Antarctica: 2099

By the early 21st century, the harmful impacts of climate change had become all too clear. The burning of fossil fuels was choking the atmosphere with greenhouse gases & toxic fumes, while the clearing of natural landscapes was wiping out ecosystems. This triggered a cascade of disastrous global consequences.

Weather systems broke down, crop harvests failed, coastal cities were flooded while inland communities suffered under oppressive heat waves & chaotic superstorms. Famine, disease outbreaks & the need for habitable land led to conflict & a mass exodus of refugees from all corners of the world. Money lost all meaning & nations dissolved either through economic collapse, violent conflict or environmental devastation.

Everyone tried to save themselves, but for most of the world’s inhabitants, there was nowhere to go.

As the outside world falls, the geography of Antarctica has changed dramatically. The great ice sheets that blanketed the far south have melted away. Rising temperatures & increasing rainfall had not only thawed the Antarctic continent, but revived the landscape frozen beneath it. Long dormant forests & prehistoric beasts are reanimated, bringing a strange & primordial lost world back to life.

Despite the hazards, the prospect of a whole continent of habitable land becomes a beacon of hope for those clinging desperately to existence, including you. It is time to explore this new land. Build, grow, seek out other survivors, create a new civilization away from the ruins of the old one.

It is now the dawn of the 22nd century, & Antarctica is fully defrosted. A vertant continent of unclaimed space & resources. You & your companions create the stories in the game, they are not pre-written. You have the power to decide the fate of your survivors, & in the end, of humanity as a whole. There is much to do.