Planetrism is a story driven role-playing game (RPG) currently in development for Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. The ambitious science-fiction videogame is being developed by a two-man team, Mika Laaksonen and Kimmo Kaunela, with a view to launching in the ‘near future’.

Set in the future, 200 years from now, Planetrism tells the tale of how mankind has spread throughout the Solar system. The Earth has become overpopulated and polluted, and is in sociological-economical turmoil due to scarce resources. As new colonists head to distant exoplanets in a race to claim new resources, an important question is almost silenced: will mankind establish a paradise or just repeat its past mistakes?

Planetrism is an open world experience filled with long story arcs, small side adventures and problems to solve. According to the development team, the open world structure ensures that the player may choose his or her own path and experience an alien world at his own pace, regardless of the main story. The player can determine his or her own goals, although there is also the need to consider and plan actions in the context of survival and resources management.

“Planetrism is a virtual reality science fiction role-playing game where you experience the life of a colonist on an exoplanet light years away from [our] Solar system. It is very harsh frontier life full of hard work, dangers of unknown territories, but there are also adventures filled with wonders and mysteries of universe. Planetrism combines personal experience of adventurous colonist life with leadership and management of whole colony,” stated Kaunela in an e-mail to VRFocus.

The player can create a unique character with different attributes and skills; learn new skills and improve through progress. Mastering certain skills may prove crucial to surviving on an alien environment, and the player has to choose carefully how to use his time and what to learn.

Built with Unreal Engine 4, Planetrism is expected to launch later this year for HTC Vive and Oculus Rift. The HTC Vive version will support both Windows 10 and Mac OS platforms. No specific release date has yet been announced, but VRFocus will keep you updated with all the latest details on Planetrism.