Free museum account with username and password. Museum content is in Spanish. The browser game is an alpha; other platforms remain in development.
Follow the trace
25free museums
959exhibit records
25volumes in the project
1playable alpha
Available now · free museum account
Look closer. Follow another life.
Enlarge each image, read the evidence and visit the other side of a character relationship. Your opened records are saved to your account, with recommendations for what to discover next.
Find your contextRegional preludes and maps through time.
Meet the evidencePeople, treasures, culture and beliefs with sources.
Keep the connectionSaved visits and a path back to each museum.
Earth's signal
A letter still travelling
On 16 November 1974, the Arecibo radio telescope sent 1,679 ones and zeroes towards the stars. It was not a conversation and it did not carry Earth's name. It was a great radio letter: a simple image and an enormous hope.
An Avenyth beacon detects the trace left by that transmission in space-time. The human signal does not travel faster than light; the beacon and the Atlas belong to the science fiction of TRACEKEEPERS.
“Do not answer yet. Find the people who asked the question.”
Arecibo, Puerto Rico · 16 November 1974
01
The beacon
It finds a deliberate pattern and alerts the Avenyth network.
02
Arca
It follows the trace to a planet filled with cooperation and contradictions.
03
The window
The Atlas finds more connected traces from roughly twelve thousand years ago.
04
Çakmaktepe
The first route opens around 9600 BCE; Göbekli Tepe is visited later.
How it plays
No one knows the whole story
The following describes the game design, not features available in every current build. See project status.
Explore a 3D world, listen to the people facing the problem and gather clues. A mission ends when you can explain a decision, show what supports it and recognise what is still missing.
Representative image of the game in development; this is not captured gameplay.
01ObserveThe place, objects and changes.
02TalkEach person knows one part.
03GatherOnly what somebody needs.
04TestCompare choices and consequences.
05DecideWith evidence, doubts and visible costs.
Open alpha · browser
Enter the first camp
Talk to Kael and his group, follow the trail to the river, gather materials and begin the ten Before Cities adventures. This is a free work in progress: progress is saved in this browser and the visual experience will keep improving.
In the story, Aletheia and Veritas will join you. They will recall the objective and help when asked, without solving the mission for you. The current alpha still uses a single guide.
02
Together
Up to five players receive different clues. A rotating leader organises the findings and presents the shared answer.
03
Secret votes
Important choices are voted on without names, discussed with new evidence and voted on again. A tie opens another search.
First campaign · around 9600 BCE
Before cities
Sarımğara Çakmaktepe is the first stable window on this route: an organised hunter-gatherer community is beginning to adapt to a more settled life beside structures cut into bedrock. It is not the first city or the origin of intelligence. Göbekli Tepe comes later, roughly 30 km away.
1.1
The Sacred Fire
Protecting a shared ember requires materials, attention and organisation. Nobody invents fire here.
Fire · cooperation1.2
Warmth for winter
Tala and Lorn compare ways to join a garment so less wind and damp can get through.
Clothing · joining1.3
The aurochs of the steppe
Bora reads the ground, scent and fear. Retreating can be the best strategy.
Risk · coordination1.4
Seeds of Change
Sira teaches you to notice plants, seasons and the cost of gathering everything today.
Plants · reserves1.5
Oru's Colours
Coloured powder is not enough: the surface, material and way of fixing it also matter.
Colour · memory1.6
When food runs short
Finding food is only the start. It must be recognised, prepared, shared and partly saved.
Food · sharing1.7
Signs in the night
The horizon, lights and repeated observations help a group keep its direction.
Sky · orientation1.8
Tracks against the wind
One mark can mislead. Several signs let us speak with greater care.
Tracks · evidence1.9
Carving spoons and bowls
Lorn compares containers. Dried clay fails in water and leaves a useful question.
Materials · useful failure1.10
Tala's crossroads
A ritual can settle fear, but a shared decision must also ask who pays its cost.
