In a near-distant future, eight high-profile gamers are called to be reunited at the top
of a luxury building. They are all offered a winning prize of $100 000 after participating
in a new game called ‘The Call Up.’ When all members arrive at the meeting place,
a robotic voice on the ceiling greets and asks them to sign in on tablets with their usernames,
and that from now on, they will be referring to each other as such.
They are asked to dress in high-end motion capture suits. Adam, the most excited gamer there,
is mocked about his fatness during the undressing, and Carl shows a severe burn scar around his ribs,
explaining that his user’s name comes after his girlfriend’s cat. Once they all suit up,
they enter a large, white room with a big scanner in it. They must enter inside the
scanner and say their users’ names. They’re now able to get the high-tech armor. The gear suits
are made with advanced technology that allows the player to become fully immersed in the game.
Adam comments that these suits were only available to the millionaire elite,
but for some reason they were selected to try them out. Zahid loses the thrill of being part of it
because of his nickname: TERRORIST_1. He feels it can become offensive because of his Bosnian roots.
The voice in the ceiling says that the game can’t start until all players are ready,
but Zahid decides to leave the place. Just when he gets to the door, he shows that it’s locked, and
they are trapped there. Zahid agrees to continue against his will, so everyone is ready to begin.
When they put on their virtual reality helmets, the whole scenario in front of them changes,
now being on a post-apocalyptic virtual world inside the building. Their suits are replaced
with military uniforms and although everything feels tangible, things on the stage don’t respond
to their touch in the real world. That’s when a burly Sergeant appears, telling them what their
mission in that place will be. By raising their helmets, everyone confirms there’s not an extra
player as the sergeant, but an NPC that will give some bits of advice through the game. They follow
the sergeant across the stage, and he presents their weapons, with everyone impressed by how
real they look and feel. Actually the weapons are just props to have a reference when using them.
The sergeant's tutorial consists of teaching them how to use their weapons by shooting some bottles.
Some of them hit and some fail, and that’s when they learn about how a vest is their only form of
defense. In case they receive a direct shot from the enemy, they will lose the vest and will be
exposed. To prove his point, the sergeant shoots a couple of players so they can lose their vests.
If that happens and they are in critical condition, the only salvation is to use serums
to restore their lives. The sergeant explains that a dangerous terrorist commando stormed the entire
building. The game’s primary goal is to kill all the terrorists and get to the first floor alive.
Whoever succeeds in doing so will win the real-life prize: 100,000 grand. The level
starts at once, and everyone is led by Andre, who has some experience in such scenarios after being
part of the military. The team inspects the floor and finds the enemy for the first time.
Andre manages to kill the first terrorist without casualties. The voice tells the players they have
completed the level, with all points going to Andre. To enter the next level, they must go
down the stairs, finding a mechanism that does not allow them to go down any more floors until they
finish the current level. If they try to go down, they will be electrocuted by electrical wiring.
The new scenario is similar to the previous one, but with new guns for the players,
so Andre teaches the group how to use them. Level two involves hiding, dodging, and preparing
a counterattack to defeat the terrorists, who possess new weapons as well. After saving Adam
from a direct hit, Andre loses his vest, making the best player exposed to any further wounds.
Taylor is faced with the terror of the game's realism. She goes by the username SLAYERGIRL,
but reveals to everyone that she is not who she says she is. Apparently, she replaced the
real SlayerGirl, so she doesn't belong there and wants to get out of the game as soon as possible.
She is calmed down by Shelly, the other gamer girl, who says that nothing of that is real
and it’s just a simulation. Despite this, Shelly thinks the gunfire feels accurate when she fights
one of the terrorists. This terrorist ends up being killed by Carl, having his first victory,
but it does not last long, as he receives a surprise shot in the back. Carl gives up,
asking the NPC to leave him alone, but the enemy shoots him again, almost at point-blank range to
knock him to the ground. Before the situation gets worse, Shelly saves Carl, who agonizes on
the floor. Carl’s response not only ends up being quite exaggerated but also borderline traumatic.
