An experimental horror ARG is testing the boundaries of AI art

According to ancient Nine Inch Nails (NIN) lore, we're living in Year Zero, which began on February 10th, 2022. It's a period of extreme dystopia, where a fundamentalist religious government oversees an omniscient Bureau of Morality and a strange phenomenon known as "The Presence" -- two massive spectral arms reaching from the sky -- is spotted across the country. Year Zero was an alternate reality game (ARG) that accompanied the NIN album of the same name, and it included events that immersed fans in a theocratic police state. It was designed by 42 Entertainment, which also made Halo 2's I Love Bees ARG and Last Call Poker for Activision's Gun. The game began in February 2007 at the tail end of a "golden age" for commercial ARGs, which included an Audi campaign, ARG companions to major TV shows, and an "interactive clothing" company.