Part 1

Riverport University Experiment

Arriving at Riverport University in the middle of the night, Jack Joyce proceeds to meet his best friend, Paul Serene. He’s been away for six long years, and many things have changed—for one thing, Monarch Solutions has become a big deal in town, and in fact there’s an anti-Monarch protest winding down. For another, when Jack left, Paul wasn’t running an incredibly ambitious physics research project.

But now that Jack’s estranged brother, William Joyce, an exceptionally brilliant but unstable physicist, has discovered the true purpose of the project and started to make noise about how it could be unsafe, the entire enterprise might be shut down before Paul can prove the world what he’s accomplished—his project has built an actual Time Machine. Needing somebody to bear witness, and willing to break some rules in the process, Paul has arranged for Jack to return home, and help him run an unauthorized time travel experiment.

But William was right all along. The experiment goes all wrong, causing the Fracture—the process of time itself breaking down—to begin, and Jack finds himself changed by a pulse of strange energy from the machine. But when Monarch troops suddenly flood the lab, he has no choice but to escape with his brother even as Paul escapes into the Time Machine, and to an unknown future.

After being away for over six years, Jack Joyce arrives back home at Riverport, Massachusetts, to meet his best friend Paul Serene. In the middle of the night, around 4:00 AM on October 9, 2016, Jack arrives at Riverport University where Paul wants to show him what he had been working on over the past few years. Jack’s brother, Will, a scientist, is also involved.

On his ride to the university, his cab almost hits a female pedestrian holding a protest sign that reads, “Community Not Corporations.” After a short argument between the cab driver (Nick Marsters) and the protester, Jack finally arrives at the entrance of Riverport University and pays for the cab ride.

As he exits the cab, Jack enters a warmly lit courtyard, populated by autumn foliage, fallen leaves, and carelessly discarded posters across the rain-soaked grounds. Directly ahead is a stone archway leading to the university campus.

If Jack turns by 180 degrees, he sees a man in an elegant business suit with his arms crossed standing directly under a streetlight. As Jack approaches, the man starts to talk to him.

Jack turns back around and faces the archway entrance, then walks toward the map of the university on the left, near the drunken protester.

Before entering the archway entrance, Jack walks over to a drunken protester in a red hoodie. The man clearly had way too much to drink and mumbles something as Jack approaches.

As Jack walks through the archway, he receives a call from his friend, Paul Serene, who tells him to go to the Physics Building on the right of the courtyard, where he will meet him.

There’s a folding table under a “Join the Protest” sign on the left side of the archway. The table holds a camping light, along with an assortment of protest fliers. Jack walks over to inspect the fliers and picks one of them up.

When Jack turns around, he sees an unlit breezeway directly behind the camping table. At the far end of that breezeway is a wall with fascinating graffiti that can be inspected.

Jack enters the courtyard and notices a statue ahead and a clock tower on the left that shows that it’s exactly 4 AM. There’s a couple is sitting on a wooden bench to the right.

As he continues to walk into the courtyard, Jack sees a light illuminating another flier on the left side of the clock.

By walking further left, Jack encounters another set of fliers. These promote a guest seminar for the recently appointed head of Monarch Solutions’ Physics Research Division, Dr. Sophia Amaral.

Jack turns and heads back toward the central area of the courtyard, where a statue towers over the center of an elevated area. There’s a radio on a camping chair beneath it.

Jack follows the sign to the left of the statue and encounters Amy Ferrero—a smart, young, and energetic woman who is protesting Monarch Solution’s attempts to tear down the old university library.

When Amy finishes her initial flaming speech, Jack continues to talk to her. Amy then realizes that Jack is not the enemy and changes her tune.

Near Amy’s protest stand, Jack sees a large cardboard wall with a handwritten timeline. It’s named “Monarch Problems” and lists buildings in Riverport that were sold to Monarch between 1999 to 2016.

