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PRIOR is an Adobe Flash game by krangGames, originally made in 48 hours for the Ludum Dare Compo #19.

The finished version was published on March 15th, 2011 and sponsored by Armor Games. Play it here!


PRIOR provides examples of:

  • Abandoned Area: The whole base is empty of other life beside yourself.
  • After the End: The facility the game takes place in is abandoned, and one of the endings suggests nuclear war eventually occurred.
  • Amnesiac Dissonance: Somewhat. As the player, you suppose your character is a good guy. But then you get to know he slaughtered his own family. To be fair, though, he was under the effect of the experimental Chemical @73.
  • Beautiful Void: Averted, the empty environments are, if anything, unsettling and depressing rather than beautiful.
  • The Atoner: The Many ending implies that Dr. +/G couldn't live with the guilt of what happened to Subject &#! and his family.
  • Downer Ending: All three endings are quite sad:
    • The Many: Subject &#! ventures down into the basement of the facility looking for Dr. +/G, only to find the good Dr. hanged and dead in his office with "I'm Sorry Too" written in blood on the wall.
    • The Few: Subject &#! goes to the Restraint Depot where his family has been taken, only to find that it's actually a morgue, and his family was killed by his own hand. He ends up trapped in another cell, with a note reading "You Belong Here" being all that's in it.
    • The One: Subject &#! leaves the facility and goes on his way to City XY*213. As he passes the skyline in the background an enormous mushroom cloud appears and then vanishes, implying the city has long been devastated by nuclear war.
  • Elaborate Underground Base: The facility you find yourself in is quite vast, and has sections going deep beneath the earth.
  • Forever War: The reason why the protagonist's nation is having a war against the Light Folk is not revealed. There might be a good reason, but we never get to know it.
  • Gravity Master: The Z-7 device enables the user to suspend gravity for himself, enabling longer jumps and (stationary) floating.
  • Great Offscreen War: The war with the Light Folk seems to have ended an indeterminate time ago, possibly due to mutual nuclear annihilation.
  • Hopeless War: The game doesn't reveal much about the background war, but - as the player - you get the impression it's hopeless. Just see the Downer Endings - they really don't induce much hope.
    • One propaganda poster seems to imply that the black squares were either disadvantaged during the war, or were outright losing it.
  • Identity Amnesia / Quest for Identity: The protagonist has no idea who and where he is. He needs to find notes.
  • Loss of Identity: The protagonist, Subject &#! has gone through this due to the effect of Chemical @73.
  • Lucky Charms Title: Subject &#!, Dr. +/G, Chemical @73, City XY*213, Lot #Q (?)... Should I continue?
  • Multiple Endings: There are three.
  • Silent Protagonist: Subject &#! doesn't utter a single word.
  • Super Serum: Chemical @73, meant to produce super soldiers.
  • Trial-and-Error Gameplay: There is a screen ("Pitfall") which has a note, which you go down and read, and you know you failed to double-jump at the right moment. The note also tells you to press R to restart this screen.
  • Upgrade Artifact: Lot #Q (?) and the Z-7 device.

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