The game's main character is a man named Hayden Tenno, a morally ambivalent clean-up man employed by the CIA. He has congenital analgia (a real-life disorder) which renders him unable to feel pain. On a mission in a fictional former eastern bloc nation, he is exposed to a biological compound which mutates him, dramatically changing his right arm, and giving him the ability to grow a three-bladed throwable weapon called a glaive at will. As explained in Game Informer magazine, the glaive is a part of his body, can be used to generate light, and can be controlled remotely by the player.