Across the corporate city-state of Haven, containment is breaking down. Ordinary citizens are twisting into Afflicted, humans altered by unknown phenomena that defy every known law of biology. The Afflicted Containment Program (ACP) was established to identify, restrain, and neutralize these threats before the infection spreads. The ACP has kept the outbreak hidden so far, but the surge in new cases threatens to shatter that secrecy. As an ACP field operative, you’re deployed where science ends—to confront these warped beings, detain them, and bring them back to the ACP’s offshore platform for research and containment.

Each operation is a controlled engagement against a single Afflicted threat. Combat in Mearcair/System Pulse is deliberate and tactical, built around reading attack patterns, timing responses, and exploiting openings rather than brute force. Between missions, you return to the ACP’s offshore platform, where research, upgrades, and debriefings determine how long you can keep your edge before the next anomaly appears. Every encounter pushes the limits of your body, your equipment, and your mind as you fight to contain the Afflicted.

Each operative approaches containment differently, armed with distinct augmentations and weapons tuned to their stability profile. Battles against the Afflicted are intimate, one-on-one engagements that reward patience and precision. Reading attack patterns, timing dodges, and interrupting key phases allow you to break through an Afflicted’s defenses and expose a brief counter window. Offense is deliberate, overcommitting leaves you vulnerable to retaliation, while well-timed interrupts can stagger even the most unstable specimens. As the outbreak worsens, adaptive anomalies and experimental upgrades evolve the loop, forcing you to balance aggression, control, and survival under mounting pressure.

The ACP’s supersoldier program was born from necessity, a replacement for the unreliable demonic contractors who once sold their loyalty to the highest bidder. What remains are three human prototypes, each an exceptional attempt to solve an unsolvable problem:

• Julia: a Cryogenin-4 psionic engineered from Afflicted neurodata.

• Lilac: a detective sustained by a lingering infernal pact.

• R.A.T.: a precision hacker whose cybernetics make her lethal in both code and combat.

Together they form the ACP’s final defense against the escalating outbreaks of Affliction—and the uncertain future that follows containment.

In the end, you are both jailer and experiment, subduing horrors no one else dares name as the system buries truth beneath classified seals.