Line #34 VideoGame/BeingOne


1	Being One is a point-and-click science fiction adventure series, developed by ''Psionic Games''.
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3	The game centers a mysterious being that wakes up in an abandoned science lab, having been experimented and tested on by a scientist named Dr. Rycroft for reasons unknown. The goal of the game is to find a way out of the lab and discover what happened to you, why you're here, where you are, and even ''what'' you are.
4
5	The series spans across 6 titles thus far:
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7	* [[https://psionicgames.itch.io/being-one-episode-1 Episode 1]]
8	* [[https://psionicgames.itch.io/being-one-episode-2 Episode 2]]
9	* [[https://psionicgames.itch.io/being-one-episode-3 Episode 3]]
10	* [[https://psionicgames.itch.io/being-one-episode-4 Episode 4]]
11	* [[https://psionicgames.itch.io/being-one-episode-5 Episode 5]]
12	* [[https://psionicgames.itch.io/being-one-episode-6 Episode 6]]
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14	See also ''VideoGame/KillerEscape'' and ''VideoGame/{{Icescape}}'', its sister series in a SharedUniverse.
15
16	!!Being One contains examples of:
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18	* AbandonedLaboratory: The first four episodes are spent exploring abandoned labs, each of them host to different [[GoneHorriblyWrong experiments gone wrong.]] Episodes 5 and 6 subvert this, with you directly going after Dr. Rycroft in his lair.
19	* ApocalypseCult: At the end of Episode 4, a cult of Golden Warriors intercepts your shuttle and takes you aboard as their supposed king. [[spoiler: They then proceed to "cleanse" the Earth by launching dropships and wreaking havoc everywhere until you give the order to stop in the next game.]]
20	* AllMythsAreTrue: As far as Rycroft's test subjects can reach. Werewolves, Vampires, and Aliens? Confirmed.
21	* AndIMustScream:
22	** The first game has a few alien specimens kept in stasis. A disembodied head of a telepath says "Help us, help us, help us..." just as you pull the plug, and another alien was reported to have [[BodyHorror uncontrollably grown eyes, arms, and limbs at random non-stop]] before the scientists killed it.
23	** The lycans in Episode 4 go on a rage-driven rampage to kill themselves and everything they see, but suicide isn't so easy due to their regenerative abilities.
24	** One of the mummified lab workers in the same episode screams "Kill me! KILL ME!" when you find him. And you have to shoot him in the chest to go forward.
25	** Rycroft's nanobots in Episode 5, and he injects you with some through a decontamination shower. Though your regenerative powers keep them from killing you, you have to endure extreme pain while looking for a cure.
26	* AxCrazy: The werewolves from Episode 4 are utterly howling mad thanks to their infection. A guard notes that they usually tear themselves and their cells apart whenever they transform; looking in the High Security Holding Cells bears this out, with three lycans (and at least one guard) seemingly ripped to pieces by themselves or the escaped subjects.
27	* AwesomeMcCoolName: Parodied with a scientist named Token Coolname in Episode 2. It's implied that a woman got sick of him flirting with her, and [[spoiler: caused a vampire to escape into the vents and kill everyone in the area.]]
28	* BigBadDuumvirate: [[MadScientist Dr. Rycroft]] and his shady employer, [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Weston Carnodyne]], are behind countless unethical experiments to [[ImmortalityImmorality find the secret to immortality]].
29	* BorrowedBiometricBypass: Some episodes require collecting blood samples and even whole body parts to access Rycroft's systems.
30	* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Weston Carnodyne, an intergalactic billionaire whom you find out in Episode 5 has been funding most of Rycroft's research.
31	* CrypticBackgroundReference: Many of the journals on the asteroid base refer to other experiments Dr. Rycroft is carrying out on the other levels. However, they are never elaborated on beyond these mentions and (in Episode 3) a handful of signs indicating other levels and their experiments [[note]]Specifically, we see the doors for the lycanthropy (those not in the High Security Holding Cells), dinosaur, undead, and botanical research; we directly encounter the levels for alien (Episode 1), vampire (Episode 2), dark matter (Episode 3) and high-risk lycanthropy (Episode 4) research[[/note]].
32	* DataPad: Used as [[ApocalypticLog journals]] for the staff members, starting from Episode 2.
33	* DistressCall: In Episode 5, you can use a Quantum Radio that displays dozens of these in text form, and listen to three audio transmissions warning of the attack on Earth. [[spoiler: One of them is from Venus, adrift in space after escaping Rycroft's lab.]]
34	* EarlyInstalmentWeirdness:
35	** The lab notes in the first two episodes state that Being One WasOnceAMan who had alien DNA spliced into them by Dr. Rycroft, with their name of "Being One" coming from the fact they were the first subject to survive the gene therapy without going mad or dying. Episode 3 onward shifts toward [[spoiler:Being One being outright alien in nature, perhaps even [[TimeAbyss the first being to ever exist]] and the [[OriginalMan ancestor who kick-started humanity's evolution]]]].
