able to survive and overcome everything the city throws at him, but he's also a small fluffy cat with a generally affectionate attitude.
- Cat Stereotype: A heroic ginger cat, the only one in his litter.
- Destructive Savior: At minimum, finishing the game requires jamming up several ventilation fans, breaking a window, getting two robots in trouble for something that wasn't their fault note , toppling library book stacks, and sneaking into many homes where he is not wanted. Optional actions include smashing every clay pot in reach, scratching up carpets, scattering Ma-Jong tiles midgame, and tripping up a wandering robot. But it is because of the cat that the city is freed.
- Made of Iron: The cat survives a series of situations that would have left a real cat crippled or dead, such as falling a vast distance onto metal debris.
- Not in This for Your Revolution: A humorous example as the cat just wants to get back home and gets roped into the complicated struggle of the robots.
B-12
A virtual AI that uploads itself into tiny drone, then acts as the cat's translator and advisor as it rides around the city in a kitty-sized backpack. Years spent in the digital network have eroded its memories and sense of identity.
- Amnesiac Hero: B-12 doesn't remember its origins and is struggling to adapt to the new world it's woken up to.
- Brain Uploading: Turns out that B-12 is actually a human scientist that uploaded himself into the Network.
- Dramatic Irony: Not knowing that cats are non-sapient, B-12 asks the cat for help and interprets his keysmashing as actual replies.
- Exposition Fairy: As the player character is a normal-ish cat who cannot speak, B-12 reacts to the plot and exposits the game's backstory as it appears.
- Hyper-Competent Sidekick: It is a intelligent drone following around a seemingly normal stray cat.
- Uncertain Doom: Its drone body is fried while hacking the Control Room, and it says that uploading itself into the control systems to disable the lockdown might override its own software. The game ends shortly thereafter with no further word from B-12 or the control systems.
- Voice for the Voiceless: B-12 leads the way whenever speaking to the robots, since the cat, being a cat, can only meow.
The Outsiders
A team of robots who have banded together to find a way out of the shelter and into the light.
Momo
"Clementine, Zbaltazar, Doc, I'm sorry I doubted our cause. I'll promise you. I will find a way to reach the surface." - Momo
A robot technician living in the Slums. He is one of the Outsiders, but he couldn't muster the courage to follow them on their quest and has regretted it ever since.
- Mentor in Sour Armor: He is reluctant to tell B-12 about the Outsiders' quest, seeing it as doomed to failure, and necessitating a sidequest to inspire him again. Yet it is because of him (and even, ironically, the fear that made him stay behind) that anyone gets out.
- Prone to Tears: He could never forgive himself for the Outsiders not being together anymore.
- The Baby of the Bunch: The last to join the Outsiders, and beloved by his community, who are happy and relieved he chose not to leave. He worries he's not taken seriously, though.
Doc
"These blueprints. They must be for his Zurk weapon. Papa was always so secretive with his work." - Seamus
A robot genius and inventor from the Slums, and the first of the Outsiders to leave. After creating a weapon to combat against Zurks (the Defluxor), he had to venture out into the Dead City to test it for real. No one's heard from him in years.
- Doting Parent: Adores his son Seamus and sees him as nothing less than perfect, using every social opportunity to tell others about how clever he is.
- Expy: Of Doc Brown — his look is clearly inspired by him, and he also shares some of his speech and mannerisms (and, of course, his name).
- Loves Secrecy: Given that his best friends and his own son had no idea he had a whole secret lab inside his tiny flat confirms this. Both Momo and Seamus lampshade this. Interestingly, later interactions show that he's quite The Social Expert.
- Nerds Are Naïve: Inverted. Doc is analytical, pragmatic and possesses high situational awareness.
- Parents as People: Subverted. Doc's a brilliant scientist, respected and missed by his community. His sense of responsibility and obligation towards his community compels him to find a way out of their prison in the Slums, and that entails a lot of danger to himself. Yet he firmly sets boundaries between his work and his personal life. However, as the game's events show, his decision to go out alone to test the Defluxor causes much pain and trauma for his son.
