Consortium: The Tower

Consortium: The Tower is a first-person role-playing game set in 2042, where you control Consortium agent Bishop Six on a mission to rescue hostages. The story presents you as yourself in control of another person, and remembers your decisions, which can change its outcome. You can follow the Consortium’s orders, oppose them, join the other side or play both sides while deciding which accounts of the conflict to believe.

The Churchill Tower

On December 21st, 2042, terrorists seize the Churchill Tower Power Facility in London and take its civilian employees hostage. The Consortium, a global paramilitary police agency, sends Bishop Six to subdue the terrorists and rescue the hostages. Industrial nanites that helped build vast sections of the 1.5-kilometre-high tower have gone haywire, halting construction and leaving unfinished, reshaped areas that complicate the route to the hostages.

Billions of people follow the mission through their VR-decks. News reports change in response to your actions, while a public opinion meter tracks how they see you. The wider Consortium universe spans more than ten years of development and worldbuilding, with optional lore to explore through hundreds of pages in the in-game Information Console. Semi-realtime events can trigger based on playtime, and events outside the tower periodically add to an interconnected story.

Choices and conversations

You can talk your way through most of the story without raising your weapon. Every NPC, including the opposing forces, has a narrative role; squad leaders have backstories, motivations and possible paths to alliance. Many squad members will speak with you and may share useful information, though some refuse. You can build friendships and alliances with factions, manage messages and conversation requests through the Conversation Manager, and decide who to trust among people with differing perspectives.

Most narrative moments can happen in any order, and the game adapts later encounters to what you have already done. Dialogue choices can cause major changes, so characters’ biases and what you choose to say—or leave unsaid—matter. The game includes over 2,500 lines of voiced interactive dialogue, including Mark Meer as The Voice.

You can play the story on its own or import a universe from CONSORTIUM. An imported game adds dialogue and situations based on your choices in the first game; new players also encounter distinct dialogue and situations based on not having played it. Playing CONSORTIUM is not required to understand the story.

Survival and equipment

The tower’s hazards include extreme temperatures, security turrets, potentially hostile soldiers, great heights and deadly air vents. You manage gear and ammunition using a drag-and-drop RPG inventory, and can negotiate with combatant squad leaders for better equipment or defeat them and take their gear. Technology uses Utility Energy, which you can replenish by recycling loose objects found in the world, including garbage and litter.

Unlocking the Engineering System lets you upgrade your gear to suit your play style. More than 50 upgrades are available. You can also switch between the Freefall Suit and Battle Utility Suit, each with its own pros and cons. Incoming fire damages your equipment, so repair nanites help keep it working.

Combat and stealth

AI-controlled mercenaries and soldiers can flank you, take cover and surrender when they are clearly losing. They may also fall unconscious, but will eventually wake and return to the fight unless you inject them with incapacitating nanites. Security turrets provide another threat. You have six weapons with ten fire modes, and can use lethal or non-lethal approaches; avoiding expulsion from the Consortium requires seeking non-lethal solutions when possible.

Your defenses include shields and armor. If they fail, you can bleed out or suffer serious organ damage, making medical nanites necessary to stay alive. To avoid fights, manage how much the AI sees and hears you: you can upgrade your gear’s acoustics, use the Taser to silently take down combatants from behind, or activate a Stealth Shield node to become invisible to enemies and turrets. The shield does not silence you, though engineering upgrades can reduce the noise you make. Tactical View reveals potential combatants and recyclable objects through solid surfaces, and you can listen to nearby combatants’ conversations for information.

Explore the tower

The Churchill Tower’s interconnected sections can be explored in a non-linear order. The described early portion includes the roof, with six ways into the interior; a park enclosed by construction nanites and transparent titanium; vent mazes and elevator shafts; multiple hotel floors; water-filled pipes; industrial areas; and the open hotel lobby.

There are no movement restrictions or invisible walls. With enough Utility Energy, the Freefall Suit lets you fly wherever you can see. First-person parkour lets you super-jump and grab ledges to reach hidden areas and alternative routes, while a 3D automap helps you track your position.