01

01 (stylized as ZERΩ ƱNE, read ZERO ONE) is a biopunk-themed open world action-adventure video game developed and published by Ubisoft. It is released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

The game is set in the city of San Diego, California, where a gene-altering mutagen which is also known as nil, is let loose by accident due to careless safety procedures in an underground California state laboratory. When it breaks free from its underground prison, onto the surface of San Diego, the city is heavily fortified and isolated from the rest of the state of California. Everyone is instructed not to leave the city until the 'infection' has been contained. Anyone attempting to flee the city or enter it by going through the SD Buffer Zone unauthorized is executed by the now more heavily armored San Diego Police Department or the most heavily armored federal agents.

At the center of it rises the main protagonist Zacharie 'Zak' Randolph, whose father is kidnapped and mother and sister are slaughtered by Nigel 'Nihil' Zilch's henchmen. Nigel Zilch, the main antagonist of 01, is a genetic engineer who was responsible for the nil outbreak and was ordered by the United States government to find a cytotoxin for cancer cells, an assignment which he chose to drop after he had discovered nil. Zak encounters a mysterious private investigator Li Singh, who tells Zak that he pursues Zilch too for his own reasons and will offer any help that is needed in finding him. He promises Zak to help him find Zilch and his father and then takes Zak into a dark alley where he injects him with nil, giving him superhuman strength, defense and agility.

Through the course of the game, Zak will encounter masses of nil-infected people who have turned into different kinds of monsters with various abilities known as 'nihils'. As Zak defeats them and collects their nil, he will eventually level up and use the gained nil to purchase new abilities that affect his combat skills, supportive attributes such as health, defense and energy and maneuverability. Over time, Zak will face even stronger nihils and even artificial people who have nil flowing through their veins but have still retained their human form. They are known as 'archetypes' and there are 25 in total of them. They were created by Zilch partly to ensure Zak wouldn't reach his father, to search for a cure for nil and to serve their creator as his own private army of superhuman soldiers.

01 features a rather large open world environment of the fortified San Diego and quite flexible and non-linear gameplay in the form of side quests and harvesting nil from enemies to gain a numerous amount of new abilities, let alone upgrades for previous ones. Side quests produce a reward in a big or large sum of nil depending on the nature, difficulty and length of the mission. Stronger nihils and archetypes yield more nil when defeated (with archetypes usually yielding also new genetic weapons to use by Zak), while killing uninfected civilians, SDPD officers and federal agents and destroying machines other than nil-powered one's yields no nil to harvest at all.

Nigel Zilch discovers nil
The story in an underground genetic laboratory in San Diego, California, a very successful genetic engineer Nigel Zilch had been assigned by the US government to create a potent genetic cytotoxin that would annihilate only mutated cancer cells and leave healthy cells alone. Zilch was unsure if the task would even be possible without needing to tweak with the DNA of human test subjects, but decided to try and extract the needed DNA code for the toxin from rats instead. He never found the needed toxin to kill only cancer cells, but found entirely something else instead from cancer-infected test subjects of his. Zilch found a curious anomaly in the mutated genetic code that seemed to, when injected to already dead test subjects, cause them to show signs of life such as respiration and bloodstream restarting and raise them from the dead.

Zilch has always been fascinated by the concept of artificial life, but this breakthrough made him drop his assignment and focus on searching the genetic anomaly. He found it had more and more curious effects on the rats he tested the mutated DNA on: it caused some new kind of cancer tissue to form around the rats' brains, that would heighten and shift the creatures' attention almost entirely on survival, significantly lowering their intelligence. It spare all of brain's vital functions, however. The emphasis on survival is massive; all of the infected rats could resort to cannibalism were there no other source for nutrition available. The test subjects' behavior resembled the behavior of creatures that would be generally considered as 'living dead' or 'zombies'. Another effects were the test subjects turning omnivorous and the eternal life of the test subjects, which is understandable since cancer cells can divide without any limits.

Creation of the first archetype
Zilch was determined in finding a strain of the genetic code that doesn't distort the mental state of the test subjects. A success would mean it would be safe to test it on people to see its effects. He found the strain from a rat whose behavior didn't change after the injection of the anomalous DNA. However, it gained very severe deformations on its body which enhanced the rat's abilities to gather food and fight back at its natural enemies, like for example harder teeth and fangs, sharper claws and enhanced agility. Zilch thought this to be one of the hugest medical discoveries on Earth and decided to keep his little side project a secret to his colleagues and superiors. He chose to call the new strain 'nil'.

