I can't be the only one who noticed...

[Serpiko82]

We've got 4 main characters in game.

And yet, there are 5 empty places in the kids' case we start from...

How come? Change of plans during early development? Hint to future content / DLC?

[FoamySlobbers]

There are tiny skeletons all over the yard.

[Serpiko82]

Originally posted by atheist:

There are tiny skeletons all over the yard.

Yes, but those are the remains of Ominent's espionage expedition, who supposedly arrived in the yard on their own several months prior.

[RequiemsRose]

I'm not sure there's a way to answer that without spoilers so:
The teens are not the first in the yard, or apparently even the first teens kidnapped and used for this purpose. They are forced "volunteers" at a later point in experimenting in an effort to solve the raisining issue. Our teens do seem to be the result of Ominent though, so chances are most the other shrunken individuals are also more related to Ominent than Wendell (Wendell seemed content to take the risks himself and rely on a repurposed robot for assistance in a shrunken state). That case could just be the standardized container Ominent came up with for these experiments since it does seem to be groups of 4-5 that get sent in at a time with how they do things. Remember that the case wasn't actually meant for us to begin with, the scientist was meant to "get rid of" us and they took it upon themselves to drop us off in Wendell's yard because apparently the best chance we have of recovering from what Ominent did with us, is finding Wendell, and they didnt seem incredibly comfortable with the idea of murdering teenagers when Ominent didnt need them anymore for experiments.

[Serpiko82]

Originally posted by RequiemsRose:

I'm not sure there's a way to answer that without spoilers so: (snip)

Your analysis surely makes sense from a storyline standpoint, even though we have 6 Ominent badges available, meaning no less than 6 expedition members were sent. The other shrunken skeletons we find without badges nearby (like the poor former owner of the rotten bee Armor) may or may not belong to other Ominent staff members or the formerly kidnapped kids.

About those other unfortunate kids, what we learn for sure is that no less than 4 more were taken, and Schmecktor ordered them all to be eventually terminated. We're not told, though, if they were indeed directly terminated in their labs, or if our "saviour" inside Ominent sent them in the yard as well, where they eventually found their demise.

However, my doubt is more related to that 5th slot in the case being a hint to a possible 5th playable character coming in the future, maybe as part of a DLC.

[LadyAquanine735]

Maybe we'll get the option of creating a custom teenage character who is friends with the 4 main kids?