Atari revealed this morning that will be rebooting the classic arcade game Asteroids, but what might surprise many is that this won’t be the Asteroids you’re thinking of, it’s actually going to be an open-world survival MMO…
It’s in development exclusively for the PC and will be called Asteroids: Outpost. In the game you take the role of a “deep space miner” who must “stake, protect, and expand their claim, to mine valuable resources.” The only part of the description from Atari that sounds remotely related to Asteroids is this part; “Recurring showers of smaller asteroids represent a source of wealth and a threat as players shoot down these incoming projectiles to defend their claims and harvest their components.”
Here’s the full description from Atari:
“Asteroids: Outpost reinvents the classic Atari title as an open-world, sandbox-style, survival experience, where players mine, build and defend their base and grow their fortune as they go ‘from rocks to riches. While on a massive, unforgiving asteroid, players face the challenges of exploring the asteroid, collecting resources, scavenging for ore, crafting equipment, and expanding their territory as they build highly customised bases - all while forming alliances and fighting off other players in challenging multiplayer gameplay.”
A new start-up called Salty Games are developing the game, with past experience including titles such as Star Trek Online, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 and Call of Duty: Ghosts.
“We’re paying homage to the original Asteroids by incorporating classic features such as asteroid blasting capabilities, while introducing a completely new premise and gameplay,” said Atari CEO Fred Chesnais . “Asteroids: Outpost will appeal to both fans of the classic Asteroids as well as enthusiasts of immersive survival games and expansive MMOs.”
It sounds like it could be fun, but we’ll wait until we get our hands on it to give you our full impressions. What do you make of it? Is an open-world Asteroids MMO something you would like to see on the PC?
