Stealth game within a bizarre mall/business arcology. Blend in and make money, sneak around and learn secrets.

Appearance: Your appearance helps allay suspicions that you don't belong in the Arcology. If your present appearance has attracted too much attention, you may have to spring for an expensive NewYou resculpt in order to make people less concerned when you arrive. Wearing disguises can help hide your features so that crimes you commit aren't attached to you, but obviously they're also riskier.

Security: There are various security features in the Arcology, from tiny flying security drones that can't directly attack you but can report on your location and activities to combat drones that can not only report your status but attempt to change it to deceased to security guards that can use equipment and receive augmentations to better help them fit in and do their jobs. There are also security cameras, which monitor a specific area, and security features such as fingerprint locks, cardkey or chitlocks, and so forth that you may need to bypass while exploring the arcology.

Running a Store: There are many abandoned stores in the Arcology, and with some effort you can operate one, whether paid for legitimately or merely a fly-by-night job designed to separate arcology customers from their cash and credit. running a store legitimately requires fees. illegitimate stores will cause problems if security catches you in some way, and thus add to your current appearance's Heat level.

Heat: The amount of criminal activity connected to your present appearance is known as Heat, until a better term arrives. Heat is extremely slow to fade – once the Arcology knows you as a professional thief, they will be actively looking for you and trying to take you down.

SavePoint: This expensive system allows you to reconstitute yourself in the event of your unfortunate demise. Your first main goal is to acquire one and build a reconstitution machine to make use of it, as otherwise your game will end as soon as you are killed. If incarcerated you may be able to escape, but it's still more likely you'll have to load a prior save. And if you haven't saved your game, well…

Opening Hours: The Arcology runs 24 hours, but different businesses and activities run at different hours of the day, depending on availability of workers. Businesses with operating hours will have people doing their jobs during those hours, which can gradually build recognition as they acknowledge you within the area, but can quickly build heat if they realize you don't belong there. During closed hours, there are less people interfering with your activities, but those that are present will be much more suspicious.

Augments: Both you and your enemies can get augments that improve skills and abilities, biological or otherwise. Augments add to your ability to infiltrate the Arcology and accomplish your goals, and as such are an essential part of operations therein unless you are playing a special challenge such as 'Pureblooded - Complete the game without any augments.' Augments cost money, and may require work to discover (particularly augments that are the subject of research within the Arcology!) Augmentation stations can be found within the Arcology, but you can also build your own.

NewYou Physical Resculpt: This allows you to change your physical attributes and appearance, reshuffling around your stat points and removing your overall heat. Extremely useful but expensive. $1m + any augments added. NewYou Cosmetic Resculpt: This allows you to change your basic appearance, and is much less expensive than a full physical resculpt. Very useful for losing Heat. $100k. NewYou Mental Resculpt: This allows you to change your mental attributes and traits, allowing you to increase your mental faculties. Required to install mental augments. $400k.

Credchits: Small chits the size of an SD card, plugged into computers in the place of credit cards to access a user's financial data.

• Crack: Lets you extract some to most of the money from a credchit; the precise amount depends on cracking skill (and not being caught). Extremely valuable credchits may be resistant to cracking.
• Access. Requires the access code; allows you to gain all of the money involved, potentially, if you are quick and careful.
• Scan. Requires a credcard cracker, fingerprint scanner, etc; searches credchit memory to try to find access codes or passwords, scans for fingerprints that might be usable, etc.

Theft: Items added to inventory are labeled or packaged, and must be properly concealed, unpackaged, etc. or security will be able to tell that they belong to a store if they search you. Buying things normally provides a receipt which can prove to security that you have purchased an item.

Hide: In darkened sections (closed off or shut down or not durnig work hours), security will be traveling known paths and relying on flashlights or other light generation to see; outside of lit areas, their cone of vision is narrow if night vision goggles are used, or practically nonexistent if they have no light amplification equipment or augments. Simply staying low can easily conceal you from a standard security guard even in an open-concept office, as long as you don't stray into his line of sight.