Wednesday, February 28, 2018

The Breakdown of 'The Turing Test' (Prologue & Chapter 1)

Below will be my summary of the entire game The Turing Test. It's basically just the game in written form! I'm not an expert and there will most likely be some things that I misunderstood or fail to mention. But this is my interpretation based upon playing the game and what I've been able to find in text documents and audio files. I'm going to be as thorough as I can, so hopefully there are those of you out there who like a long read. This will be broken up into several parts. There are major spoilers from here on out. 

Prologue



The year is 2250. We (Ava Turing) are awoken out of a cryogenic sleep on the Fortuna by the robot AI T.O.M. (which stands for Technical Operations Machine). Tom informs us that he has lost contact with the the rest of our team 450 hours ago (which would be about 18 days) and wants us to help find them. This is a direct order by the ISA (International Space Agency) who is able to give Tom orders remotely in order to assist the team. As Ava leaves her pod, we are able to see that there are also pods for our team members, although we can assume that they are not in use. The remaining members of our team are Sarah Brooks,  Mikhail Tokarev, Chris Maclean, Soichi Yui and an unknown. 





Ava's office can be visited and we can read email correspondence between Ava and a man named Dan. We can find that the 'unknown' last person on our crew is our Captain, Daniel Maclean.



There is also a locked office that belongs to the Captain. On your first play through, it's not likely that you'll be able to open this door. We need a code that we are not able to find until later. If this door is opened on the first play through, it will spoil a lot of the later parts of the story. I 'd recommend saving it for later. I will return to the subject of what's behind door later (most likely in my next blog where I will be asking some questions). 

Ava grabs a tool that will help us before she boards on a shuttle that will take us to Europa (the moon where the crew is located). Once Ava lands, we can see that it is cold and desolate. There's nothing on the surface of the moon so we quickly enter the base. 

Chapter 1


As we enter, Tom alerts us that something is wrong. The base is laid out differently than he remembers. Tom explains that he arrived on Europa in 2240 (10 years before Ava's awakening) and helped to build the base. It is hardly recognizable to Tom and he believes that the ground team purposely changed the room's modules. Tom's hypothesis is that these rooms were designed around the Turing Test, which is meant to test the difference between humans and computers. Tom explains that without Ava's help, he will not be able to go through the rooms in the base and asks for her help.  

As we go through the first few levels we discuss the current status of the crew. Tom admits that he cannot pinpoint the crew's exact location, but believes that they are located further in the base. Ava finds it suspicious that the crew wouldn't try to return to the Fortuna from Europa if there was a problem. Tom assures Ava that the crew must have their reasons for the lack of communication. 


At the end of Chapter 1, we can find the command center. There is a lot of knowledge to be had in this room. We can find information about the Fortuna and Europa. We can see that we are orbiting around the planet Jupiter. There is also information about a large mining drill that is on the planet. We discover that the base modules on Europa can be "reconstructed according to the mission's needs at any time." Although we still aren't clear on what changed about our crew's mission to warrant any alteration, we are able to see that changing things at the base is entirely possible. 

We are also able to see shipping manifests and a supply log. It's interesting to note that supplies were first ordered in 2243 and was scheduled to run all the way until 2272. It isn't specified what the supplies are, but it's possible that whatever supplies were being sent could have sustained the entire crew for up to 30 years. However, all further shipments of supplies have been canceled as of 2250, which of course, is the present time. The shipping manifests don't give us enough information to find out much more, but it looks as if a lot of shipments on the manifests have been canceled as well. There is also information that we can find that will show accurate numbers of all medication and food that the crew currently has in their storage. 





There are a few audio logs in this room that can be listened to in order to piece together what might have last happened to our crew. In one of them, the team describes that they have discovered something big. An organism they refer to as "organism 119". The team want to return to Earth with this specimen immediately. However, the ISA has ordered an immediate grounding of all transports. If the crew is not able to return to Earth, it wouldn't make any sense for all of their supplies to be cut off... would it? Something is definitely not right.

Next, we can see a large screen with information displayed about the entire crew. These screens can be examined to give us some background information about what role each member plays on the crew. It will also show us their current state, such as where they are located on Europa and their vital life signs. Currently, the only crew member with up to date information is Ava. We also learn (although it's been hinted at previously) that Ava is an engineer. This may explain why she was the only crew member who was in stasis. After checking all of the crew's equipment and making sure the operation would be safe, Ava would have no further role to play until/if she was needed again. The crew's main focus was to study organisms that could be found on Europa by drilling. Scientists such as Sochi and Sarah would be absolutely key in this operation. As a Doctor, Mikhail would also play an important role if the crew were to contract any sort of sickness. As Captain, Dan would need to oversee the entire operation and most likely had the task of reporting to the ISA. Finally, Chris is also listed as an engineer. It's possible that he would be able to perform any maintenance necessary while on Europa in Ava's absence.





Looking at the screens to gather evidence on where our crew might be is mostly a dead end. Sochi, Mikhail and Sarah have their last known location listed as the crew quarters. If we try to find out any information whatsoever about Captain Dan, the screen shows us nothing but static. Chris is shown as being on the exterior of the base. By looking at his vital signs and body temperature we can deduce that he is deceased. As we leave the control room and enter Chapter 2, Tom will confirm that Chris was killed in an "accident." Dan is missing, but Tom is optimistic that the rest of the crew will be found safely. Ava also asks Tom about the team's supplies. According to Tom, the group have found a way to grow their own food. Hypothetically, he says, it's possible for the entire crew to survive on Europa their entire lives. Perhaps the canceled shipments of supplies were not food and the crew could indeed be self sufficient. But it still leaves the question of what supplies were being cut off from the group, and for what reason?