Polybius II
NOTICE
This is a fan-made continuation of the urban legend Polybius, a game that is said to have ties with government agencies, as it is known for its hypnotization, similar to MKUltra. The screenshots of the game were made in Paint and the screenshot of gameplay was pulled from a game on GameJolt, downloadable here: https://gamejolt.com/games/polybius/297401
Now, onto the story!
Chapter 1: The Rebirth of the Legend
Hello, my name is Bob. I need to tell you about a story of a game you all seem to overlook, and at one point, so did I. It's become one of the most obscure arcade games in existence, and hopefully it stays like that. The game is a sequel to a game I am sure most of you reading this are familiar with. It's been turned into nothing but a myth. A urban legend. A hoax.
The year? 1987. I was only 23, and I was living in the uppermost part of the city of Portland. I was a huge movie buff, and all in all, I was a VHS collector, sometimes a gamer as well. This is also the year the legendary game known as Contra would make its debut in arcades. Speaking of arcades, its also the year a familiar friend returned for another brief and short period of time.
The game in question is Polybius II, a full blown sequel to the game Polybius released by the company known as Sinneslöschen, as I am sure you all know. The game appeared without notice in those early months of 1987, specifically the months of February to April, in a now defunct arcade. The game has a Vector-ish 3D environment, and you have to collect squares and avoid all of the bombs. Of course, there is your usual amount of subliminal messaging all throughout the game. However, the game has said to cause a numerous amount of side effects to the people who play it, and some have even been reported to come out as mindless zombies after playing this.
The game was pulled from this arcade in April after tens of thousands of people were reported to have strange side effects after playing the game. Polybius II is now just a rumor within a rumor. The game has been long since forgotten and I have not heard a single thing about the game for years. That is, until, something appeared on Google's search results. It was a link to a download of the game, but the website just had the logo from the game, and then a download button beneath it. It seems I was about to go down a rabbit hole, but when I clicked the button, a file called Polybius2.exe was saved to my Downloads folder on Google Chrome. I was skeptical of its nature, but I ran it anyway, hopefully expecting the game.
Chapter 2: A Lost Experience
The MAME emulator kicked into gear and booted up into the game's title screen. The title flashed rapidly from various colors, just like the original, but there were strange noises that accompanied me while the logo was rapidly flashing. Strange sounds, from glitching to straight-up buzzing, then it finally cut to the normal sounds from its predecessor, but not before rapidly flashing numerous subliminal messages in my face. The logo was a lot more edgy than its predecessor, and that was okay, since arcade logos began to look more and more complex, for example, the logo in Contra. This was it. This was the first time I have ever heard, or played this game in years. So, I inserted a coin, and began to play the game.
The game sprung to life and I was brought into a 3D square. I had a feeling of uneasiness as soon as the game started, like a feeling of deja vu. Polybius II was very easy to understand, but for some reason, I was rubbish. The game was way too fast for me to comprehend and the squares would always fly past me and I wouldn't be able to get a single one, yet I would hit almost all of the bombs. Not to mention the fact that the game's subliminal messaging was really messing with my head as I was trying to play. Nonetheless, I failed spectacularly. I only got about 3000 points in this game.
When I tried to play again, the game acted really strange. For a brief moment, the title screen was red. "What did I do," I thought to myself? Well, my question was immediately answered when the game started to flash rapid colors and show me a ton subluminal messages, but the specifically important ones are: "WE SEE YOUR MIND, "WE ARE THE GOVERNMENT", and weirdly enough, "MKULTRA IS MORE THAN YOU THINK". My eyes could not keep up with what was going on and I got a big seizure, before the game finally revealed something shocking with this subliminal message: "WE ARE A PRODUCT OF THE FBI". I couldn't believe my eyes. Sinneslöschen, the company responsible for this game and its predecessor, was actually owned and controlled by the FBI themselves. No, it wasn't like Sinneslöschen partnered with the FBI, no. It was in fact that Sinneslöschen WAS the FBI. They were responsible for everything. That was why those weird men in black people were at the arcade all of the time. They were wondering how their game was doing, and if anything, it was working.
I stared at the screen, clueless and shocked. The FBI not only made the game, but the entire studio? What the heck is even happening? The game started to act more and more cursed by the minute, until something strange happened. The game said this: "YOU ARE NEXT, BOB". My skin went cold. The game said my name. I just froze, completely silent. The game continued to flash rapid colors afterwards, until I was greeted with this: "The End - Sinneslöschen, An FBI Company". The game, afterwards, closed. I was still frozen in fear. I nervously clicked on the game again, and the game booted back up.
This is where it gets real.
Chapter 3: Hellish Reality
The game booted back up, but everything was red, and instead of the Sinneslöschen logo, the FBI logo was in its place. The game's sound effects sounded even more creepy than they originally were. I could not believe what I was seeing. So, I started playing the game, but before it started, the game said this: "LOADING AUTO CONTROLS". Auto controls? What did that mean? "WE'RE COMING FOR YOU, BOB". The game then began, and it looked downright creepy.
