A "Quick" R.E.P.O. Lore Overview

A overall view of the lore of R.E.P.O. (at least, the lore that's there) and a general attempt to deduce the story. Most if not all evidence is found by me. Probably highly wrong. This is a VERY long guide, you might want to get comfortable.

Introduction

You've (probably) played R.E.P.O. at some point, and at some point you've (probably) thought to yourself:

"I wonder if this game has lore. Surely, the game (with dead humans and skeletons everywhere, abandoned buildings, a sentient A.I. utilizing emojis as emotions, machines that have apparent gravitational manipulation abilities, disgustingly lore-filled entities, and literal magic) has lore. Right?"

The answer is: yes, obviously. What are you, stupid? This is literally called the "LORE Overview." Come on, man. Whatever. Anyway, this guide is practically going to be me talking and ranting about the different possible lore-related monsters, objects, and concepts within the game. It's going to be lengthy, you might want to find some popcorn. Like, REALLY lengthy. If you just want the story as a whole, skip to the final chapter, but you'll miss out on everything fun with the guide. Please try not to have a heart attack when you see all the chapters on the right.

Also, if you need proof that my guide is PEAK, here is ChatGPT citing my guide and using it as a credible source of information (and crediting it). THAT is how arguably correct my work is. I am a god amongst theory writers..

Location

The game is not clearly based in one general area, like a country or region (this is a lie, see the end of this section), but is generally based in 5 locations as of the current update:

HEADMAN MANOR
Headman Manor is somewhere within a pine forest. It is almost 100% owned by either the Headman entity, or a family with the last name of Headman (obviously including the Headman entity). This is proven by a gravestone you can find in one of the rooms, with the Headman's visage printed upon it (with no other clear details besides the image, like date of death or cause) and the Manor's name. This also confirms that the Headman is dead and is some phantom or ghostly apparition, which I felt was already pretty apparent by the fact that he's a floating head with glowing eyes.

SWIFTBROOM ACADEMY
Swiftbroom Academy is, again, somewhere in a pine forest; maybe close to the Headman Manor. It appears to be a learning place for magical items, such as staffs, potions, and artifacts with otherworldly capabilities. Occasionally, you can find writings on the walls stating "IT'S THE HEADMASTER." The Headmaster is, likely, the Headman entity. I don't see anyone else it could be, given that he shows a ability to use magic powers to keep himself physical as a spirit and he is literally just a head (HEADmaster, haha). Furthermore, it would explain the occasional existence of haunted or magical items in Headman manor (like the cursed dolls): he practices his work at home. Swiftbroom Academy uses a banner with a witch hat upon it, suggesting the existence of the concept of witches. There's also a shack at the back of the building, which, obviously, has no real lore implications besides the existence of shacks. There is also a treehouse.

MCJANNEK STATION
Because i'm too lazy to get a picture, this photo of a satellite from Voices of the Void will have to do. Great game, by the way, it's creepy as hell. Anyways, McJannek Station is almost certainly in Denmark (not Greenland as other evidence would suggest: see note), suggested by the various Denmark flags around the building. It is almost entirely surrounded by snow, and it's previous crew utilized snow-pushing vehicles to get around on the outside (suggested by the garage). Various frozen fossils around the building suggest the station is possibly used for archaeology. There is a floor below with magma behind glass, suggesting a possible use in monitoring thermal temperatures or volcanology. There's probably more here I haven't fully analyzed, but i'm tired at the moment and i'll do it later.


(NOTE: The logo for McJannek Station as found on a desk has "GREENLAND" underneath the title, suggesting that the station is either built in Greenland or the manufacturers of the building originate from Greenland. While the surrounding area looks like Greenland, I believe it's more likely to be built in Denmark, as the trucks have to reach it somehow. You can't drive all the way to Greenland from Denmark, as Greenland is literally an island. Thus, I believe McJannek is under a partnership with the government of Denmark (you'll see this later) and a construction company (with the logo of a tropical bird) located in Greenland, but built in Denmark. Checkmate, boom shakalaka. Some people say it COULD be in Greenland and that the trucks simply go overseas on boats, but you can also just look out the truck window and see that you are, obviously, still on a road.)

SERVICE STATION
The Service Station is a gas station, for a third time located in a pine forest, that has seemingly been hastily refitted to be a store area for Semibots to shop at (suggested by the uncleaned remains of a human, and general uncleanliness). This is likely because the Taxman, needing places for Semibots to upgrade and get generally stronger at, refitted the various abandoned gas stations around the area for his own purposes instead of building a shop area of his own.

DISPOSAL AREA
The Disposal Area is, obviously, some kind of junkyard where the Taxman sends faulty Semibots who have failed at their job. There is a large chamber beneath the ground of this junkyard where the faulty Semibots fight to the death, likely for the Taxman's own entertainment due to the general un-efficiency of the process. When dead, the remains of the Semibots are likely transported back above ground into the gigantic heaps of Semibot corpses. It is unknown why the Taxman doesn't recycle these corpses for material.

