Lost Planet 3 introduces Jim Peyton, a Utility Rig pilot who leaves Earth to take on a hazardous but lucrative contract on E.D.N. III. Working for Neo-Venus Construction (NEVEC), Jim is one of a select few pioneers at the Coronis base surveying the uncharted terrain and obtaining samples of the planet's natural energy source - Thermal Energy, which NEVEC believes will save Earth's energy crisis.

The title delivers a mix of action both inside and outside of Jim's utility rig vehicle. Acting as a home away from home and offering protection from the ever changing climate, Jim soon discovers the utility rig's array of tools are just as useful at taking out Akrid in the rig's first person perspective as they are at helping him fulfill his contract work. Outside the rig the action switches to third person with Jim at the mercy of the elements. He'll need to battle against hostile enemies with a mix of gun and melee based combat whilst surviving all that is thrown at him.

While under attack from E.D.N. III's indigenous Akrid, Jim's Utility Rig falls down an icy fissure, leaving him unconscious and injured. Jim wakes to find himself in what appears to be a secret base, hidden beneath the planet's frozen surface. On discovering he was rescued by one of the base's inhabitants, Mira, the daughter of So'ichi (the Snow Pirate leader), he soon realises that NEVEC are no longer the only occupants of E.D.N. III. With this encounter with the Snow Pirates new truths about the foreboding planet and the colonial history are set to be unveiled.