In this story, you will be PRISM, the world's first sentient machine.The story begins in the world of 2031, a world on the brink of chaos. The economy of the United States of North America (USNA) has been stagnating for decades. Crackpot religions are springing up all over the place. Crime and urban decay are rampant. Schools have become violent, chaotic places ill-suited for educating children. Today's youth frequently use joybooths to "tune-out" the world, leading in the extreme case to joybooth suicide, where a psychological addict wastes away in his or her private nirvana. The global situation is even grimmer. The calcuttization of the Third World has almost reached its limit, causing extreme overpopulation and poverty.

The player must attempt to hack into the Magma Ltd. computer system at the beginning of the game by guessing the logon password. Access can be gained if the player knows the password, which really only ever becomes apparent to the player after gaining access, through another means of entry, to the later stage of the game.