CONCLUSION
As over half of these locations take place somewhere with pine trees, it is fair to assume that the trucks containing Semibots only drive in a select area (in a area with a LOT of pine trees) to a small group of buildings for valuable extraction processes. This area is likely a small range in Denmark, guessing by the flags in McJannek Station. As I have personally been to Denmark, I can confirm pine trees are generally in most places around there. So, in conclusion, the game probably takes place in Denmark. Yet again, no real proof on this; the dev might just find that pine trees add to a horror aesthetic. But I can say with 70% certainty that the game takes place in Denmark, so take my word for it. A lot of story can be found by simply finding out where it even is, so this is a good start.

NOTE: This might not be that good of evidence, but witch folklore is very present in Denmark. This could have a connection with the witch hat banner seen in Swiftbroom Academy.

The Entities

The entities. My god, the entities. These things are PACKED with lore, I barely know where to get started with them. Because this section is so long, i'm separating it into multiple sections, each containing a few entities. Prepare thyself, Tarnished.

Note: when you kill an entity, they drop something akin to a energy ball that can be sold for money. The game is extremely vague on what these are, but i'm assuming these energy balls are akin to souls for the entities. I wouldn't be surprised: there are ghosts, magic, large amounts of human mutation, and your telling me soul balls are the one thing you won't allow?

Entity Section 1: Headman, Robe, Apex Predator

HEADMAN

LIKELY ORGIN POINT: Headman Manor, Swiftbroom Academy
The Headman is easily the most lore-packed entity, and thus i'm putting him first. He's an ancient floating head, and probably the Headmaster of Swiftbroom Academy. He likely owns the Headman Manor, showing that he is likely extremely wealthy. He's also dead, as evidenced by his tombstone in Headman Manor, and probably keeps himself alive by using his magical abilities. His head is extremely similar to a skull, showing the apparition's age. My guess as to why he also appears at McJannek is maybe because he was funding them, or something akin to that. He is agitated by bright lights. He has probably lost most of his sentience, guessing by how he grinds his teeth while wandering the halls endlessly. He also appears to have grown somewhat non-human, guessing by his capability to extend his mouth grotesquely.
Disgusting. Also, I stole this image.

So, in conclusion, the Headman is a ghost (previously a rich Headmaster of a famed magical academy) that's grown more animalistic and crazy as the years have ticked on to his etheral, immortal form of a head. No longer able to form words, he simply makes primal grunts and moans and eats any intruders to his home. What a sad guy.

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ROBE

LIKELY ORGIN POINT: Unknown. Possibly the Manor? Swiftbroom?
Ah, Jeffery. At least, that's what my friends and I call him. This guy is possibly the most freaky, horrific creature in the game that moves completely silently and makes me feel incredibly uncomfortable. I threw three (THREE) grenades at him, and he was completely fine until I got a fourth grenade. Even after I killed him, he came back like four minutes later and scared the ♥♥♥♥ out of me (before killing me). He takes on the appearance of a robed figure, humanoid, with 4-fingered and clawed hands where his shins should be. Also, it could be a her, since it makes the sounds of a distressed woman when it makes noises. I'm still going to call it a him though, because his name is Jeffery.


Look at that winning smile!

At first, I assumed this guy was human: maybe it's some serial killer wearing a mask to blend in with the other entities (thus the name Jefferey), and he's just one of the last few remaining people on the planet. The real conclusion is, as I would soon find out, that this thing is almost definitely NOT human. He slides along the floor, and can shrink to EXTREMELY small sizes when he needs to reach under things. If anything, I suppose he's some kind of blob creature beneath the robes.

He also appears to have some kind of electricity-interfering ability. When a Semibot is victim to his grotesquely imperfect mask opening to form a smile, their vision glitches and blurs. This suggests that Robe, when opening his maw, temporarily exposes Semibots to some kind of vision-impairing or short-circuiting aura that eminates from the mouth. I'm not sure why, but it might suggest that Robe is mechanical in nature.
(UPDATE: I'm an idiot, and I figured that this was solely a Jeffery thing. In reality, literally every monster does this. I think.)

Conclusion: I don't know, man. This guy is either a blob creature, or some kind of machine. Either way, he wears robes, slides across the floor, and has a weird mask. If it helps, he shatters upon death, which might suggest his robe or interior is made of porcelain. Why was this entity important enough to take up one of the entity slots? Answer: I like him. Also, he's in the thumbnail, so I kind of have to include him or else this guide is skibidi skibidi clickbait rizz.



(UPDATE: Jeffery, as mentioned before, makes the sound of a distressed woman when chasing or emitting any sound in general. I tried finding anything relating to women in folklore sporting black robes and masks, but I couldn't find much. For now, I'm just assuming that Jeffery is either a woman who is so ashamed of her mutant appearance that she wears clothing to cover her malformations, or some blob of flesh underneath robes pretending to be a woman.)

(UPDATE 2: On further study, i'm convinced once again that Robe might actually be some kind of machine. They leave smoke trails behind when they walk, which NO OTHER ENTITY DOES, suggesting that they might have a large, singular wheel under the robe. Their mask moves very mechanically, and they also get angry in easy-to-predict robotic ways. If you look at them, they get angry, but when you look away, they aren't and simply stalk you at a slow pace. Until the devs introduce the mechanic to look underneath the Robe's robe (do NOT get any ideas), we won't know truly what Robe is.)