The damage received is not only noticeable in the game but in real life, as if a bullet had
really hit him. Shelly removes her helmet to make sure everything is okay, and to her surprise, Carl
has no apparent damage on the outside. The pain perpetuates until Andre appears and gives him his
serum to heal. In the game, the bloody hole and the puddle around Carl are restored immediately,
feeling better but still traumatized by the experience. They all take a break and
have a meeting to discuss the possibility of everything being part of a reality TV show.
Zahid panics and fails to try to take off his suit, which seems to be quite tight and embedded
to the body. He theorizes that this is a human test for Andre’s out-of-nowhere weapons company.
Some people still think it’s a sham, and even if it is truthful, they care too much about the prize
money to stop playing. The tension against Andre increases, and he chooses to leave after facing
heavy accusations, leaving them all to their fate. With his helmet raised up and staying in the plane
of the real world, an angry Andre goes to the bathroom, not realizing the game still goes on.
He is surprised in front of the mirror by several revived NPCs, and he only has time to lower his
helmet before taking a direct hit. Everyone is alerted that the new level has begun. As soon as
everything starts, Edward is shot, falling wounded to the ground. Luckily, he has a serum that uses
to heal himself. Taylor tries to get out through the level obstruction, but her plan is frustrated
because of the electric wiring. All perform random actions, with Adam throwing a grenade that manages
to hit the terrorists, the only successful move of the round. The next scene shows Andre trying
to look for help while crawling on the ground, but only feels himself slowly bleeding to death. The
voice in the ceiling tells the players they passed level two, with Adam getting the higher score.
That’s when they hear Andre’s cries for help in the distance. Before being struck down by internal
pain, Andre manages to hear a timer counting down. Once the timer ends, it discharges a high voltage
current from the helmet into his brain, causing Andre to convulse to death. The others find him
lying on the ground, unable to save him, and leaving the game with only seven players. Zahid
grabs a fire extinguisher, panicking and sweating, asking for a volunteer to help him remove his
helmet. Carl immediately offers to do it, so Zahid ducks and braces for impact. Carl does his best,
but nothing happens, the material is too rigid and solid, leaving Zahid beaten. In the virtual
reality, the sergeant suddenly appears to beat up Zahid for trying to break the rules, with everyone
feeling puzzled. He assures the others that there will be real consequences if they try to
get out of the game. Despite their disadvantaged position, they managed to advance through the
following levels without losses, learning how to use new weapons and guns, facing things like
attacking with tactical knives and hand-to-hand combat to avoid gunfire due gas leaks. During one
of the levels, Adam and Carl are wounded, and the team uses a couple of serums to save them.
After a while they see that it is already night in the real-life city, so the tired group of players
tries once again to get out of there, only in a more desperate way by pushing a cart against the
windows, trying to get the attention of someone below. They manage to break the window a little,
but just before they can get it the sergeant attacks again the insurgent Zahid, only this
time the damage ends up being more realistic than usual, and ends up breaking his leg badly in real
life. Zahid asks the others to hide him for the following levels and continue by themselves.
After a few moments, he dies of blood loss. The new level starts and Marco, the most ruthless
player falls after a brief encounter with the enemy. Shelly gives Marco her serum to save
him while Taylor, who remained hidden to avoid conflict and damage, realizes that an enemy is
behind her, so she decides to counterattack. Amid the whole chaos, Carl talks with Shelly,
realizing from her identification that she has no family and Shelly confirms this by saying that her
parents are deceased. Carl also comments on how he is alone as well, with Adam saying that he
lives with his grandmother with Alzheimer’s, Marco is divorced, and Edward is an only
child and an orphan. They deduce that by being illegal, Zahid had no safe place to go either,
discovering that they were picked for the game due to their lonely condition and no one will search
for them in the worst case scenario. For the next level, they find the sergeant beating and
torturing a hostage from the terrorist commando in a different room. The team’s new mission is
to extract a password from the hostage to defuse a bomb inside the building before it explodes.
