R.E.P.O. has an immense amount of potential for its lore and the stories that it can tell, since there are no clear answers given while exploring the many dangerous levels available. With both monster designs and fan theories rampant, R.E.P.O. seems to have plenty of lore that players are trying to decipher to piece together a story, but what of the most unexplained mysteries?
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There are a multitude of unexplained mysteries in R.E.P.O., and while there may be an answer someday, the game’s early access will have fans spinning in their Semibot bodies as they try to uncover what’s going on in this post-apocalyptic world.
6
What Happened to Humanity?
Skeletons and Human-Like Monsters Raise Questions
Perhaps the first mystery that players can ask themselves in R.E.P.O. is a question about humanity itself. In some levels, and in the store, players can find the skeletons of humans that both confirm the small size of the Semibots and confirm that the planet is desolate, without human life for better or worse. With so many dead humans, surely the apocalypse must have occurred decades ago if they’re nothing but dust and bone?
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What’s even stranger still is that some monsters appear human. There’s the Upscream, which has human features despite crawling around like a spider, but even more questionable than that is the Rugrat, which appears to just be a baby – then there’s the Huntsman, a literal man with bandages around his eyes, dripping with blood as he explores the halls with his gun as a walking stick. Did he take out his own eyes to avoid the horrors that have happened to humanity, and what exactly happened to mankind in the first place?
5
What Experiments Were the Wizards Running?
Dead Wizards at Swiftbroom Academy Have Cauldrons, Potions, and Death
Heading to Swiftbroom Academy, players are going to explore the great halls of wizards long gone. Inside the halls of Swiftbroom Academy, players can find an assortment of valuables that pretty much confirm that magic is a part of life for humanity before their apocalypse, as there are magic brooms, powerful staffs, and wizards with pointy hats in framed pictures.
In some instances, players can even find the king wizard himself, a skeleton sitting in his throne with a book in his hands. However, what killed the wizards and what they were doing in Swiftbrook Academy is unknown. Could it have something to do with the scientists at McJannek Station, or were they out to save themselves – or even evolve into the monsters that roam the halls?
4
Who is the Taxman?
An AI that Communicates in Emojis and Trolls Employees
One of the greatest mysteries of R.E.P.O. is the man, or machine, in charge of the Semibots. The Semibots do have their own free will, but they are controlled in their objectives and where they head next by the taxman. The taxman is the employer of the Semibots, and takes pleasure in trolling them, as seen by the mocking emojis it often communicates with.
The taxman’s communication through emojis could be a hint towards its identity as an AI, unable to converse through anything but the truck’s controls, computer terminals, and extraction points. The only face for the taxman is a laughing emoji with warped fleshy eyes and a rotted mouth, but who’s behind these emojis, and what goal does it seek to accomplish?
3
What Are Valuables Used For?
Why Does the Taxman Need Grand Pianos and Shiny Things?
The objective of R.E.P.O. is simple: acquire valuables to appease the taxman and escape to the next service station to survive another day. However, despite the simplicity in design, there is immense complexity in the want. Why does the taxman need these valuables? What goods could he possibly need from an assortment of crowns, rings, books, creature samples, and even pianos?
As far as the Semibots are aware, these valuables are just used to keep the economy up and provide them with a salary so that they can purchase their own goods at the store, but yet it’s unexplained why the taxman wants these items, and who is purchasing them for a wealth of dollars.
2
Where Did the Monsters Come From?
The Origins of Monsters Both Human and Inhuman are Unexplained
There are over 19 variations of monsters in R.E.P.O., and there are definitely more on the way. However, what these monsters are, and where they came from, is a mystery. Most of the monsters do have humanoid features, like the Huntsman being a simple blind man who uses a gun as a walking stick, but then there are more unique creatures like the Apex Predator and the Trudge.
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While some are humanoid in design, other monsters are wildly not human, and it’s a true mystery as to where they came from and why they wander the locations that the Semibots enter. Are they remnants of an old civilisation, abandoned and evolved from a society that was once known?
1
What Secrets Were Unearthed from the Fossils?
McJannek Station Holds Intense Mystery Regarding Unearthed Fossils
The truck takes the Semibots to McJannek Station, a frozen laboratory that is potentially located somewhere in Denmark or Greenland, theorized by the identity of a Danish flag that can occasionally be found adorned on the walls. This laboratory is abandoned, and among the monsters inside lie greater mysteries about what the laboratory was used for.
With dead scientists and mysterious white boards, it’s unclear what McJannek Station was attempting to find out for humanity, but it surely wasn’t good. One of the most important aspects of the lore can be found here with the valuables involving creature samples and fossils, which involves frozen skeletons that are certainly not human, but what these skeletons are, and why the taxman wants them, is unknown – could they be proto-humans, or the catalysts for viruses that wiped out humanity?
Horror
Roguelike
Action
Stealth
- Released
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February 26, 2025
- Developer(s)
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semiwork