Once Human: Story Overview

Introduction

• Discusses the MMO game Once Human
• Unique, confusing, dreamlike world
• Exploration of the story of Season 1
• Aim: Explain lore for players and non-players alike

Background Lore

Pre-Apocalypse: Humanity's Normalcy

• 20 years before the game, humanity faced strange events
• Rifts between SpaceTime opened, leading to:
  • Portals to Rift Space
  • Introduction of Stardust and Deviations

Deviations

• Formed from people's strong bonds with objects, mutated by Stardust
• Defined as the materialization of human thoughts
• Deviations lack moral agency, unpredictable behavior

Deviants

• Corrupted human-like creatures resulting from Stardust
• Represented as enemies in the game

Rise of Rosetta

• Rosetta: Research company investigating deviations
• Built monoliths to contain dangerous deviations
• Sacrificed human lives for research and to strengthen deviations
• Led to environmental degradation and pollution of Stardust

Starfall Event

• Manibus: Eldritch horror that caused Starfall
• Resulted in exponential spread of Stardust, apocalyptic consequences
  • Infection, death, transformation into deviants

Creation of Metahumans

• Development of metahumans (sentient deviations) by Rosetta
• Key characters:
  • LD 081 (Mary Ames): Dangerous, killing machine
  • DVT 011 (Mitsuko): Unique abilities to create deviations

Internal Conflict at Rosetta

• Some believed metahumans deserved rights
• Victor Hammet: Activist aiming to fight back against Rosetta
  • Helped Mitsuko escape and form the Mayflies

The Mayflies

• Organization aiming to stop Rosetta
• Used technology to work with deviations
• Suffered heavy losses in battles against Rosetta

Main Character's Journey

• 20 years post-Starfall, player character is injured and captured
• Escapes with help from Mitsuko's deviation butterfly
• Begins journey to uncover the story and fight enemies

Gameplay and Story Integration

• Discover lore through cutscenes and dialogues
• Interaction with NPCs and quests related to great ones

Key Conflicts

• Encounter with Mary (initial betrayal)
• Fight against Marcus Ames and final confrontation with Mary
• Mary seeks power through the Manibus

Conclusion

• Questions about Season 2: New map, lore development
• Game offers fun gameplay despite lackluster story
• Common for MMOs to focus on gameplay over narrative

Final Notes

• The research and understanding of the game's lore took significant time
• Encouragement for viewers to share thoughts and engage further in the content