Special Agency Gobukseon

Special Agency Gobukseon (専門機関きっこうせん), often referred to as "Sekiki", is a 2015 team-based multiplayer online first person shooter video game developed and published by Hinoan studio Aloe Entertainment (アロエ). Sekiki is part of the "hero shooter" genre, with each player selecting from a large roster of characters, known as "agents", with unique abilities. Teams work to complete map-specific objectives within a limited period of time. Aloe has added 45 new characters, maps, and game modes post-release for free, though the game does include some microtransactions. It was released for, BoX, and GameStation in 2015, and began supporting cross-platform play in 2018.

Sekiki is Aloe's third major franchise, and is one of the largest franchises in the world. The game is undergoing constant development and maintenance, and is the third-most widely played game in Ordis.

Gameplay
Sekiki is an online team-based game generally played as a first-person shooter. The game features several different game modes, mainly designed around squad-based player-versus-environment cooperative combat with teams of up to seven players. Players can select one of 65 pre-made Agent characters from one of four class types; assault characters that deal strong damage to enemies, tank characters that can absorb large amounts of damage, support characters that provide healing or other buffs for their teammates, and scout characters that can identify enemies and move rapidly across the map. Each agent has a unique ultimate ability or gadget, and has access to different types of primary weapons based on their class.

The game features game modes for casual play, competitive ranked play, and for supporting esports competitions. These modes are generally centred around completing mission goals such as securing control of points on a map or escorting a payload between points on the map, with the team facing computer-controlled enemies and occasional "bosses". The artificial intelligence in the game is able to dynamically spawn different types and numbers of enemies depending on the team's performance, ensuring that each mission even on the same map is different. Characters and their abilities are not designed to fight each other, but this has not stopped modders from creating private servers where players are able to attack each other.

New characters and maps have been added regularly to the game since launch, expanding the original hero roster from 20 in 2015 to 65 by March 2022. There are four official game modes. The first three game modes are Special Operation, where teams work together to fulfill a set of tasks within a map while faced with various enemy forces, Rescue Operation, where teams have to locate and escort a computer-controlled VIP or physically move a special item to an extraction point, and Strike Operation, where the goal is to fight through waves of enemies and eventually defeat a "boss". Teams are able to use stealth tactics or carry out frontal assaults to achieve their objectives, with different agents specialising in different styles of combat. The final game mode is Invasion, released on 7 June 2021, a "wave survival" style game mode that pits teams against endless waves of computer-controlled enemies, with respawning disabled.

Plot
The backstory to Special Agency Gobukseon is described through animated shorts and other information distributed by Aloe in promoting the game, as well as various tie-in douga and manga.

In 2015, biomechanical silicon-based aliens emerged from a portal in the Varunan Ocean, launching a full-scale invasion that was eventually defeated by an international effort led by the Varunan Rim Coalition. In the aftermath of the conflict, known as the First Contact War, technology on Ordis progressed at an enhanced rate through the use of leftover alien technology, enabling leaps and bounds to be made in computing and other fields. The Varunan Rim Coalition worked hard to keep such alien technology out of the hands of terrorists and hostile states, though various black market and organised crime operations began trafficking in these alien materials. In addition, small pockets of aliens remained on Ordis, occasionally emerging from the seas and rampaging through populated areas.

To deal with these issues, the Varunan Rim Coalition formed the Special Agency Gobukseon, a paramilitary task force of scientists and volunteer special operations soldiers geared towards containing the remnant alien threat and preventing alien artifacts from falling into the wrong hands. Named after the Yeongseoni turtle ships of old, the Special Agency is based on the Gobukseon, a floating fortress headquarters located in the northern Varunan near the original site of the portal. The Special Agency's operatives are made up of people from all over the world with diverse backgrounds and skillsets, each equipped with the best equipment their country has to offer against the alien threat.

In 2021, Aloe released the Second Wave global event, which saw the opening of a second portal in the Neptic Ocean and a second invasion of Ordis by the aliens. The Special Agency Gobukseon was expanded to a global scope and faced a new role in combating the full-scale alien invasion, represented through the release of the new Invasion "wave survival" game mode.

Aliens
The Aliens, which remain unnamed to this day, arrived on Ordis in 2012, attacking humanity with no known intention other than total annihilation. Far more powerful than anything humans had, they were only beaten back by 2015 at great cost, when they suddenly retreated from Ordis. The Aliens had their origin in the nearest star system from the solar system, and new ones were arriving in the solar system every few weeks.

After the war, they occasionally sent single craft to Ordis, seemingly as scouts, though we beat them back every time, getting better at fighting them every year. The flock was still arriving in the Solar System, massing in Mars orbit, numbers growing to several thousand strong by 2025. In the April of that year, the largest Dreadnought-Class ever seen arrived in Mars orbit, the size of a small moon. This marked the end of the alien swarm, and no more arrived into Mars orbit afterwards.

Physics and biology as we know it do not apply to these beings, which fly through space and air with no problems, though gravity still applies to them. They were proven to be biomechanical in nature and silicon-based, but this information is only scratching the surface of an interstellar mystery. Every alien is black with fluorescent blue hexagons covering its body. Crimson hexagons also appear on their bodies in regular markings, and on most of the aliens these red hexagons act as laser arrays, firing powerful energy beams that bend in mid-air, seemingly impossibly.

The aliens' main weakness is a crystal-like object within their bodies known as the Core Crystal. No Core Crystals have been recovered successfully, and their exact nature is unknown. The destruction of the Core Crystal through any method immediately kills any Alien unit, halting their regeneration and effectively leading to a total shutdown immediately. These Cores are to be considered the main target for all forces. All Cores produce vast amounts of heat, and are easily located compared to the rest of the Aliens' bodies, which tend to be cool to room temperature to the touch.