- Parents in Distress: Has to be saved from his own plan gone wrong.
- When You Coming Home, Dad?: Only after he got trapped in the Dead City and lost all contact with the Safezone. Before that, Seamus and other Companions indicate that Doc was indeed very present in his son's life in spite of all his responsibilities.
Zbaltazar
"My old friends. I miss them all the time." - Zbaltazar
A deep thinker from the Slums, and one of the Outsiders. His worn body tells of a difficult past. Wise and kind, he's very affectionate towards his friends.
- Wise Beyond Their Years: Emotionally mature and showing impressive understanding of concepts that are foreign to Companions who've never seen the outside world, he's respected by every Companion who knows him, especially in Antvillage.
Clementine
"I'm so glad that we are all together again. But we're not safe yet." - Clementine
A brave and determined robot from the Slums, and one of the Outsiders. In spite of her dogged persistence to reach the Outside 'at any cost', she never leaves anyone behind.
- Cool Teacher: She spent part of her sojourn in Antvillage teaching the local children, who still rave about how much they liked learning from her.
- Noiseless Walker: One of the most light-footed Companions, and the game subtly shows it. She makes very little noise when compared to her fellow robots going about their normal day-to-day lives.
- Stealth Expert: That, with the talent of Hiding in Plain Sight, is what made her evade the Sentinels and survive in Midtown that long.
The Slum's Residents
The last of the Companions still living in the Safezone of the Lower Level, fenced off from the rest of the now-uninhabitable Dead City. Seamus
"Here, take this badge. My Papa will recognize it. He will know that you're a friend." - Seamus
Doc's son.- Expy: Of Marty McFly — he wears Marty's signature puffer jacket, takes his name from Marty's great-great-grandfather from the third movie, and has a significant relationship to Doc (although Seamus is Doc's son rather than his mentee).
Antagonists
Several forces who make the lives of the robots a nightmare. Zurk
Horrifying little monsters who are spreading through the lowest levels of the City, devouring the robots who call it home.
- Arc Villain: The main threat of the first half of the game.
- Extreme Omnivore: Zurks were created as bacteria capable of breaking down any waste produced by the City. Even after evolving into their current form, they are able to devour anything, including the robots.
- Meat Moss: Zurk-infested areas gradually develop a form of this, which sprouts glowing egg-cases to birth new Zurks. The areas of densest and longest-standing infestation have enormous eyes also develop in the moss.
- Mega-Microbes: The Zurk are the evolved form of a genetically engineered bacteria.
- Personal Space Invader: Their method of attack is to run at their target and jump on, at which point they begin chewing. They can be shaken off relatively easily; the problem is, they come in swarms.
- Super Drowning Skills: Zurks can't swim; if they miss a jump and land in the water, they die.
- A Villain Named "Z__rg": Though "Zurk" was likely a name given to them by the robots. Either way, they are a menace amongst the slums.
- Weakened by the Light: UV radiation is lethal to Zurks, as discovered by Doc. Just a second in the light, and Zurks will go "pop". The opening of the shelter at the end bathes the slums in bright sunlight, baking nearly every Zurk within seconds.
- You Dirty Rat!: The Zurks have long since consumed and supplanted any ordinary vermin, taking over the role of despised urban scavenger from rats and the like.
The Sentinels
Police robots that have since turned Midtown into a police state. They serve as the antagonist of the latter half of the game.
- Arc Villain: Of the second half.
- Crosshair Aware: Sentinels' vision are indicated by a large light. Stay away from them.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Sentinels during the latter half of the prison escape are neutralized by the cat luring them into cells while Clementine locks them up.
- One-Hit Kill: Getting zapped by a Sentinel will instantly kill the cat. It's likely that it's meant to merely incapacitate larger targets, but the energy would greatly overwhelm a target as small as a cat.
- Patrolling Mook: Some Sentinels will follow specific routes, which the cat must navigate around.
