Lore

R.E.P.O.'s lore is currently not explicitly stated, however, we have various details, clues, and hints as to what could have happened so long ago and why we are here now. The details here are subject to scrutiny, change, and updates as more people way in, perspectives change, and info is released.

The Taxman

The Taxman is the overseer of the Semibots and mostly likely a digital mind, AI, or some being for the purpose of collecting taxes. In game, he uses emojis as his primary way to communicate, with a fleshy, horrific version of the crying-laughing emoji being his primary and preferred appearance. While not much is known about the Taxman or his origins, there is a few theories:

Taxman's Goal

A common and well believed theory is that Taxman has the goal of collecting taxes. In the real world, when taxes are unpaid, you have possessions repossessed, and that objective is incredibly similar to what we do in the game. This leads one to think that due to humans being long gone (or very sparse), there is no one to pay these taxes. This leads the Taxman to continuously attempting to repossess things to pay for their debt, regardless of the presence of the person. Some evidence to support this is the fact that we find valuables in the Disposal Arena. If Taxman were truly set out to gain money purely for profit, why would he discard precious valuables? The most likely answer is that besides fulfilling the tax quotas, he has no use for these valuables and discards them.

TL;DR - An abandoned robot to collect taxes continues its goal long after those who would pay are gone.

The Semibots

The Semibots are robots that you play as, and serve as workers for the Taxman's goal. We can see how throughout the game that humans have mixed thoughts on the Semibots, with some seeing them as villainous or evil, and some seeing life in them, with various graffiti and artwork in the Museum of Human Art displaying this. We know for a fact that the Human Group actively hated and hunted Semibots, with shooting ranges, traps, and cages with dead Semibots seen belonging to them. While we know a decent bit about the Semibots, their origin is unclear, but a few theories have come up:

Cleaning Bots Given New Purpose

Semibots are relatively harmless in function and appearance. This doesn't stop them from using weapons or objects in lethal ways, but one might think a robot built for combat and repossession would have its flashlight and map built in. However, a common theory suggests that the Semibots were once cleaning or service droids used for chores, maintenance, and caretaking. Things like their friendly designs with expression and voice, multiple purpose tractor beams for tools and fragile items, and even their small form factors while in tumble mode point to this, and while most likely considered non-canon now, the original premise of R.E.P.O. being cleaning a house could point to this.

Indentured Servitude

Nonetheless, why would the Semibots be working for Taxman? Of course, it could be assumed he simply infected the Semibots somehow, but there is another popular theory that suggests human souls are inside the Semibots. There is a few points to suggest this:

1. Monsters' souls are shown to be tangible objects with a worth in the form of Enemy Valuables.
2. The Semibots have two voices, one is a computerized Text-To-Speech voice, and another is your mic, your human voice itself.
3. Their name, Semibot, while connected to R.E.P.O.'s developers, Semiwork, hints that they may only be semi-robotic, and the other half is possibly something alive or non-artificial.
4. In this art from the Museum of Human Art, we see a Semibot with a heart displayed inside of it.
5. In a message from Taxman to you, you see "🤔🤝😂", which could hint at the unstable deal you took to repay him.
6. In the tutorial of the game, you can see "-1,000,000" in red text where your total money should be, implying some sort of debt and your soul was used to pay for it.
7. Semiwork has also acknowledged this theory in their dev log about fixing overcharge. One could assume a human with no valuables left to repossess could have their soul used inside a Semibot for indentured servitude, which would give more weight to why humans hate them, not only do they take their valuables, but they also turn their peers into workers. We don’t yet know to what extent a Semibot can function without a soul, or if the Taxman hacked and repurposed them from their original design, but current evidence suggests there’s some connection between human and machine.

The Humans

Based off the Stowaway and other skeletons in the locations, as well as the foundation of the Human Group, it is likely that an apocalypse might have happened. It is currently unknown what kind of apocalypse, though.