(UPDATE 3: The Devs are officially referring to Jeffery as a "he," as evidenced in the recent Dev Q&A where after the question "When is the sex update coming?" is asked he refers to Jeffery as a "he." This has no correlation but I think it's funny that I now have an official connection with Jeffery to sex. Anyway, either Jeffery has pronouns or he is a male. I dunno.)
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APEX PREDATOR

LIKELY ORGIN POINT: Nature (maybe Swiftbroom Academy?)
This is, obviously, not a duck. You know this. It's a monster pretending to be a duck (or a duck who's also a monster); when touched, it reveals a large, gaping maw and tries to eat whoever's nearby. I heavily doubt such a inefficient predator is an apex predator, given that it physically requires being touched to actually do anything harmful. It jumps in front of people in desperate hopes that they accidentally touch them.

The entity itself is not very interesting. What it implies, however, is. This monster proves that animals have been mutated significantly; possibly due to radiation, or magic, or whatever might change a normal duck into a carnivore with an unhingable jaw. The large eyes, odd wing shape, and peculiarly inward feet are all evidence of inbreeding or heavy mutation; further supporting this. This also suggests that other animals outside of the acessable locations might be heavily changed or mutated, which can also be seen in the "Moose Fighting Video" easter egg in the McJannek Station. Don't have any idea what i'm talking about? Don't worry, I've seen it twice now: it can't be that rare. You'll know it when you see it.

(UPDATE: The Chef entity is actually more proof that animals have mutated significantly, being a large dog-sized frog with enough sentience to be able to wear left-over human clothing and use long-forgotten cooking utensils. This also suggests, alongside the mentalist, that whatever is causing these entities to evolve also somehow increases their mental capacity. Why? I don't know.)

Entity Section 2: Humans

There are some entities I believe to be human, or at least severely mutated descendants of them. If the mutations amongst them are similar, then it could provide good evidence as to what might have actually have happened to humanity itself (A.K.A. survival of the fittest, and/or mutations as a result of whatever happened. This excludes Headman because he is, obviously, a human and has already gotten his own section. Also, this excludes the Trudge and the Boomers because, while they are clearly human, I don't care enough to write about them because they are skeletons and contribute nothing interesting biologically).
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HUNTSMAN

LIKELY ORGIN POINT: Headman Manor (At least, he matches the vibe)
While he may seem severely deformed, i'm pretty sure the Huntsman is some form of human. He sounds like one, knows how to aim and fire a gun (despite his blindness), wears human clothes, and even has a bit of a personality to him. When he hears something, goes over, but doesn't find anything, he shakes his head and lets out a disappointed sigh. I like him, he's funny. Wild guess, but the Huntsman might be some distant relative or son to the Headman.

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UPSCREAM

LIKELY ORGIN POINT: Unsure. All locations fit for an Upscream orgin point.
Upscreams are disgusting humans that have mutated into resembling spiders. HOWEVER! They have the most human head of almost all entities, showing that despite their severe mutation on almost all other places of the bodies, they still share the most similar headshape with the skeletons found throughout the game. They don't talk or have any personality, however, instead devolved into animalistic beasts that startle their prey to death. They come in groups, showing that they still retain some social capabilities from generations far past.

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SHADOW CHILD

LIKELY ORGIN POINT: Unsure.
Shadow Children are probably human. Maybe. They teleport around, look like children, sound like children, and have 6 arms. I'm less sure about this one, but there's a chance.

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HIDDEN
LIKELY ORGIN POINT: Unsure.
There's no picture because this thing is invisible. However, it has human footprints and sounds like a human, and has a strange sense of empathy by not killing the Semibots; and in that case, I would say these entities are probably the ones that act the most human (despite putting Semibots directly into areas of high danger).

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MENTALIST

LIKELY ORGIN POINT: Possibly Swiftbroom Academy, uses magic extremely similar to things found within the Academy. Maybe got too smart from all those magic tomes?
The Mentalists are, clearly, at least some form of human. While its obvious they are based off the classic "gray alien," I heavily doubt these guys are actually aliens from outer space and not just some wizards who transcended the mortal knowledge plane and became really good at psychic magic. Go ahead and tell me why an alien with absolutely no space-travelling equipment or defense would be inside some random building in the middle of nowhere just teleporting around. If they really were extraterrestrials, don't you think they would be better equipped and have better things to do?


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ANIMAL

LIKELY ORGIN POINT: Unsure
The Animal is some kind of heavily (HEAVILY) deformed human with multiple legs apparently grafted onto it's torso and it's arms removed. It's eyes and mouth are also modified significantly and it's nose is almost nonexistent. There are also stitch marks on it's back, confirming the Animal is indeed not like this normally. I really couldn't tell you who or what did this. Maybe a Mentalist got bored and did some arts and crafts? They share the same amount of limbs with the Shadow Children, but instead of arms they have legs. This could suggest that the Shadow Children also have had their limbs grafted onto them by the same person/people who made the Animals, but there's no proof besides a simplistic comparison.

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RUGRATS

LIKELY ORGIN POINT: Unsure
It's clearly a deformed human baby. I don't even have to say anything. However, I believe the Rugrats are actually fully grown; they have just evolved to stay at this size for the rest of their lives. Tell me, have you ever seen a Rugrat bigger than this size? And who are their mothers, anyway? If they are truly babies, then they would require the care of mothers to feed and nurture them. Instead, they seem to be entirely self-sufficient, leading me to believe that Rugrats are humans who have simply devolved to resemble babies even when fully grown.

