What Happens to Okabe after Steins;Gate

*Note: This article contains massive spoilers–not only for Steins;Gate but for Robotics;Notes DASH as well.

After numerous soul-crushing tragedies and countless leaps back through time, self-styled mad scientist Rintaro Okabe comes to the end of his grand adventure. Not only does he manage to save the world–setting the timeline on a path that neither ends in a dystopia nor a war-ravaged planet–but also manages to save the lives of the two people most important to him: his childhood best friend Mayuri and the woman he loves, scientific genius Kurisu. But what happens next?

In the years since Steins;Gate came out, we have gotten two direct sequels. The first is the OVA episode Egoistic Poriomania. Taking place several weeks after the final scene in Steins;Gate (October 2010), it follows Okabe–and the rest of the lab members–going to Las Vegas. There, he reunites with Kurisu–who is confused by the fragments of memories she has from the other timelines and what that means for their relationship going forward.

The second sequel is Steins;Gate: The Movie − Load Region of Déjà Vu. Set a year later, it deals with the personal repercussions of Okabe’s massive use of time travel as he finds himself falling out of the current timeline–leaving the others with no memory that he ever even existed in the first place. Thus it is up to Kurisu, led by a curious sense of déjà vu, to try and save the man she loves–even though she can’t remember him.

Even with the two direct sequels, we only see Okabe’s life up through 2011. However, that’s not the end of his story. With its immense popularity, it’s easy to forget that Steins;Gate and it’s spin-offs are actually part of a greater series: the Science Adventure Series.

While each iteration in the Science Adventure Series takes place in the same timeline–the “Steins;Gate Worldline” to be precise–they have tended to be rather separate from one another. Sure, the bad guys are always related in some way to the mysterious “Committee of 300” and characters of past works in the series often have some sort of off-screen cameo like being on the other end of a phone call or making a post online, but when it comes to the challenges each cast of characters faces, they’re largely on their own.

For years, the biggest crossover connecting the games involved Nae Tennouji. A young child side-character in Steins;Gate, she shows up fully grown as one of the main cast in Robotics;Notes. But the newest game in the series, Robotics;Notes DASH, contains a crossover that blows Nae’s out of the water.

Robotics;Notes DASH takes place in the year 2020–six months after the end of Robotics;Notes and nine years since Load Region of Déjà Vu. It follows Okabe’s right hand man, Itaru “Daru” Hashida as he makes the trip to Tanegashima Island (the setting of Robotics;Notes) to recover some important technology

For the majority of the game, both Daru and Nae refer to Okabe–though never by name. They even go so far as to wonder if what is happening is “the will of the Steins;Gate”–quoting him directly. But while all the other Steins;Gate characters are constantly commenting on Daru’s current situation via twitter (when they’re not just posting about random stuff, anyway) Okabe is conspicuously absent–in his place is nothing but a bot spouting Hououin Kyoma-esque lines that only Luka seems eager to respond to.

It’s not until we reach the game’s true ending route (taking place after both the common route and Akiho’s route) that we find out what Okabe’s been up to these past nine years.

As expected given his time traveling trials, the events of Steins;Gate changed Okabe forever. More than anything, he became determined to protect the Steins;Gate Worldline–the one place both Mayuri and Kurisu could live in peace.

He threw himself into studying and expanding his knowledge. This, in turn, led him to study abroad–presumably at Victor Chondria University alongside Kurisu. There, he began moving in the same circles as a number of genius foreign scientists–including Maho from Steins;Gate 0.

Eventually, using both what he had learned during his time in the Alpha Worldline and the results of his growing education, he was able to build a divergence meter. It’s then that he discovered something both horrible and potentially world-saving. While most of the time the number stayed at the normal 1.048596, there were times when the last few numbers would begin to fluctuate. Okabe came to understand that this only happened preceding events that could possibly knock the flow of time off of the Steins;Gate Worldline and into a nearby attractor field.

This is, of course, a terrifying thought, however, to Okabe, it meant he now had an early warning system that something was very wrong in the world–something that could rob him of his hard won happy ending. And luckily for him, while no one else can see these fluctuations (as they do not possess his Reading Steiner), Daru and his other friends trust him 100% when he says they are occurring and begin searching for the threat in earnest.

The true ending route is centered around one such emergency. Daru, after the ending of the Akiho route, has returned to Tokyo and spent a few days with his family. It is then that he opens a one line email from Okabe who is currently away visiting America: “The worldline is fluctuating.” Soon it becomes apparent why. Someone has been hacking into some of the world’s most powerful supercomputers–and is now using the increased processing power to disrupt computer systems world-wide. This in turn is causing a major breakdown in infrastructure across the globe leading to a real threat of famine even in first world countries.

After receiving an urgent request for aid from the Robotics;Notes kids–and returning to Tanegashima Island to help–it becomes clear what’s going on: a remaining copy of Robotic;Notes’ villain Kou Kimijima has begun enacting his latest gencodal plan.

With the world in crisis as more and more of the world’s supercomputers fall under Kou’s control, phonlines go down. However, Okabe is able to pass a written message on to Daru. He confirms that Daru’s own thoughts on what to do are correct and reminds him that not only is he Super Hacker Daru but that he can rely on the support of the Lab Members as well–that they will gladly give their all to help him.

In response, Daru puts Frau and Maho in direct contact, leaving the Lab Members to do support off site while the Robotics Club prepares to take the battle to Kou directly.

This is the last we hear directly from Okabe in the story. However, seeing all that has happened, once the day is saved, Daru makes a decision. He gathers the Robotics Club members together and says he has some people he wants to introduce them to. And when they ask who exactly, Daru begins to tell them all the story of a summer a decade past: the story of Steins;Gate.

Robotics;Notes DASH was released in Japan on PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch on  January 31, 2019. There is currently no word on a international release.