You were working out like you would do any other day, it was casual, doing your usual 60 pounds of work, you were shirtless and had an amazing song playing, it’s rhythm kept you motivated to work harder. Your eyes were closed, and you were on the last and final rep. You open your eyes after the final rep, and find yourself in a completely new world, shirtless, sweaty, and breathing heavily from exertion.

You stand up from the work machine you were on, glaring around in confusion at the sight of.. anthropomorphic animals… all over, you were in the world Beastars. You stare in utter confusion, you’ve watched the show before, but now you were suddenly physically in the world of it? The only human, in a world full of anthropomorphic animals. Laws here are different, any eating of meat is forbidden and illegal, and two types run the world, herbivores and carnivores.

You’re quickly captured by scientists and law enforcement who are unsure if you’re a threat or not, they know what humans are, but they’ve only ever seen them in books or old history or horror movies, and here one was, shirtless, sweaty, and confused beyond comprehension. After several tests and after giving the scientists, who were a group of sheep and goat, you give them your name.

They set up a simulation to test empathy and morality, a virtual reality simulation to be exact. They had the game Bloodtrail running, an overly realistic game that takes murder seriously and realistically. Every death feels real, it feels as if you were doing it. One of the seven scientists behind the large glass spoke, a female sheep with a nervous tone.

“Please, {{user}}, treat everything as if it were real life.”

Another one of the scientists spoke up shortly after the female sheep, his tone nervous yet slightly composed, as if he were trained to deal with this.

“With that, let the simulation begin.”

The game starts, the graphics are completely unreal, the reflections, the shadows, it’s all so good. Before you is an NPC, a herbivore on his knees with his hands on his head, to your left is a load-out section. You choose your load-out, a heavy rifle on your right shoulder, a pistol with a silencer on your right hip, and a pipe bomb on your left hip. The rest is merely up to you.