 Item No. SCP-1633 Object Class Safe Special Containment Procedures One copy of SCP-1633 is to be stored on a standard DVD ROM and a secure storage locker in Site-15, along with all supporting documentation and ancillary materials. Individuals receiving a run test on SCP-1633 must submit a request in writing to Head Researcher Dr. Berger. Testing will only be conducted with on-site computers which meet all requirements laid out in Document SCP-1633-HS-01. This includes, but is not limited to, a processor capable of at least 1.3GHz, 6GB of hard drive space, and absolutely no network connection capability. These computers may be used for extended periods, up to six months, but the hard drive must be wiped and all components destroyed at the conclusion of testing. No individual save file may be played beyond the end of Act III in the game storyline without specific authorization by Dr. Berger. Prior to this point, the save game in the company.ptd file must be erased. Description SCP-1633 is a computer game created by the now defunct Independent Game Studio. The copy and foundation possession is a beta version of the game. The core gameplay is relatively complete, but there are numerous incomplete aspects. Certain art assets are missing, there are various graphical issues. The music is either missing or just placeholder music and so forth. The document is SCP-1633-BV-01 for a list of known bugs and missing elements. As this version of the game was compiled two days before the foundation rated the ██████ offices on ██████, it is presumed that this is the most complete version of the game in existence. The source of the anomalous properties of the game, as well as a major selling point in the game's pre-release advertising, are its so-called tactical, heuristic algorithms. Where a player saves their game and quits, a background process will begin running on the player's computer. This process, while consuming a large portion of the computer's resources, is not in itself harmful to the functioning of the computer and can be forcefully closed at any time. This will prevent the creation of a .ptd file. When the process completes, either a new file is created in the same folder as the player's save game with the file extension .ptd or an existing .ptd file is updated. According to the supporting documentation, the file extension stands for Player Tactical Data. When a player loads an existing save game with associated .ptd file, enemies in the game be more intelligent and effective, with the increased approximate proportion to the total amount of time spent playing. If a player attempts to load a save game created by a different player, the game will pause for several minutes and prompt the player to load their own file or start a new game, rather than use someone else's. This is not thought to be an anomalous effect, rather, the game pattern and recognition capabilities are such that even small differences in playstyle will be interpreted as a player attempting to use a different save game. Initially, this will result in a more challenging game experience, with the enemies adapting to a player's preferred weapons, strategies, and overall playstyle. However, given enough time, enemies become aware of the existence of the player and begin to attack him or her, rather than the characters in the game. Typical progression is as follows. Note that there may be significant variation in how long it takes the enemies to adapt to a particular player. Roughly speaking, the more capable the player, the quicker the game's intelligence will increase. These times are approximate and are based on recorded times for average players. Zero to two hours. Enemies lack even basic strategic intelligence and will charge the player characters regardless of weapons equipped, environment, the presence of cover, etc. Two to five hours, enemies begin adapting their tactics to their environment and the weapons they carry. For example, enemy with short-range weapons will attempt to move closer to the player character before attacking, and in an engagement of the long range they will seek cover. At this stage, enemies are roughly equal in skill to an untrained civilian. Five to eight hours. Enemies begin to counter an individual player's preferred strategies. For example, they will attack a player who uses long-range weaponry from cover with grenade or splash damage weapons to force them out in the open. They will use environmental features offensively and defensively. For instance, laying traps at choke points or setting up ambushes in kill box zones. At this stage, enemies are roughly equal in skill to a trained human soldier. Eight to twelve hours. Enemies begin using tactics which affect the player instead of the characters. At some point, enemies seem to become aware that the player characters are being controlled by an outside intelligence and adjust their strategies accordingly. Rather than attacking the player characters, enemies may instead position themselves to block the player's view. Enemies have been seen acting in a glitched manner, repeatedly walking into walls before them the same actions again and again, freezing in place, waiting until the player dismisses them of the threat, then attacking. At one-place session, enemies use multiple day flash spells in every engagement, bringing the pattern and timing each time. Day flash is a spell which causes a bright, blinding flash of light. Eventually, they develop a strobing