In Simulation – 1988, the world is not just a metaphor. It is literally a constructed environment. The inhabitants know they’re inside a simulation, but that knowledge doesn’t give them control. It only deepens the unease.
Key aspects of the simulation:
– it is run by an unseen system
– it was not built to glitch this way
– it loops people through 1988 from a future year
– it resets bodies but not memory
The simulation is both a setting and a form of captivity.
The glitch is the event that breaks the original rules and traps everyone in the repeating loop. Instead of progressing through a stable reality, inhabitants are:
– thrown from their original time (2057) back into 1988
– forced into new bodies each day
The glitch transforms the simulation from an experiment into a prison.
One of the most important mechanics is the daily body change. Every 24 hours:
– a person slips out of one body
– wakes up in another
– keeps their memories
This includes changes in:
– age
– gender
– health
The lore assumes the system is reassigning “hosts” programmatically, but something has gone wrong. People are shuffled like data instead of being allowed to live out a stable run.
While bodies are unstable, geography is more consistent. The world of 1988, its roads, towns, and landmarks remain fixed. This contrast makes locations feel sacred.
Places like:
– the Corn Palace
– small motels
– Ben’s hometown of Rockport
…are used as meeting points and emotional anchors. The lore treats physical locations as the closest thing to permanence the characters can get.
Inside the simulation, people react differently to the loop:
– some form alliances
– some exploit the instability
– some retreat into denial
– some, like Keith, become threats
Over time, informal groups, rumors, and unspoken rules take shape. The lore suggests an evolving social ecosystem adapting to a broken system.
Keith’s presence is part of the world’s lore as much as the system’s. His pattern of violence and his reputation travel ahead of him, even when no one knows which body he’s in that day.
In the background of the world:
– stories circulate about “someone” killing hosts
– fear becomes part of the routine
The simulation is dangerous not only because of the glitch, but because of what the glitch does to people.
John is a rare link between the inside and the outside. He is “patched in,” connected to the controllers who monitor and manipulate the simulation.
The lore around John includes:
– encrypted communication
– partial access to system functions
– orders he doesn’t fully trust
– a sense that the people running things aren’t as in control as they pretend
Through him, the story hints at a larger infrastructure behind the broken environment, without fully revealing it.
The lore of Simulation – 1988 intentionally leaves some questions open:
– Who truly benefits from keeping the simulation running this way?
– How much of the glitch is accident, and how much is neglect?
– What would “shutting it down” actually mean for the people trapped inside?
The world is designed to feel bigger than the story we see on the page, suggesting more systems, motives, and histories that the characters can feel but not fully map.
That uncertainty is part of the lore itself: a reminder that living inside a constructed world means never being fully sure who wrote the code—or why.
