Space sandbox Planetoid Pioneers releasing next month

Our own Matt Sayer once used Planetoid Pioneers as a platform for (somewhat successfully) turning a Mazda 323 into a moon rover, but developer Data Realms reckons it's better suited to exploring planetoids filled with unique vehicles, enemies and items. Today the studio announced players will be able to do just that when the game leaves Steam Early Access and officially launches on Steam and the Humble Store on February 8, 2018 for $20.

Planetoid Pioneers was pitched as a physics-driven space adventure game, its main hook being its diverse game modes. Different planetoids present radically different challenges, Data Realms says, which are held up by "seamless" co-op play.

There's also a big emphasis on player-made content. "Players can create their own weapons, vehicles, characters, even their own world and drop them into the game while it's running," DataRealms said in a press release. "User-generated content can be shared, rated, and downloaded via the Steam Workshop, while the best of it is automatically incorporated into the game."

Last November, we spoke to Data Realms' Dan Tabar about this curation system. To hear Tabar tell it, Planetoid Pioneers was wholly built around "the idea of elevating modders into contributors who are empowered and encouraged to work alongside the official development team."

In celebration of Planetoid Pioneers Early Access graduation, Data Realm's first game, Cortex Command, will be free on Steam from February 3 to February 4.

Austin freelanced for PC Gamer, Eurogamer, IGN, Sports Illustrated, and more while finishing his journalism degree, and has been a full-time writer at PC Gamer's sister publication GamesRadar+ since 2019. They've yet to realize that his position as a staff writer is just a cover-up for his career-spanning Destiny column, and he's kept the ruse going with a focus on news, the occasional feature, and as much Genshin Impact as he can get away with.