There’s a make-shift tent to the right of the timeline. The inside is covered with a variety of protest signs. Jack enters the tent, looks around, and turns on the television.

Jack continues toward the large Physics Building to meet his friend, Paul. On the way, he passes what appears to be another innocent bystander (Liam Burke).

Before entering the building, Jack sees two signs on the left side of the building that he can inspect.

Finally, Jack reaches the main entrance to the Meyer Physics Research Center. It houses the Reception Area, Lounge area, and Project Promenade R&D facility.

Paul and Jack have not seen each other in six years and the two friends have a heartfelt welcome.

When the cutscene finishes, Jack walks behind the reception desk and reads an email about Jack’s brother, William, that is visible on one of the PCs.

Paul asks Jack to follow him upstairs to the project lab. There’s a glass case with a poster on the right side of the entrance hall.

Jack follows Paul to the elevator. On the far side of the hall, near a wall covered with ferns, is a miniature model of the Meyer Physics Research Center behind glass.

Finally, Jack enters the elevator, followed by Paul, who is taking him to the second floor of the Meyer Physics Research Center. As they exit the elevator, a projector is running nearby. It’s showing a presentation called, “Manipulating Time.”

Jack eventually follows Paul to an access-restricted glass door. Paul opens it with his keycard, and the two men head toward a heavy blue security door. Paul opens that door and welcomes Jack to “Project Promenade.”

The lights turn on and reveal an enormous chamber, in the middle a large fascinating object, obviously high-tech, but its specific function not immediately obvious. Paul talks about “the greatest discovery of our time.” Jack acknowledges that it’s impressive—but he isn’t a scientist like his brother Will—and asks why he is needed. Paul states that he needs someone he can trust—and someone who can convince Will.

They descend the stairs, then walk up a ramp into what looks like a control room. There’s a picture of Paul and Jack next to a Ram statue, as well as an open laptop that displays an email.

Paul explains a bit more about what’s going on before he opens a second glass door and walks down the ramp on the other side. Jack follows him. There’s a tablet on one of the desks at the bottom of the ramp.

Paul keeps walking toward the back of the laboratory. As Jack follows him, he sees a chalkboard with schematics on it. They describe the construction plan for a corridor through time.

Jack follows Paul into the last room of the control office complex. Here, Paul asks him follow his instructions. On the far side of the room, Jack must initiate the Chronon conduit by pushing the lever forward.

Once the core is activated, Jack follows Paul down the ramp and into the first control room to help him activate the corridor.

As the corridor activates, Paul walks down the ramp toward the Time Machine controls. Near the bridge to the machine, Paul explains that all Jack needs to do is hit the switch in order to activate the machine. He will travel back in time by two minutes.

A second Paul Serene appears in the machine and the two Pauls have a conversation. Suddenly, William Joyce appears, holding a gun, and declares that the experiment must stop as time is going to end if the experiment goes forward. Something goes wrong and Will runs into the control lab to turn off the experiment, but it’s too late.

An explosion of Chronon particles bursts out of the machine and engulfs Paul and Jack. Both appear to be physically unharmed. It is now 4:15am, and a Fracture in time—also called a stutter–has occurred.

Paul, who is still trapped inside the machine, asks Jack to find and help his friend and colleague, Will. As he last saw Will run into the control room, Jack walks back up the ramp—everything except Paul and he is frozen in time—and Jack finds Will suspended in mid-air.

As Paul is stuck and can’t get out of the Time Machine, he calls for Jack to help. Jack runs down the ramp and tries to open the Time Machine door, but suddenly an alarm is triggered and the lights turn red. Heavily armed guards enter the laboratory and immediately open fire.

With the guards closing in on their position, Paul tells Jack to escape—he will use the Time Machine to get out. Will leads Jack back up the ramp to the last room in the complex.

An open hatch is visible on the floor at far end of the room. Will runs there and disappears in the opening. Jack follows and closes the hatch behind him to escape the guards.