G String (video game)

G String is a first-person shooter released in 2020 for Windows, built over roughly 14 years by developer Eyaura. The game takes place in a cyberpunk dystopia set in a far-future North America, where climate change, pollution, economic inequality, and civil unrest have devastated society. Players control Myo Hyori, a teenage girl who must survive threats from a totalitarian regime, its corporate allies, malfunctioning machines, and the toxic environment. Her journey even takes her into Earth orbit a couple of times.

In terms of gameplay, G String is a single-player first-person shooter with surreal and survival horror elements. The protagonist, Myo Hyori, is an 18-year-old of Korean descent who possesses both telekinesis and pyrokinesis. Mechanically, the game functions similarly to Half-Life 2, on whose code it is based. Almost all enemies and weapons are reskins of those from Half-Life 2, though new additions include Myo’s pyrokinetic ability, several new vehicles, Scanmines, and Sizzlers.

The setting is the fictional North American Union (NAU), formed from a merger of the United States, Canada, and Mexico after oil wars in the Middle East ended in nuclear conflict. Climate change has pushed Earth to the brink: the Middle East is devastated, Europe has become extremely cold and majority Muslim due to mass migration, and much of Southeast Asia is underwater, driving further migration to the NAU. Air has become a scarce commodity, distributed primarily by Murdock Air, whose CEO Ted Murdock is a multi-trillionaire. The company’s pyramid-shaped air facility is the largest manmade structure ever built. The NAU, the last remaining superpower, enforces a police state: religion is banned, only digital currency is allowed, citizens must meet weekly purchase quotas, free speech is suppressed, and mass surveillance is constant. NATO, led by the NAU, has established colonies across the solar system. Mars, one of the largest colonies, recently revolted and seeks independence. On Earth, the Nosumers resist the NAU’s centralized digital currency. Advances in genetic engineering and mechanical augmentation have produced super soldiers, as well as braindead sex slaves and cloned celebrities.

The plot begins in orbit, where Martian separatists plan to ram their ship into the Interplanetary Trade Center, a much taller replica of the World Trade Center.