Oh yeah about the whole theme thing, this game's concept wasn't actually based around the theme but rather an idea that I wanted to execute for at least half a year
...And the idea happened to be incompatible with the theme 😅
Anyway, the plot of the {STATIC} saga games isn't very well fleshed out I admit, but I did want to create an explanation for everything.
There was supposed to be a "limbo" of sort which would be a hub world for NPC dialogue and their lore drops. I have made the map itself 2 months prior, but I couldn't implement it in any way.
Essentially, {STATIC} - The first game in the saga, was set in an infinite loop of killing enemies that you were breaking out of, you kill STATIC in the end (the TV-headed mech in this game's intro) and put an end to the endless cycle. {TIME-STATIC} takes place briefly after that.
The ruined city is the aftermath of the ending of "The Driver Never Forgets" (TDNF) from February's Brackeys Jam, which has a Serafim looking eldritch being chasing you as it wreaks havoc in the city.
The city isn't necessarily real, but a product of "some greater illusion". Before the aftermath, it was a functioning city - The previously mentioned limbo was supposed to have shops and NPCs based on the shops seen in TDNF - The mechanic I had in mind is that their souls are lost in the ruins and you have to take them to the limbo, piecing together an explanation.
The "Digital Worlds" (or DW) are in the same plane as {STATIC}'s arena (which even reappears in this game), the only difference is that you can travel in and out of them instead of keeping you trapped.
The keys scattered around are the key to breaking out of the illusion entirely and killing the vessel of it in the final boss fight, before revealing what the illusion actually is and realizing that you've been screwed over.
That's it for my convoluted lore drop. Thanks for taking time to play and review my game!