Second sight

John Wattick wakes up on a bed in a military hospital, but doesn’t remember how he got there and who he is in general (before he finds out his name, the game calls him patient JV-034). He manages to escape from his ward using telekinesis, which he mysteriously could use on the door, and then other abilities gradually awaken from him: self-healing, the ability to become invisible and a psycho-power strike. At some point, John begins to experience vivid memories of what happened to him six months ago. One of these memories is a military training course in Bremen in Germany (this is a training mission for the player). A mission six months ago brought him to Russia with a small detachment called WinterICE with the order to find out why a Russian scientist whom everyone considered dead wants to get political asylum in America . This scientist, Professor Victor Grienko, was considered dead after he was accused of helping the Germans during the war to conduct paranormal experiments on prisoners of war. When the Red Army stormed the prisoner of war camp, he was declared one of the dead. But after the war, Stalin began the project for the same purpose as the Germans, and the head of the project was a man named Grienko. This is a project called the Zener project, based in the village of Dubrensk . John was chosen as the civilian escort of the task force after the recommendation of a psychic named Jane Wilde, who also accompanies the detachment. John is skeptical of Jane's vision, but he agrees to travel.

Returning to the present at the hospital, John finds a computer with patient information and tries to find his medical history, but instead finds out that Jane died in battle. He immediately remembers the beginning of the assignment, but there he saves her life. Waking up, he sees that in the computer Jane appears alive, but hidden in a mental hospital in Rutland in Vermont . Upon reaching her, John discovers that Jane is in deep shock and completely insane. When he takes her out of the hospital and tries to talk, Jane tells him that WinterICE leader, Colonel Joshua Stark, was killed in a shootout. John again has a memory in which the colonel is unharmed. He also sees in the recollections of the projection of the children leading him to Dubrensk. One of the children moves into the body of the colonel and asks John to go to the village and help them. While John is talking with the children, the colonel is captured. The child shows John that psi abilities really exist and awakens the latent abilities of John himself. John saves the colonel, who notices that the Russian soldiers shooting at them use American equipment, that is, the United States is somehow connected with the project. When John returns to the present, he sees Jane being perfectly healthy.

Together they find a colonel who, like Jane, has survived thanks to John's actions in his memoirs and now lives in Queens in New York . He tells John about the deaths of all other WinterICE members. As before, John again saves everyone in his memories, somehow changing the past. They learn that almost all the villagers were killed by Russian soldiers. They discover a scientist named Sasha Barannikova who escaped from Zener’s laboratory. She says that the children whose projections John sees are experimental telepathic rabbits of the project, but they will also soon get rid of them. In the “present,” the colonel tells John everything about their failed assignment and project, about how a man named Hanson, director of operations at a government agency in the United States, took the research files from Grienko and began his experiments in America, killing everyone connected with Dubrensky , and using the WinterICE team as scapegoats. With the help of the Colonel, John escapes from National Security agents, but Jane is captured, and Stark seems to be dying.

John infiltrates the agency’s headquarters, where he learns that after the failure of WinterICE’s assignment, he himself became an experimental rabbit, and the Zener project is used to create a psi soldier. At that moment, his new memories continue where the previous ones ended. Dr. Baranikova warns him that if the entire task force tries to save the children, the children will be scared and run away. But they will not be afraid of John, since he is the same as them. John alone enters the laboratory and saves all the children. He discovers Grienko, confirming that Hanson takes all the files to America for further development. John realizes that soldiers are killing everyone on Hanson’s order.

In the "present," John finds Hanson at his agency headquarters. Having discovered in himself a new super ability to accelerate the regeneration of Psi energy, John kills the first Psi soldiers, his protégés. Hanson says that he intentionally allowed John to escape from the hospital to check on his new soldiers. John is trying to kill Hanson by telekinesis, but Hanson’s people are introducing Jane at gunpoint. Realizing that he will not be able to win, John again enters the memory, after which a shot is heard and Jane screams.

Back in Zener’s lab, John tells Grienko that Hanson wants to kill all of Zener’s children. Grienko tells that Hanson personally came to the laboratory at the lower level. One of Hanson’s soldiers then kills Grienko, and John descends to the lower level to kill Hanson before he can do all that he survived. Then the main surprise of the game is revealed: the “past” actually turns out to be the present, and John’s escape from the hospital is a vision of a possible future that is constantly changing due to John’s actions. Apparently, John is also a diviner.

John finds Hanson protected from bullets and psi by special glass. There are also several cameras with mutated children. When a group of soldiers tries to kill John, he frees the children, and together they defeat the soldiers. Then, they destroy the frame around the glass and kill Hanson with their bare hands.