36	** One of the Episode 1 lab notes also has Rycroft refer to the "project managers" directing him to pull the plug on Specimen 3; this conflicts with later episodes which establish Dr. Rycroft as being in charge of the base's experiments and part of the BigBadDuumvirate directing them.
37	** The first episode is also the only one to have a proper GameOver - [[spoiler:having your health bar depleted by the Guardian bio-mech results in a screen saying you failed to escape the lab, and an invitation to try again in a "different universe" (i.e.: restart the battle.)]]. While the remaining episodes do have [[spoiler:{{Boss Battle}}s or hostile opponents to defeat]], being hurt by them will only decrease your final score.
38	* EldritchAbomination: The [[spoiler:"dark matter creature"]] from Episode 3 is heavily implied to be one, being [[spoiler:from another dimension entirely and strange enough to baffle even Rycroft]].
39	* EvilVsEvil: [[EvilCorp Carnodyne Industries]] has a reputation for dabbling in amoral activities that range from selling illegal drugs and human organs to funding Dr. Rycroft's experiments. They're at odds with the [[ApocalypseCult Golden Warriors]], a sect that worships Being One and tried to "cleanse" Earth to appease their god, killing millions in the process.
40	* ForScience: Subverted. While Rycroft's experiments are unquestionably immoral, they ''do'' have a purpose that becomes clearer with each episode - [[spoiler:replicating your immortality to find a cure for death]].
41	* FreakLabAccident: A running theme in the series.
42	** A vampire escapes into the vents in episode 2, and a strange Dark Matter entity is already loose by episode 3.
43	** Subverted in episodes 4 and 5, as Dr. Rycroft deliberately unleashes the Lycans and Nanos to keep you and Venus from meddling with his plans.
44	* GameOver: Played with. [[EarlyInstalmentWeirdness The only Episode with a proper lose condition is the first]] [[spoiler:(having your health depleted by the Guardian Mech)]]; the remainder just have penalties to your score for taking too long or [[spoiler:being hurt by enemies]].
45	* GenreShift: Episode 6 switches to a FirstPersonShooter layout, but the gameplay is largely the same.
46	* GiantSpider: Near the start of Episode 4, which had already mummified several workers by the time you see it. [[HandWave Handwaved]] by the crew logs saying that the lighter gravity in Rycroft's base allows spiders to grow larger than they would on Earth.
47	* HackingMinigame: Used in the fifth episode via your "Autohacker", where you either have to find a code from a math equation, or reach firewall weaknesses by dodging red defenders on a grid.
48	* HealingFactor: Rycroft's experiments revealed that your skin and body can rapidly regenerate over time, to the point that [[spoiler: you [[PullingThemselvesTogether draw upon universal elements to reform if destroyed]].]] Half of your head was missing when Rycroft first found you before the series began.
49	* HoistByHisOwnPetard: In Episode 5, as you research the nanoslaves around the base, the nanobots inside your body start communicating with your suit. [[spoiler: When you finally make contact, the nanobots [[TurnedAgainstTheirMasters rebel against Dr. Rycroft's programming]] and side with you, enhancing your suit and body on the side.]]
50	* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: Excepting Episode 1 and 6, each Episode is named for the experiment or main threat encountered within. "Episode 2: Bloodbath" deal with vampires as the main antagonists and research subjects, while Episode 3's main focus is dark matter research [[spoiler:(and the "Beast" made out of it that Being One must fight)]]; likewise, "Episode 4: Moonrise" deals with [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent Lycans going on the rampage]], and "Episode 5: Infection"'s main threat is the nanobot swarm infecting Being One to tear them apart from the inside out.
51	* ImmortalitySeeker: The reason Rycroft values you so much for his research. [[spoiler: He and Weston Carnodyne want your powers to be able to achieve immortality.]]
52	* JumpScare: Undoing the crew quarters air event in ''Episode 2'' an escaped vampire to rush at the screen while hissing loudly.
53	* KillerRobot: The Guardian mech at the end of Episode 1, and a flying ''vampire'' robot at the end of Episode 2.
54	* LateToTheTragedy: By the time you wake up, every crewmember is dead. Revealed later on that Rycroft had evacuated most of his colleagues and unleashed his specimens to kill off saboteurs coming in from earth to destroy it.
55	* LikeAGodToMe: The warriors that pick you up believe you to be this, as do many people on Earth when [[spoiler: trying to survive the former's attack]].
56	* LivingShadow: Episode 3 deals with a lab where Dr. Rycroft experimented on what he thought was Dark Matter, but was actually dealing with [[spoiler: a living, shadow-like being from AnotherDimension that even ''he'' doesn't fully understand. And judging from the results of the experiments therein, it didn't end well in that regard.]]
