Lazy 8 Studios released Extrasolar to the gaming world this February, which is a browser-based free-to-play adventure title that offers a unique gameplay experience not usually featured in traditional video games. Rather than requiring you to spend hours on end in front of a console or PC to play it (like most modern video games), Extrasolar offers you the ability to experience it in 5-10 minute spurts throughout the day, so it’s more of a daily interactive experience than a typical gameplay affair. This game is essentially a true-to-life RPG in which you play the star in a secretive plot to bring down XRI, which is a company that has secured the rights to explore the planet Epsilon Prime to do research and potentially find alien life. The powers at be at XRI are up to some shady dealings, so you along with the help of a mysterious hacker, who has inside information about a potential alien transmission, must work together to uncover XRI’s secrets.
Pocket Gamer: You can pinch-to-zoom on the map and photos and swipe through menus.
Marcus Estrada writes: "Extrasolar is an incredibly unique video game that launched earlier this year. It is a web-based experience where players remotely control a rover on an alien planet, taking pictures as you go. The goal is to document interesting land formations and even any forms of plant life. The first season is available to play for free and works on most any device with a web browser. However, Season 1 was just the start."
At first, it appears that Extrasolar is nothing more than a website offering an unusual gift to its participants. According to the registration site, they state the Extrasolar program allows members to remotely control rovers on a planet known as Epsilon Prime. Funded by a group known as the eXoplanetary Research Institute (XRI), they are effectively crowdsourcing the planet’s exploration by letting anyone log in and photograph the landscape with a rover.
I love the concept of this. They've done a great job making it truly feel like real events.
This looks like a damn strange experience. I might just have to check it out.