They rose from the ocean depths, and we built skyscraper-tall mechanised suits to drive them back.

Now I stand upon a foreign shore, the only sound the roar of fans and monstrous heatsinks as the marvel of engineering wrapped around my fragile frame dumps the kinetic hangover of our high-speed descent.

Seismics detected a new threat crawling from the ridgeline, and now the adrenaline’s flowing.

Maybe this time I can make a difference.

Unfortunately, the impending apocalypse cares little for a protracted software development lifecycle.

The beast emits a strident ululation as its sheer bulk births a tsunami, and as I brace for impact the controls stutter and glitch. Shit; driver issues again, at the worst possible time.

My opponent barrels forward as I pull at panels, cut power and begin the hardest of reboots.

We hit the beach in a tangle of robotic limbs and eldritch tentacles.

The suit’s dampeners shriek in uninitialised fury and I pray to the OS in all its beneficence. The screens blink back on, drenching me in blue. Boot-up takes forever as the wailing thing pummels me with sodden blows.

Then the hydraulics engage. I grasp a tentacle in my polycarbonate fist and crush its pressure-weakened flesh.

This fight ain’t over yet.