Ticket to Earth is a tactical puzzle/RPG game released in 2017 by Robot Circus. The game is available on iOS, Android, Windows, and macOS.
The game uses a turn-based system for its combat missions, which take place on a small grid. The grid is randomly covered in hand, eye, heart, and mind tiles. A player-controlled character can move along any identical connected tiles. The longer the unbroken path, the more the character's combat strength charges, up to a certain limit (the limit can be increased by purchasing new weapons). Each character also has four unique combat powers, each of which is charged by moving along specific tiles. Combat powers can be purchased and changed in-between missions. Characters also have unique justice powers that require collecting justice tokens during missions. These usually appear after a character walks a certain number of tiles in a single move. Characters have 2 moves per turn. Each move can be either used for movement or attack. Some combat powers also use up a move. Receiving damage reduces accumulated combat strength. Two of the player-controlled characters are melee fighters (Rose, Doc), and two are ranged (Wolf, Seven).
The game takes place in a distant future, on a remote colony world called New Providence. Most citizens of New Providence dream of leaving their world and going back to Earth. A starliner arrives every 10 years, although only the rich and powerful are able to afford a ticket to Earth. The planet is ruled by Governor Malcolm Mately and a council of the rich families, whose bloodlines go back to the founding of the colony. Peace is maintained through the Justice Engine, an automated system that uses humanoid robots called Servitors and trained human enforcers known as Peace Keepers (or PKs). A popular religion called the Movement preaches serenity and trains its followers in a new form of combat, consisting of the Hand, the Eye, the Heart, and the Mind. All PKs are Movement-trained, making them deadly in combat. On the eve of the arrival of the SSL Martian Princess, there is a breakout at a maximum-security prison in a poor town called Land's End. A prisoner known as Zero leads the uprising he calls Zero Day. A hacker known as Malady hijacks all robots in the area and turns them against the citizens, slaughtering innocents. The only ones left to stop them are a gardener named Rose, who is deputized by the Justice Engine as a Peace Keeper, a current Peace Keeper code-named Wolf who is only out for money, and a veteran PK named Doc. Later on, a mutant named Seven joins the team. They have to fight their way through criminals, hijacked robots, giant insects, and mutants with the fate of the colony hanging in the balance.
Ticket to Earth provides examples of:
- Action Girl: Rose is definitely one, although not by choice. She'd like nothing more than to peacefully tend to her garden with her girlfriend Xen, but Zero Day forces her to make use of her Movement training and her sword skills to defend herself and Xen. She is eventually deputized as a PK and helps put an end to Zero Day.
- Ancient Conspiracy: It's eventually revealed that the Abh0th malware wasn't Malady's invention. It was installed shortly after the colony's founding in order to subvert the Justice Engine in favor of the rich and powerful. Every governor could override the Justice Engine and any robot, even though the Justice Engine is supposed to stand apart and police everyone. Doc also learns that his reports on Nitrium's effects on people's health have been suppressed.
- The Atoner: Doc is an elderly PK, who was very effective in his youth, resulting in him becoming known as The Butcher. Since then, he's accepted the teachings of the Movement and works in the Fail to try to help the poor souls there.
- Big Bad: Zero and Malady share that role.
- Cain and Abel: Malady is eventually revealed to be Wolf's sister. However, by the time they finally meet in combat, Wolf has no sympathy for her, given all she's done.
- Capital Offensive: In the later part of the game, Zero plans to assault the planetary capital of First Landing in order to destroy the Justice Engine and hijack the Martian Princess.
- The Cracker: Malady
- Distant Finale: The epilogue takes place a year after Zero Day, revealing that Governor Mately has been imprisoned for life, that Wolf has been elected governor, that Doc is the colony's new Chief Medical Officer, and that Rose and Xen are Happily Married.
- Eat the Rich: In his public broadcasts, Zero advocates for an uprising of the lower classes against the richest 1%, mostly composed of Founder families. It certain works to get Ghosts on his side, who (rightly) feel they were abandoned by the corporation. It's all a smokescreen. Zero doesn't care about anyone but himself and just wants to hijack the Martian Princess and go to Earth in order to sell Kurtz's research to the corporations.
- Evil Former Friend: Joshua "Zero" Fuchs to Doc. Both used to be highly-successful Peace Keepers in their youth, but Zero eventually turned to mass murder and self-profiting, which landed him in prison, while Doc (formerly known as "The Butcher") became The Atoner.
- Family Theme Naming: Eustace and Eustacia Wolfram.
- Government Conspiracy: It's revealed that the government has covered up the true extent of the Nitrium catastrophe that wiped out an entire settlement, as that would make the corporation look bad. Doc's reports on the damage caused by Nitrium exposure have been likewise suppressed.
- Green Rocks: Nitrium is a poisonous mineral that is used for power generation and to allow practical interstellar travel. It can also cause mutations in humans, an effect that Dr. Matthias Kurtz is trying to use for his own twisted ends. In-game, one way of improving characters is to collect Nitrium crystals on some levels. There are many different varieties of the crystals, and they can be used to produce Power Crystals that improve your weaponry.
- Happily Married: Rose Khouri and Xenia "Xen" Makoto in the Distant Finale, as indicated by both of them hyphenating their last names to Khouri-Makoto.
- Heel–Face Turn: Seven eventually turns against Kurtz and the others, joining the list of main characters.
- Heroic Sacrifice: with the Martian Princess about to engage its Nitrium engine in low orbit, which would wipe out the colony, Seven uses her powers to teleport the ship away to an unknown destination. The others are left wondering about her fate. Then, at the very end of the Distant Finale, the ship teleports back, which, presumably, means that Seven is still alive.
- Leet Lingo: The malware used by Malady is called Abh0th.
- Mad Doctor: Dr. Matthias Kurtz used to be the Chief Medical Officer of New Providence, but his unethical medical practices led to him being imprisoned in Land's End Penitentiary. He serves as one of Zero's dragons, although reluctantly. His only purpose is to continue his experiments in using Nitrium to remake humanity as he sees fit.
- Only in It for the Money: Wolf keeps repeating this throughout the game, although Rose eventually realizes that he really does care about more than that. Eventually, he realizes that he no longer wants to leave New Providence and is shown to be the colony's new governor in the Distant Finale, genuinely trying to improve life for the colonists.
- Parental Abandonment: Wolf reveals that his rich parents became devout Movement followers and gave away all their wealth to the cult, moving to the slums where those like them live and leaving their children to fend for themselves. No wonder Wolf hates all the religious crap of the Movement, even though he's still Movement-trained like all PKs.
- Propaganda Machine: NP27 New Providence News seems to serve as this under Governor Mately. Things appear to improve in the Distant Finale.
- Psychic Powers: Some of Kurtz's experiments have resulted in individuals with various powers, including telepathy, telekinesis, and precognition.
- Secret Legacy: Seven eventually learns that her real name is Amelia Rinehart and that she is a scion of one of the Founder families. She rejects that legacy and prefers her new name and purpose instead.
- Shout-Out: The malware used by Malady to subvert the colony's robots is called Abh0th.
- Starship Luxurious: This appears to be the case with all starliners, although we're only shown the SSL Martian Princess, which definitely fits the bill. It's clearly meant for the rich. While the passengers are supposed to spend the ten-year journey in cryosleep, before and after they will spend basked in luxury. The ship includes whole sections dedicated to entertainment, shopping, and recreation, including a large indoor park.
