Have you ever wondered what you’d do as overseer in a Fallout vault? As you just saw in the Future Games Show powered by WD_BLACK, essentially what Starmancer is. Rather than being buried underground with a colony of apocalypse survivors, you’re in space as an AI with thousands of consciousnesses stored in your memory banks. You can grow humans to populate your custom-built space station, but how you reign as a computer-based overlord is up to you.
Starmancer comes from brand new development studio Ominux Games, but the publisher, Chucklefish, has games like Starbound and Stardew Valley under their belt, and the inspirations for Starmancer go further than just having “star” prefixing the title. Aesthetically, it looks like Stardew Valley meets Habbo Hotel; bright colors against the dark purple background of outer space set the scene in making your space station the only refuge and protection from the vastness outside.
Protection may not be the route you go down though because while you can make your colony a utopia for all the colonists, you can also opt for something a little less heavenly. Eject colonists for stepping out of line, perform “ethically ambiguous” science experiments like feeding someone a single food repeatedly until they go insane, or become enemies with all other factions in the galaxy.
Thanks to the procedural generation of Starmancer, each colony you create will be different. You can choose where to place your station; surrounded by peaceful allies to have an easier beginning, or do you go next to a pirate faction to deal with their hostility from the get-go? All the unique colonists will develop relationships, memories, rumors, and more, all of which drive their motives and behavior. And if interior design is your thing, there are myriad design options for rooms and areas of your space station, whether you want a modern, fancy kitchen or something more industrial.
Starmancer has endless possibilities and ways for you to play, as highlighted in the brand new trailer during the Future Games Show. With less than two months until the game launches in early access on August 5, wishlist the game today on Steam.
