The ghost is in the phone.

Mr. Wheel figured my break from horror games in The Winter Jackpot was over and decides to refill my shit pants meter with the original SIMULACRA game. Oh boy I can't wait to see how our girl goes crazy this time.

No opening cutscene like there was in SIMULACRA 2. We just go straight to the phone. Anna's phone. Too hell if i know what the lock code combination is... but it doesn't matter because just seconds later, the phone starts to fuck up. But all the numbers are replaced with the 4 numbers in order I need to input one by one. So for example, a full pad of 1's, and then a full pad of 8's, 0's, and 7's. And now we're in! That was easy! Her home page has a picture of her and 8 apps. Spark, Jabbr, Vloggr, Surfer, Phone, Chats, Gallery, and Mail. All to which are useless and eventually get replaced all with Gallery. Going in and there's about 50 million videos folders. All with 99 videos. All with the same video. Anna seems awfully distressed. Perhaps she's guilty of something she did? It's hard to tell what the true context is here. But the biggest thing is that she says to the person watching the video, me in this case, to not find her. After that, Anna's phone does a system restore and all the apps are back. And already I am getting these text messages from a dude named Greg. A mechanic in this game I don't believe was in the 2nd game is message corruption recovery. For example there's this one message that has its words jumping all across the place and it's up to me to figure out the original message. In this case it was "You are the one that went out of line". He is really pushy to talk to Anna. And I have to be the one to explain to him that I ain't her. I guess he and Anna had been dating for some time. I guess in this case, I was given Anna's phone for some... particular reason that is unknown. As I go to send Greg proof of Anna being in danger, I also come across some corrupted photos that need to be fixed. I guess I didn't really need to do this at the moment and yet I still did before I realized... I didn't have to and I was actually looking for that creepy video I saw moments earlier. I am able to find that video I saw earlier. However when I send it to Greg, something weird happens and that video becomes truly and fully corrupted. Like something doesn't want Greg to see Anna's distress. Oh and then all of a sudden Greg calls me because he doesn't feel like texting me anymore.

His voice quality sounds like garbage. But basically he doesn't like that I am not audibly responding to him. Not like I can anyway. Anyways, enough with Greg for now. This dude named Taylor is messaging me now on this Spark app. Which also indicates that Anna needed a new lover. Ah yes. Dating apps. The true way to a happy relationship. It takes a little extra effort to convince Taylor that I ain't Anna. I guess she and Taylor never actually got a chance to meet yet. Our conversation doesn't go far before I check out this Vloggr app. Seriously? An app for vlogs? Not much of a vlog. Not for Anna at least. I guess she was using it more as a way to talk to herself essentially. Because I guess she doesn't have any mirrors in her house. Taylor suggests I dig through Anna's Jabbr account. Just as I'm about to though, Greg calls me. Like dude... not a good fucking time! I am stunned of all these apps on Anna's phone that Jabbr is the one that is logged out. I don't know maybe it's a security thing. Of course I don't know her damn password. Greg tells me that he's worried about Anna essentially. That she's not answering her door and that she isn't at work. And that she always notifies when she isn't coming in or if she'll be late. While the video of Anna distressed may be corrupted, the phone isn't stopping me from sharing Greg the context of the video. He's... skeptical of the info I gave him. Perhaps there's a chance Anna had been going crazy because of a... disagreement she and Greg had. Not saying that IS the reason. It's just a spitball. But now it seems like she wants nothing to do with Greg. Maybe hence the chat she had started with Taylor of Spark. Greg definitely isn't happy when he finds that out. Anyways, Greg mentions I should snoop on Anna's Jabbr. But again, it's password protected. But Greg says I can just reset the password. After having to remember what Anna's lock screen passcode was to get into her mail, we find that... it's oddly empty. Only just a few work emails, an email from her mom, and the Jabbr password reset link. Resetting her password is straight-forward. Just answer her stupid fucking security questions I don't know the damn answers too. Okay that's a lie I do know them.

