Your loyalties are torn between Commander Rimanah, the power-hungry leader of the Culter Dei and a father figure to the player character, and your Mentor, a wise, if grouchy warrior who seeks to unite the Jians and the Culters into one force. The player must choose between supporting Rimanah, who seeks to destroy the Jian Shang Di, and Mentor, whose cause is only supported by the player, leading to two different and distinct storylines.
Gameplay
Character creation and initial spawn
Gameplay begins with character creation, in which the player has three slots in which to choose from DNA types to apply. This initial character-building DNA infusion has a semi-random outcome in generating the initial character statistics.citation needed
Gameplay is from a first-person perspective. The player begins each game "asleep" and in a dreamscape, and must walk through a door within the dream in order to wake up. Upon awaking, they spawn in the location they were in when last they exited. Very little is known to the player about the environment at first, so they must learn about it by speaking to characters and accessing historical data terminals. Between missions, the player spends time talking to various friendly characters, learning about the current conflicts and their history, obtaining objectives, and attempting to serve their greater goals by choosing from response options which can influence the direction of the conversation.citation needed
Headquarters and equipment
Many between-mission scenes take place in the Temple, an elaborate and vast futuristic structure that serves as headquarters to the E.Y.E. organization. New weapons and technologies can be purchased here using Brouzouf, the game's form of currency, which is earned by killing enemies, completing objectives, or hacking bank terminals. The Temple also contains many characters to speak to, a training room for testing weapons, multiple mobile armories where the player's currently available equipment can be loaded and armor changed, a medical section where new cybernetic abilities can be purchased, and an archive room where the history of the in-game universe can be learned through the use of data terminals, and where new psionic powers can be purchased. The Temple also features an armory where new weapons can be bought, which can then be equipped using the mobile armories. The Temple can be accessed at any time by choosing the Temple option at the game's loading screen, or in the escape menu, which pauses the current mission. Side missions can be acquired from Temple guard at its entrance, or the player can simply take a Temple exit to enter the local streets and see randomly generated objectives, battle various enemies, hack bank terminals, etc., to earn Brouzouf and experience, and to find new technologies.
The player loads out prior to missions at mobile armories, choosing armor and a variety of weapons. Melee weapons generally consist of different types of Samurai blade weapons. Ranged weapons consist of traditional firearms from handgun, shotgun, assault, submachine, heavy machine, and sniper classes, some of which have varying wall-penetrating values. Grenades and automated drone robots are also available. Ammunition clips are unlimited when at a mobile armory. All items must be placed in inventory slots that are divided into groupings for each area on the player where they are to be stored. As a unique gameplay mechanic, all equipment carried causes a weight disadvantage, termed a "malus" in-game, as does the armor type chosen (light, medium, or heavy). The total weight malus is shown in the player's stats screen as a percentage; weightier characters move slower, create more noise when moving, and incur more damage from long falls.
Meters and abilities
The player's available special abilities are listed in a screen where they can be activated or bound to a quick-access menu. Available abilities are dependent upon which upgrades have been purchased or researched, and many are available upon character creation. Many abilities require the use of energy, for which a meter is always displayed on-screen, along with a life meter and a "mental balance" meter. Energy is also depleted by running, or by using "alchemy", an ability whereby enemies' dropped items can be converted to a health boost (there is no other method of in-mission healing available during much of the beginning of the game). The mental balance level is depleted by stress, which generally occurs from taking a lot of damage at once; when mental balance is significantly decreased, it manifests in visual distortions and difficulty operating weapons, and if depleted far enough can render a player unable to fire ranged weapons for a time, though they still have use of melee weapons.
Acquirable special abilities include, for example, jump boost, generating multiple decoy characters, cloaking, sound triangulation (sounds produce visual effects that show where they originate), and highlighting enemies even through walls, all of which have different upgrade levels. Health, energy, and mental balance can all be augmented through various researchable technologies and purchasable upgrades.