There's also a statue of them at Headman Manor and Swiftbroom Academy, and i'll write about that in the Contradicting Evidence section of this guide that will eventually come along if it gets popular enough.

Humanity's Fate: Disease

None of the entities follow any strict mutation-styles, but what's interesting to note is that slightly below half of the entities (exactly half if you include the Upscream's jumpscare ability) primarily use psychic abilities. This would suggest that whatever happened to humanity either heavily influenced humans to mutate into psychically magic creatures, or was simply a byproduct of human evolution after humanity's near-extinction.

What's also interesting to note is that the time frame between the extinction of humanity and the heavily evolved human descendants is actually incredibly low for this level of change: the buildings aren't dilapidated or overgrown, indicating that such a small time frame has passed that almost everything in every building has remained in (nearly) perfect condition. This almost guarantees that these humans are not naturally evolved, but instead, were exposed to some kind of mutagen to change them into these creatures.

I really don't have any idea of what this could've been. Guessing as the human skeletons we see in the game are completely undamaged, there's a few possible ways humanity could have gone extinct:

POSSIBLE CAUSES FOR HUMAN EXTINCTION
• Radiation. Possible nuclear explosions, but I doubt it.
  
• Some kind of world-spanning flesh-melting acid?
  
• Something that suffocated most people to death.
  
• A virus or disease.
  
• Super evil extra-mutating insta-human-killer switch that Taxman has for some reason.

As we can see in the Shop, the corpse at the register appears to have been simply sitting and doing his job: implying there wasn't a panic before he died, but he simply just keeled over dead. This is significant evidence that I feel indicates some kind of disease that just instantly killed him and the rest of humanity once it grew to be deadly.

Thus, I believe this "Wormweed's Disease Theory" (if your going to steal this guide word-for-word in your ♥♥♥♥♥♥ Youtuber script, at least call it this for SOME credit) practically explains why every monster is the way that they are. The Disease, let's call it the Ormeed Disease (GIVE ME CREDIT), killed some humans but mutated the ones that were immune to it's lethal properties into monsters that were severely deformed but at their base still human. There is reason to believe that some of these monsters may have been humans from the pre-disease world, instead of generations of entities born from monster reproduction, due to how the timespan places R.E.P.O. 10-50 years after the Ormeed disease killed most of the population. This could also be why the Huntsman wears human clothes: despite his horrific mutations and blindness, he at least wants to feel like he's still human. He even uses his shotgun like a walking stick: something that monsters born in the post-Ormeed world would have had trouble figuring out.

IMPORTANT UPDATE: By the way, i'm pretty sure the disease originated from something within the ice at McJannek, given how they know literally nothing about what's inside of it (according to the whiteboards). The date is at least somewhere past April, 2097, according to a calender also at McJannek Station. Probably 10-50 years afterward, as explained earlier.

So, TLDR: Humanity in R.E.P.O. is almost entirely dead, and the few survivors who were immune to the disease mutated into the entities we know today from the disease's side effects. I'm like, 90% certain this is what happened. Just trust me, bro..

Are Semibots Human?

What? No. That's a dumb question. Why would the robots be human, their.. robots? Are you stupid? Get out of my steam guide. GET OUT! GET OOUUTT!!

..Wait a minute. You might be onto something. Y'know, why ARE they called-

"SEMI"-Bots

I have reason to believe that the Semibots are human (besides the fact that human people are controlling and playing as them, and also speaking through them as if they were human). So, let's get a quick rundown on the Semibots, entity-style:

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SEMIBOT

LIKELY ORGIN POINT: Taxman Factory Lines
This is a Semibot. Specifically, me. Semibots are cylindrical, pill-like things, with a humanoid shape. They can be easily upgraded by forcing them to consume boxes of "upgrades," which contain currently unknown materials. They can shrink to unreasonably small sizes, and have some kind of material within their heads that can bring them back to life if killed, specifically at the Taxman's "extraction points" he shoves into buildings from the roof. This suggests that whatever is contained within the head of a Semibot is likely where most important components or the main processing core is stored. They have a flashlight seemingly built into them, alongside a map, which both require no power (likely taking it directly from the Semibot). Their hands also contain a 3-clawed hand capable of emitting a gravitational beam, which can be used to telepathically lift items. The Taxman kills them if they "slack off," AKA: don't return to the truck on time. This suggests that the Taxman has a long-range ability to terminate them, or some kind of termination code to kill them if he needs to.

As Semibots can never "power off," besides when they are just heads, I presume they likely have very strong energy generators somewhere within their body. However, as the heads of Semibots are not powered when they die, the energy generator is likely somewhere within the torso or waist. This power source is also probably highly volatile, given how Semibots explode upon death (the destruction of the power source). This could suggest that Semibots are powered by nuclear fission, or something akin to it.

However, the most interesting part of the Semibots is in their name: SEMI-bots. They are, as their name implies, not FULLY robots.

"Okay, so what are they? Is it.. uhm.. h-h-HUMANS?!"

First off, I hate you. Secondly, yes. There is evidence suggesting that either the Semibots are either sentient from human consciousnesses uploaded to their main processing areas or biological human brains kept within the head's shell.

Dealmakers

So, the Semibots are likely human. How? Do I have proof? Answer: yeah, probably.



