In the late 21st century, NASDA (the North American Strategic Defense Agency) developed and deployed a massive missile defense system, including a network of nuclear-equipped satellites and ground-based launch sites. However, during a routine maintenance check, something went terribly wrong...

While most of the survivors form scavenger bands to survive, one group of people, who refer to themselves as "The Project", seeks to rebuild civilization using pre-war technology.

Warzone 2100 is a real-time strategy game, originally developed by Pumpkin Studios and published by Eidos Interactive, now developed by the Warzone 2100 Project. Compared to other real-time strategy games, it has a greater focus on artillery, radar, and counter-battery technologies, more frequent in-game cinematic updates as game play progresses, a massive research tree, as well as a vehicle design system.

Outside of the story, Warzone 2100 only has a single faction. This limits some of the variety that can be expected from real-time strategy games, although the single faction is very complex. Essentially, Warzone 2100 plays much like Earth 2150 with 3D units and terrain, customizable vehicles, a lack of traditional infantry, use of "research" to acquire new technologies, and the differentiation of vehicles types.