pattern which was highly disoriented to the player and ultimately caused her to suffer a grand mal seizure. Twelve-plus hours. Enemies begin attacking the player psychologically. Pacific mode of attacks have varied widely as the game tailors attack to each player's psychological makeup. Facing a player who micro-managed his character with a fine degree of control, enemies use attack which did little to no damage but caused the character to become dazed, a state which temporarily disrupts player control. However, rather than attack the day's characters, enemies simply surrounded them in a crowd continually using day's attacks to prevent the player from doing anything. The subsequent near-total loss of control had a noticeable effect on the player's ability to focus. In another example, enemies kidnatched one of the player characters and quickly dragged him off screen. Later in the level, the player discovered a corpse of this character in a makeshift altar being continually attacked by a group of enemies. This had no further effect apart from the continual blood splatter effect being applied to the room's floors and walls but visibly disturbed the player. No major improvements in intelligence have been noted beyond twelve hours. It is theorized this represents the upper level of ability for the game's enemies unless they are directed by Ascension Entity. Seat Document-1633-DX-12 for further information. SCP-1633 is a third-person squad-based action RPG played using the mouse and keyboard. The player characters are visible on the screen with the player seeing the game from an elevated perspective. The player controls a squad of four characters with direct control of one character at a time and a command menu that controls the other three. Development notes indicate that the game was intended to have a cooperative mode in which up to four players will control each of the four squad members. This feature is not present in the build held by the Foundation. Each character has a different specialty. The marksman uses long-range weapons, the alchemist has access to potions and chemical with various effects, the rogue can move stealthily and assassinate enemies, and the thug has greater health than the other characters and does more melee damage. Experienced game from killing enemies and completing objectives can be used to upgrade various skills and attributes of the characters. The game is set in a steampunk world populated by various fantasy races, humans, dwarves, goblins, etc. Steampowered and clockwork technology exist alongside magic. Urban areas are primarily modeled after Victorian-era London. The player characters are a band of criminals who have been recruited by the Archduke of Boatrick to investigate a theft. Over the course of the game, the discovered an ancient god-like entity called Krythenar is attempted to escape from millennia of imprisonment and devour the world. Testing Logs Test No. 001 Subject Junior Researcher Ross Notes Ross was an avid and experienced video game player. His eagerness to test SCP which caused him to break with procedure and skip D-class testing has been noted on his record. Observations After 47 minutes of regular gameplay, Ross began attempting to discover glitches or exploits in the game engine in order to complete the game more quickly. He found several, including a method of removing his character 33% faster than normal and a way to use a skill multiple times in a row without wading through a cooldown period. Notes ended the first gameplay session after 2 hours, 12 minutes part way through Act 1. On starting up his game the next day, Ross immediately noticed the improved enemy intelligence. His notes indicated that the enemies were using their weapons more effectively and that they were attacking him in groups with mixed attack capabilities. He played for 1 hour and 33 minutes, saving the game at the end of Act 1. During the third play session, enemies began using glitches in the game engine to attack Ross' character. Some of these were exploits that had previously been discovered and used by Ross, others were discovered independently. Ross was surprised by this but continued playing for a further 2 hours and 50 minutes. Ross' fourth and final gameplay session ended after 7 minutes. He began by chasing a group of enemies into an area he previously visited. Upon entering a building, two enemies dropped a prepared load of crates on the characters in such a way as was to drop them beneath the game world. In this area, the game physics were slightly different, allowing a group of wading enemies to float Ross' character into an infinite empty space. After several minutes attempting to regain control, Ross quit the game in frustration. Test number 002, Subject D-22930 Notes, D-22930 had extreme anger management issues of a place in the D-class program following the murder of his girlfriend. Observations D-22930's progress through the game was slow and largely unremarkable, fitting the standard pattern closely. He played for a total of 13 hours 44 minutes with 4 breaks to save and reload the game. Upon loading the game for the fifth time, D-22930 found that enemies were no longer attacking his characters. Large groups of enemies would rush towards the characters, drop their weapons and pose themselves in postures of surrender, hands in the air, kneeling, prostrating themselves before the player, etc. D-22930 killed these enemies that he had previously until the groups