The next move Zilch did was theft of a corpse of an adult Asian male that was kept in circumstances which prevented its decomposition. He injected the body with the new strain or 'nil' as he called it, and it restarted the vital functions of the dead body and finally rebooted its mind, causing him to wake up from his long slumber and Zilch jump in excitement. His first words for a long time were "I'm hungry" and Zilch promised him a steady food supply as long as he agreed to work as his lab assistant. Zilch found the dead man to have developed a strong loyalty towards his creator, and chose to call him an archetype as he did indeed have an archetype of a servant. Zilch named him 'Type Digamma' or just 'Digamma'.

The nil breakout and the 24 archetypes
Zilch planned to keep the old strain of nil safely detained in an extra-cold storeroom with a temperature of approximately 73 kelvins and take the new strain with him. He planned to present it to the US government as a new formula that would raise fallen soldiers from the dead. However, when he placed the glass jar that contained the old strain on a conveyor belt to be delivered to the storage, it had a power failure and the jar dropped onto the floor and broke, unleashing a nil pandemic inside the underground lab. Zilch gasped and dropped the vial containing the new strain causing both the old and new strains infecting each other, and creating Nihil, the primary antagonist of the game. He blacked out while Digamma chose to break the bond between him and Zilch and escaped with few survivors that were left. After successfully escaping the lab, Digamma chose to abandon his old name, life, creator and job as a lab assistant and started working as a private investigator for hire after changing his name to 'Li Singh'.

After coming to, Zilch's personality had changed entirely after the accident. The old strain of nil had given him superhuman strength, defense and agility and heightened his survival instinct to the point where he stopped feeling any compassion towards other people, whilst the new strain had prevented his intelligence from lowering into the level of an animal. It had also deformed his torso into sprouting numerous mechanical tentacles with claws at their tips and his left hand into a curious sword which blade opens sideways like a scissor, with another sword formed plumb in it so that the 'hilt' and the four scissor blades of the weapon form an X. He fights off few of his ex-colleagues which have turned into nihils and his superior, which had turned into a 'Fredger', a stronger anthropomorphic nihil with its fingers been replaced by knife blades. Zilch rips its body apart and opens the sealed vault door that leads to the surface of Earth, effectively causing the nil breakout in the process.

After the long climb back up to the surface of Earth due to the service elevators being out of service, Zilch notices that the effects of the nil had already started with people turning into zombies of some sort and various other kinds of monsters. He realizes that soon there won't be any more uninfected specimens for him to experiment on, so he makes haste on collecting uninfected people which he finds suitable for his tests and creates a small army of 24 archetypes from Type Alpha to Type Omega. Zilch finds it hard to create any more archetypes due to the lack of a raw new strain of nil and sends his archetypes on the job to find a new strain by extracting some of their DNA.

Kidnapping of Manfredo Randolph
After finding out that there are other archetypes on a rampage besides himself, Li Singh stored a vial of new strain nil in a safe under his bed. He had nothing to worry about though, since Type Omega had already traced a desired new strain to a selected few people: the Randolph family. Zilch ordered Type Omega to take Types Psi and Khi with him, kidnap the head of the family, Manfredo Randolph, and wipe out the rest. The archetypes broke into their apartment and while Khi and Psi held Manfredo down Omega slaughtered his wife and daughter. However, Zak managed to escape by jumping down from a third floor window, landing quite softly on an awning and running away.

Soon after that Zak ran into detective Li Singh and he told him that mutated monsters working under someone named Zilch broke into his family's apartment, kidnapped his father and slaughtered his mother and sister. As soon as Singh heard the name Zilch he started suspecting that his old master and creator might still be not only alive but also commanding an army of archetypes. He promises to help Zak find his father and Zilch for the sole reason of meeting with his creator again and seeing if he still cares for his very first archetype.

Erasmus Brody and Type Upsilon
While Zak and Singh are chasing the three archetypes that kidnapped father Randolph, they are pulled inside an apartment building by a man in workout clothes. He introduces himself as Erasmus Brody, a local politician of kiwi origin. He warns Zak that not only are the archetypes looking for him, but so is SDPD as well as the federal agents. The reason for their manhunt to be aimed at Zak is because of his now virulent nature. However, Brody states that he himself doesn't believe Zak to be the cause for the virus and promises that he won't reveal Zak to the police. Brody gives Zak and Singh a lead towards Nigel Zilch, saying that his archetypes search their specimens from hard-accessible isolated neighborhoods of San Diego that the SDPD has 'cleansed' of nil. Zak assures Brody that he can enter an area with little effort using his shapeshifting ability.

Upon entering the closed neighborhood with Li Singh, since fortunately SDPD is only on lookout for Zak, both Singh and Zak observe the area but it's nigh impossible to find an archetype among the uninfected people. They wander around aimlessly until they spot a man observing the area from a rooftop. They give chase, but the man spots them and throws two butterfly knives at them in an attempt to kill them. Zak dodges the first knife and Singh shoots at the man with his Colt Anacondas, managing to land a hit on his shoulder. The man slips and falls, but he gets up fast and challenges Zak and Singh. After defeating the mysterious man, he is revealed to be Type Upsilon, one of Zilch's archetypes.

