Inherit the Earth: Quest for the Orb

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Rif, the main protagonist, with his Distressed Damsel, Rhene.

Inherit the Earth: Quest for the Orb is an point-and-click adventure game created under The Dreamers Guild during the early nineties and re-released under Wyrmkeep Entertainment.

Following the apparent disappearance of humanity, the world has been inhabited and civilized by anthropomorphized creatures descended from experimental animals endowed with self-awareness by mankind.

The major plot of the game involves the false accusation of Rif, a member of the Fox Tribe, of stealing the Orb of Storms, an ancient human artifact once used to forecast the weather and control it. Holding his girlfriend Rhene hostage as an incentive, his accusers task him with retrieving the Orb in order to clear his name. He embarks upon his quest with two helpers and watchers - Okk, the boar, and Eeah, the elk - engaging in various quests and trials of intrigue along the way.

An online webcomic strip based upon events occurring after the conclusion of the game may be found on the official Inherit the Earth website.

Tropes used in Inherit the Earth: Quest for the Orb include:
  • After the End: The humans are gone, and the animals are left to wonder why.
  • Animal Testing: An unusually positive example through which the animals gained sentience, speech, and opposable thumbs.
  • Call a Rabbit a Smeerp: The morphs' names for our leftover technology. A telescope is a lightcatcher, for example.
  • Damsel in Distress: Rhene is held hostage by the Boar Tribe as an incentive for the protagonist to retrieve the Orb of Storms.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Riff in spades. Goes along with being a fox, I suppose. It gets him in trouble often.

Wildcat Guard: "Halt! Stand where you are."
Riff: "That should be easy enough, where else can I stand?"

  • Funny Animal/Humanoid Animals: Everyone in the game.
  • Furry Fandom: It shouldn't be a surprise that Furries lapped this game up.
  • Humanity's Wake: It appears that the human race was wiped out by a plague, leaving their Morph creations behind.
  • Lost Technology: Hydroelectric dams are definitely an odd backdrop for a Low Fantasy society...
  • MacGuffin: The Orb of Storms, and how.
  • Multinational Team: The team consists of a fox, a boar and an elk.
  • Running Gag: If you talk to Eeah and Okk along the way, they will comment on the current situation. If Eeah likes the area, Okk will inevitably hate it. Also, Eeah often tries to get people to cooperate by mentioning that he's a soldier of the Forest King. It never works.
  • Schizo-Tech: All over the place, though not as bad as some examples. Most of the Civilized Lands seem to be at a medieval tech level with leftover pieces of human technology they don't really understand. The Wild Lands and the Northern Island are closer to the tribal level, but with more semi-intact human ruins.
  • Sequel Hook: The Orb of Storms is lost and is set to create a dry spell, as soon as it receives further input. However, the creators of the game couldn't get the rights to create a sequel.
  • Uplifted Animal: It's implied that the animals were made intelligent through genetic engineering, before humans disappeared.
  • Who's on First?: Riff needs a distraction to get by a guard. Hilarity Ensues.[1]