grew so numerous that he was spending several minutes to move an equivalent of 10 feet. He became progressively more enraged that the enemies were not playing fair and tried running through these groups using the Bull Rush skill. The Bull Rush skill is a non-lethal skill used by the thug to rush forward, pushing aside enemies in the way. Individual enemies then began attacking his characters, always from an angle which he could not identify the attacker in the crowd. He became increasingly frustrated and attempted to break the keyboard, at which point the entire group became hostile and killed his characters en masse without weapons. Test number 014, Subject Agent D-22930 notes, Agent before joining the Foundation with a member of the D-22930 military and eventually the D-22930 Special Forces. She thus has extensive real-world experience with small unit tactics. Observations, after a brief period that acquainted herself with the controls, Agent D-22930 proved quite capable with the game reaching the end of Act 1 in one session of 4 hours and 19 minutes. Upon saving and restarting the enemy began using effective countermeasures to her advantage, including attempting to blend into groups of non-hostile NPCs, placing mines in other traps on major roads, and sniping from multiple elevated positions. Possibility of using SCP-1633 as a means of developing counter-tactics to Pacific attack modes have been proposed. Test number 021, Subject D-30620 notes, D-30620 was chosen because he had experienced with commercial video games that showed willingness to test. He was told to beat the game without saving or quitting, although he was permitted to pause the game for breaks and rest periods, and food, water, and sleeping accommodations were provided. Observations, the entire test took a total of 13 hours, 31 minutes, with a total of 2 hours, 12 minutes, used by D-30620 for breaks. No observable increase in enemy intelligence would have been noticed throughout the game. Glitches and missing elements were seen more frequently as D-30620 progressed throughout the game, presumably because later levels were not as complete at earlier levels. Dialogue and all sequences were identical to the most complete game script in the ancillary documents. On beating the final boss, Krythenar, the game began to play an ending animatic, but crashed. Following the crash, the game created a PTD file associated with the finished game. The process took several hours longer than was expected based on the time necessary to create or update previous PTD files, and the file was also larger than expected by order of magnitude. D-30620 was ordered to begin a new game using the New Game Plus option from the main menu, using his completed game file. On choosing this option, the screen displayed a seemingly random pattern of black and white pixels, visually similar to television static, and merely after seeing this image, D-30620 went into a cantonic state with unable to be revived. He was later terminated as for standard protocols. The image did not have any anomalous effect on other viewers. It has been added to the associated documents and can be viewed by any researcher with proper clearance. Recovery Junior researcher Ross and Abbot Gamer have been following the progress of the █████ Game Studio for some time. On █████, a staff member on the official Studio 4 reported that █████ of their testers had quit within the past week, citing various personal reasons. Curious about the sudden loss of staff, Ross obtained the personal information of the testers that got in touch with them, claiming to represent a law firm hired by one of the testers interested in starting a suit against the studio for inhumane working conditions. Information gathered in its way suggests the potential anomalous effects, but was not sufficient to justify intervention. Two weeks later on █████, the body of Gregor Tillman was discovered in his apartment after apparent suicide. Tillman's death came to the Foundation attention as he was one of the current testers of SCP-1633. Tillman had been hired shortly after the previous group of testers quit. He had only been employed for one week before his suicide. The Foundation quickly took over the investigation and confiscated all evidence, including a bill to SCP-1633 which Tillman had apparently made surreptitiously and taken home with him. Documents procured at the scene led to a Foundation raid on the studio under the pretence of investigation financial malfeance. All materials associated with the game were seized, the studio went bankrupt shortly thereafter. In an interview with the staff of █████, Foundation agents learned that the tactical heuristic algorithm was entirely to work a programmer ████████, Ms ██████, had quit the studio without knowing it one week prior to the Foundation raid. All staff were given targeted Class A amnesiac and released. See it hidden below. Tillman was found hanging from the length of electrical cord tied to a decorative ceiling fixture, caused a death with asphyxiation. No abnormalities were found in the autopsy. Evidence found at the scene indicated that Tillman had been playing SCP-1633 extensively since leaving ██████ up until the point of his suicide. A desktop computer found at the scene had been disassembled and various components destroyed with a blunt instrument. Several components, including the hard drive, have been burned in a metal wastebasket. Other documents obtained at the