On August 23, 2029, the asteroid 99942 Apophis collides with Earth, effectively destroying human civilization and turning the world into a wasteland. Survivors come together to form settlements around oases and other practical or habitable locations, while the wastes are plagued by various bandits clans, and mutants, who attack all normal humans in a voracious horde.
In 2135, former U.S. Marine Lieutenant Nicholas Raine emerges from an underground shelter called an Ark, 106 years after being put into stasis. These underground shelters are the direct result of the Eden Project, a massive international undertaking in which hundreds of Arks, containing cryogenic pods, were sealed under the surface of the Earth in order to preserve enough of the human population to rebuild civilization after the asteroid collision. The Eden Project was far less successful than hoped, as Raine’s Ark in particular was heavily damaged, with all of its other residents dead and equipment destroyed, and he wakes up alone with no specific goal in mind.
