Hello, remaining Boxlings. Trace here with a crucial but saddening announcement, as we as a mod team have come to a decision that finally seems to be due.

At the end of September, The Box will be closing as a game.

Our playerbase has steadily dwindled and our efforts to restore plot and stability to the game, as much as we hate to admit it, feel a bit like giving CPR to a game that has already flatlined. This likely won't come as a shock to many, but to those who sincerely expected Box to pull through, we're incredibly sorry to disappoint. In fact, for those who've stuck it out this long despite all difficulties, know how much we appreciate your effort and your faith in our attempts to salvage what's left of the game, and understand that this decision isn't because of anything you as a playerbase did wrong.

In fact, we'd like to take a minute right now to apologize to all of the players, current and past, who put time and effort into playing here and who were let down by the last few months here in Box. I personally would like to take the vast majority of the responsibility for where things went wrong, ranging from issues of timing to taking on too much and not communicating enough of that with the rest of the team so that they too could put their efforts into keeping Box happy and healthy. My team tried on a number of occasions to do so much more to salve the Box's metaphorical gut-wound but I didn't give them the opportunity. Those were just a couple of the laundry-list of failings our players have had to deal with in the last couple of months, and we both apologize for this and, again, appreciate how patient with us you guys tried to be.

But know this: The world we've built for almost precisely two full years now goes out with a bang, not a whisper. In fact, we've developed two semi-thorough endgame plots for just this occasion, and which we'll integrate into endgame canon rests in your hands.

In either case, the Technicians come to the ironic realization that their methods are unsustainable so long as they continue to be humane. For all that they looked down on the Eastern Facility's cruelty, they sustained a largely-populated captivity zone far longer than the Western Facility's short two-month record so far. And now, the Ones Who Wait Below are coming.

In the Good End, the Technicians resign themselves to the reality of the situation and, in one last attempt at mercy, recall all individuals to make the entirely-voluntary (but strongly advised) journey down into the facility in order to be safely transported back to their individual worlds. They can't take anything with them, nor will they likely remember their time here - but at the very least this is what they wanted, was it not? In this route, characters have the agency to say their goodbyes to those they love and to return home on their own terms.

In the Bad End... well. The Technicians, in a panic, do their best to try and salvage the situation, sending monsters and mayhem in to kill victim after victim despite the building earthquake and rising tides. Those who find somewhere safe to wait it out with those they love won't be waiting for long. Those Who Wait Below will claim this land soon... (Though this end isn't entirely bad, as a small handful of Technicians automated some of their more advanced machinery to collect what souls it can and send them back to their worlds even if every living being in the Facility is dead.)

There will be a top-level below for voting. Please include GOOD END or BAD END in your subject line! The game will close officially on the 30th of September, with endgame events beginning with the blood moon on the 28th. There will be a run-down post of whichever option is selected on Wednesday the 23rd, and for those who might wish to participate, September's events will continue as planned in the meantime just to at the very least deliver on what we started.

Thanks for reading, and remember, this isn't 'goodbye' quite yet. Our official farewell will come with the endgame write-up, so keep a look out for that.