The Vortex Rikers had crashed near one of the many mines and processing facilities that the Skaarj have built. The planet Na Pali is rich in 'Tarydium', a mineral that is found as light blue crystals, possessing a high energy yield and are the reason the Skaarj have invaded. Skaarj troops board the downed Vortex Rikers and kill the remaining survivors, except for Prisoner 849, who manages to find a weapon and escape from the ship. The Nali and their planet have been subjugated by the Skaarj, a race of savage yet technologically advanced reptilian humanoids, who also have an army of genetically engineered Brutes and an enslaved race of warriors, known as the Krall. The ship crash-lands on the lip of a canyon on the planet Na Pali, home of the Nali, a primitive tribal race of four-armed humanoids. During transport to a moon-based prison, the ship is pulled to an uncharted planet, before reaching its destination. The player takes on the role of Prisoner 849, aboard the prison spacecraft Vortex Rikers. Additionally, the games were updated to run on the Unreal Tournament version of the game engine.

Unreal and Return to Na Pali would later be bundled together as Unreal Gold. Unreal Mission Pack: Return to Na Pali, developed by Legend Entertainment, was released in June 1999, and added 17 new missions to the single-player campaign of Unreal. One official bonus pack, the Epic-released Fusion Map Pack, can be downloaded free of charge.

Since the release of Unreal, the franchise has had one sequel and two different series based on the Unreal universe. The game reached sales of 1.5 million units by 2002.

It was powered by Unreal Engine, an original game engine. Unreal is a first-person shooter video game developed by Epic MegaGames and Digital Extremes and published by GT Interactive for Microsoft Windows in May 1998.

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