Belief · decision
Historical reconstruction
The buildings, pillars and many remains are real. Kael and his group are fictional. When a scene is possible, debated or reconstructed, the Atlas says so.
Voices with limits
People, not encyclopaedias
Each character knows their place, their work and what they could observe. Ask about their future and they will admit the limit; the Atlas saves the question for another age.
Your travelling companions
Aletheia and Veritas will join you
Both will cross the first window with you. Aletheia asks whose voice is missing; Veritas asks what we can verify. Both listen, compare evidence and help without deciding for you.
These are some of the people you will meet in Sarımğara. Other adults, children and elders share the camp with them.
Avenyth · travelling companion
Aletheia
Wants to hear from everyone. Joins you as you get to know them.
Avenyth · travelling companion
Veritas
Pays attention to details. Helps you check your ideas.
Hunter and protector
Kael
Knows the paths and the hunt. Welcomes you to the camp.
Experience and care
Tala
Prepares hides for warm clothing. Helps people who need a hand.
Painter and storyteller
Oru
Paints and tells stories. People listen by the fire after dinner.
Tracker
Bora
Follows animal tracks. Shows you what to look for.
Gatherer
Sira
Gathers plants for food. Keeps some for later.
Craftsperson
Lorn
Works with stone and wood. Shows you how he tests his tools.
Wants to choose a necklace bead. Always has another question.
These images are provisional concept references, not final 3D models.
Learning without impossible jumps
One question crosses centuries
These examples illustrate planned knowledge threads for the game: materials, food, the sky and memory connect different periods. Today you can open extended museum readings and follow documented relationships; conversations that resume your questions are still in development.
LornDried clay fails when it gets wet.
Potter of UrukControlled heat changes the vessel.
HeroHeat can also move air and water.
Saved question: how does a material change when we contain heat more effectively?
SiraGathering everything today may leave less tomorrow.
Sumerian farmerSowing and watering together requires agreements.
Hillside growerThe ground changes how water is kept.
Saved question: who decides how a shared reserve is used?
BoraRepeat observations and watch the horizon.
Phoenician navigatorCombine sky, coast, wind and experience.
EratosthenesA shadow can help measure the Earth.
Saved question: how do we keep a route far from home?
OruA mark can help us remember.
Sumerian scribeA sign keeps a count outside memory.
Iberian voiceReading signs does not always mean understanding the language.
Saved question: what is kept and what is lost when we write?
One world. Many ways of living.
25 museums. Connected histories.
Start in Prehistory and explore collections by region. All museums are available free with a username and password. Museum content is currently in Spanish. These are overlapping cultures, not a ladder of progress. Their game campaigns are not all playable.
The collection now contains 25 volumes in the project. Begin with the current canonical manuscript of Before the Cities, then discover the cultures and questions behind the rest of the library.
Museums, manuscripts and published editions have different release states.
Free reading, without an email form
Read or download the current text
The current canonical manuscript is available in Spanish. Other volumes are listed with their publication status; print and translated editions are not yet offered here.
A comic adaptation is planned around the same canon. Japanese, Korean and Chinese editions are future work, not editions you can buy now.
The 24-episode first season covers the main story: the Arecibo call, the beacon, the two faces of Earth, the arrival before Kael and his group, missions with each character, dilemmas, journeys to remarkable places and the treasures of the period.
Free digital edition: the Prehistory season will be downloadable as a PDF when complete. An affordable physical edition is also planned.
Share decisions, ask for spoiler-free help and propose expansions, new places or new characters. Ideas that pass historical and production review may go to a community vote.
01
Propose
Explain what you would add and why it would be interesting.
02
We review
We check sources, rights, safety and whether it can be built.
03
The community votes
Each account can support the ideas that matter most to them.
04
It enters the route
Votes guide the roadmap; the team publishes its decision and reasons.
A vote chooses priorities, not facts. A popular idea enters the game only if it respects historical evidence, the canon and community safety.