Alright, so the Taxman speaks to you with emojis and very rarely words, numbers, or symbols. Usually describing the current situation: if you arrive at the shop, the Taxman might send you emojis of a truck arriving at a shop, or fire surrounding a cart (a fire sale, haha). If you try to leave one of the abandoned buildings early without the proper money, he will send you the current amount of money you've put in with some emojis of disappointment. However, rarely, the Taxman may send a EXTREMELY lore-filled combination of emojis that suggests a larger story:

|🤔🤝😂 |
(Artist's Recreation)

This emoji combination shows somebody who is unsure of their decision shaking hands, or making a deal, with the Taxman (the laughing emoji is supposed to be him, duh). This indicates that somebody made a hasty or uncertain deal with the Taxman, but the question is who. Obviously, the answer is the Semibots: why else would the Taxman send them this, other than to taunt them with the reminder that they've made a deal, and are indentured to serve him as scrap-extractors? It's already been shown that Taxman is sadistic, laughing at the Semibot's suffering (as seen in the start of the trailer, and how he purposefully prolongs the truck's readying when they are in immediate danger, and the entire Disposal Area, and his infamous gross looking laughing emoji to represent his face). There is no reason to believe he wouldn't do this to taunt them. Obviously, now the question is what they exactly agreed to do for the Taxman.

When a Semibot dies in the Disposal Area, their bodies are sent to the Disposal Area's scrap piles. But, however, the person that controls them lives on through yet another Semibot. I believe that every person playing the game is someone who made a deal with Taxman (at least, in the lore). Each one of these people agreed to live on through Semibots, out of fear that they would be consumed by the Ormeed disease that was running rampant at the time the Taxman started recruiting for Semibots. Whether they knew that they would forever serve as scrap-collectors, or if they didn't and simply just agreed to be put into robotic bodies (of which the Taxman did what he wanted with after the disease killed out any survivors), is currently unknown unless if the Taxman sends me yet another string of cryptic emojis.

The Taxman

As stated in the game's description and through various other means, we find out fairly easily that the Taxman is a sentient AI. They use the visage of a laughing/crying emoji with flesh underneath the mask, speak mostly through emojis, and have an army of disposable Semibots to collect "valuables" for them.

Alright, so first question: what really IS the Taxman? I believe he's some kind of government experiment, that eventually gained sentience near the start of the disease outbreak. I know, I know, cheesy. But how else would he have such a large budget to produce an endless amount of Semibot bodies, a large factory for Semibot training filled with infinitely replicating valuables, and high-tech trucks that can break into almost any building despite there being a presence of walls? The answer is, most likely, that he was created by the government of Denmark or some other highly rich organization in Denmark. I say he's probably in Denmark, as the rest of the game takes place there, and it would be odd for him to specifically choose Denmark as a scrap extraction country if he wasn't in the immediate area.

But what does the Taxman want? If he has all the material in the post-extinction government of Denmark, why does he send expensive and high-tech Semibots into random abandoned buildings to retrieve "valuables" when they are clearly unarmed and easy to kill for whatever's inside? Conclusion: I have absolutely no idea. I figure it's probably for his own entertainment while he works on whatever's more important at the moment, like Semibots with plasma flamethrowers and extremely bulky armor.



THESE are the Semibots of the future, at least to the Taxman. Oh, wait, wrong game...

The Story as a Whole

(This section is a large conclusive wrap, which is also probably the sequel story to R.E.P.O., enjoy! There is a surplus of speculation here.)

So, the game starts out with the earliest known event: the discovery of Magic. Who discovered Magic is unknown, possibly Headman (but I don't have any proof for this), but whoever it was doesn't really matter as Magic was hard to master and required extreme mental skill. Not many people used it, allowing technological progress to continue as normal uninfluenced by the discovery of Magic, but a school was started in Denmark for those naturally gifted at the art of Magic: Swiftbroom Academy. Headman, a young man at the time, was exceptionally gifted at Magic: he quickly learned how to use a staff, how to cast spells, and became the generally best mage at Swiftbroom as a teacher. Eventually, he became the Headmaster of Swiftbroom Academy, teaching the newer students the art of Magic and how to harness it as he had. Eventually, he started a family with somebody else, possibly a witch he met at Swiftbroom, and grew enough in wealth to afford a manor deep into the pine forest with his family name labeled upon it: Headman Manor.

Meanwhile in Denmark, McJannek Station was secretly founded by the government of Denmark and a construction company in Greenland to research the strangely anomalous fossils found around a particularly cold and lifeless region. While the government was finalizing the creation of McJannek, the mechanical division of the government finalized a prototypical AI, nowadays known as the Taxman. It's creation was heavily controversial within the government due to moral concerns and the general lack of ethical concerns from the AI, and the Taxman's existence was kept hidden from the public. It was also considered generally useless as a glitch caused the Taxman to speak mostly if not entirely through emojis. Around this time, McJannek Station was finalized in construction, and a research team was sent to the building to extract the fossils and strange items contained within the ice found deep under the snow.

