Story summary

One day Pierce Hawthorne, a student at Greendale Community College receives a letter from Gilbert Lawson, executor of his father's estate. Gilbert informs Pierce that his father, Cornelius Hawthorne, has passed away, and that Pierce must go meet Gilbert along with Pierce's seven closest friends, other students at Greendale. Pierce et al meet Gilbert, and find out his dad has created a video game for him to play.

After Pierce and his friends enter the game, the group is met by Cornelius's floating head. Cornelius's head explains that whoever reaches his throne first wins Pierce's inheritance - Cornelius was angry with Pierce for turning his back on the Hawthorne moist towlette empire in order to attend Greendale years before; as punishment, he seeks to turn Pierce's new Greendale friends against him to teach him a lesson.

Cornelius's plan doesn't work, however. Pierce's friends aren't willing to compete with him and instead choose to work as a group, but unbeknownst to the group, Gilbert Lawson, who has a legitimate claim to the throne, is willing to compete with them. Moreover, Gilbert has known about Cornelius's game long enough that he can hack the game and grant himself special powers that all but guarantee that he'll make it to the throne first.

Along the way, the group encounters game characters crafted by Cornelius's warped mind. Cornelius has created levels that flip diversity against itself, turning Mexicans, homosexuals, and African Americans into bitter caricatures of themselves. As the player passes through different worlds, the world is progressively purged of Cornelius's terrible views.

Gilbert shows up from time to time to engage the characters in battle (in some cases, the player must survive long enough in order to progress).

After the group retrieves the White Crystal in the Black Caverns in order to enter Hawkthorne Castle, Gilbert appears again and defeats the group in order to steal the White Crystal. However, when Gilbert reaches the throne, he realizes that accepting Cornelius's terms is too big a price to pay so he joins forces with the Greendale group in order to defeat Cornelius, who has now transformed into a huge robot.

After defeating the robot, Gilbert is given the throne. Fireworks and happiness are had by all. Pierce and his robot dad, reunited by Abed, play catch together for the first time. Pierce smiles for the first time

THE END

Or is it? Now that Cornelius is defeated, the Greendale campus has been unlocked for exploration.