I Expect You To Die 3: Cog in the Machine is a virtual reality action video game developed and published by Schell Games and released for Meta Quest 2 and Meta Quest Pro on August 17, and Windows on September 28, 2023.^[1] It is the third game in the I Expect You to Die series.

Plot

The game picks up its story where the previous title left off, as the player character Agent Phoenix - having somehow escaped the destruction of the Zoraxis HQ - makes their way to a nearby Agency outpost and reconnects with their Handler (Jared Mason). However, they are quickly sent off on a new mission to investigate the missing Dr. Roxana Prism (Daisy Lightfoot), whose kinesium research was invaluable in giving Agency agents their psychokinetic abilities. After some investigation, however, it becomes apparent that Prism has defected to Zoraxis, giving them her research on kinesium in exchange for their financial support to build kinesium-powered robots capable of replacing human field agents.

Agent Phoenix then heads to an abandoned mine previously occupied by the Agency, only to discover it too has fallen under Zor's control; Phoenix uses destabilized kinesium to destroy the mines, then chases after Prism's kinesium-transport truck by car. When breaking into the vehicle, they are ambushed by Prism and one of her robots; though Prism escapes, Phoenix successfully disables the robot by cutting off its power supply.

While waiting for the Agency's R&D division to decrypt the robot's data, the handler's independent research leads Phoenix to investigate an undersea Zoraxis base. They discover it to be an underwater laboratory for developing Zor's "Project KBOOM," a plan to use kinesium chain reactions to kill the world's agents by exploding the kinesium implants in their heads, while Zor themselves remains protected by a kinesium-proof forcefield.

After retrieving this shield and escaping the lab, Phoenix uses data recovered from the robot captured during the truck mission to infiltrate the factory where her robots are created. However, Phoenix only arrives just in time to witness Zor use Project KBOOM to trigger a chain reaction with the kinesium stored in Prism's lab, destroying all the robots under her control. Prism, however, survives, and swears revenge on Zor; when she and Phoenix both separately infiltrate the volcano used to house Zor's kinesium weapons, they work together to contain the blast and save the world's agents from certain death.

Blacking out after the detonation, Pheonix is almost killed, but they are saved by Prism, who leaves them on a nearby beach before fleeing to ensure the Agency cannot capture and punish her for her betrayal. The ending also reveals that the robot Phoenix recovered during the truck mission has been restored to working order, and now works as part of the Agency.

References