The guy only knows Russian and he is connected to voltage transmitters, so it involves mental
strength that no one has, no one but Edward. He instantly presses the high voltage equipment
to get the password, not caring for the man’s cries and pleas of mercy. After receiving too
much damage, the man gives a word that Adam introduces as the password in the computer.
The terrorist laughs for being a false clue and in the blink of an eye Taylor kills him.
Marco blames Adam for putting the code wrong and lashes out at him in real life, accidentally
beating Taylor as well. Edward points out that the sergeant is holding an elevator door at the other
side of the room and tells them to get in there to protect themselves from the imminent explosion.
During their descent the elevator stops abruptly, and they try to force their way out. Marco holds
the door but leaves Adam behind with him for screwing up the password level early. From now on,
the two of them advance several levels at once on the elevator, not without some friction along the
way. At the same time, the rest of the team reach a place with more weaponry and continue the level.
For the next test, the terrorists throw a smoke grenade, which seems to trigger a painful memory
in Carl. They hide and he tells to Shelly he lost his girlfriend in a fire trying to save her,
explaining the scars in his body. Meanwhile, Marco makes of Adam a walking decoy, marching first if a
terrorist shows up, and just as they thought, one appears. Marco pushes Adam until falling,
but nothing happens, as he has no bullets. The terrorist responds and shoots Adam in the side.
After a few moments, Adam dies, leaving the game with only five players. Taylor finds a serum but
she’s intercepted by Marco, who demands it. Upon refusal, Marco lashes out sharply at Taylor,
commenting on how much she resembles his hated ex-wife. After a brief exchange of words Marco
shoots Taylor, taking the serum. Marco meets Carl and they wonder if they have seen the others.
After some investigation, Carl comes across Taylor’s corpse and realizes that Marco is a
traitor, so he decides to leave the virtual world to fight Marco, taking him down and disorienting
him. Marco manages to defeat Carl before he has a chance, but just as he gives him the coup de
grace, the sergeant appears rudely punishing Marco for disobeying the rules by killing one of
his mates. The sergeant's beating ends up being so intense that Marco dies from the pressure.
The last three players meet for the final station in the basement. When they thought they
could pass the level defusing the bomb under the building, a terrorist comes out of a nearby van,
shoots Carl and makes him fall while the others look for shelter. Luckily, Carl had one life
serum left, but just before using it, Shelly gets wounded too, so he decides to sacrifice himself
in order to save her. After that, Edward uses a bazooka to make the remaining enemy explode and
manages to defuse the bomb. Sadly, having used up his serum, Carl dies holding hands with Shelly,
happy to have helped her. At the end of the game, the sergeant appears in his formal uniform,
congratulating them on reaching the home stretch. To Shelly’s surprise, Edward repeats
the sergeant’s speech, showing that he was a real traitor in the operation to unknown purposes. The
game concludes, the virtual world fades away, and men in black uniforms arrive to dispose of Carl’s
lifeless body. Shelly tries to defend herself but she’s immediately drugged to the sidelines.
All the players’ information is erased from the database, just like they never existed.
Upon waking up still in the parking lot, Shelly has a conversation with Edward.
He admits to her that he didn’t believe they would make it to the end, but she criticizes him that
they are all dead and it’s not worth the try. Edward clings that at least he gave meaning to
the lives of the deceased players and that no one will ever believe Shelly, even if she decides to
go to the police. He sends one of his employees to sedate her again, but just before the man does it,
she fights back, steals his gun and escapes. With all the tactical knowledge she learned throughout
the game, Shelly shoots at the lights and hides in the parking lot. Edward sends his henchmen
after her, but she emerges victorious after a battle in the dark. She points at a desperate
Edward who begs for his life, but Shelly shoots in the process. The film concludes
with a victorious Shelly, watching the building exit and realizing that it’s already dawn.