57	--> '''Backwards message on window''': [[spoiler: WE WILL TEAR YOUR UNIVERSE APART!]]
58	* MadScientist: Dr. Rycroft, full stop. He performs [[ForScience strange, unethical experiments on all sorts of creatures]], and locks his staff members in with the test subjects when they don't obey him. All while claiming you and his science [[ForTheGreaterGood can help millions]].
59	* MeaningfulName: You are codenamed by Rycroft as "Being One", since his theory is that [[spoiler: you are literally the first humanoid in existence, with genetic traits unlike any normal human's, having existed for thousands of years thanks to your gifts of immortality and regenerative abilities.]]
60	* {{Nanomachines}}: The main threat in Episode 5. These nanos can easily strip flesh from bone, and create zombies from corpses. They're also slowly trying to tear you apart from the inside out, forcing you to hunt down samples of them to prevent this.
61	* OnlySmartPeopleMayPass: Slightly downplayed by the explanation that Rycroft had designed his labs so that his workers couldn't leave without finishing his experiments in that area.
62	* OurVampiresAreDifferent: The vampires in the second episode draw their longevity and regenerative powers from blood, so much they turn psycho and try to rip people's throats out to get it.
63	* OurWerewolvesAreDifferent: Werewolves in this universe - here called "Lycans", are actually normal humans infected with a virus activated by moonlight, and once transformed, they go on a murderous rampage to kill themselves and anything in their path. In the fourth game, you have to deal with several of them when escaping the lab when it moves in front of the moon, and at one point ''you'' get briefly infected with the virus and have to clear debris while in wolf form.
64	* PeopleJars: You wake up in one, and the first puzzle is to unlock it from inside. [[spoiler: The ending of the third game reveals that Dr. Rycroft has ''hundreds'' of these for his research.]]
65	* RoomFullOfCrazy: Every episode has messages and clues written in blood or scratched into walls. Some in episode 2 only show up under your UV light, revealing messages such as "MORE BLOOD" and "YOU ARE NOT LIKE [[OurVampiresAreDifferent US]]" on surfaces.
66	* RoomEscapeGame: Each game fundamentally amounts to this - Being One is stuck in a section of an AbandonedLaboratory, has to explore the rooms for clues and tools, then solve a series to puzzles to advance toward the exit. Rinse and repeat with each episode.
67	* RunningGag: From Episode 2 onward, your character becomes increasingly unnerved by air vents. Examining the air vents at the start of ''3'' will cause several annoyed remarks.
68	--> "No more vents please"
69	* SafelySecludedScienceCenter:
70	** The majority of the series is spent on [[spoiler: an asteroid in the debris belt orbiting Earth after the [[DefaceOfTheMoon Moon impact of 2020]], to allow Rycroft to perform his research without restriction from Earth's bureaucracy.]] Saboteurs [[EarthShatteringKaboom blow it up]] just after you finally escape in Episode 4.
71	** Episode 5 is set on Rycroft's orbiting "nano-station", with a giant [[TeleportersAndTransporters teleporter]] in its center to covertly transfer cargo to and from Earth without the authorities noticing.
72	* SchmuckBait: Opening an air vent in Episode 2 results in the escaped vampire [[JumpScare charging straight for you]], briefly knocking you out and leaving a very clear trail of your blood behind.
73	* SigilSpam: The logo of Carnodyne Industries is seen on several cargo crates and pieces of equipment in episode 5.
74	* SuddenLackOfSignal: By Episode 4, Venus stops texting you because the base's cell signals went down.
75	* VoiceWithAnInternetConnection: Venus Callahan, a mysterious woman who left you a cellphone at the beginning of Episode 1. She can only send you text messages, though. Logs later reveal that she was Dr. Rycroft's assistant, which was how she set you free.
76	* WeakenedByTheLight: The "Dark Matter" Dr. Rycroft was experimenting with becomes unstable when exposed to light, which is implied to be part of the reason the level takes place in darkness (beyond Being One's torchlight.) [[spoiler:The ''other'' would be the beast made out of dark matter wandering around there, which is ultimately destroyed by exposing it to beams of bright light from four large lamps]].
77	* WellIntentionedExtremist: Dr. Rycroft's ultimate goal is to [[ImmortalitySeeker replicate your immortality]] and effectively mass-produce it for humanity's benefit. His method of doing so involves conducting experiments on hundreds of people and aliens, outright murder, and partnering with the very ethically dubious [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Weston Carnodyne]].
78	* WhamShot: Episode 6 ends with Dr. Rycroft reporting that [[spoiler: the Golden Warriors have decided to [[ColonyDrop ram their entire mothership]] into his nano-station, as a sacrificial act in your honor.]]

Context VideoGame / BeingOne