Ingress is a pretty rad game – it gets you outside, active and exploring the world around you. It also gives you the chance to meet new people if you’re into that kind of thing, and if you play Ingress, you’re part of a pretty exclusive club, since the game is still in closed beta stage. I’m not a terribly active player, largely because I got confused by the colours and chose the wrong faction by mistake, but I’m very into how mysterious the story behind the game is. Google (or, rather Niantic Labs) haven’t really published a lot of the back story to the game – the initial briefing is one sentence, followed by some instructions:
The primary goal of the game is defend the takeover of the human race by an unknown “Shaper” force or, depending on your perspective, to assist in an “Enlightenment” of mankind through an alliance with the Shapers.
Players of the game are split into two factions – the Enlightened, and the Resistance. Not knowing much about the mysterious portals and the Shapers who apparently control them, your faction choice is kind of a reflection of yourself – do you fear the unknown and want to hold onto a traditional definition of humanity; or do you think that new and exciting things worth embracing and exploring?
In an attempt to fill out the game’s mythology, Niantic have teamed up with New York Times bestselling author, Thomas Greanias, to release The Alignment: Ingress, the first in a series of Ingress tie-in novels. The Alignment: Ingress follows archaeologists Conrad Yeats and Serena Serghetti as they team up with ‘exotic matter tracker’, Hank Johnson to uncover the secret behind King Solomon’s gold. Of course, they unleash a horrible, horrible curse which has the potential to destroy the world, but manage to stop it just in time. Hopefully in their adventures, they discover some of the secrets of the Ingress portals, revealing some of the back story to the game.
I’ll probably add The Alignment to my reading pile because I love sci-fi, explorers and intrigue, so hopefully the book doesn’t disappoint. There’s a free preview available from the Play Store, which you can read on any device with Google Books, or even in your web browser. If you read it, let us know in the comments what you thought.
