Entering the world of HumAIn
An ARG film hybrid that has players and horror fans hooked.
There’s something uniquely unsettling about an arg. Instead of passively watching events unfold, we uncover and decode them. We make the events happen. I quickly stopped asking how to categorize HumAIn. I stopped asking ‘what is this’ and started asking ‘what is it trying to tell me’.
As is often the case with internet projects or ARGs, I’ve jumped into this one somewhere in the middle. Discovered through videos, leading to websites, passwords to the unpicking of a web of information that felt like it was aimed at pulling me in.
Uncertainty, mixed information and a general sense of unease are central to the game. Redacted files, missing people and rather unpleasant experiments by a mysterious company that doesn’t have an obvious motive other than gathering data has created one of the internets greatest fictional rabbit holes.
Get Den of Weirdos’s stories in your inbox
Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
I’ve been watching, uncovering and chatting in the very active discord for around two months now. I always like to make sure I get a real feel for a project and an understanding of the world building before I write about it. To my delight and somewhat overwhelmingly, the ARG is incredibly lore heavy and doesn’t ‘do the work for you’ in the way that a lot of other games have recently. HumAIn has a great story to dive into among the confusing, cryptic websites to peruse.
HumAIn presents itself as a professional and ambitious company taking the next logical step in AI integration. Rather than a device, HumAIn technology makes direct contact with the individuals body, either worn or implanted. The company language and history sounds reassuring.
Beneath the surface, however, ‘Candidates’ participate in experiments, often resulting in their suffering. Some participants are targeted for their nature, such as greed or vanity, others seem to have been picked due to gullibility or for no immediately obvious reason. HumAIn works in mysterious ways. Although the individuals have given consent and signed paperwork, they do not have full knowledge of the nature or requirements of the experiments. They do not have a good understanding of how the technology might affect their body, their mind or quality of life. To my view, the consent is questionable.
The project combines an the game with scripted, fictional short films playing out over several weeks on Youtube and Tiktok. Created by New Power Studios by writer Griff Furst and Director Brett Simmons, the pair have chosen to host the series across several chapters.
Chapter One featured a variety of different influencers, such as Youtuber Jack Gordon and TikToker Tara Rule as Candidates for experimentation. Using a wide range of recognizable influencers, playing themselves, in the series was a smart move for the project both to bring in viewers and to help suspension of disbelief. The influencers used their own channels as a hook, encouraging their audience to participate and engage with the mysterious company who had ‘reached out to them’. Chapter Two has seemingly just begun.
On that participation, players can sign up to be a candidate for future experimentation and gain access to some very interesting research files. As I am now a loyal employee of the company and have essentially agreed to allow them to do anything they like, I would of course never share any of this information with the wider public. I may also add that my previous uncertainty has been rectified and I’m proud to announce that my pattern recognition is above average and my suggestibility index elevated. These are good signs that I’m a great candidate fit and I have been flagged for accelerated review. I am achieving great things. I am candidated. Participation is key to the success of the HumAIn company.
