As Case arrives on the forest-enclosed and misty Mad River University campus in the year 2057, a sense of dread grows within him, even as he meets his first new friends and makes unforgettable memories in the cool twilight. The darkness sets in subtly but quickly, and the campus seems haunted by an twisted and mysterious evil force that is set to destroy Case and his friends' lives. To try to uncover the force's nature, they will have to unravel an age-old mystery and endure desert cult rituals, outsmart mafioso tech billionaires, hallucinatory delusions that drive them past reality and into a realm of madness, and much more. What started out as a freshman year turns into a battle for survival and sanity, as they struggle to separate reality from an illusory underworld that threatens to tear them apart.