So I just completed a playthrough of "Harry the Handsome Executive" by Ambrosia software and I have to admit that the story lost me quite a bit. What was Harry saving the secretary from? What exactly was his company?
41 Answer
The simple version: Harry’s boss, Dr. Ubermann, was trying to bring extradimensional parasites to Earth using the employees of ScumCo as hosts.
The slightly more complicated version: In Harry’s universe, swivel chairs are mystical objects of great power, designed by Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson also designed the ScumCo building, a black obelisk, as a conduit for beings from “The Other Side”, another dimension about which very little is revealed other than that it is populated by beings which need human hosts in order to survive in the regular world. Ubermann has been using ScumCo, whose actual business is not exactly ever explained, as a staging ground for The Other Side; the building and the Inimolex-F that has been secretly developed in the labs (levels 8 and 9) and administered to all employees over a prolonged period of time are both devices to prepare humans for inhabitation by the denizens of The Other Side. These are NOT, it should be noted, the same as the ghost enemies that appear in much of the game; those are instead corrupted spirits of swivel warriors long past.
Pam, Harry’s secretary, is brainwashed near the beginning of level 12 (Corporate Ruins) as part of an effort by Ubermann to gaslight Harry into believing that the previous events were inconsequential. The mechanism is not clear, but since her faculties are restored upon Ubermann’s death, it is presumable that Ubermann was involving The Other Side somehow in the effort.
Quite a load of nonsense, isn’t it?
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