protagonist knows things which the reader doesn't know/story starts in the middle. How do I tell them?
when I say "reader", in the context of my particular scenario, I actually mean the "player" as this story is for a videogame.
I start the game off with the player/main character (first person POV in the game) falling in a malfunctioning elevator which comes to a safety stop station within some unknown part of the massive facility in which this game takes place. Shortly after they leave the elevator, they meet a character named <PERSON> who is a basketball-sized robotic sphere- <PERSON> and the protagonist, <PERSON>, are already familiar with each other at the time that this happens, but it is the player's first encounter with this guy. <PERSON> quickly "searches his schematics" and finds that this part of the facility is oddly absent from them. 313
Then he argues with the emergency stop station and mentions he is an administrator-level construct and that the elevator should listen to him so they can "get back up where we were a while ago" (implying that they've been adventuring for longer than 5 minutes.) This is also a universe where all technology in the facility is likely sentient in some form, even if invisibly so.
The issue is, I am not sure if having <PERSON> casually mention things like his admin rights and "where we were previously" is the best way to tell the player/reader about said things without causing confusion, especially right at the start. but I want the character this is from the perspective of, <PERSON>, to already know that <PERSON> has admin-level access to things in the facility, and also knows that he's friendly...etc.
The story intentionally starts right in the middle because I am inspired by how the TV show, "LOST", did things and want a similar feel. However, I don't have the luxury that "LOST" did with its flashbacks. Flashbacks are technically possible, but not something I want to do because of the incredibly cliche nature of it (and, being in first-person, this would seem jarring due to the fact It would be difficult to communicate, "this is a flashback")
this "game", if it helps to know, Is actually a community-based modification for the game "Portal 2". I mention this on the off-chance there are any portal 2 fans who may have a better insight on how best to write the character based on knowledge of the game's general storytelling style. 663