The idea of colonizing other planets is at the forefront of many people’s minds these days. It’s the next frontier for humanity: exploring space. And this thought is reflected in popular media.

Lot’s of recent movies, series, books, and games have been centered around the idea of interplanetary exploration (*cough* Mass Effect: Andromeda *cough*). Enter Planetrism, a game being developed by Mike Magus Laaksonen and Kimmo Kaunela. Planetrism is a VR RPG game about the life of colonists on an exoplanet light-years away from our solar system. It provides us with an experience we’re all probably wondering about – what it would feel like to be the leader of a colony on far away planet. The game shows what a harsh, but exciting life it could be – a life full of hard work, the danger of unknown territory, and ultimately – humanity’s biggest adventure to date.

Planetrism is still in very early development right now and the two devs are hard at work on getting the game ready for release – however far off that still might be. But they already had a lot to show us about the game and so far it looks to be a very promising title. So what do we know about this game?

It’s currently in development for HTC Vive and Oculus Rift. The first planet in the game will be called ‘New Skylake’ and the game combines the perspectives of a personal experience of colonist life with leading and managing a whole colony.

Check out the teaser trailer below:

The Story So Far

The universe in Planetrism has a detailed history and humans have advanced technology, sociology, and cultures. By the year 2242 humankind has spread to the stars, seeking natural resources and studying terraforming. The core worlds – Earth, Mars, Lunar cities and Titan are overpopulated. Earth itself is barely habitable due to pollution and global warming. Natural resources are low.

So nations and mega corporations (specifically a company called the Horiz0n Corporation) sought new places to live and new places to mine resources from. The solution to this was the development of the QT-Drive which enables faster-than-light traveling. Which meant new colonies could be established on faraway planets. Those colonists seek out minerals and other natural resources, but also perform scientific studies and experiments in terraforming while trying to build a better future for themselves. Which is where you come in.

According to the developers, players will have a clear goal in Planetrism – to build a better, stable place to live for themselves and their fellow colonists. But there are many obstacles on the path to that goal. These include the constant struggle with the environment, maintaining inadequate equipment, and physical and psychological stress.

In addition, “Those exoplanets often contain many surprises. New lifeforms that sometimes prove dangerous. Strange phenomena. Hostile or extremely hazardous environments. And behind that all, there always lurks the greed of human nature. What was promised as a new paradise may turn out to be a constant struggle for survival,” the developers said.

Planetrism Gameplay

There isn’t too much info on the gameplay just yet. But the game will be played in the first-person perspective and there will be combat.

Currently, it also looks like the game uses the teleportation locomotion mechanic, judging by this short gameplay video the developers shared on Twitter:

But the developers did reveal that the current locomotion method is only being used to quickly move around during development. They continued by saying that they will eventually replace it with a walking, running and jumping style locomotion.

All in all, at this early in the development of the game, Planetrism looks to be a unique and exciting experience. I know I’m excited about getting to colonize new and exotic planets. How about you?