Lifeline is a series of games developed by 3 Minute Games. They are a series of interactive text adventures with varied themes, including but not limited to: Sci-fi Survival, Fantasy Adventure, Mystery Adventure and Detective Adventure. The series currently has 8 games, the most recent being Lifeline: Whiteout 2.
Gameplay
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The first moments of the first Lifeline game.
The games usually puts the player into a supportive character role to help the main character with making decisions. While the player usually controls the flow of the story, main characters will sometimes refuse to listen to the player's advice and go off on their own. The player will be communicating with the characters with some sort of communicator, with Alex Esposito and Arika Lanphear using alternative kinds of communicators (Alex uses a phone and Arika uses telepathic communication).
Usually, in the games the main character is in trouble and he/she needs your help to get out of it. While most games have one "True" ending, a lot of choices will lead to the main character dying. After you find one of the endings, the game will unlock the Rewind and Fast Mode options. Rewind allows the player to rewind to a player-made choice, rewinding the whole game up to that point. Fast Mode allows the player to skip the waiting times between messages.
The game features a real-time waiting system between messages. The main character will write messages and complete activities at a human pace (walking, driving, sleeping, etc.). The main character will close communications until something happens during the task or until they finish the task. The waiting time on tasks can be from under a minute to over 8 hours.
Games
The Lifeline series currently has 8 games:
- Lifeline - First entry into the series. The player assists Taylor with survival on a barren moon.
- Lifeline 2: Bloodline - Second game in the series. The player assists Arika Lanphear with avenging her family's death.
- Lifeline: Silent Night - Direct sequel to the first game. The player joins back with Taylor to help stop the Greens from infecting the Earth.
- Lifeline: Whiteout - Fourth entry in the series. The player helps V. Adams to uncover his past in a cold snowy wasteland.
- Lifeline: Crisis Line - Fifth entry in the series. The player is a HelpText volunteer who gets connected to Alex Esposito, a police detective in Austin, Texas, who is involved in a strange case related to the Greens.
- Lifeline: Flatline - The sixth entry of the series. It stars a woman named Wynn who is trapped in a mysterious facility with no clue of how she got there.
- Lifeline: Halfway to Infinity - Direct sequel to Lifeline: Silent Night, with Taylor trapped in the orbit of a strange black hole.
- Lifeline: Whiteout 2 - Sequel to Lifeline: Whiteout. The player helps V. Adams to run away from ALT.