If you like sci-fi games, farming simulators, roguelikes, and first person shooters, chances are you will love Genesis Alpha One. Developed by Radiation Blue, this ambitious title blends the best of all these genres and gives you full control to play it how you like. Just playing it made us feel like we were the captains of our ship because, well, we were!

Genesis takes place during a time when Earth’s societies are collapsing and the only way for humankind to continue is to venture into space and find a new home to continue their existence. In order to survive in space, you will need to engineer your station, manage your crew members, and mine resources wisely so that you can continue your mission and explore as much of the unknown universe as you can. Think of the game like a 3D version of FTL but with a lot more action.

When you begin a game, you can choose how many crew members you want to start out with and other perks. You can then build parts of your ship and place chambers wherever you like. These include greenhouses, workshops, and even cloning facilities. You can’t build too many things at first since expanding your ship requires resources you need to collect later. One way you can do this is by surveying faraway planets and transporting what you find back to your ship like they do in Star Trek. These take some time to gather so the best approach to actually mine resources is sending your crew members to planets to see what they can find.

During these randomly-generated missions, you can choose to venture with your team or send them alone. If you’re smart and equip them with the necessary weapons and armor, then chances are they’ll be fine. But send them alone and they may not come back alive. To ensure they’re successful, you’ll want to join them and venture to these strange planets where the game shifts and feels more like a first-person shooter than a simulator. We landed on a dark planet where we found plenty of rare metals and ore, but when we went farther away from our ship, we discovered insect-like aliens that pounced on us instantly adding an impressive layer of suspense to our experience.

Another feature we really enjoyed about these missions is that after you finish and head back to your base, the threat can still continue as some creatures can hijack your ship and sneak aboard. You’ll need to search the small crevices of your ship to make sure you take out any alien before it reproduces and lays eggs, further endangering you ship and all your resources. Nothing is scarier than crawling around your ship’s air vents and noticing a nest layered with shell husks.

Of course, like any roguelike game, you can easily die if you aren’t careful. When you do, another one of your crew members will get promoted as captain as long as you have enough people aboard to continue your mission. If you really want to survive, you need to use the enemy DNA you forage to your advantage. Aliens have unique abilities that can help you survive in foreign environments so you can actually create your own species by combining their cells with human strands. We didn’t get too much time with this feature, but we can only imagine the possibilities.

Possibilities is what Genesis Alpha One is all about, and you’ll need to use everything the game throws at you and play around with it until you find something that works. With plenty of content in store, we can only imagine how players will create their own space adventures and spend their time as captains of their ship. Be on the lookout for the game when it releases later this year on Steam and consoles.

About The Author

Giancarlo Saldana is Blast's Gaming Editor. Follow him on Twitter @giansaldana to read his daily musings about the world of video games.

One Response

Leave a Reply