The game ends with the landing of American soldiers in Dubrensk, and Colonel and Jane help tired John get out of the base. On a helicopter, the colonel nods respectfully to him, and Jane inaudibly tells him something.

Tele / Psychokinesis

John’s first ability is classic telekinesis, which allows him to move objects with the power of thought. He can also throw these items at enemies or use them to defend against bullets. Also, the initial enemies are afraid of paranormal abilities and run away when they see a flying table.

In the middle of the game, John learns how to “pick up” living things. He uses this ability to strangle a guard (in the style of Darth Vader ) in a mental hospital when he comes for Jane.

John's improved telekinesis uses “rag doll physics” to throw enemies “realistically”. It also helps when John is working with a partner. John can lift the enemy into the air, giving his partner an excellent target.

Healing

Second ability discovered by John. She quickly restores John's health, but at the same time, he cannot move, and therefore is more vulnerable. This ability also works on allies.

Psi Attack

Psi Impulse

John inadvertently discovers this ability when an armed guard aims at him. John suddenly feels a severe headache and throws a concentrated ball of psi-force into the guard, discarding the guard and killing him instantly. This attack takes up half the scale of John's psi power, but quickly and quietly kills almost any enemy.

Psi Blast

Later, John discovers another attack variation. The psi explosion emits the same type of energy in a circle, stunning and seriously damaging everything around it. He discovers this attack while ambushed in a hospital. It also takes a lot of psi power, but is worth it if John is surrounded.

But both attacks do not work if the enemy is behind another item.

The psi attack is very effective against the psi shields of Hanson's soldiers at the end of the game.

Suggestion

This ability appears in the hospital when the guard hears John’s footsteps and goes to check. John, not even knowing that he is doing this, becomes "invisible" to the guard. But in fact, John mentally affects the human mind, blocking the areas of the brain that are responsible for perception. Thus, a person visually sees it, but this image is blocked and does not arise in consciousness. But this ability has several disadvantages. For example, if John tries to "disappear" when he is already noticed, then this attempt instantly spends all the accumulated psi-force. The same thing will happen if John sees a security camera, as the cars cannot be "stupefied."

This ability can also calm other sensitive people. During the escape from the mental hospital, Jane is pumped up with drugs and is afraid of any sudden noise. John needs to reassure her to move on. Also, the charm allows John to give orders to the allies.

Projection / Institution (Astral Form)

John gets acquainted with the projection when his path is blocked by a laser network, and the switch is on the other side, too far for telekinesis. John inadvertently projects his consciousness in astral form, which passes through the lasers and turns them off. In addition to intelligence, this ability allows for limited work with objects. Also, the astral form is invisible to humans and machines. The astral form cannot attack humans. The main disadvantage is that while John controls the astral form, his body is stationary. Any attack on the body leads to the deactivation of the astral form.

Later, John learns how to capture other people's bodies by projection, temporarily controlling them. This is convenient when you need to remove the armed patrol, that is, you can capture the body of one of them and shoot the rest, leaving one guard in place of the group. Also, some doors are blocked by biometric systems; for example, to trick a door scanner, John can move into the body of the guard, open the door, and then kill him.

In addition to psi abilities, John has access to a variety of different firearms , which can be obtained from defeated enemies, in cabinets, weapons and other places:

• Four types of pistols - the standard 9 mm worn by almost all enemies at the beginning of the game; a more powerful .45-caliber pistol with government agents; a six-shot revolver worn by bandits and Russian mercenaries, as well as a pistol resembling a Soviet TT.
• Two types of shotguns - a high-powered eight-shot melee shotgun with which Hanson's agents and psychiatric guards are armed; and double-charged double - barreled sawn- off shotgun of the Stark bandits.
• Three types of machines - Russian machine resembling AMD-65 ; an American assault rifle with WinterICE soldiers and some agents, similar to the Colt 635 ; and a fast - firing submachine gun similar to MP5K from Hanson's agents and assault soldiers.
• A sniper rifle with an infrared optical sight, piercing any body armor .
• Two tranquilizers - a single-shot non-lethal tranquilizer for animals and a more powerful tactical tranquilizer.

• Andrew Lawson - Dr. John Wattick
• Tom Clark Hill - Colonel Joshua Stark
• Doug Cockle - Director Silas Hanson
• Linzi Bocham - Jane Wilde
• Andrew Winkott - Prof. Victor Grienko

• Official site
• Game site on the Free Radical Design page