Set in the near future, Shadow Ops: Red Mercury is a gritty, real-world first-person shooter (FPS) in which the player fills the combat boots of an elite Delta Force operative. When a female Russian double-agent discovers information on Red Mercury - a secret substance that can be used as a nuclear accelerant - the player is hand-picked by the National Security Agency (NSA) to pursue the Red Mercury before it is used to build backpack nuclear devices and sold to terrorist organizations.