Dreadnought Class
The vanguard force of the Aliens, these aerial behemoths are the largest and most powerful of all Alien forces. They are able to fly in space and air, apparently with no source of propulsion. The smallest Dreadnought-Class encountered, usually scout units, have wingspans of over 100 metres, and their standard beam lasers are able to destroy entire warships as well as target jet fighters with precision. Dreadnoughts are also the source of all Alien ground units, seemingly forming and dropping ground units from their own body material.

Appearing in various shapes and sized, the largest Dreadnought-Class so far is still a part of the swarm around Muxing and is the size of a small moon.

Heavily armoured and nigh-impervious to conventional weaponry, the Dreadnought-Class can only be effectively engaged with extremely heavy weapons like surface-to-air missiles, anti-ship missiles or even nuclear weaponry. All ground forces should attempt to steer clear of a Dreadnought-Class's destructive path. The Core Crystal, often the size of a small house, is typically located towards the forward section of the Dreadnought, protected by the sheer bulk of its singular solid mass. This is the only way to destroy a Dreadnought-Class, as it can regenerate from other damages quickly, and can still fly even if all aerodynamics have been removed.

Tank-Class
The premier frontline forces of the Aliens, the Tank-Class is heavily armed, protected and designed to mass destruction of ground forces. Three-storeys tall and supported by four sharp, angular legs, the Tank-Class is able to fire medium-powered lasers from the arrays on its back as well as Dreadnought-strength lasers from the cannon-like structure beneath its body, capable of destroying entire city blocks with single shots, though these shots appear to drain the units' energy.

Tank-Class units are often found on the frontlines providing heavy fire support for Soldier-Class swarms as well as assaulting fortified positions. These units are extremely dangerous and should only be engaged with heavy weapons such as tank guns or missiles. Infantry stand no chance, and are not normally able to approach due to their often substantial Soldier-Class escort.

Very durable, the Tank-Class's Core Crystal is located in its mid-section, requiring heavy firepower to punch through the solid body before the Core can be reached. Like its aerial cousin, the Tank-Class can regenerate damages quickly, so priority should be given to destroying the Core.

Kidnapper-Class
The mid-level and supporting ground forces of the aliens, the Kidnapper-Class alien is a quadruped, boxy crab-like unit that is about the size of a car. They are the only alien to have some kind of identifiable "head", from which a mass of tentacles which can seemingly stretch an infinite distance hang. A jagged, sharp "mouth" is the only feature on this head, which is otherwise black and marked with irregular non-firing red hexagons. The tentacles are the Kidnapper's main weapon, though it can fire mid-strength lasers from two arrays located on its upper back.

Kidnappers are support troops for the rest of the Aliens, acting in a macabre role that makes them a priority target for any frontline force. The Kidnappers use their clawed tentacles not only to kill but to seize individual humans, converting them into Zombies through a terrifying process. First, the human is seized by the tentacles. They are brought before the Kidnapper, which extends a proboscis-like appendage from the "mouth", using it to crush through the upper part of the victim's face and skull and apparently destroying the brain, replacing it with a control crystal. The victim is then left behind, and after some time will naturally convert into a full Zombie-Class, a process colloquially known as "kidnapping".

Beyond this, they have also been seen replacing Core Crystals in fallen Tank-Class aliens, restoring their life and regeneration, suggesting that they also act as some form of combat medic for the Aliens.

The Core Crystal is located just behind the "head", buried inside the body, so is protected from small arms fire. Heavy weapons like cannons, high-caibre guns and explosives are recommended when engaging these enemies.

Soldier-Class
The most numerous and second-weakest aliens, the Soldier-Class acts as a type of swarm infantry. Each Soldier-class stands about the same height as a human, upon three insectoid legs that are attached to a ball. From this ball, a C-shaped body arcs forwards like a hooded cobra, with two panels extending from the sides holding their laser arrays. The lasers fired by Soldier-Class units are weak and are unable to penetrate heavy armour, though are still able to kill non-adequately protected humans with direct hits. At close range, they extend a razor-sharp spear-like implement from their midsection in attempts to kill extremely-close attackers, though they are clumsy with this weapon and are thus most vulnerable up close. They can be destroyed easily with concentrated small-arms fire. They tend to travel in large herds, making up for their weakness with numbers.

The Core Crystal is located in the ball from which their insectoid legs emerge, at the base of each unit.

Zombie-Class
Humans that have been converted - Kidnapped - by the Kidnapper-Class convert into Zombie-Class aliens. They are no longer our comrades and our species, and should be destroyed on sight. Zombies have the front of their heads, including the eyes, completely destroyed. The resulting cavity houses the Zombie's Core Crystal, which replaces the now-destroyed brain. The black liquid of the Aliens fills the rest of this cavity, and often drips out. The skin is pale and necrotic, though the body slowly turns the same colour of black as the Aliens starting from the extremities of the limbs, spreading upwards over a long period of time. Non-firing red hexagons that give of light also grow on the surface of the skin at random areas on the body.

The Zombie-Class maintain great speed and agility, but are largely unintelligent and unarmed, preferring to mob our forces in mass numbers and literally tear people apart. While they are far more resilient than a normal human and apparently no longer need to metabolise or breathe, standard infantry weapons are effective in stopping them or destroying their ability to attack. The exposed Core Crystal in the broken cranium is also a major weakness, and it is advised to simply aim for that glowing target.