Setting
Harsh Realm is a virtual reality game created by the U.S. Army, programmed to minutely replicate the real world for training simulations. In the world of Harsh Realm, a small nuclear bomb is detonated in the program's version of New York City, killing four million people and thrusting its participants into a post-apocalyptic disaster scenario.
Lieutenant Tom Hobbes is unknowingly thrust into this world by his superiors with one mission: to kill "General" Omar Santiago. Along the way, he meets fellow soldiers sent into the game and alternate versions of people he knows in the real world. Tom Hobbes quickly finds companions such as Mike Pinocchio (a cynical long-time resident of Harsh Realm), Florence (a mute with mysterious powers) and Dexter (an alternate version of his real world dog).
Hobbes' target is Santiago, the highest scorer in Harsh Realm. Santiago, a US Army Sergeant Major in the "real world", is now a self-proclaimed "General" in the simulation who controls five U.S. states as a brutal dictator.
From his new companions, Hobbes learns that Santiago has commandeered Harsh Realm; Hobbes is merely the latest soldier in a long line of men sent on unsuccessful missions to kill the would-be dictator. Hobbes also learns from a mysterious "ally", Inga Fossa, that Santiago is planning the ultimate act of terrorism in the real world so that Harsh Realm is all that remains.
It is in this world that Hobbes must survive, defeat Santiago, save the real world, and somehow return to his real life and his fiancée, Sophie Green.
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