Shattered Tomorrow (series)

Shattered Tomorrow (粉々明) is a series of action-adventure roleplaying video games developed and published by Okaze Studios. Created by Masanori Hisato, the series is set in the mid to late 21st century, with a futuristic, dystopian, setting. The first game, Shattered Tomorrow, was released in 2000 and was considered groundbreaking at the time for having an immersive and branching plot, highly-interactive roleplaying elements, and 3D graphics.

The series consists of the original Shattered Tomorrow and four more games, which have expanded on the original game's plot and further explored the setting. As of December 2020, over 56.9 million copies of games in the franchise have been sold worldwide, with individual installments critically and commercially acclaimed and receiving several awards.

The series is credited for pioneering and popularizing action roleplaying video games with complex branching plotlines. Starting from the second game, the games are also able to change based on choices made in previous games by detecting saved game data on the player's computer, enabling a seamless storyline experience. The franchise has also been adapted into other media, such as books, manga, and audio dramas.

Setting
The series is set in the mid-21st century, after the Mistake Era, which was a period between 2000 and 2035 during which Ordis suffered severe ecological damage, nuclear exchanges, and several global wars. Along with rising sea levels, massive migration from the devastated developing world into the developed countries have occurred as a result, causing major demographical and cultural shifts. Science and technology, particularly computer and robotics technology, has made vast improvements. The world is increasingly interconnected to a pervasive degree, enabling governments and corporations to continuously monitor citizens and gather personal data on individuals. As many global governments declined following the global wars, various megacorporations have attained immense power rivaling that of nation-states.

Yamatai is the main country focused on within the series, with all of the games set mainly in Yamatai, though other countries are sometimes visited as well. Yamatai has emerged from the nuclear Third Endwar and the conventional Third Escar-Varunan War as a global superpower due to their monopoly over nanomachines capable of rapidly cleaning radioactive fallout, which have immensely helped to restore the world following the Third Endwar. HECO has since collapsed, and Yamatai was invaded during the Third Escar-Varunan War by several of its neighbours, a recent background event that features heavily in many characters' backstories. In addition, Hinomoto has asserted its independence and formed the Restored Shogunate, which has become a major regional player and technological hub.

In the first game, Shattered Tomorrow, the player is a member of an elite Yamataian government counter-terrorism force, National Security Unit 9. They are sent into New Niihama, formerly Kanazawa, in order to uncover evidence of a plot by the Arakawa Corporation to launch a coup in the Empire. It becomes evident throughout the story that the new Yamataian government, now ruling from the Okayama Metropolis after Heian was lost to nuclear war and rising sea levels, has become increasingly totalitarian. Depending on the player's choices, they are able to either crush Arakawa's attempt to launch a coup or attempt to assist Arakawa to carry out the coup against the regime, though the player character faces an insurmountable number of enemies at the end and their fate is left ambiguous.

Subsequently, in the second game the player is able to choose a faction to start the game in at the end of the tutorial mission, though personal choices may allow them to leave or betray the faction partway through the game. The options are the Yamataian government, the Arakawa Corporation, the Screaming Mantis Gokudo, and to be a freelancer, with balanced benefits and drawbacks to all options.

Series creator Masanori Hisato has stated that one inspiration for the series was the pot-apocalyptic dōga series After Impact.

Gameplay
A unifying element across the series is the combination of gameplay styles from several different genres, including action role-playing, third-person shooter and optional stealth. Role-playing elements are mostly linked to customising the player character in a specific way, from the gender of the character to the attributes and skills that the character has. Player choice is a key feature of the series, with the actions of the player character affecting both the world around them and the way non-player characters (NPCs) react to the character.

Shattered Tomorrow
Shattered Tomorrow was released in 2000. Set in 2055, the game follows the unnamed protagonist, codenamed Masamune, an agent of the Imperial Security Agency's Section 9, who is given superhuman abilities by cybernetics and nanotechnology. The game allows the player to choose the gender of the protagonist.

The protagonist is an agent in the ISA's Section 9, which is a special forces unit whose members are augmented with cybernetics and nanotechnology, giving them superhuman abilities and enabling them to be "one man armies". After completing a tutorial mission capturing terrorists in Okayama, the new capital of Yamatai, agent Masamune is sent to New Niihama. There, Masamune performs several missions for Ogiso Koichi, the head of the local ISA Office, acting against the International Freedom Union terrorist group. Through these missions, Masamune learns that the IFU's attacks are in truth being masterminded by a larger conspiracy, and begins an independent investigation.

