Project C gets a new name, Life Beyond, and its first trailer

Life Beyond, formerly Project C, unveiled its new name today, along with some very early in-game footage. Teased in March as a single-shard MMO with a simulated ecosystem and lots of player-driven systems, it was still largely a mystery until recently, when we found out more about developer Darewise's plans for its alien sandbox.

Colonists will be able to build settlements, explore different biomes, trade—for real cash—and form factions, but what Darewise is really pushing is the collective decisions players will have to make and how the game's virtual society will develop. There's more of an emphasis on the social side of MMOs, which can sometimes get lost in the attempt to make everything viable for solo players.

"For all those people who were playing Everquest, Ultima Online—these were real social networks where you had very sophisticated relationships," CEO Benjamin Charbit told us last month. "It's funny because everybody is like, 'oh, look at the power of social networks and social media,' and we're like, what are you talking about? I experienced that when I was playing Mankind when I was 16, then on IRC when I was playing Counter-Strike and again in 2004 when I was playing World of Warcraft."

Under the hood, Life Beyond uses Improbable's cloud-based platform, SpatialOS, and Unreal Engine 4, along with Darewise's properity tech, Wiseworld and Orchestrator, which allows the developer to create and grow large worlds and coordinate complex ecosystems respectively. "The technology is finally here to create a massive game world and give players a choice on who they want to be and how they develop new societies," said Charbit in a press release.

It's still very early days, but you can join the Discord to stay up to date with its development.

Fraser is the UK online editor and has actually met The Internet in person. With over a decade of experience, he's been around the block a few times, serving as a freelancer, news editor and prolific reviewer. Strategy games have been a 30-year-long obsession, from tiny RTSs to sprawling political sims, and he never turns down the chance to rave about Total War or Crusader Kings. He's also been known to set up shop in the latest MMO and likes to wind down with an endlessly deep, systemic RPG. These days, when he's not editing, he can usually be found writing features that are 1,000 words too long or talking about his dog.