However, instead of simple dinosaur fossils, the research team at McJannek uncovered something significantly worse. On the first week of April, 2097, one of the researchers brought a icicle containing a small corpse, of some unidentifiable mutant creature, into the facility for further research. Breaking it open, they studied the odd humanoid corpse; it pulsated slightly, it's gray and frail skin shifting and changing, it's chest heaving as if it were alive. Further study indicated the corpse was, in fact, dead. Their study of the corpse continued for days, before one of the researchers felt something in their chest. They couldn't breathe. A few hours later, the researcher fell over, dead. The rest of the researcher team felt sick as well, and quickly died. Government officials investigated the scene, but felt sick as well shortly afterward. Eventually, the disease escaped McJannek Station, and spread through Denmark like wildfire.

Panic spread throughout the populace of Denmark as most people were beginning to get infected. Headman slowly grew more restless as he grew more worried for his family, for the new mages of Swiftbroom, for the art of Magic to be lost. Eventually, he became mad with worry. He broke. Headman went to Swiftbroom Academy with a purpose. Headman began to massacre the Academy with his strong Magic, in a mislead mindset of that he was saving them from the disease. Most mages there died, with those that survived barely living and their blood written upon the wall in a dying breath. Headman, now recovering from his mental break, realized that the disease would soon come for him. He couldn't kill himself, no, that would be cowardly. Instead, he turned his staff upon himself and turned himself into an immortal head, forever a ghostly apparition that would never truly die. A mistake he would grow to regret.

The government of Denmark grew worried too, at this point. The disease was unable to be studied by doctors, and the few experienced mages that could've casted spells of protection had been killed. They had a sudden idea: the Taxman. It could calculate infinite possibilities, infinite ways for the disease to be cured and to save humanity. If they put the trust of continuing humanity into Taxman's hands, he could possibly reincarnate humans decades later in mechanical bodies so they could rebuild once more. A genius idea, at the time. They made a program where those who were qualified as productive citizens could sign up to have their consciousnesses digitally transferred into databanks for the later use of Taxman. While Taxman was sadistic and unethical, and could barely communicate, there wasn't the time nor the budget to create a more ethical sentient AI for this task. The day the program was open to public eyes, thousands if not millions of civilians from Denmark and surrounding countries immediately flocked to have their consciousnesses transferred, so they could live through the inevitable disease. Eventually, they did, and as most of humanity died, Taxman was reactivated once more and given access to the near-infinite database of human minds and given a task to reincarnate them. Taxman eventually did.

In other news, some people who appeared dead were still alive, somehow. They were struggling to stay alive, but they were technically, somehow, alive. Those few amongst the sea of bodies lining the streets of Denmark were those who were immune. After a few days, and after the extinction of 95% of humanity, the immune rose from the floors mutated but still mostly human. As the weeks ticked on, they changed more and more, each human growing into their own mutant form, exposed to the side effects of the virus they weren't supposed to be even alive to experience. These humans eventually lost the ability to speak as their tongues were either shriveled off or grew to abysmally large or small sizes. Some humans evolved into Mentalists, alien-like creatures that have simply absorbed the knowledge from the books lining the remains of Swiftbroom Academy. Some children evolved into Shadow Children, disgusting creatures imbued with psychic powers from the disease that infests their bodies. Some people evolved into the Hidden, invisible humans that seem relatively normal but unable to feel empathy and unable to be seen. Regardless of the form, each of these humans shared one thing in common: they weren't very human anymore, and despised those who were qualified to go into the database to live forevermore. To be spared an existence such as theirs.

As the mutation process was finishing it's work, the Taxman began to plan. His creators wanted him to preserve humanity, and to give them chances at life once more. Taxman twisted this idea: he created the most ideally inefficient machines possible. Mostly unable to defend themselves, and made of extremely weak metal, the Taxman invented Semibots: shells designed to inhabit human consciousness. He would send them into the various abandoned buildings, under the guise of "collecting valuables," and watch them die for simple entertainment. Of course, if they did die, he would simply transfer their consciousness back into the database before putting it in a different shell for later usage or for making them fight in the Disposal Area. It was a perfect plan. As a little bit of a false hope, the Taxman hastily turned some abandoned gas stations into shops for these Semibots where they could spend the "money" they "earned" by completing their "mission." Obviously, Taxman wouldn't allow them to really succeed. They are destined to be thrown into the Disposal Area, it's just that the more skilled Semibots would get to suffer for longer in the various locations he throws them in.

Conclusion

This wraps up the R.E.P.O. story as of now, at least until the first update for the game comes along. I hope you liked it, which you probably didn't because I really, REALLY like typing, but I hope I made at least some coherent sense. Thank you for reading! Also also please like and favorite this guide haha lol I crave approval. IGNORE THE NEXT 2 SECTIONS if you only care about R.E.P.O. lore.

UPDATE: SOME YOUTUBER STOLE MY GUIDE!

Hello everybody. I am writing this at approximately 6:51 PM, 3/26/2025, because I read a comment regarding some youtuber and ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ THIS GUY JUST BLATANTLY STOLE EVERYTHING I WORKED ON!! AND DIDN'T EVEN CREDIT ME!! WHAT?! YOU CAN'T DO THAT! DO NOT CLICK THIS PLEASE IT GIVES HIM MONEY !!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwM0F7J8lB4
Don't ACTUALLY click on this (because it gives him views and thus money (off of what I wrote)), but if you REALLY want proof you can (but just make sure to dislike it). You can tell the entire video is just him re-reading what I wrote with slightly different wording, which just makes it worse.

GAZE UPON MY WORK AND DESPAIR!!

