The unnamed protagonist (also known as the General) is the only player character and the protagonist in SANABI. He is a formerly retired veteran who is equipped with a prosthetic arm.
Throughout SANABI[ | ]
Operation Zero[ | ]
Formerly a retired brigadier general living alone with his daughter, the protagonist is forced out of retirement after a mysterious entity known as "Sanabi" makes an attempt on his life and detonates a bomb in his home, apparently killing his daughter. 17 days after the tragedy, the general interrogates and kills an arms dealer who sold Sanabi the bomb, revealing that his hunt for Sanabi has been fruitless. He is found by his old comrade Colonel Baek, who asks him to take on a mission in Mago City, allegedly connected to Sanabi. 24 hours prior, the 2.97 million inhabitants of Mago City seemed to disappear, and all network connections went offline, presumably as a result of Sanabi's actions.
One survivor from an investigation team sent into the city, a computer engineer named Mari, sent a distress signal shortly after her arrival, claiming she has found important information regarding the mysterious blackout. The general is given two objectives: to find Mari and get her to safety, and to find out what she has discovered. However, the general's helicopter is fired upon by the city's anti-air defenses, shooting it down and causing it to crash in the city. Forced to proceed on foot, the general continues onward, using his Chain Arm to navigate the seemingly abandoned city while being attacked by its automated defenses, which have presumably been hijacked by Sanabi.
Into Mago City[ | ]
The general is tailed by a small, floating drone, who he soon accosts and demands to know why he is being followed. The drone reveals itself to be owned by Mari, and guides the general to her hiding spot, where he discovers her hiding in a pile of trash. She promptly complains about their dire circumstances and reveals the drone's name to be Mufin, before the two are attacked by a giant mechanical worm, forcing them to flee. Upon reaching safety, the general questions Mari about the information she found, only for her to reveal that all of the city's data was wiped, and that she lied about finding any information in order to ensure her own rescue.
Frustrated, the general orders Mari to leave the city for her own safety, but she refuses, instead devising a plan to destroy the worm by using a crane to rip it apart, in order to reach its black box, which would have intact data. After arriving at the worm's maintenance center, the general battles the worm and lures it to the crane hook, successfully ripping it apart and destroying it. They discover that there is no black box inside; however, they discover an electronic key that grants access to an underground construction facility, as well the Mago Group's executive offices.
Hoping to find information within the executive office, the general follows Mari, but is frustrated to once again find that there is no data left. However, Mari discovers a corrupted file related to Sanabi, prompting the general to warn her to stay away from anything related to Sanabi. Although the general continues to insist that Mari leave, she once again refuses, and reveals from the file she found that Sanabi is hiding at the topmost floor of the city. Reluctantly, the general allows her to continue accompanying him.
While proceeding through Mago City's business district, the pair encounter a sword-wielding mercenary inside of a large, mechanical suit, a famous vigilante named "Justice." Although Mari is excited to meet her, the general remains skeptical of her presence within the city and attempts to question her. However, Justice disappears, and continuously tails the general through the city. When the two attempt to steal a flying car from a nearby warehouse in order to reach the top floor of the city and find Sanabi, Justice intervenes, destroying the last remaining car and attacking the general.
After defeating Justice, the general is soon attacked by a number of identical copies, which he promptly destroys. After interacting with the wreck of the last copy, he reveals an entire army of dormant "Justices," revealing that, despite their human appearance, the Justices are in fact robots. The general posits that the real Justice had her personality "datafied" and copied, expressing concern that the Mago Group has access to such technology.
Entering the factory[ | ]
Still looking for a way to reach the top of the city and reach Sanabi, the general and Mari enter Mago City's central factory, where they are soon attacked by the factory's automated Overseer. Mari is too frightened to proceed, and the general finally manages to dismiss her, leaving him to navigate the factory and evade the Overseer on his own. Along the way, he discovers that he can take control of the factory's worker robots, which are equipped with a similar chain arm to his own. The Overseer manages to trap him, but he is rescued by Mari, who returned to the factory in a flying car.
Unable to safely proceed upwards until the Overseer is put out of commission, Mari devises a plan to disable its power core. However, they are attacked by the core's automated security, which believes the general to be a rogue worker robot and attempts to terminate him. After successfully hacking and disabling it, the two disable the core, only to discover that the factory is equipped with a massive array of additional cores. The Overseer equips a plasma cannon, attempting to kill them and tear the factory down from the inside, and destroys the elevator leading upwards in the process. With no other options, the two use Mari's flying car to ride a crumbling ventilation shaft to the top of the city.
As the car crashes through the factory ceiling, Mari is knocked unconscious, forcing the general to catch her and use his Chain Arm to break their fall. Having reached the top floor, the general evades the national army's robots (which have been deployed to indiscriminately kill anything on the top level) in order to hijack a flying train in order to reach Mago's headquarters, where Sanabi is apparently hiding.
Finding Sanabi[ | ]
After arriving at Mago's headquarters, the general proceeds to search for any signs of Sanabi, when he is inadvertently granted access to a restricted area after automated security believes him to be a worker robot with the necessary clearance. After finding a sole functioning computer inside, he accidentally shuts off his mental filter, revealing the entire building to be full of corpses that he could previously not see.
