14 DAY TRIAL // Publisher Slitherine has announced that the 4X strategy game Pandora: First Contact is receiving its first expansion, Return of the Messari, on May 30.
Pandora: First Contact is a science fiction turn-based strategy game that deals in planetary conquest and bears many similarities with a certain cult strategy title that's named after our closest neighbor in the Universe, Alpha Centauri.
It all happens in the future, when humankind is polarized around a handful of factions, each one with its own different ideology, and all natural resources are exhausted. After an interstellar probe brings the promise of a new haven for man, light-years away, humanity rushes to space.
The action takes places on a randomized hex-based map with varied terrain, from frozen tundras to deserts and everything in-between, and in addition to the other human factions that you, of course, have to battle, because humankind never learns to live in peace, you also have to fight the unforgiving and very dangerous local fauna.
As in Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, once on the alien planet, you start building outposts, researching new technologies and constructing an army, in the ongoing effort to take control of your new home.
While the original game showed promise, it failed to live up to the source material, lacking its depth. It was pretty shallow in many aspects and felt rushed in many ways, but the developers kept tweaking and patching it, striving to offer a better experience.
Their efforts culminated with the Return of the Messari expansion. The Messari are a brand-new alien faction that will play an important role during the late stages of Pandora: First Contact.
An ancient civilization that fled from planet Pandora a long time ago, the Messari have now returned to claim what is theirs by birthright.
As if the Pandoran environment wasn't difficult enough to fend off on its own, players will now have to also take into account the looming Messari threat. The aliens will target the stronger factions first, aggressively bringing their colossal and powerful units, such as giant mechs and motherships, into the planetary war.
This, of course, means that resourceful players will be able to plan around the new gameplay element and capitalize on the alien's attack in order to fortify their own position, when the time is right, in order to stand a chance of surviving the greatest challenge that mankind has ever suffered.
The Return of the Messari expansion will become available on Steam starting May 30, and pre-orders at a discounted price are already open. The original game will also be released on Steam on the same day, and owners of a copy of Pandora can get a Steam key free of charge.