E3 2015: Survive Hostile Alien Planets in The Solus Project

“Lonely” has never seemed as powerful as it appears to be in The Solus Project. As Earth becomes unable to sustain life, an expedition is sent out to seek new life on a distant planet. A catastrophic crash results in the death of everyone but the protagonist, the solo survivor who can’t even be sure there’s anyone left on Earth to contact.

New details and a trailer surfaced during E3 2015, formally announcing the game. Two studios came together to work on it, Czech Grip Games and Swedish Teotl, the latter also spearheading their first project, a published first-person puzzler titled The Ball. The Solus Project happens in the same universe as The Ball, and work on the game first began in 2013.

The gameplay in The Solus Project revolves around survival and exploration. There are plenty of secrets to discover on the planet, which has a system of caves and tombs. Like on Earth, there are archipelago islands, however the day and night temperatures are much more extreme. Other than getting used to a different climate, the explorer deals with frequent environmental hazards, such as thunderstorms, tornadoes, and meteor storms. The player needs to survive, unearth the underground secrets, and build a means of communication with Earth.

Game designers may also want to take a look at this page, which details an example project in Unreal Engine 4. It contains some of the methods the developers used while creating The Solus Project with explanatory videos.

Check out the trailer above for a look at the game running in Unreal Engine 4. Teotl and Grip Games aim to release The Solus Project in early 2016 for PC and Xbox One. The official website has a few more gameplay details.