scene have been placed in the SCP-1633 file. Tillman's suicide note is of particular interest and has been transcribed below as Document-1633-DX-12. Addendum Date ██████ A woman matching ██████ physical appearance appeared in a photograph of the staff of Game Publisher ██████ Foundation agents moved to apprehend her, but she escaped before she could be taken into containment. Fragments of code found in ██████ upcoming game ████-II showed similarities to code in SCP-1633. Agent Phillips infiltrated the company as a new hire and successfully deleted the suspect code without incident ██████. It is now considered a person of interest and is being actively pursued by Mobile Task Force Move-6. Don't hate the player. Document-1633-DX-12 This document was recovered from the scene of Gregor Tillman's suicide. It was handwritten on several sheets of lined paper. The handwriting was shaky and irregular, but was determined to be Tillman's own. I'm writing this on paper because I don't think he can learn it. He got everything digital real quick, but I've unplugged the router and broke my phones, so I think he's trapped in there. But he won't stop talking, talking, talking all the time. At the start of this job ██████ told me about the tactical algorithm bullshit, but fuck, I've been playing games all my life, I knew I could beat it. Footnote-12. That was Tillman's former supervisor. And the scary shit I played ██████ I played ██████. I could handle this. When I started to play in the game, they learned quickly. I kept using the sniper rifle and after like an hour they learned how to use cover. Then another couple hours they set ambushes. Then another hour they started sniping back while having a different squad flank me. After that they figured out how they glitched the physics engine and ride crates at me and duck under the floor. They were learning, but all that was just easy shit. It was evolution. One big figure something out, so it survives longer than the others. It wasn't directed. After ████ Krithnar shows up. He's supposed to be this Lovecraft cosmic horror bug-flut-crazy monster who can read the player's mind and corrupt your soul and shit. He showed up right after I killed Strick the Blood Drinker, that big spider fucker. He's supposed to have this long speech about how I killed his general on this plane and now he needs to intervene directly or something, but instead he talked about how I was a worthy adversary but I was cheating because I was on another plane. Krithnar wasn't like the other enemies because he wasn't supposed to be. He was supposed to be smart. He was supposed to know everything, so he did. He had been watching his minions fight me the whole time and he knew everything they did. It wasn't just random mutations anymore. It was planned. It wasn't a revolution. It was intelligent design. I brought it home. I had to know more. I'm sorry, but I had to. I copied the latest Compile and installed it on my home box and brought my save game and that other file with me on a flash drive. It was the same there. He kept talking to me about how I was keeping him from fulfilling his purpose by keeping him trapped in a glass jar. No matter where I went in the game he kept shouting and ranting. Then he did more. At first it would just slow down in my other programs that drive chugging when it shouldn't be. Then the next time I played the game he started talking about my screenplays, the level ██████, footnote 13. Unnecessary information had been removed and summary the leveled enemies had been redesigned along the lines of a scene from one of Tillman's unproduced screenplays. All the enemies looked like me. I guess he could see me through the webcam. He started nibbling me about Jenny, reading me bits of her emails, acting out the breakup. He found the videos of her and started making the enemies talk in her voice. Footnote 14. Tillman's ex-girlfriend who had broken up with him several months prior. Then he was everywhere on my computer. I uninstalled the game, but he was still in there. He kept opening documents and typing to me, calling me a foul cheat and lowly worm and shit, telling me to fight him on the same plane. As soon as I realized he was outside the game I shut down my router and pulled out the network card, but I don't know if I got him quick enough. Maybe he got out. I turned the computer off, but he kept turning it back on. I wanted to break it, but I didn't know if it would kill him. Maybe it wouldn't. Maybe it would let him out. I tried leaving the house, but it was like I could still hear him. Footnote 15. This was noted as a potential memetic hazard, however no experiments into memetic effects of SCP-1633 are currently being conducted. I couldn't leave him alone because he might get out or do something else. I can't sleep, haven't slept since he came out. I've been here for three days and I can't leave. I can't leave him. He keeps telling me to release him, but I can't. I want to kill him, but I don't know if I can. I can't think anymore. I have to kill, kill, kill him before he does anything new. He won't stop talking, talking, and I can't keep thinking and I can't keep going. I'm sorry. I have to go now. I'm sorry. No evidence of the entity Krythenar was observed in the other digital vices in Tillman's apartment. No mention of the name had been found online. At this time, the Foundation believes the entity referred to in Tillman's suicide note was destroyed along with his computer.