The Collar

The Collar is an online multiplayer, physics-based first-person game in which strangers take part in a deadly experiment. Each player wears an identical collar with a timer set to a random amount of time. Once the trial begins, the timers count down to zero; green indicates the most time remaining, red the least, and yellow an amount in between. If your timer reaches zero, you die. If you die before it does, the person closest to you receives your remaining time. Giving up also means death, and only one person will survive.

Fight to survive

You play as an ordinary human, without magic or special powers. You can choose to fight, move stealthily or devise another strategy. The game uses physics and presents combat and physical challenges as difficult as they would be for a regular person.

Movement abilities

You can crouch, walk, run, climb, slide, swim and dive.

Weapons

Trials contain objects you can pick up and use as weapons. Secondary weapons vary by trial; they are less powerful than stronger weapons but can keep you farther from your target, and some do not last forever. Stronger weapons are harder to find, but make you extremely dangerous when you do. The available weapons include:

• The Branch: a branch used to whip anyone who comes near.
• The Dowel: a rounded wooden rod for striking opponents.
• The Energy Drink: a can from a drink machine with explosive power.
• The Rock: a hard piece of broken earth used to smash opponents.
• The Axe: a sharpened steel blade attached to a wooden handle.
• The Baseball Bat: a hard piece of spun wood that can crack even a strong opponent's head.
• The Crowbar: a small, curved piece of hardened steel that can break a bone or a back in one swing.

Use the environment

Trial environments may contain objects you can use to hurt anyone, including yourself. Some work only once, while others can be used repeatedly, so you need to plan how to use them. These hazards and tools include bear traps, fire extinguishers, gas tanks, radioactive oxygen tanks, generators and electrified metal.

The environment can also cause problems or death: cold climates can bring on hypothermia, while hot climates can cause heatstroke. Escaping the experiment is not an option; the collar knows.