Kickstarter Picks: Planet Explorers

The team behind Planet Explorers obviously believes in the old adage of “go big or go home,” because this game promises to be very big indeed. An action-adventure RPG with 4X elements, it will follow a team of interstellar colonists whose ship crashes on its target planet, leaving them trapped and sorely underequipped on a hostile world. Now they must salvage what they can, explore the world, build, fight, survive and ultimately establish a viable, durable new home for themselves and their descendants.

By
Share this
  • Share this on Facebook
  • Share this on Twitter

The team behind Planet Explorers obviously believes in the old adage of “go big or go home,” because this game promises to be very big indeed. An action-adventure RPG with 4X elements, it will follow a team of interstellar colonists whose ship crashes on its target planet, leaving them trapped and sorely underequipped on a hostile world. Now they must salvage what they can, explore the world, build, fight, survive and ultimately establish a viable, durable new home for themselves and their descendants.

Gameplay will unfold from the first and third-person perspectives, with players able to build and customize a wide range of objects including buildings, vehicles, weapons and of course their characters. But as an RPG in Story Mode, it will also feature a complete story arc with missions and side quests that take place on a 136 square kilometer map packed with unique landscapes, locations and more than 100 types of “potential” enemies. The map will be completely open, and players can actually choose to avoid violent conflict if they prefer a more pacifistic approach to colonization.

Planet Explorers‘ Adventure Mode is similar but will use procedurally-generated maps and randomized missions to provide the same gameplay as Story Mode, but without the overarching plot. Build Mode does away with the enemies and gives players unlimited materials to create whatever they want without fear of distraction, interruption or untimely, grisly death. Multiplayer options will include both co-op and versus gameplay modes, beginning in the Build Mode and then expanding to include Adventure, Tower Defense, Capture the Flag and others.

The game world is built from voxels for a “smooth and diverse” terrain, and in Story Mode it is actually not procedurally generated – everything on the continent is made by hand to feel unique, immersive and big. The story isn’t hardcore sci-fi but it will “stay true to the spirit of space exploration,” and players will be free to engage in diplomacy with the sentient races of the planet – and yes, they are there – or opt for a more forceful approach.

news

Planet Explorers is a hugely ambitious undertaking, but unlike many videogame Kickstarters, alpha builds are already available for adventurous sorts who don’t mind sampling games in a relatively raw state. There’s a little over two weeks remaining in the Kickstarter, which is just past halfway to its $100,000 goal. If it can make it over the top – and then make the game it promises – it could very well turn out to be nothing short of amazing.

Kickstarter Picks is a series of features on Gamezebo that will profile Kickstarter projects in the world of video games. We’re doing this in the hopes of calling attention to interesting projects in need of funding, so please, if a game looks like something you’d want to play, don’t hesitate to lend it your support!

Long-time PC gamer and shorter-time freelance writer, with work at Gamezebo, The Escapist, PC Gamer, Joystiq and parts unknown. Owner of many cats, drinker of fine beers, eater of too much. A steadfast javelin in a flaccid world.