Stardock has announced the first new Star Control game in two decades.
Since acquiring the license a few years ago, Stardock, maker of Sorcerer King and Ashes of the Singularity, has been hard at work on Star Control: Origins. The title is described as an action/adventure game set in the year 2086.
When Earth receives a distress signal originating from outside the solar system, a global organization is formed to explore the signal and traverse through the darkness of space. That organization is called Star Control. As the Captain, players must investigate the transmission which leads to the rest of the galaxy learning about the existence of humans.
Stardock describes Star Control: Origins as being set in a living galaxy filled with thousands of unique worlds, many of which are teeming with alien life. Players will deal with over a dozen star-faring civilizations in trade, negotiation, and war.
“Star Control has always been about creating a fantastic galactic sandbox to play in and weaving a compelling story around it that gives meaning and wonder to their adventure,” said Brad Wardell, Executive Producer of Star Control: Origins. “With Origins, we want to bring the style, humor and game play elements we loved from the classic series and then expand it with features made possible on modern hardware.”
Unlike the classic titles in the series, players can now land on planets that are now represented as spherical entities with the gameplay updated to allow the lander to jump obstacles, rotate their lander’s cannon and deal with hostile environments and creatures.
“Exploring planets is now one of the funnest parts of the game,” said Wardell “The objective is still largely the same, pick up resources, access quests, find artifacts and ship parts but now the gameplay is very engaging.”
Like the original games, there is a heavy focus on how the player interacts with aliens. With an all new cast of aliens for the player to deal with, each of these entities is brought to life using a dynamic rendering system, with speech and appearances rendered in real-time.
The studio has also teamed up with the musicians from the original games, including Ruku Nuottajarvi, who composed the original soundtrack. Stardock has also commissioned Chris Bucholz to write the game’s story. Bucholz is best known for his previous work at Cracked.com.
“Star Control is the convergence of a unique musical style, wry humor and a compelling story,” said Wardell. “The next challenge is to combine that with the gameplay to create what we hope will become a classic.”
For now, players can opt in to pre-order the game for $35 with its Founder’s Program and gain immediate access to the Founder’s Vault. There’s a private forum, modding tools, and then some.
Wardell says that the developers will give homage to the classics rather than simply copy them.
“There is a fine line between giving homage to a classic and copying it,” said Wardell. “The Founders and us will work together to ensure we thread that needle.”
The studio released a proof of concept, teasing some alpha gameplay to the public so gamers can get a taste of what the game has to offer.
Star Control: Origins comes out on PC in the second half of 2017.
