// SPACE.COM — SPAZIO & SCIENZA
'Starseeker: Astroneer Expeditions' takes space exploration in a different (and friendlier) direction, and we chatted with System Era's creative director about it (interview)
The follow-up to Astroneer isn't what veteran space explorers expected, but it might be exactly what we need.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.
Starseeker: Astroneer Expeditions might look like a direct sequel to Astroneer on the surface, but it's a space exploration game with very different objectives. While its predecessor focuses (it continues to get updates and content packs) on base-building and creative tools, this second title instead takes players on shorter, breezier trips all about discovery and mission-based tasks.
Even in its early access state, Starseeker has the bones to eventually become one of the best cozy sci-fi games around, yet some Astroneer veterans might walk into a successor that isn't what they expected. This isn't Astroneer 2, System Era's Adam Bromell — the studio's creative director, CCO, and co-founder — explained to Space around Starseeker's launch.
Some quotes have been editorialized and lightly trimmed for better flow.
"I've been jonesing for video games that try to foster a sense of community amongst players. I think that when I play with other people, and you share in an accomplishment together, it's really special," explains Bromell. "This goes all the way back to building something with friends inside of Minecraft. When you finally have that moment where you step back, and you go 'Holy shit, look at what we did.' That's a good feeling."
In a way, the original Astroneer already achieved that as a "chill base-building survival experience", yet Bromell and System Era wanted to build an experience with a stronger community element that connected everyone.
"My original inspiration with Astroneer was to pay homage to that feeling Gene Roddenberry gave me with Star Trek when I was a kid. Some hope for the future and also showing what it means to be selfless and lead with generosity, seek justice... I'm still a Trekkie at heart," he explained, showing me part of the Star Trek collection he keeps in his office as he talked.
Bromell's celebratory June 11 post on Medium explored many of the same ideas we discussed during our conversation, such as the game being defined from the get-go as "hopeful science fiction", a suggestion that's attributed to System Era's COO Veronica Peshterianu. A few hours with Starseeker make it very clear that it's a game about helping other players out versus venturing into the unknown solo or with a group of close space pals.
You can still play at your own pace or create a party of people you know, but what you do out there directly affects the global experience through community goals. In fact, a common occurrence is running into entirely different teams during an expedition.