The game takes place shortly after John Carpenter's movie ends. You're dropped first into the US base in Antarctica, then relocated to the Norwegian base, and it isn't long before you discover how horribly things went wrong. You're isolated at the bottom of the world with people who may or may not be who you think they are, it's dark and inhospitable, and you never really know what's around the next corner. You know that some thing could be lurking anywhere, and when you find one, it ain't pretty.
Due to the scripted nature of some "thing-outs", someone can test clean and then explode into a monster a few moments later. It's a bug, sure, but it can also leadto a different conclusion; The Thing is learning to dodge the blood test.
Due to the limitations of the graphics of the time, many of the actual Things are often Nightmare Retardant, but the Skullhead Things are a new wrinkle from the original movie. They're quite unnerving: They attack in packs, emit animal snarls and growls, scuttle away from fallen Things, and come out of literally nowhere to set themselves on you.
It's just so damn cold that even wandering away from the heat is a danger. Not only do you have to battle horrible monsters, you have to worry about not freezing to death.
A secret bio-weapons facility hidden in plain sight and deep under and near the Norwegian Outpost. The fact that horrible heinous experiments are being conducted on various victims under the eyes of Gen Inc. (and under Colonel Whitley) and that said experiments are about controlling and weaponizing the Things for military purposes. Not a pleasant thought now, is it?
