Lifeline (Series)

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The Lifeline Series

(This Fandom Wiki is not to be confused with Lifeline, a Support Legend of Apex Legends, and, coincidentally, is voiced by Mela Lee, not Mari Lee, of the White Star. Nor is it to be confused with the single-season television series Lifeline, by YouTube Red, about an insurance agency given the power of time travel.)

Description

The Lifeline series are a succession of games developed by 3 Minute Games, the group being founded in 2014, and releasing Lifeline in 2015. It was at first an experimental mobile studio formerly part of Big Fish Games. It is now an active and fully independent studio. According to their website, it is run by Colin Liotta, Dave Justus, and Mars Jokela. The Lifeline games are a series of interactive text adventures with varied themes, including but not limited to Sci-Fi, survival, fantasy, adventure, mystery, and detective simulation. The series currently has 8 games. After a several year hiatus, as of June 13, 2022, the most recent release was Lifeline: Beside You in Time. featuring Taylor from the original Lifeline. In February 2023, a new app, Lifeline+, features a free version of the original Lifeline game on Apple Arcade.

Gameplay

The first moments of the first Lifeline game.

The games usually treats you, the player, into a supportive character role to help the main character make decisions. While the player usually controls the flow of the story, the main characters will sometimes refuse to listen to the player's advice and go off on their own. The player will be communicating with the characters with some communicator, with Lifeline 2: Bloodline relying on magic witchcraft and Lifeline: Crisis Line relying on a phone app called HelpText.

Usually, the main character is in trouble, and they need your help to get out of it. While most games have one "true" ending, many choices will lead to the main character dying, very rarely, some will have other alternative endings with the main character surviving, but a twist. After you find one of the endings, the game will unlock the Rewind and Fast Mode options. Rewind allows the player to rewind to a player-made choice, rewinding the whole game up to that point. Fast Mode allows the player to skip the waiting times between messages.

These games feature a real-time waiting system between messages. The main character will write messages and complete activities at a human pace (walking, driving, sleeping, etc.). The main character will close communications until something happens during the task or until they finish the task. The waiting time on tasks can be from under a minute to over 8 hours.

The Lifeline Universe

The first story and its sequels are set in space, more specifically on an alien moon, onboard space ships, near a black hole, and in another universe. Others occur across planet Earth, such as by an unknown tundra region, across various parts of the Pacific Northwest (in Oregon and Washington, i.e., New Tenacity), Austin (Texas), La Rumorosa (Mexico), tundra climates likely in Siberia, and includes secret organizations, some of which feature alien-based parasites and seemingly magical properties.

Important features throughout the series are the Green, ALT, the Permanent Working Group, the Pearson Corporation, magic, and tunguskite. A reoccurring narrator of the game so far is called Taylor, but the series has indicated that Arika, Alex, and Wynn will later appear as well. Other reoccurring characters include Regina Virdi, Captain Aya, Mari Lee, Helpbot, T2, and Melanie (Mel) Chior.

Games

The Lifeline series currently has 8 official games and Lifeline: Whiteout 2. However, the latter game is not recognized on the 3 Minute Games website. On their page, the 8 official games are categorized in sections: Save Taylor (Lifeline, Lifeline: Silent Night, and Lifeline: Halfway to Infinity, Lifeline: Beside You in Time), The Green Series (Lifeline 2: Bloodline, Lifeline: Crisis Line, and Lifeline: Flatline), and More Lifeline (Lifeline: Whiteout). So far, the games in the Save Taylor series are directly related to each other, the games in The Green series are indirectly related to each other and to the Save Taylor series, and the game in the More Lifeline series is the only game not yet known if it is related to the other series. The following games are listed in chronological order as to when each game was released:

• Lifeline - First entry into the series. The player assists Taylor with survival on a barren moon. An incomplete walkthrough can be found here.
• Lifeline 2: Bloodline - Second game in the series. The player assists Arika Lanphear with avenging her family's death.
• Lifeline: Silent Night - Direct sequel to the original Lifeline game. The player joins back with Taylor to assist with an unknown vessel coming into contact with the ship Taylor is onboard.
• Lifeline: Whiteout - Fourth entry in the series. The player helps V. Adams to uncover his past amidst a freezing environment. Blue also appears in this game. An incomplete walkthrough can be found here.
• Lifeline: Crisis Line - Fifth entry in the series. The player is a HelpText volunteer connected to Alex Esposito, a police detective in Austin, Texas, who is involved in a strange case related to a murder.
• Lifeline: Flatline - Direct sequel to Lifeline: Silent Night, with Wynn stuck in an undisclosed medical facility.
• Lifeline: Halfway to Infinity - Direct sequel to Lifeline: Silent Night, with Taylor trapped within the orbit of a strange black hole.
• Lifeline: Beside You in Time - Direct sequel to Lifeilne: Halfway to Infinity, continuing the story of Taylor's journey past black holes.

Discontinued games in the series include the Lifeline Library and Lifeline Universe. A likely discontinued game is Lifeline: Whiteout 2, which continues the story of Lifeline: Whiteout, by which the player helps V. Adams escape from a mine controlled by ALT. Note that this game is not on the apple store and is not featured on the 3 Minute Games website.

Lifeline+ is the free version of the original Lifeline game on Apple Arcade.

Dave Justus is a key contributor to the Lifeline Series

Music and Art

A link to most, if not all of the Lifeline Series music can be found here.

A plethora of Lifeline fanart can be found here, here, here, and here.

Lifeline Community

The official page by the creators can be found here.

Updates from the creators regarding ongoing content can be found here, here, and here.

Active Lifeline fan pages can be found here, here, and here.