Contingency

Contingency (칸틴잰시; Kantingenshee) is a free-to-play Gyunghwan video game, developed by Ohsung Software using the United engine, and published by Mugen. The game was released on the Gyunghwan server for CyberOS, EZ, and PC on July 15th, 2018. The global server was released on June 13th, 2019 and features Yeongseonese and Yashiman voiceovers while the rest of the world's languages are available through subtitles.

The game is centered around a tactical third person combat where players control armed individuals known as "Operators" to battle various types of enemies. Outside of the main storyline, Operators have their own scenarios that players can explore to unlock Operator's full combat potential.

Contingency spawned numerous adaptations, including manhwa and an animated tv series.

Gameplay
Contingency follows a tactical turn-based gameplay with a top-down 3D perspective. The player leads a team of individuals known as operatives with a party size of one to six operatives, including the customized player operator, against various enemies and objectives dependent on the mission. Enemy placements are randomly generated and fog of war hides the enemies and their actions from player view until player operatives have a line of sight of them. Enemies do not typically react until friendly operatives come within their line of sight. Operators come in a diverse range of classes (Assault, Recon, Medic, Engineer, Demolition, Support, Commando) with varying sets of items and special abilities that would be useful based on certain terrains and enemies. A few examples of abilities include firing on enemies automatically after they appear on their line of sight, calling in air support, launching multi-target explosives, and healing allies.

Operators are obtained through the gacha mechanic. Resources, an in-game currency earned by both playing the game and through in-app purchases with real currency, is used to "recruit" new Operators and "Acquired Skills," which provides additional effects to Operators when equipped. Another in-game currency used is called the Buddy Points. Buddy Points are easily acquired in comparison to Credits but can only obtain low rarity Operators and Acquired Skills with the Buddy Points.

Season 1
In 2018, an increase in alien sightings all throughout the world and rumors of abductions and attacks by mysterious aliens become common. Fearing a preview to a greater extraterrestrial invasion, the nations of the world placed their military on high alert. Seeing benefits in coordinating special forces units in a near global setting, a security and research organization called the Global Contingency Bureau was formed as part of an agreement between representatives of each nations. The player assumes the role of a special forces operative with the callsign Ghost (name and gender are set by the players, however official game materials refer to Ghost as a Gyunghwan named Kim Yujin and is either a male or female depending on adaptations) who would lead GCB fireteams in coordination with local militaries against the aliens. The war for Ordis would take years and the human governments would use any means necessary to repel the alien invaders, including the deployment of tactical nukes and biochemical warfare. More alien species would be encountered in the war (some with special abilities such as psionics or fire conjuring), proving the hostile alien encounter is at least that of a multispecies empire. As the GCB would launch daring raids and win victories against the more technologically advanced aliens, the war would soon turn in favor of the human countries bolstered by reversed engineered alien technology. A plan was made to send newly developed aerospace fighter jets and bombers to strike at the alien fleets based in space while the GCB would infiltrate the mothership with a captured alien shuttle to destroy it from the inside with a nuclear bomb. With the plan successful and the alien fleet destroyed, mankind celebrates its victory.

Season 2: House Divided
After the alien invasion, humanity begins to rebuild their war-torn and irradiated world. After the moment of unification, old wounds and paranoia returned and the countries that once fought side by side now eyed each other with suspicions. In the midst of the uneasiness, alien holdouts still remain in isolated pockets, forcing the GCB to act as cleanup crew with little to no assistance from local militaries. The GCB would also have to fight against rogue military units and mercenaries trying to take alien technology for themselves. While undergoing operations against the alien holdouts, Ghost would find out that the aliens held a longer presence on Ordis than previously thought and the GCB would collect data on alien ships and artifacts to figure out the eventual missions of the aliens.

