Survive and thrive in a CO2-deficient Earth in Astrobotanica when it hits Steam Early Access next year

Newly established developer Space Goblin Studio has revealed its first game, Astrobotanica. It’s an open-world survival game in which players must gather and farm strange plants on planet Earth 300,000 years in our past, the Pleistocene epoch when primal humans and other strange creatures roamed.

Astrobotanica‘s gameplay focuses on helping protagonist Xel find plants that could thrive on their home planet. This requires you to explore the world, scan and collect plants, then grow them on farms while trying to work out what could and couldn’t survive in a hostile alien environment. Xel themselves will also be battling with Earth’s air since it’s not entirely compatible with their species.

Craft strange concoctions with ancient flora

Space Goblin Studio calls Astrobotanica a relaxed open-world survival game. It’s not as intense as a game like Subnautica, but it still has dangerous fauna for you to avoid. Xel is squishy and can’t breathe oxygen, so you’ve first got to find a way to help them exist on the planet without constantly gasping or dying. Then you’ve got to deal with the creatures present at this time.

The biggest priority is using plants to create CO2 to help Xel stay alive. You’ll achieve this by harvesting them and using them to build up CO2 stores that Xel can return to as required. Over time, you’ll develop better and more efficient potions that will help Xel explore the farthest reaches of the land they find themselves in, opening up new opportunities to uncover mysterious hidden plants in out-of-the-way locations that could aid them in their overarching quest.

You’ll have to work out how to communicate with the Neanderthals, which might help you unlock new areas or earn tools to help you in your quest for more plants. As for the animals, you’ll need to work with the plants you gather and farm, creating all sorts of concoctions that might paralyze them, put them to sleep, scare them away, or otherwise cause them to leave Xel alone.

An in-game progression system called P.R.I.M.A.L. allows you to upgrade Xel based on six categories: Planetary Knowledge, Research, Investigation, Management, Adaptation, and Learning. You’ll craft your character by advancing the categories that reflect your play style most, allowing you to lean into the activities you enjoy and push deeper and deeper into the story by doing what you’re best at.

Astrobotanica is a game we’ve always wanted to play. I hope to bring new life to the survival genre by combining innovative gameplay with familiar themes. With gamers’ support, I’m sure we will craft Astrobotanica into a remarkable title, while working towards future co-op.

Arkadiusz Woźniak Founder of Space Goblin Studio

Goblin Space Studio was founded by a team with big ambitions and staff who have worked on games like Green Hell, Dead Island, and Dying Light. I love the look of the game, which you can wishlist on Steam, and the concept of a more relaxed open-world survival game that lets you take things at your own pace and focuses on cultivating plants and their many uses if you know what you’re doing.