Space, the final frontier, truly is endless, as "Starborne" an upcoming free-to-play online strategy game will begin its seventh alpha test today and is reported to have single game sessions that can last up to six months.
"Starborne" from developer Solid Clouds is a game created by former "EVE Online" developers. Like "EVE," "Starborne" is planned to be a massively multiplayer online (MMO) strategy game, but unlike "EVE," the upcoming space strategy takes on the explore, expand, exploit, and exterminate (4X) strategy sub-genre. This means that a single game session from "Starborne" can last as much as 6 months, which is incredibly long, even for a 4X strategy game.
Other notable 4X strategy games are "Civilization VI," and "Galactic Civilizations III," whose matches last nowhere near six months.
The game is also heavily inspired by "EVE," which is one of the first MMO real-time strategy games (RTS). "Starborne" is still in early development, but PC Gamer summarizes the player experience as joining an alliance, exploring the galaxy, discovering resources, completing missions, upgrading fleets and armadas, and waging wars for territory.
Solid Clouds has been working on the free-to-play MMO strategy game for three years now and has been transparent with its fan base regarding the development of their upcoming game. This is why they have announced that "Starborne" is now entering its seventh alpha game version, where the game will now feature larger maps with up to 2,492 concurrent players, points of interest, strategic points, 15 new cards for resource exchange, alliance leaders, new scout capabilities, as well as general tweaks and optimizations for better gameplay experience.
The alpha test will last for three months, and developers have been inviting players to try out the game, as well as report any bugs or feedback to the development team so that they can make improvements before the game is ready for launch.
No exact release date has been announced for the full version of the game. However, the Open Beta is planned to be available in the second quarter of 2018.
