They say good things come to those who wait. And in the case of any player who played Minecraft and Terraria thinking, “this would be so much cooler with a sci-fi theme,” all that patience has finally started to pay off. Sine this time last year, several new titles have emerged to try and fill this neglected niche. Starbound, Edge of Space, and now Signs of Life all look poised to turn this year and the next into a great time for science fiction games.
At the moment, not a great deal has been elaborated on for Signs of Life. Between the trailer and the synopsis available on the game’s Steam page, we know that the game takes place on an alien planet and the player is apparently the sole survivor of the human race. The game will have a strong survival element similar to niche games that appeared in the 90’s like Deus (Deus, not Deus Ex) and it’s predecessor Robinson’s Requiem, characters will have to hunt native wildlife for meat and hides and survive a hostile environment.
Developers have confirmed that there will be multiple approaches to resource gathering, each with their own set of benefits and consequences. While nothing has been said formally about these drawbacks, screenshots show a blue “energy” meter just below the health bar and some of the fluff has mentioned a “wrist laser” that the player starts with. It is possible that some forms of resource extraction would use the laser or another device that consumes energy. Since energy is also seen being consumed whenever the player uses a flashlight or a strange weapon that looks like a giant glow-stick, looking like the player might have to make some interesting decisions early on.
While there is some interesting information that can be inferred so far, such as enemies being visibly resistant to certain kinds of damage, very little has been described in detail at the time of writing. Hopefully the year ahead has more information for us like what kind of environments the planet (or planets) has in store for us. Be sure to check out their official website and Facebook page.
Do you think the far future and depths of space are a natural direction for the developing sandbox genre to expand into? Or do you think it’s too early to tell? Sound off in the comments below.
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