Astroneer lets you burrow into planetary cores with friends

I tried to dig my way through a planet this morning at PAX East, but didn't quite make it, spinning and panicking in darkness somewhere within the crust. Apparently the center of the world isn't the best place to try to reach, anyway. I'm just glad to know I could've made it.

Astroneer is an open-ended, cooperative space survival game that puts you, a little astronaut, on a variety of spherical stellar objects where you can mine, build bases, and morph the terrain, growing mountains or digging deep trenches. Right now, the controls are a tad wonky—the camera requires some manual fiddling and I got stuck on alien rocks here and there—but there's clearly some interesting machinery to toy with and things to build.

And of course, you can dig, and dig, and dig.

Astroneer is currently planned to release in Early Access this year. Watch my interview above to find out whether or not you can build a ladder to the moon.

Tyler grew up in Silicon Valley during the '80s and '90s, playing games like Zork and Arkanoid on early PCs. He was later captivated by Myst, SimCity, Civilization, Command & Conquer, all the shooters they call "boomer shooters" now, and PS1 classic Bushido Blade (that's right: he had Bleem!). Tyler joined PC Gamer in 2011, and today he's focused on the site's news coverage. His hobbies include amateur boxing and adding to his 1,200-plus hours in Rocket League.