This is extra game-adjacent than something, however attention-grabbing and well timed contemplating today’s successful Martian landing. Project Eagle is a free semi-interactive 3D mannequin of a possible Martian colony, as envisioned by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and assembled by Blackbird Interactive, builders of fantastic RTS prequel Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak. Despite its severe, speculative science angle, it’s simple to attract parallels between this industrial imaginative and prescient of a dusty desert planet and Kharak – NASA picked the appropriate individuals. Grab it free on Steam here and take a look at it your self.
Blackbird aren’t joking after they say that Project Eagle isn’t a game. Your interactions are restricted to digital camera motion, switching to a sensor mode containing some technical particulars on the varied constructions you see, and ending the tour by launching your shuttle again residence to Earth. Oh, and there’s a bonus achievement for locating ten tiny little astronauts across the colony, Where’s Wally type. It feels very Homeworld, too, with acquainted radio distortion results intensifying as you progress the digital camera away from the constructions. The sensor view is near-identical to Kharak as nicely.
The Project Eagle mannequin has a full day/night time cycle, and the bottom bustles with exercise on the edges, the place development is underway. Tracked industrial automobiles roll throughout the floor, and even the smallest of buildings has a bit of little bit of textual content within the sensor view to fill in NASA’s imaginative and prescient for the bottom. A intelligent re-purposing of games expertise. Considering the state of the world now, it’s been troublesome to think about individuals getting alongside sufficient to begin launching manned missions to Mars. Between at this time’s probe touchdown and this, NASA have me hoping for humanity’s future a bit of extra.
You can grab Project Eagle free here on Steam. If you haven’t bought it already, the superb Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak continues to be 75% discounted on GOG, bringing it all the way down to £7.50/$12.50, though that sale needs to be ending quickly.