We stepped away from the aurochs, and it was the right decision
Explaining why Bora's fear was also a clue was the best part.
Examplenot published
E2
Spoiler-free help · example
Which observation am I missing in Signs in the Night?
I have watched the horizon and two lights, but the Atlas still marks a missing voice.
Examplenot published
E3
Traces and history · example
Why is Oru not called a shaman?
A conversation about what is known at Çakmaktepe and what the game reconstructs.
Examplenot published
P1
Expansion · example
A short adventure about exchange between groups
The idea would need evidence and a clear place in the campaign.
Idealocal test vote
P2
New place · example
Open another window into Prehistory
Before voting, it needs a date, reliable sources and a clear link to the story.
Idealocal test vote
P3
New character · example
Meet another voice from the past
The profile must separate what is known about that person from what the game reconstructs.
Idealocal test vote
This is not a shared community yet. Your test posts and votes stay on this device. The public version will use accounts, one vote per account, moderation, reporting, blocking and specific protection for children.
Families and classrooms
A museum for curious questions
Explore the free museums today: compare objects, follow a character relationship and discuss what a source can tell us. Museum progress belongs to each account, not to a teacher dashboard.
Private museum groups already welcome up to 30 participants. Adult patrons and authorised educators can organise them; joining by invitation is free. Teacher dashboards, school licences and a contact service are still in development.
The Prehistory saga will have affordable physical books and comics, together with a small collection of clothing, mugs and notebooks connected to TRACEKEEPERS.
The future Patron plan will include 25% off the store. Neither checkout nor the discount is active. Plan details · Spanish →
Preview · no purchases
01BEFORE CITIES
Book · affordable physical edition
Volume 1
Historical adventure novel and Arca's first record.
Clothing · made to order
Atlas T-shirt
Avenyth symbol on cotton. Design and sample pending.
WHAT CAN WE VERIFY?
Object · made to order
Veritas mug
A question to begin the day. Sample pending.
TRACE NOTEBOOK
Stationery · made to order
Atlas notebook
For observations, doubts and new questions.
Our promise to you
Knowing also means admitting doubt
TRACEKEEPERS never hides a gap behind a good story. Every finding explains, in simple words, how much can be claimed.
Supported
There is enough evidence for the basic idea.
Possible
It fits the clues, although another explanation may exist.
Debated
Specialists interpret the evidence differently.
Reconstructed
The scene helps imagine a possibility and is not presented as a real recording.
Open documentation
See how the trace is built
The complete active Prehistory documentation is open to read, download and improve: history, characters, places, missions and method.
Yes, with a free username-and-password account. No payment card or ChatGPT account is needed. The optional €3/month Patron plan is coming later; no subscriptions are charged now.
Yes. The first free Prehistory alpha is playable in a browser. It is a work in progress. The high-fidelity PC and console edition does not yet have a release date.
Do I need to know history?
No. Start with a short introduction and open a museum record for extended reading and sources. Interactive character chat is not available yet.
Is it only for children?
No. It is an adventure for anyone from roughly age ten. Clear language does not talk down to adults and learning is not turned into a test.
Can I chat with museum characters yet?
Not yet. Read their stories and documented relationships now; interactive conversations are planned for the future Patron plan, not currently available.
Can I play with my family or class?
That is one of the intended uses. Games will be private by invite or code, with subtitles and shared decisions, not open chat with strangers.
Is everything based on real events?
The places, objects and historical processes are researched. Arca, the Avenyth and several characters are fictional. Every scene distinguishes evidence, possibility, debate and reconstruction.
Explore origins, people, objects and sources without signing in. Enter a free 3D museum to continue the visit. Full exhibit records remain in Spanish while translations are prepared.
A host guides the visit and prepares questions. Participants investigate the exhibits and answer individually or in teams, with or without 3D navigation.
Up to 30 people, including the host.
Activities last 5–120 minutes; the invitation expires when the session ends.
Adult patrons and educational organisers can host; invited participants join for free.
