The film opens in the world of Free City, a video game where players can take part in
action-packed missions like spy jobs or bank robberies
The biggest players are the ones that wear sunglasses, as it gives them an advantage
over other characters Among the many non-player characters, there
is a Guy, a bank teller who enjoys his mundane and routine lifestyle
He works with his best friend, a security guard named Buddy
and they always have to play the part of helpless bank employees, when they get robbed
Elsewhere in Free City is a sunglasses character called Molotov Girl, who is interrogating
another player for info on an artifact she is searching for
Afterward, she walks near Guy and Buddy as they walk home
and Guy hears Mariah Carey’s Fantasy play as Molotov Girl walks past him
He comments on the song, which surprises her because she is used to hearing all the stock
phrases each non-player character has to say Guy becomes smitten and follows after her
but is hit by a train, sending him back to his home to relive everything
When Guy goes back to work, the robbery takes place but Guy decides to do something different
and tries to acquire the sunglasses off of a robber, accidentally killing him with their
own shotgun, even as the player in the real world tries to take Guy down
then he takes the sunglasses and leaves the bank
When he puts them on, he sees various parts of the game highlighted to show what they
are there for He finds that he can pick up health boxes
to fix himself up, and he continues to literally see the world through new eyes
However, when he tries to change things like his regular coffee order, the other nonplayer
characters appear to get suspicious of Guy Outside in the real world
the company behind Free City catches wind of Guy’s activities, thinking he is a hacker
who used a nonplayer character skin to take down other players
Keys and Mouser are Two employees who go into the game, as a stripper cop and a pink rabbit
to confront Guy They chase after him, but he got limited edition
sneakers that provide him with high jumping skills
Guy tries to escape them by grabbing onto a wrecking ball but he misses and falls, saving
himself with a bubble suit However, Keys and Mouser find Guy and kill
him, thinking they have taken the “hacker” out for good
An interview is shown of Keys with Millie, as they are the masterminds behind the Free
City game, before their current boss Antwan who stole their code
and bastardized the game into his own thing to create a soulless franchise
Millie visits Keys and plans to get evidence of Antwan’s crimes
because she knows that proof of their code is hidden in a safe house inside the game,
which she is trying to infiltrate while playing as Molotov Girl
later, Guy finds Molotov Girl outside the safe house
Although he wants to join her in her mission and elsewhere, he cannot because he has a
low level while she is at a higher level then, Guy starts taking on missions with the
glasses and pulls off several heroic acts like returning stolen money and pulling kids
away from traffic Players in real life take notice and Guy soon
becomes a viral sensation called “Blue Shirt Guy”, even appearing as an answer on “Jeopardy”
Guy tries to get Buddy to join him after stealing another pair of sunglasses, but Buddy thinks
it’s too dangerous Antwan catches wind of Guy and wants his employees
to keep Guy on because of how popular he is The company is set to launch Free City 2,
which Antwan wants out in two days time despite not being fully coded and still glitchy
and he makes it worse by telling Keys that the game is not backward compatible with the
first game, so most of the characters won’t return for the sequel
Guy gets to a high enough level, that he goes to the safe house while Millie makes an attempt
to get in there Just as she is almost killed, Guy crashes
through on a motorcycle and helps her fight off the villains before escaping on a hang
glider Later, the two hang out and eat the bubblegum
ice cream, which both consider being underrated Keys notices something unusual about the codes
of the nonplayer characters He brings the info to Millie, reporting that
the barista in the coffee shop learned how to make a cappuccino through trial and error
while a blonde bombshell character wrote a book on gender roles after she encountered
Guy and was influenced to follow her own path This proves that Antwan stole their code
because their idea for the game that turned into Free City would have had the nonplayer
characters grow and develop over time as they adapt, and that’s what Guy has been doing
He also warns Millie that the current world of Free City will be lost once the sequel
launches Millie goes back into the game to bring Guy
