The game is set in 10,000BC during the end of the Upper Paleolithic and beginning of the Mesolithic period in Europe. It takes place in the fictional Oros valley in the Carpathian Mountains of Central Europe (although some in-game mountains can be easily recognized as the Tre Cime di Lavaredo located in north-east Italy), an open world filled with different types of flora and fauna. Unlike previous games, there is prehistoric wildlife such as woolly mammoths, dire wolves, cave bears, cave lions, woolly rhinos, brontotherium, Irish elk and saber-toothed cats along with forms of modern creatures like brown bears, badgers, and deer. Survival is a daily challenge as tribes come into conflict with one another and nature.