In Sunrise the player controls Rydec who is working on a teleportation experiment with his friends Brian and Max. Unfortunately the experiment goes wrong and suddenly New York is deserted and the sun fails to rise. And then there is that unconscious woman lying in front of the house door...

In many ways Sunrise: The Game tries to bring innovations to the adventure genre. Despite the puzzles are item based the game features no classic inventory system: Rydec won't take an item until it is directly needed for the next puzzle. If he has all items needed he uses them himself. The only things he always carry is a multi tool with three functions, e.g. as screwdriver and a PDA which shows the next task and optionally gives hints. Another help function is the possibility to mark all hot spots on the screen. The puzzles itself often feature multiple solutions. Another speciality is that all the conversations are automatic. Despite the dark scenario the dialogues are also humorous and long - if the player doesn't like listening to them he can use an option to shorten them.