14 DAY TRIAL // Good news for fans of spacefaring, as a brand new such adventure is shaping up on the horizon, in the form of the aptly titled Into the Stars.
The game comes from former DICE developers, the creative individuals behind Battlefield, Shadow of the Damned, and Lost Planet. The newly minted development studio Fugitive Games has just launched the crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter and is waiting for enthusiastic gamers to pledge.
The game proposes a single-player open-world adventure through a distant solar system. As captain of your ship, you will have to scavenge for resource and lead your crew in combat, doing your best to tackle the challenges of the solar system.
The campaign pitch video boasts some pretty snazzy-looking visuals and interesting gameplay mechanics, showing how you have complete control over everything that happens on the ship and how you have to take on an intriguing melange of mystery and peril while navigating the solar system.
The game is fashioned after the classic Oregon Trail game, mixed with a bit of FTL and set in an open world, in a nutshell.
Guide your people through space
You assume control of an inexperienced ship crew and guide them through a wondrous journey from your chair of command, engaging both friendly and hostile aliens while looking for a new planet to call home.
There will be a huge sector of space to explore at will, with over 90 different zones, each one of them offering the chance to find salvation, but also a swift death.
The mutual language of all living things is violence, so you'll also have a wide array of combat options available when negotiations go south and you find yourself under attack, or when you yourself want to catch your unwitting opponents off-guard.
Your final destination is unknown, and you will have to mine resources in order to stay alive, and discover mysterious relics that will enhance your ship's ability to stay one step ahead of a deadly pursuing force.
Difficult decisions
The game features crew permadeath, and every time you engage in combat, assemble a landing party or prepare for mining operations, you will endanger the lives of your people.
Careful resource management will also play a crucial role during your exploits, as you have to balance the needs of your crew and modules. Each of the different zones in the game comes with unique opportunities, but every resource gathering option also comes with its own cost.
The entire game revolves around an alien invasion that destroyed your home planet 10 years ago. Now you're on the run, and the longer you hang around in any given sector, the higher the chances that you'll be discovered are.
You are the captain of the last remaining ship, tasked with the colossal mission to save mankind from extinction.
