Re:Initiate Episode 1

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Re:Initiate Episode 1
Re:Initiate Episode 1
Released June 18th, 2018
Preceded by Initiate
Followed by Re:Initiate Episode 2
Developer SUNSHADOW

Re:Initiate Episode 1 is a role-playing video game developed by SUNSHADOW for PC and Mac. The game is the first installment in the Re:Initiate series, and is the successor to the original 2016 Initiate game. Like Initiate, it is based on the book of the same name, which itself is based on the Skype chat logs of a text-based role-playing game that started in 2014. However, Re:Initiate Episode 1 and the games following it in the series make heavy use of original characters and storylines not present in the book or chat logs. Re:Initiate Episode 1 follows siblings Shion and Naomi as they log onto a virtual reality game and end up getting trapped inside.

Gameplay[edit | edit source]

The game is a standard turn-based role-playing game, featuring a top-down view of characters and events along with a separate battle screen where the player and enemies take turns attacking each other. Items can be found along the way or purchased using in-game currency to affect the player's status. The game frequently switches perspective between characters, with the three main acts of the game featuring three different player characters, along with several additional non-player characters who join the player's party. There are also hundreds of non-player characters to talk to that make comedic, often fourth wall–breaking comments.

Plot[edit | edit source]

Re:Initiate Episode 1

Shion finds himself in the Town of Beginnings.

Shion dreams about fighting a monster in an online virtual reality game, but quickly wakes up. His sister Naomi walks into his room and, when he tells her his plans to go buy the new "full-dive" virtual reality game Sword Art Online, she warns him that the line is going to be massive. Sure enough, when Shion leaves the house and arrives, the line is extremely long. However, a bald man in a suit named Killer gives a free copy of the game to Shion after he successfully answers three trivia questions. Shion quickly gets home and, after briefly talking to Naomi again, puts on the virtual reality headset and logs into the game. He creates his character with the help of the Character Creator and enters the game, finding himself in the Town of Beginnings. Eventually, after walking outside of the town, he finds Naomi in the middle of a field filled with Frenzy Bats. Though they initially don't recognize one another because of their in-game avatars looking different from their real-life bodies, they realize who they are and decide to go eat at a restaurant in town. There, Naomi notices Shion eyeing up a girl eating alone at another table, and pushes him to go sit with her; he does, and he talks to the girl for several hours as it gets dark outside. As Shion realizes he has to go log out of the game to attend to his grandmother in real life, the girl tells him she wants him to be a part of the game and says she doesn't want them to know anything about each other in real life. Shion agrees, and they kiss before the girl exits the restaurant. Shion then tries to log out, but finds the option is missing from his menu. He is then abruptly engulfed in light and transported to the town square, along with all the other ten thousand players. Suddenly, the sky turns red, and the game's creator makes a system announcement: death in the game now means you will die in real life, and no one can leave the game world until the game is completed. He then transforms all of the players from their avatars to their real-world appearances before vanishing. Shion runs away from the town square and is the first player to make it to a different area, where he kills monsters for experience points to make him stronger before anyone else gets there. Afterward, he arrives in Bleakburn Town, where he stops at an inn to eat. There, he is approached by two players who introduce themselves as Karuban and Fukigen'na and want him to join their party. Shion declines the offer but exchanges contact information with Karuban.