After being warned to cease their investigation by Ogiso, it later emerges that Ogiso is in on the conspiracy as well, and Masamune is declared a rogue agent by Ogiso, attacked by the ISA, and left for dead. However, the player is saved by the Yellow Frog, an extremely secretive activist group opposed to the increasingly militarised and fascist Yamataian government. The Yellow Frog leadership is fragmented, with all meetings taking place via the internet, and the main liaison that Masamune deals with is Kudo Kyoko, a doctor in the free clinic in the Old Niihama slums. Kudo and most of the Yellow Frog initially do not trust Masamune, but need them to investigate the conspiracy further. After several missions assisting the poor inhabitants of the Old Niihama slums in fighting off gang raids and other dangers, Masamune gains Kudo's trust.

Further investigation of the conspiracy reveals that the IFU and gang attacks have been orchestrated by the Arakawa Corporation, the largest company in the world, in conjunction with several high-ranking government officials with the goal of pushing through government legislation

Shattered Tomorrow 2
There is more freedom, and the player is a hired gun. The tutorial mission is set in Gyunghwa, where the player has to assassinate a HVT at the top of the Lotus Towers. They kill the HVT and recover something from the body as part of character creation; there are 4 routes at this point - if they recover the target's Cube, they are working for the Imperial Government. If they recover the target's netpad, they are working for Arakawa. If they recover the target's credit chip, they are working for the Screaming Mantis Gokudo. It is also possible to not take anything and walk away; they are thus a freelancer. The routes do not matter much beyond the first few missions and contracts the player can take.

The player is sent to New Niihama to kill the next target by their chosen faction, or otherwise on a quest for revenge if they are a freelancer. This target is a high-ranking official of either the government, Arakawa, or the Chowado, or all three if the player is on a quest for revenge. Playing through all four paths reveal that the four antagonists are working together on a scheme to create a cyber virus WMD that can kill people through their implants, making them the supreme powers in Yamatai and the world, though the full story is only attained if the player plays through all for paths.

In the book Static Screen, it is retconned that all four paths are canon, and were undertaken by four different people. The Redler Executable WMD continues to exist, and becomes a minor plot point in subsequent games.

Shattered Tomorrow: Second Round
For the first time, there are two highly-developed cities available (four actually, but the other two are just small locations), Okayama and Neo Niihama. The player is again a freelancer after the popularity of the freelancer route from the previous game, and can freely take contracts from anyone and grow their relationship with the various factions, or work solo. It was at one time one of the largest open world games in existence.

The player can also visit Mikawa (heart of the New Shogunate) and New Wanshu (heart of the Floating Coast) for side missions, but they are limited to small areas.

The Empire and the New Shogunate are on the cusp of war after a conspiracy suspected to be orchestrated by a corp. The main character is initially motivated by the murder of their sibling who was killed in a bombing in Neo Niihama and gets wrapped up in the conspiracy. Towards the end of the game, the war actually breaks out - to what degree is up to Player choices throughout the game. (ranging from four endings, from a war barely avoided, to only a naval confrontation, to a conventional fight, to a nuclear exchange)

Shattered Tomorrow: Forgotten Soldier
The obligatory prequel game which is set 20 years before Shattered Tomorrow, right after the end of the Third Escar-Varunan War, and follows an unemployed crippled veteran who relies on robotic prosthetics to walk.

Shattered Tomorrow: 2057
The latest instalment of the Shattered Tomorrow games, 2057 was released in late 2020 and can change based on player choices from Second Round, particularly the degree to which the war between Yamatai and Hinomoto was. The player is a freelancer hitman who arrives at New Niihama looking for work, which is quadruple the size of previous installations and is the largest open-world urban map so far. The player can also drive out of New Niihama for the first time and visit Hōshima. Okayama, Mikawa, New Wanshu, Yuzu, and Yeongseon are also visited in some missions, but only small sections.

After the Hinomoto-Yamatai War, the government has stepped in to nationalise the megacorporations by force. The player gets to experience the urban decay of New Niihama and the damage to the city from the war (or lack thereof). Meanwhile, an overpopulation crisis due to refugees from the mainland conveniently happens to be ongoing in New Niihama, resulting in clashes between the authorities, corporates, and pro-refugee terrorists. The player carries out jobs for various factions while trying to make a name for themselves in the city, culminating in all-out war between the Imperial Army, Arakawa Securities, Refugee Liberation Front terrorists, and various gangs in the streets of New Niihama. Branching endings and a "territorial control" mechanic allow the player to decide which faction seizes New Niihama in the end, or if the city remains a powder keg of different factions vying for control.