to the central hub where other players gather, revealing to him that he is just a character
in a video game Once the realization hits him
Guy goes into a funk and loses his cheerful demeanor
He goes to Buddy’s house to talk to him about his newfound existential crisis
and Buddy attempts to cheer him up, by assuring him that the moment they are experiencing
together is real Buddy joins Guy as he decides to help Millie
and get the file she wants The guard avatar is excited to meet Guy as
the player in the real world reacts to seeing him
He basically lets Guy rob him and take what he wants, even asking Guy to kill him but
Guy refuses to do so He brings the file to Millie, which is the
evidence she has been looking for Guy’s no-kill demeanor catches on with players
including popular streamers like Ninja and Pokimane
However, Antwan starts to get pissed off and thinks that Guy will ruin sales for Free City
2 Mouser suggests that they can reboot the server
In the game, Guy and Millie see the file, which contains information about an island
that proves she and Keys are the masterminds behind the Free City game
Just as Guy mentions that he has seen the island before, the game is rebooted, which
causes Guy to lose his memory Millie is able to log back on, but Guy doesn’t
remember who she is but She asks Keys for help
and he tells her that the character he made that Guy is based on a lovelorn nonplayer
character who is always searching for his dream girl
and he just needs something to help trigger the code
Millie tried to bring back all his memories, and she managed to do that
including where he saw the island The image of it is reflected off the blinds
in his apartment, and with that info Keys figures that the island is just beyond
the city’s horizon Guy and Millie then round up all the nonplayer
characters in Free City to inspire them to migrate to the island
and follow their own choices instead of what they were coded to do
With all the nonplayer characters gone, the real players are left confused in the city
lonely Antwan soon catches wind of Molotov Girl and
learns that Millie is involved He orders Mouser to delete her and Guy for
good Mouser starts to manipulate the game’s environment
as Guy tries driving them outside the city Players all over the world are tuned in to
watch the saga unfold Keys intervenes and helps create a ramp to
escape the destruction all while the rest watch from afar
They make it to the beach, but Molotov Girl starts to get deleted while Keys helps create
a bridge for them Antwan then launch Dude that is a bigger,
stronger, dumber version of Guy that isn’t fully finished
but is Antwan’s last-ditch effort to get rid of Guy
Buddy arrives to help while Guy gets tossed around by Dude
but they can't stop the dude Guy takes sunglasses, who is able to conjure
up Captain America’s shield, which surprises Chris Evans watching in a cafe
and a Hulk fist, as well as a lightsaber However, Dude nearly overpowers Guy until
he puts the glasses on Dude, who now sees the world as Guy does
Guy and Buddy start running toward the island at this point
Antwan starts to lose but takes Mouser to the server room where he now plans to completely
erase the Free City game Mouser stops helping Antwan due to his loyalty
to Keys, so Antwan begins smashing everything with an axe, causing the city environment
to be deleted The bridge is being deleted too, and Buddy
doesn’t make it far until he is also deleted, but he tells Guy that he has had the best
day of his life thanks to him Guy runs fast enough until he finally breaks
through the barrier and makes it to the island, which is then revealed to the nonplayer characters
and the players in the real world Millie makes it to the almost totally destroyed
server room, and makes a deal with Antwan to let her have the code to the game, while
he can keep the Free City name for sequels and spin-offs
Soon, Free City 2 launches to abysmal sales, and Antwan starts to face heavy scrutiny at
work and in the media The friends develop new game called Free Life,
making the game they always wanted to make with more expansive environments and details
Now being more dedicated to the game, Millie must break up with Guy, but he completely
understands and parts amicably with her Millie then watches a video playback of Keys,
describing that Guy’s character was always going to fall in love with Molotov Girl, because
he created the algorithm for his attraction to her based on his own love for Millie
She realizes this and goes to see him in the town
Back in the game, Guy and Dude have become friends, but Guy misses Buddy
It turns out Buddy was brought back to life in the game, and the two best friends reunite
Buddy asks if they should return to work, but Guy says that they can now go and do wherever
they want