Unreal is a futuristic shooter which was developed by Epic Games and released in 1998. The player takes on the part of Prisoner 849, an otherwise anonymous person aboard the prison spacecraft Vortex Rikers. The ship was under way to a prison moon, but was pulled to an uncharted planet before reaching its destination. The ship crash-lands on the lip of a canyon on the planet Na Pali, home of the Nali, a primitive tribal race of four-armed humanoids.
The Nali and their planet have been subjugated by the Skaarj, a race of brutish yet technologically advanced reptilian humanoids. Skaarj troops board the downed Vortex Rikers and kill the remaining survivors, save for Prisoner 849, who manages to find a weapon and escape from the ship.