Manhunt 2 - Plot

Plot

During a severe thunderstorm, the security systems at the Dixmor Asylum for the Criminally Insane momentarily go offline, opening the cell doors throughout the facility, resulting in the populace wandering freely through the corridors. Two such inmates are Daniel Lamb (voiced by Ptolemy Slocum) and Leo Kasper (Holter Graham). Daniel is disoriented and partly amnesiac, unable to remember how or why he came to Dixmor. Under Leo's guidance, they escape the facility and make their way to the ruins of Daniel's old home. Inside, Daniel recovers medication which Leo says he left there for himself in the event of his forgetting the past. The medication helps to clear his head somewhat, and he begins to remember fragments of his former life. He and Leo then set out to unravel the secrets of Daniel's past, all the while pursued by bounty hunters and agents of a mysterious organization called "The Project".

As the plot unfolds, Daniel learns that he was once a top scientist in the employ of the "Pickman Project", a government-sponsored weapons program involving brainwashing and mind control techniques. The Project's goal was to create the perfect assassin; to accomplish this, they developed the "Pickman Bridge", a brain implant containing the personality and skills of a trained assassin which could be activated on command. In theory, the two personalities could co-exist in the same mind, completely unaware of one another. The idea was that the assassin could be remotely triggered, carry out his mission, and then revert back to the original persona, who would have no memory of what he had just done, hence would be immune to interrogation.

As Daniel puts the clues together and begins to remember more of his past, he and Leo set out to find Dr. Whyte (Linda Orth Pallavincini), a Project researcher and one of Daniel's co-workers. However, before they can get to her, they are ambushed and sedated. Daniel wakes up in a room with Whyte, who reveals the truth to him. Six years previously, with the Project's funds under threat, Daniel volunteered himself to test the Pickman Bridge, hoping that the resulting payoff would allow him to clear his family's debts and provide a financially secure future. However, the Bridge malfunctioned soon after it was implanted, causing Daniel to suffer from dissociative identity disorder, resulting in him being able to directly communicate with the implanted personality, who he perceives as a real person - none other than Leo Kaspar. Whyte explains that Leo is dangerously unstable, and has been working against Daniel from the very beginning; after the implant malfunctioned, Leo's personality asserted itself, suppressing Daniel's own, and he went on a rampage across the city, murdering police officers and members of the Project, destroying the Project's records of Daniel and himself, and finally making his way to Daniel's household and killing his wife. His goal was to weaken Daniel's grip on reality to the point where Leo could take complete and total control of his mind. However, the Project caught Daniel/Leo after the murder, erased his memory, torched his house, and had him committed to Dixmor, where they had been working to study the effects of the implant and repair the damage, without success.

Upon learning the truth, Daniel determines that he must destroy Leo once and for all. He enters a deep hypnotic state and faces off against Leo within the confines of his own mind. He is finally able to let go of the guilt he feels over his wife's death, allowing him to "kill" Leo and assert control. Having done so, he awakens on a deserted road with his memory erased once more. However, he is holding an envelope informing him that his name is "David Joiner", providing him with a new home address in San Fierro and wishing him luck. Daniel briefly hesitates before walking towards the town.

The game also includes an alternate final level, where the final battle is played from Leo's perspective. He successfully destroys Daniel's personality and wakes up in control of his mind and body. Whyte, who thinks she is speaking to Daniel, asks him if he is okay, to which he replies he is keen to get back to work on the Bridge. As he looks at himself in the mirror, Daniel sees Leo's reflection looking back at him.