The bizarre tale of an American astronaut who discovers a Russian village on an arid alien world is taking a lot longer than expected.
If you’ve been wondering what happened to Lifeless Planet, the sci-fi adventure that enjoyed a very solid Kickstarter success back in October 2011, the news is both good and bad. The good news is that work continues; the bad news is that it’s going very slowly.
The launch date during the Kickstarter was pegged at July 2012, and then in June 2012 it was expected to be ready by the end of that year. It is now April 2013 and publisher Lace Mamba Global says, very-vaguely, that Lifeless Planet will be out in the second or third quarter of this year. Developer Stage 2 Studios said the game is currently “in the middle of the alpha phase,” with “a few levels,” script scenes, menu areas and graphics at or near ready for more rigorous testing; an “alpha demo” featuring roughly the first third of the game was released to Kickstarter backers at the end of March.
A soundtrack by composer Rich Douglas was also revealed last week, tagged with a far-more-specific release date of July 12. Samples may be had at Bandcamp, along with a preorder link for those interested in such things.
Lifeless Planet, for those who missed it and don’t want to click the link, is an exploration adventure on an alien world 20 light years from Earth that turns up what appears to be a long-abandoned Soviet laboratory. Is it all a ruse – are you actually in Siberia – or is there more going on than meets the eye? It presents itself as something of a cross between The Dig and Myst, and although it’s not Russian it looks to have enough of that weird Russian vibe to at least qualify for honorary citizenship.
Source: GBase.ch (Google translated)
