The game follows Sol Cutter, a computer hacker and data thief, whose latest theft causes a virus named Burn Cycle to be implanted in his head.

In 1996 Philips Interactive Media announced that all of their CD-i games would be ported to the Sega Saturn and Sony PlayStation during the third quarter of 1996, starting with Burn Cycle.

At any point, the player can bring up a menu showing the remaining time before the Burn Cycle virus wipes Cutter's mind, which decreases in realtime during gameplay.

The amount of time on this clock can be extended by trading for treatment drugs with Zip, an underground cybertechnology dealer at the Zero Sum Bar.

As the game opens, Cutter is on a job; breaking and entering into the corporate offices of SoftTech, his former employers, when a shock blasts him across the room.

With few options left and the Burn Cycle clock continuing to count down, Cutter makes his way to Doc, an underground brain surgeon for help.

Doc explains Cutter that his memories are being deleted due to the biochemical digital virus inhabiting his brain and if the clock runs out he will be effectively braindead.

Inside the Televerse, Cutter must track down the rogue pieces of his code, personified by a man, a strange golden Buddha and Kris.

Vielli, who is revealed to have died and exists solely as a program, has perfected the process for downloading consciousness into the Televerse, but also uploading it into any body, effectively inventing the code for immortality.

Vielli helps Cutter to cure the Burn Cycle virus and reveals that Doc has betrayed him, being on SoftTech's payroll for years.

When asked what the catch is, Vielli simply states that he doesn't kill employees and that Cutter should consider the money a retainer for further services.

The effect is that navigation through Burn Cycle's environments cues a 3D walkthrough, while interaction with characters or the activation of scripted events prompts the loading of overlaid camera footage, sometimes even with complete scene changes.

Burn Cycle features a largely techno soundtrack, composed and performed by the partnership of Simon Boswell and Chris Whitten.

[15] PC Gamer commented that "the blend of puzzles, arcade action, mysteries and cyberspace won't be too interesting"; the game's cyberpunk atmosphere and music were listed as positive aspects.

The website nonetheless considered Burn Cycle "well-balanced" and its environments "carefully planned", giving the game an A− along with Entertainment Weekly.