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Zak Randolph
“How many nil-infected genitalia do I have castrate until your precious sexually transmitted disease dies out?”
 * –Zak berating nil and Zilch

Zacharie Manfredo Nicholas 'Zak' Randolph is an African American post-pubescent college sophomore, whose father, Manfredo Randolph, is kidnapped and mother and sister are brutally murdered by Nigel Zilch's archetypes. He is the main protagonist and a controllable character in 01. He seeks revenge first on the archetypes and most notably Type Omega until he realizes who their creator, Nigel Zilch, is. After that he strives to annihilate Zilch completely with the help of Li Singh and a syringeful of nil.

Zak's powers are the superhuman strength, defense and agility which every archetype obtains after he had his nil injected to himself. Zak has also the ability to harvest nil from most of his enemies along with their weapons and abilities. Zak is the only nil-infected person who is able to shift his own shape to resemble civilians, SDPD officers, federal agents and scientists he murders after consuming their own DNA.

Father Randolph
Father Manfredo 'Man' Randolph is an African American pastor and Zak Randolph's father. Nigel Zilch's archetypes kidnap him for his DNA strain, which could be a potent source for new strain nil. He is known for answering every other question with a passage from the Holy Bible. Due to the new strain resting in his genetic code, he is immune to the effects of nil, be it of the old or new strain. He is shot reluctantly by his own son Zak so that Zilch would lose his new strain of nil.

Nigel Zilch/Erasmus Brody
''“I am Alpha. The beginning. Not the hellish creation you just fought known as Type Alpha. I am the true Nigel Zilch before the infection, and as it turns out, I am immune to nil.”''
 * –Erasmus Brody confessing his true identity to Zak

Nigel Zilch is a kiwi genetic engineer, who discovered nil, a substance that seemed to raise corpses from the dead and enhance them with genetic deformations and heightened survival instinct through boosted physical strength, defense and agility. He is immune to the mutating effects of nil and various other mutagens, and even natural mutations. His creations are Type Digamma and Nihil, with the latter being created unintentionally due to an accidental mixing of old and new strains of nil at the underground lab.

After seeing the various incidents caused by the nil outbreak and having learnt about Nihil taking his name, Nigel Zilch chose to change his name into Erasmus Brody and stay in hiding for some time. Eventually he encounters Zak Randolph and aids him in his quest to find his father and destroy Nihil.

Nihil
''“I am alpha and omega, Zak! This world was born by my hand, so it shall die by my hand!”''
 * –Nihil to Zak

Nihil is the main antagonist of 01 and fully responsible for the nil outbreak. He created all 25 archetypes: one at the underground lab before the outbreak, and 24 others after the outbreak. He is cruel, sadistic and selfish megalomaniac who likes to watch people other than himself to suffer. Nihil was born by accident when Nigel Zilch accidentally mixed together the old and new strains of nil at the underground lab. After gaining consciousness, he picks up Nigel Zilch's name tag next to him, thinking it is his and takes his creators name.

Nihil's powers are his superhuman strength, defense and agility which every archetype obtains after the accident back at the underground lab. His survival instinct has been heightened to a point where one loses the ability to feel any compassion and empathy towards other people. Nihil's signature weapon is his left hand's X-Scissor Blade, which he uses to stab people and tear their bodies apart. Nihil has also numerous mechanical claw tentacles emerged from his torso.

Li Singh
''“I am you... times two.”''
 * –Singh after defeating Type Gamma

Li Singh is an Asian private investigator who was Nigel Zilch's very first archetype. He chose to leave behind his past as Nigel Zilch's creation and lab assistant alongside his name 'Type Digamma' after escaping the underground lab during the nil breakout. He still holds deep loyalty towards Zilch even after abandoning him, which is manifested through the offer in helping Zak to find Zilch. He injects Zak with nil to help him fight back his enemies, especially stronger nihils and the archetypes. He has the archetype of a servant and wields two Colt Anaconda revolvers.

Type Omega
''“There are three R:s that I seem to lack completely: regret, remorse and reason. There are also three R:s that you seem to hold dearly: resistance, revolution and rebellion. There are also three R:s that I have been told to dispose of, and the third 'R' is still on the run!”''
 * –Type Omega to Zak

Type Omega is Nigel Zilch's most recently created and trusted archetype. He is responsible for the deaths of Zak's mother and sister, so he battles Zak the most of all archetypes. His body is torn into pieces by Li Singh near the end of the game.