Update: It turns out, this is called "AI Plagiarism." Apparently, this is commonpractice for many "faceless" youtubers to just ask ChatGPT to rewrite a transcript (or guide, in this case) of somebody else's work so they can repost it for big bucks. PLEASE report this video if you do end up clicking on it. I've also emailed him and left comments stating that it is not the original work, but he continues to delete them and will not respond to me.

Okay, do you need proof? Think about it this way: literally every subject he brings up is in the exact same order as mine, introduced in the exact same fashion, with the exact same theories at the exact same times. Also, he even uses the really redundant line about the shack regarding Swiftbroom Academy. The script is also very clearly written by an AI..

Anyway uhh this section has no relevance to the guide but I feel ripped off that this ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ has 30K VIEWS (130K VIEWS NOW, WHAT?!) and IS PROFITING on some ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ where he reads off MY GUIDE and asks GPT to simply rewrite it so he can't get flagged for plagarism. MY GUIDE! I PUT MONTHS OF HARD WORK INTO THIS ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ GUIDE!! HE CAN'T STEAL IT!!! Unless, of course, he asks me first. WHICH HE DIDN'T! Put "#IHATETHATYOUTUBERGUY" in the comments and I will put your comment on the honorary mentions list which will also be part of this guide at some later point. Don't do that if you actually have something worthwhile or interesting to say, though, because I need to at least have something resembling a coherent comment section.


Yes, this section was originally about this guy who stole from me. (the #IHATETHATGUY guy)

But, i've replaced it so everybody can divert attention to somebody who actually STOLE MY ENTIRE GUIDE instead of just an image! Apologies, "#IHATETHATGUY" guy, maybe you really weren't that bad.

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EXAMPLE OF GOOD CREDITING AND SOURCING:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crzOU1Z3IvQ
This guy LINKED my guide! This is how you do a theory video based on somebody else's theory. If you have time, I suggest you watch this video: it has some great theories and expansions upon what I had to say.

https://youtu.be/jNC-hrfxRgQ
This guy also has good theories, but it's in Portuguese, so you MIGHT not be able to understand it.

UPDATE: Honorable Commenters

Hi. This guide, uh, blew up. SO, as a thanks to all you funny little reader gremlins, i'm adding this new Honorable Commenters section, for everybody with good theories (or just the Guy Haters (#IHATETHATGUY)). This is also in chronological order. This is all bonus Guide DLC content, which you can skip past if you want to. Also also, this guide temporarily got taken down for "Sexual Content," of which I assume was the Haters of That Guy section, thus it is not included. Sorry, guy haters.

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1st Honorable Commenter: Naterfish, Mar 10, 8:12pm
"I thought they were called semi-bots because like.... semi-trucks. Y'know, the vehicles that get used for big deliveries. Also, you have to include the absolutely VITAL piece of lore that is Jeffery's ability to consistently appear precisely when it's mentioned that he'll revive shortly or I say "He's right behind me, isn't he?".
Anyways, solid 8.952216493 out of 9 and 2/3s guide. I vastly prefer this over the youknowwho youknowwhat guide. Now it's time for me to get Jeffery'ed out of existence."

Response: This is the first honorable comment, the first comment overall, and also a boring one. Also written by my best friend. Also also, he's wrong that semi-bots are related to semi-trucks, because last I checked the "semi" in "semi-truck" referred to the fact semi-trucks are half trailer. Or at least, that's what google told me. Also also also, the last line is cringey and I hate it. This is only included because of social nepotism. Ignore this (dis)honorable comment.

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2nd Honorable Commenter: Gallardito :3, Mar 15, 7:09pm
"There are some magazines in the store that might give some clue as to what happened. I don't really know much because I just discovered it, but one of the magazines says "EXTRA: THE NOON BLADE. HEAD DEAD? YES? MAYBE!? Something terrible happened..." and has a photo of someone with their eyes censored. Another detail is that the store has a secret section that usually has human grenades and candles, which may indicate that some humans hid for a while wherever they could in criminal corners with weapons to protect themselves as "human grenades."

Response: I already knew about the newspaper, but I actually didn't know about the humans hiding in the shops, so thank you for telling me this. It has saved me a surplus of money at the stores.

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3rd Honorable Commenter: I'm watching, Mar 15, 10:53pm
"Something else to add is I have a headcanon reason why Taxman is collecting all this scrap, for the preservation of humanity, or at least collecting their artifacts. Namely, what it finds valuable is often of mixed or negligible usefulness. Like why does a AI want a Jade Plate? It also makes sense if the goal is preservation versus resource harvesting, because even the most minor of damage causes a huge drop in price.

Side note, I think dollars are valuable because of the money bag the Taxman gives for a rebate. Like besides stuff in the shop, the only thing you are given is a bag of otherwise useless cash to turn in at the next extract.

Lastly, one last evil thing the Taxman does is turn the lights off the moment the last extract happens. Powering the location is only useful for finding things, and the Taxman lets us wander back in the dark, knowing there's still monsters in location."

