♦ Livestream of the ZZT world "Nexus III: Future's End" by My Liver Hurtz (2004) [https://museumofzzt.com/file/view/nexus-3/] ♦
♦ Stream Contents ♦
• (5:01) "Nexus III: Future's End" by My Liver Hurtz (2004) [https://museumofzzt.com/file/view/nexus-3/]
The thrilling conclusion! Or at least, the closest thing we're going to get to one.
It begins with the latest K'Ton attack putting humanity in an awkward spot where the frequency used to do time-shenanigans appears lost, with everyone who knew it having been killed. (And nobody wrote it down due to security concerns.) When it turns out that James Concade's ex-wife still knows it, she's forcefully brought in to deliver the code.
Jade, being the coolest character of the series, proceeds to tell them all to fuck off unless they're willing to send her on a one-way trip to K'Ton to attempt to find her former husband who went missing and is presumed captured or dead after a failed mission.
What you get is some heavy action, with the aid a new alien resistance that had plans underway to break out some political prisoners from a prison complex. Everything takes an annoying amount of shots to kill, but there's a bit of variety with the game using spinning guns and sliders to create some survival sequences and little boss fights with large pieces of machinery. It feels a bit like the gameplay clashes with the tone of the game, mixing more of its time serious plotlines with obstacles that wouldn't be all that out of place in very early ZZT worlds.
The game then takes us to James, still alive in his cell trying to escape as today is the date of his execution. A creative droid fight requiring players to bounce enemy shots off ricochets to attack allows James to make his escape, meeting up with Jade. The two have an interesting dynamic where Jade is still in love, while James has no real interest in repairing the relationship. By the standards of ZZT relationships, this one ain't half bad in terms of believability.
An escape via ship through an asteroid belt ensues, and eventually the rebels prepare an attack on their own to stop the K'Ton from using the Tamarra device to cause Earth's sun to go supernova. James and Jade have a run in with a K'Ton general, Jade is unceremoniously killed off in an unintentionally comedic fashion, and James is unable to stop the device from activating.
We get a very cool explosion showing the Earth's demise, and then a cut to credits, asking players to keep an eye out for Nexus IV, a game which was never released.
The series as a whole shows My Liver Hurtz's skills developing in real-time, and this 3rd game, save for enemies having a bit too much health, is by far the most compelling, good looking, and fun to play. It's a shame the series stopped abruptly, as this was shaping up to be a sci-fi series that could stand alongside works like Chrono Wars and Operation: GAMMA VELORUM. Oh well, everyone's dead forever I guess.
♦ Play this world directly in your browser ♦
• https://museumofzzt.com/file/play/nexus-3/
♦ Originally streamed on March 21st, 2025 ♦
