Picking up a piece of lead piping as a makeshift weapon, the player plots against Nikki and the Kingpin himself. For some reason not explained within the game, Nikki Blanco wants the player out of his territory for good, and the beating is a warning that should he ever return, he can expect much worse.
It is here that the player character has been left, after being beaten up by some thugs under the employ of Nikki Blanco, one of the Kingpin's lieutenants. The game begins in the most desolate and deprived area of the city, Skidrow, a dystopia where the population consists entirely of criminal elements, prostitutes, and transients. Set in a city, the world of Kingpin revolves around crime and criminals. The setting is described by the game manual as a ' past that never happened'. Many inventions are conveyed through an art deco style design, like helicopters and monorail networks.
Set in a quasi-retro time period, Kingpin features a mix of 1930s art deco crossed with modern technology and ideas.