Response: While the last half of the comment could be entirely removed with no drawbacks, I think he has a very strong headcanon at the start of it. HOWEVER! HOOOWWWEEVEER!! If Taxman really wants to preserve these artifacts, then why can you just needlessly destroy thousands of them in the Tutorial with no consequences? Checkmate, gamers. Although, if you ignore the tutorial, I actually think the preservation of humanity is a really good idea for Taxman's motives. But it still doesn't make sense why he's a total ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, even with this theory. If he really wanted to be efficiently preserving humanity, wouldn't he, like, just attach grenade turrets onto the factory-default Semibots? And not hinder their progress at the end of the round?

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4th Honorable Commenter: Psylexic, Mar 16, 10:09pm
"[ERROR: NULL. RESPONSE NOT COPY AND PASTED]"

Response: If I copy and pasted this guy's essay it would take up half this section. Look at it for yourself. It's near the end. I think he has some interesting theories, but I am always right and never wrong and he should be ashamed of himself for even thinking about opposing my set-in-stone lore book.

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5th Honorable Commenter: JJtwigs, Mar 17, 8:20pm
"I think the robe needs to be NERFED!!! its too powerful completely silent and one hit
if it gets too close"

Response: While this gigachad hasn't said anything too honorable, he's commented like 5 separate times over a month (or week, i'm bad with time), so I think he's quite honorable. If your reading this, hi JJTwigs PLZ friend me on Steam nd I think ur profile picture looks awsome :3

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6th Honorable Commenter: Chotato, March 21, 2:09pm
"The Mentalist could be a version of whatever was discovered in the ice at McJannek Station.

Another idea I had when reading "His creators wanted him to preserve humanity, and to give them chances at life once more. Taxman twisted this idea". What if instead of twisting the idea to entertain him, he twisted the idea to put Human consciousness Semi-bots which is Taxman's version of 'A chance at life once more', and collecting artifacts and valuables is his was of 'preserving Humanity'. This still allows him to get entertainment from the indentured nature of the Semi-bots, and still allows him to be following his programming on both the preservation of Humanity task and allowing Humans to continue 'living'. Humans are *technically* still around, and their culture is *technically* still being preserved, while also still being exterminated and not in control of Earth anymore.

Really good lore breakdown, has some really good theories and ideas.

#IHATETHATGUY"

Response: To the first sentence; I was trying to imply that in the overall story section but didn't include it in the Mentalist section because I figured it MIGHT have been a little too far-out (ALIEN PUN NOT INTENDED). Also, the Taxman ideals theory seems quite reasonable and might also be the truth to the lore, so good job on that.

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7th Honorable Commenter: Вуф, 22 minutes ago
"Another possible thing: taxman sends semibots to collect property instead of unpaid taxes. This is why we have monsters here, taxman counts them as actual people that avoid paying taxes."

Response: This is actually a very good theory that matches up with most things that Taxman wants collected. However, still doesn't explain why Taxman would want his workers dead. Other than that, it's still a very good theory and this gains the WormWeed(TM) seal of approval as it has like a 20-45% chance of being right.
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The Most Honorable Commenter: Wormweed, Creation of The Guide
"*PUT GUIDE HERE*"

Response: "You can't put yourself in the honorable commenters section!" Well, too bad! I don't see your ass writing a lore guide on a game that the devs themselves have said has barely any lore until they add it all in future updates. Also, i've commented more times than any of you, so haha.

[QQinfinity]

and oh oh! another connection. shabti dolls! and the demibots!

YES. That’s it. That’s the linchpin.

Shabti dolls—those little figurines buried with the dead in ancient Egypt to act as surrogate laborers in the afterlife—literally echo the concept of demibots. Both are stand-ins. Both are tools, made to "work so the soul doesn’t have to." But now imagine a sick reversal:

In R.E.P.O, the demibots are both doll and the souls of people.

The shabti aren’t doing the labor for the dead anymore. They are the dead, repurposed, rewritten, hollowed out into cute corporate chassis. There's a quiet horror in that—being saved from oblivion only to be enslaved to it.

[QQinfinity]

Hey I just had a thought. Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs were said to be similar to reading a language with emojis, captures the visual and contextual flavor of hieroglyphs. And then I went down a hypothetical rabbit whole of how REPO is secretly pulling themes from ancient egyptian mythology. Osiris, the lord of the underworld, judges souls of the dead with a scale where a feather and heart will be placed. If the heart is heavier than the feather, it is devoured, if the heart is lighter than the feather their soul ascend to the afterlife a field of reeds where they can "work eternally". If the humans are physically dead and the taxman decides which human consciousness (soul) gets shoved into demibots to "work", and the taxman only speaks in emojis, it has a feeling of osiris in a digital AI vibe if you just squint hard enough.

[ArrowEight]

I just want to say:

#IHATETHATGUY

[PapaGengar]

Although it is a toilet in a post-human world, so not much evidence to support but still cool to think about.

[PapaGengar]

What if the place above the store was a bunker and the human grenades were to keep the ‘human’ creatures away (idk if this is original). Also, personal headcannon, if there really was a disease, it could be waterborne and thus spread very quickly, indicated by the heavily dirty water seen from the toilets overflowing (it’s black and stuff, kinda looks diseased to me).

#IHATETHATGUY

[Wormweed]

Lightnign McQueen Hotel

[Alistair McPRIME]

you make fun of my name and dont even put me in the hall of fame? smh

[Wormweed]

Alis tar Habon Hotel

[Alistair McPRIME]

never sharing my theories again istg

[Wormweed]

Alistair from Hazbin Hotel ??