Season 3: Paradise Lost
It was revealed that during the final battle over space, the aliens sent out a distress call to a much larger fleet, soon paving the way for a second invasion. Despite utilizing captured and reverse engineered alien technologies, the human nations, already battered from years of warfare with the aliens, eventually surrendered after three months of resistance. Humanity is now occupied by the alien faction known as the Universal Union and other alien species previously subjugated by the Universal Union would also appear in Ordis, either as garrisoned soldiers or as laborers. The Ordic League and the nations of the world were replaced by the Combined Commanderies of Ordis, creating sectors over each continents lead by human puppet governments with alien advisors. Remaining human resistance fled underground or in natural terrains, including the remnants of the Global Contingency Bureau after the main headquarter in Watsonville was destroyed by the Universal Union. Human resistance cells, while many, were spread all over the world and the GCB would fight by themselves in most of their early resistance while moving from safehouses to safehouses. The remnants of the GCB would find allies in not only reconnected military units but also resistance cells of human and alien origin, determined to free themselves from the shackles of the Universal Union.

Development and Release
Contingency began development as early as March 2016, with an initial team of 142 people when Mugen Labs and Ohsung Software hired independent video game designer Yoon Ae-cha for a mobile game IP. Contingency was published by Mugen and was released on July 15th, 2018 globally on the CyberOS and on PC and nearly a month later on the EZ operating system. Girl group 10th Baam performed three songs for the game; Jeonnal (전날, Eve), Pyeobjipbyeong (편집병, Paranoia), and Yeopa (여파, Aftermath). The songs would eventually be used for each seasons of the game. Aside from its gameplay and own storyline, the game also features events for players to obtain new items and operatives, such as recruitment campaigns for limited operators and Acquired Skills, specific operator-based events, and real-world annual events.

A sequel to the main game was announced on January 1st, 2019 titled House Divided. It was released on February 11th of the same year. House Divided was was relatively short compared to the main game with only three volumes in comparison to the seven volumes of the main game or season 1. Creative director Yoon Ae-cha mentioned that House Divided was only a teaser to the upcoming third season, which was announced on January 1st, 2020. The third season was released a month later as Paradise Lost.

Reception
The game is available globally in Yeongseonese and Yamataian in regards to voice acting but subtitles for most languages can be enabled. The game has received a total of 31 million downloads as of 2021, making it one of the most popular mobile game on the market. Contingency grossed $1.3 billion in 2019 and crossed $4 billion by the end of 2021. It was the top grossing free-to-play mobile game in 2021.

Reviews for Contingency is overwhelmingly positive with praises made onto its story and gameplay. Criticisms, however, were levied towards its gacha system due to concerns of the game enabling gambling to teenagers.

Manhwa
Three manhwa adaptations were released expanding on the story and lore of Contingency. The first adaption, Before the End was written by Sum Ga-yi serving as the prologue of the main events of the game. Published by Intertoons in December 14th, 2018, the serial ended with 23 chapters released. The second adaptation series War Stories focused on missions of various operators before and during their recruitment into the Global Contingency Bureau. War Stories was written by Ee Saeyon and was released on March 19th, 2019 online in Intertoon, finishing after 173 chapters. The third adaptation series Holdouts adapts the second season of the game, expanding it to include POVs of various characters and organizations encountered in the second season. Written by Nam Chul-soo, it was released on September 26th, 2020 on Intertoons and is still serializing with 76 chapter released.

A parody comic series titled Global Contingency Blues written by Liyo and was released online in April 1st, 2019. Global Contingency Blues focuses on the misadventures of GCB employees and operators with meta commentary to the game designs. With 189 chapters, it is still serializing as of 2022.

Douga
On February 8th, 2022, Gyunghwan licensing company and distributer Countryroll announced a douga adaptation of Contingency in co-production with Chiseian animation studio Ifochair. Titled Contingency: Lost Kingdom, the douga would adapt the Zusean Missions, the fourth volume of the main game series. The adaptation is planning a release on October 17th of the same year on the Countryroll streaming site.