Set in the near future, climate change has wrecked the planet, and a man-made extinction event has rendered Earth unsustainable for human life.

In order to survive this catastrophic collapse, a coalition formed from the world’s governments invite people to carry out aptitude tests, resulting in only a few thousand ‘descendants of humanity’ hand-picked to survive the apocalypse, cryogenically suspended in underground bunkers known as Arks until the world recovers from the impending nuclear holocaust. When news breaks of what the coalition intend to achieve, people flock to the government’s tests with demand for sanctuary far outweighing the spaces available. Only a few are selected -- those with certain undisclosed traits. Why were they chosen? What genetic qualities was the government looking for in these individuals to reseed the planet?

While the descendants sleep through the apocalypse, teams of janitors aren’t quite so lucky – their life underground spent ensuring that each of the Arks, scattered across the world, are carefully maintained so that one day, their precious cargo may wake from its slumber to repopulate the Earth, and build the new world envisioned by the coalition. Centuries pass. Earth becomes habitable again. The descendants are awakened and begin climbing out of storage — except one, Ark-01.

Players awake to explore the dangerous Ark-01 facility, both in the past, immediately after the outbreak of the ecological disaster, and in the present time of the world, seeking any survivors while unraveling a mysterious conspiracy in the process. What do the descendants do next? How do they restart, and "Was humanity worth saving?"

Written by experienced games writer Giles Armstrong (a member of both BAFTA and the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain, whose credits include Velocity 2X, Here Be Monsters, and the Buzz! series) The Descendant features two intertwining narratives. In the past you’ll play as Mia, an Ark janitor tasked with keeping the precious descendants housed inside Ark-01 alive, while in the present you’ll play as Donnie, one of the investigators trying to rescue any survivors who may still be trapped within the facility.

The first of five episodes of The Descendant will be available on Steam starting March 24 for $3.99 USD. An “Exclusive Season 1 Bundle” priced $14.99 USD is available now from the game’s official website until 48 hours before the first episode releases. This pre-launch bundle includes all five episodes of the game (with episodes 2 -5 to be released over the course of 2016), grants players 48-hours early access to each episode, and features a full game Soundtrack, a Digital Poster and a Digital Art Book.