The general attempts to question Mari about the sudden appearance of the corpses, but she dismisses his concerns and tells him that Sanabi is in the basement of the building. Once the two exit the server room, however, Major Song, another old comrade of the general, suddenly appears. The general attempts to question Major Song, but she coldly ignores his presence before suddenly attacking him. She overpowers the general and threatens to kill him, but Mari pleads with her to spare his life. She reluctantly agrees, and throws the general into an elevator, sending him down to the basement.
Making a choice[ | ]
Injured and exhausted, the general proceeds down the stairs to the basement, before he collapses and sees a vision of his daughter running down the stairs to the basement. Determined to stop Sanabi and avenge her, he attempts to follow her, only to see a vision of Mari standing by the stairs leading back up. Faced with a choice to stop Sanabi or return to Mari, the player is given the choice of whether to proceed further down the stairs, or whether to turn back and go upwards.
Going Down[ | ]
Should the player proceed down the stairs, the general finds a group of Mago security personnel attempting to overload the city's reactor in an attempt to destroy the city and erase any evidence of their crimes. Believing them to be connected to Sanabi, he brutally slaughters all but one of them, leaving the sole survivor to claim that Sanabi does not exist before he, too, is executed. The general sees a deteriorating hallucination of his daughter, which mechanically informs him that Sanabi has been eliminated and that he has accomplished his mission, and that he will now be terminated. The general declares that "it's important to make it to the end," before the game abruptly ends.
Going Up[ | ]
Should the player choose to go back and help Mari, the general returns up the stairs only to find that Mari has disappeared, with Major Song waiting for his arrival. She reveals that he is a combat robot, in reality, and that she cannot understand his attempts to communicate with her. When the two battle, she recognizes his fighting style, and accuses him of being responsible for the death of the real general. Despite besting Major Song, Colonel Baek suddenly intervenes, defeating the general and supporting Major Song's claim that the general is actually a robot. He and Song remove the voice filter that makes him impossible to understand, allowing the general to reveal that he knows their identities. They shut the general down, claiming they will interrogate him while flying out of the city.
Discovering the truth[ | ]
While shut down, the general explores his previously repressed memories, including detailed records of the Mago Group's "Sanabi Project." Within his own mind, the general discovers the truth about Sanabi and his existence: The real general had his personality turned into data, which was stolen and artificially altered by the Mago Group. Their goal was to manipulate him into an effective, reproducible killing machine, by making him believe a fictional entity called "Sanabi" killed his daughter. He also remembers that Mari is his daughter, and that she was responsible for turning his personality into data in the first place.
Coming back to consciousness, with his memories now fully restored, the general reveals his true identity to Baek and Song, who reveal that he died 10 years ago, and that Mari is still inside the city, which will soon be disintegrated by a massive superweapon in order to prevent the consequences of a nuclear explosion. Determined to save her life, and to "keep a promise," the general returns to the city and rapidly ascends back to the top, finding Mari in the power facility's control room.
Mari reveals that the "Sanabi" she programmed into him was the goal of stopping the nuclear plant from exploding, saving the citizens of Mago City. She also states that, because he didn't pursue Sanabi, the only way to stop the nuclear core is to disable it from the inside, a suicidal task. She coldly states that he is not her father, and that he is only a replica mimicking him. This prompts the general to remember a song that he and his daughter used to play for each other on the harmonica, "Sanabi," and plays it for her, causing her to break down and apologize to him.
Despite their reunion, the general insists that he has to disable the nuclear plant, a task that not even his robotic body will survive. He tells Mari he loves her, before reminding her that "getting to the end is not important, but how we get there." After a tearful goodbye, he departs to disable the core, presumably sacrificing his life to save the city and dying for the final time.
Character[ | ]
Personality[ | ]
As a military man, the general is typically a serious, no-nonsense man who is strictly focused on the mission at hand. He is shown to be highly courageous, never panicking in even the most dire of situations. He is shown to be fairly impatient, however, as Mari's energetic and chaotic personality often results in his irritation towards her. He is shown to be incredibly vengeful, willing to slaughter entire organizations for the death of his loved ones, and is obsessively focused on getting revenge on Sanabi to the point of self-destruction.
He is shown to have a more gentle, nurturing side, however, as he is shown to frequently enjoy playing with his daughter, even so far as to often roleplay with her. He also shows plenty of concern for Mari's personal safety, despite his frequent irritation towards her, and repeatedly attempts to convince her to leave the city and save herself. He is also seen engaging in banter with Major Song on a couple of occasions, showing that he does have some degree of humor.
Chain Arm[ | ]
The general has a large prosthetic arm with a hook-like claw, attached to a retractable chain. The arm grants enhanced mobility, allowing the user to swing around effortlessly, and can also be used for combat. It is shown to be incredibly strong, capable of ripping down solid metal doors and destroying machines far bigger than its user, and it is incredibly fast, able to deploy and reel its chain in almost instantaneously. In gameplay, this arm is the primary mechanic, being used by the player for the entire duration of the game.
Trivia[ | ]
- Despite the general's Chain Arm clearly being on his right, it appears to be on his left when he is facing left, as the sprite is simply mirrored.
- Although it is later revealed that he is a robot, the general claims to have a sense of smell, and is capable of playing a harmonica despite lacking lungs.