The game was playing itself, and the game was way more fast than it usually was. It looked like someone just activated Godspeed. The game showed even more subliminal messages than ever before, and a few said my name. The game's AI was, strangely, really good at the game. I don't know how, but I think the FBI trained this AI to play the game, because how could an AI train itself without someone to train it? Either way, I was terrified that this AI was so good at the game, because it seemed like it was going to be endless. It hit barely almost anything and got almost every single square.
The game eventually froze after 10 minutes of continuous gameplay from this strange AI. The game showed rapid colors, and showed random coordinates. Without thinking, I typed them into Google Maps, and I was horrified. The pinpointed location, was my house. The place where I live and breathe. I turned back to the screen only to find the game say: "FBI ALERTED - MISSILE LAUNCHED". The game, afterwards, showed me even more subliminal messages before the game exited with a fatal error.
"Fatal Error: Polybius2.exe cannot continue to run due to a loss of perceptional reality. Game data and core game files are likely to be lost. Please check if your reality is still real, then try running the game again."
Chapter 4: Reality Is Sadly Real
I can't believe it. The game is now unplayable, and I was just about to upload it to my Google Drive for preservation. Not only that, but I could not think. I was completely mindless in my behavior. It could only mean one thing. I had turned into a mindless zombie, just like the other people who played Polybius II. I somehow, with a strobe of luck, managed to type in "polybius ii zombie" into Google's search bar, and search for any leads. When I looked back on the screenshot I somehow managed to save, I was horrified. There was a URL to a website of an old news article from CNN on a old newspaper. It no longer exists on the web. Somehow, someone managed to archive it, and it read as follows.
"CNN - POLYBIUS II REPORTED TO TURN PEOPLE INTO ZOMBIES BEFORE MISSILE STRIKES THEIR HOME - March 16th, 1987
(PORTLAND, OR) - The recent release of POLYBIUS II around 1 month ago by company Sinneslöschen has been reported to be turning people into mindless zombies. The game is said to inject the player with a numerous amount of subliminal messages, and the player will eventually become mindless and be unable to think.
Once the player is in said state, the game begins a missile launch to the player's home, killing anyone inside of it. Sinneslöschen had released a statement a few hours ago addressing this matter. They said the following: "The game is intended to be immersive. We have decided on this effort to make Polybius II more immersive than its predecessor. We have worked very hard to make it as immersive as possible, and a missile strike is felt to be necessary to improve the player's experience while playing the game," as Sinneslöschen's CEO said. "Since the FBI owns our operations, we feel it is definitely deemed necessary to immerse people in ways they could never be immersed before."
The police are currently investigating this matter and it is very likely that this game could be removed from the arcade over the coming months, most likely in April, which is next month. The game is now seen as a threat to safety and the FBI has not given any comments on their Sinneslöschen game company doing this. The only thing the FBI said is that they will be continuously monitoring Sinneslöschen's activities over the coming weeks to ensure maximum security and safety of the civilians of Portland."
I could not believe what I was reading. Sinneslöschen was working illegally to modify their game in such a way that it would result in a thing like this to happen. The FBI is not responsible for this, it's their game company Sinneslöschen who are responsible. "Is the FBI on our side, or what," I thought to myself? I didn't have a clear answer. All I knew is the fact that I was potentially going to die. I didn't want to die, because I had a beautiful wife, as well as three kids, and I also put them all in danger as well. "I am a fool!," I thought to myself. "I put my entire family in danger! I have become a monster! Thank you, Sinneslöschen!".
A few minutes later, a FBI van pulled up to my house, and grabbed me and my family, and drove me away from the house. I watched as the house was attacked by the missile and destroyed. The person driving did not say where we were going, or what for. All that I knew what that I was now safe, and no longer had to worry. Before long, we finally arrived, and everything went back to normal, except me and my family.
Chapter 5: Aftermath
We went inside, and we were greeted by a number of FBI executives. We were questioned a lot by them and they asked for stuff like our personal hobbies, or likes and dislikes, general things we do, and a lot of other stuff. They said that we were safe and no longer had to worry about anything that was going to go down. We were all in good hands, and safe from any further danger to our lives.
Without thinking, I asked one of them: "What exactly is Polybius II?" He sighed, and said this.
"Sinneslöschen made Polybius II with the intention to put people in danger. Yes, we do own them, but they did some really shady and illegal stuff. Polybius II is specifically, by design, supposed to crash before turning you into a zombie. They did all of this. It was in no way our fault. That CEO had a messed up mindset. And even if you emulate the game, you aren't safe. That's why we came. We needed to get you away from that game. It caused so much pain, suffering, and harm. We're in luck to find that you aren't dead. Thank us later."
And just like that, it was all over. Sinneslöschen is no more, and the FBI ended them. They ended the curse, and they ended the nightmare. We are now truly safe.
Credited to Ihave2muchfun
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