The first one was pretty easy. The name of her pet? Toby. Moreso that was a guess simply because I saw that name in her passcode hint. Her mother's maiden name? To hell if I know... it's in her emails... speaking of which... I get a new one from "The Write Thing". I guess it's an article service where you get articles right through your email! And what a very not so happy article we get here. Oh what's this? People suddenly going through a shit life after they graduate college? Wow who hadn't heard of that before? Oh and there's this email from Tim Faraday, the CEO of Faraday Safety. He sounded really happy by the USE OF NOTHING MORE THAN CAPITAL LETTERS IN HIS EMAIL! Also for a CEO... his grammar is just... so uncanny. Also her email from her mom mentions that Anna wanted to go into vet school but was seemingly denied. And I guess her mom was pissed about it. Not about Anna being rejected but more so that I guess her mom wanted Anna to go into something else. A different study and that she is so disappointed in the absolute failure her daughter has become. And then the AUDACITY to say that she loves her at the end. Looking through their text messages? It isn't any better. Anyways, I give Taylor the details of what I found out about Anna. Poor girl has really gone through a shit life. Anyways, I get past the 2nd security question in Jabbr. Now to find out her favorite movie? Well time to talk to her friends again. Greg suggests to speak to Ashley. But to speak to her as Anna... or as best that I can as Anna. Seems like Anna and Ashley were BFF's. I initiate a conversation with Ashley. She mentions this Yolanda figure seemingly carrying some expensive fashion items with her... and then suddenly Ashley decides she'll finish that story with a voice recording... I really have no idea where the fuck Ashley was getting on. I just end up getting Anna's favorite movie by saying that... oh yeah there's a personality test blah blah blah need to put in favorite movie and it's A Dog's Purpose. Real movie by the way. At the moment there's nothing really interesting in the Jabbr to suggest Anna's whereabouts. Just some posts from I assume people she follows and some of her older posts.

But don't put a cuss word in a Jabbr post. That's a big no no. Anyways, I head back into Jabbr... Anna put up a post just now? She's chilling at home? Uh... okay... sure. Maybe I'll let Greg know that Anna pos-... OKAY GIVE ME A HEART ATTACK WHY DON'T YOU? Only the most horrifying image displays on her phone. It's her but like... demonically distorted. Oh and with a loud ass noise too. That helps. I hear chucking a phone into lava at this point can be super helpful! I inform Greg of Anna's post and Greg recognizes that Anna apparently is home after all... allegedly. Another one of Anna's vlogs come through. She really freaking loves Ashley. That much I do know. Speaking of which, Ashley needs to know if she accidentally left her watch. Me having to pretend to be Anna, I essentially go... "uhhh... i dunno...". Speaking of Anna's house, Greg needs my help to let him in. I guess the access card Greg had for Anna's house was suddenly deactivated? Odd. Greg shares this TitanTech contact with me which will allow Greg to get in once I put his full name into the system. Once Greg gets the access code, he makes his way into Anna's home. Though something is very unsettling when he mentions he hears a voice... but it sounds nothing like Anna. And judging off the voice recording he sent me? Yeah that's not Anna. That's a fucking demonic spirit roaming the house pretending to be Anna. It's not the TV and Toby is also missing from the house. He mentions it almost looks like it was robbed. Albeit her laptop hadn't been taken. As Greg investigates Anna's house, out of fucking nowhere a remote wipe is initiated from Anna's laptop to put her phone to factory defaults. HERE? NOW? WHY? With only 2 minutes to spare, Greg and I have to move. Fast. Greg can stop the wipe. But of course it needs answers to security questions. Fuck this isn't the time! I know the name of Anna's pet and her company name and I could probably find her IRIS OS version name. But 37 seconds is too little time. Plus I guess Toby is the nickname for Anna's pet. It needs a full name. Well that's it. We're boned. Anna's phone is reset and I have to go through the setup process on it. Weird thing though... when I try to put Anna's name in... the setup asks for... MY name... who the fuck designed this phone.

The setup for the most part is smoothly... until it asks for my sleep schedule... and then my favorite smell... and what part of an animal i prefer to eat... and the saddest moment in my life... and if i am paranoid that my phone or laptop camera is recording all my moves-WHO MADE THIS PHONE??? So I finish the setup and get the whole welcome message spheals... so great now what? Greg never gave me his phone number and now I am fucked. Maybe 911 will help me... not... I guess the emergency department got their funding cut and now reporting emergencies is a bunch of phone menus. Who the fuck thought this was a good idea? Oh yeah after waiting nearly 7 minutes, the line just hangs up. I guess they only had 2 dispatchers working that night. So anyways I go back to the home menu... oh hello ominous OPEN looking file. And... oh hey look! Anna's phone is suddenly back to pre-reset state just like that! Cool! uh... for like 2 seconds. I start getting these messages from this Aulner dude. It's speaking in this creepy ass ghostly tone. Warning me about this voice I shouldn't be listening to. Whoever's voice it refers to. It warns that Anna won't be around any longer and that I am to find him which by doing so will let me find her. If not then... high... shot of a... rural city area? Whatever the fuck that means? Well things seem to be pretty normal for now. Anna's phone is in pre-reset state...

I don't think Anna was looking at the camera in her wallpaper last time...