Karuban and Fukigen'na walk back into their inn room after their confrontation with Shion and find several members of the groupies, a strange masked group obsessed with Karuban, hiding in their room. They run out of the building and all the way outside of Bleakburn, but it's there that they encounter a Gnarly Garuda, a giant feathered monster. They defeat it, but in its place another one appears. The second one is far stronger, instantly putting them at the verge of death. Just when they think they're done for, Natsumi runs up behind the Gnarly Garuda and strikes its back with a Burning Blade (the monster's weakness), killing it. Natsumi heals them up and takes them back to her inn room, where they stay for the night. Later, in the middle of the night, Karuban leaves the room, having trouble falling asleep. He walks outside and meets a white-haired man named Yoshino staring at a pond. Yoshino shares the philosophy on life in the virtual reality game that he claims he learned from looking at the water: "if everyone is going to die, why not have fun along the way?" He then enlists Karuban to help him track down a rare monster that has a small chance of dropping a powerful weapon. They find the monster, a River Slime, and kill it, getting the rare weapon as a reward. Karuban is baffled by the fact that they got the item considering how low the chances were, but Yoshino tells him that there was actually an 100% chance of the item dropping. He then starts insulting Karuban's intelligence and character, telling him he will die and it will be his own fault. He repeats what the water told him and tells Karuban to listen to the water's advice. After his speech, Yoshino leaves quickly, and an unnerved Karuban heads back to the inn room.

Re:Initiate Episode 1

Naomi fights the Aberdyfi Dragon.

Naomi wakes up alone in an inn room in Aberdyfi, separated from Shion and wanting to go find him. She meets Johnathan, who has her play the "Aberdyfi Maze Game," where she must traverse through a big maze with monsters for a prize of 1000 Cor. She makes it through the maze, arriving at the final room, where she must defeat a powerful dragon. She successfully beats the dragon, winning the prize money and leaving the maze. After she gets back to the town, she meets Bunpo, who congratulates her on winning the game and quickly invites her to join his guild, impressed by her skill. Naomi is initially hesitant, wanting to continue her search for Shion, but Bunpo encourages her to at least meet the guild, and she gives in. Naomi meets up with the guild at a bar, and the members go around the table introducing themselves: Killer, Sinon, and Goya and Goyo greet her. Killer tells a story of how he gave free copies of the game to someone outside of the game store before logging in, and Naomi realizes that this is the man who gave Shion the free games. However, Killer does not know where Shion is in the game. Karaoke night then kicks off at the bar, with the groupies performing "I'll Make Love to You" as a tribute to Karuban, Goya and Goyo performing "Puddi Puddi," and Killer performing a song about Christopher Columbus. Finally, Ms. Piyopiyo sings "Rockin' Back Inside My Heart." Bunpo asks Naomi if she wants to join the guild, and she accepts excitedly, saying that she can put the search for her brother on hold as joining the guild just "feels right." As she happily talks, scenes of Naomi and the guild being brutally killed by hooded figures continuously cut in. There is a flash of light, and one of the hooded figures is revealed as Yoshino.

Development[edit | edit source]

The Initiate community had been making various fan games and adaptations of the original Skype chat logs for years, and Kyle Layton was an active member of the community starting from 2015. The only game that had been developed that attempted to tackle the entire Initiate story was 2016's Initiate, which had a mixed reception among fans. It was a highly simplistic game with barely any actual gameplay, largely just dialogue. Still, it was widely discussed and played among the community. Layton, an inspiring game developer, wanted to try his own hand at making an Initiate game, and got together with some friends to start SUNSHADOW. Development of the game started in early 2018, and progress was being posted regularly to the subreddit leading up to the release. Layton wanted first and foremost to make an Initiate game, but he also wanted to add in some of his own ideas that had never been a part of the official canon. He specifically wanted to tell the story of the time between November 6th, 2022 and January 6th, 2023, because that time period had been skipped in the Skype chat logs and book adaptation. So, Layton wrote up a new story, inserting his own characters and story elements. Before Episode 1 was even released, Layton announced he had written five episodes worth of story on the subreddit.

Release[edit | edit source]

Re:Initiate Episode 1 was released for free on June 18th, 2018 for PC and Mac. It was extremely well-received, becoming the biggest event in the Initiate community of all time and attracting many new members. Layton's writing and gameplay were praised as vast improvements over the original Initiate game. A poll on the subreddit was placed in the days following the game's release asking if the events in the game should be considered canon, and the results were overwhelmingly "yes." The game was not reviewed by major video game publications, but brought significant social media attention toward the Initiate scene. SUNSHADOW announced that the next episode would be released before the end of the year.