hello there !
It's been a while since we've given any news, we're going to take advantage of it now to talk to you a little bit about everything in detail, I hope you'll be interested.
Our last news goes back to the kickstarter, and as you have seen, it failed and it was a breaking point. We believe in it and unfortunately we had to review all our plans since then, abandon many things if we still wanted to continue the project, so we are going to tell you about the future of the game.
WHAT IS THE EXPLORATOR ?
The Explorator is a game focused on the search for resources and action, we will explore the levels to constantly improve our character, in order to be able to advance by confronting monsters and the scenery the more the player ventures in the depths, and the more the levels will be large, dangerous and obscure but with precious resources.
the levels will be semi-open non-linear areas
The game was originally intended to be an action-oriented Doom-like, but in the end a very good majority of people wanted to take the title of the game literally and that's why we put the focus on the exploration side, to give meaning to this concept, you will have to scour every corner of the environment for valuable resources and thus survive the following levels. You will meet NPCs in the levels who can help you, talk about lore and trade, some can even show you secret places to explore, curiosity is rewarded with unique resources and events.
immediately in the game we will have access to a panel of improvements of several kinds, weaponry, armor, combat capabilities, movement, assistance in exploiting resources (such as sonars) or detecting danger, you will be free to improve / build according to your style of play, but some equipment will be essential to explore the abysses (like a jetpack which allows to reach inaccessible points)
Allied bases will allow you to obtain information, build and improve equipment
What we want for The Explorator is really a feeling of evolution both in the gameplay and in the visuals, the more you delve into the abyss, the more you will have access to advanced technology and incredible settings. In terms of inspiration, we could say that it's like a mix of subnautica and shooters, with a side of strangeness (e.y.e divine cybermancy for those in the know) The most notable change will be that humor has been put aside for a more atmospheric, sometimes even horrific aspect (the abysses will sometimes be very dark and the creatures that roam are not very friendly)
The deeper you sink into the abyss, the more likely you are to lose yourself in madness and despair.
You'll have to be careful where you step, as the levels will be full of creatures, huge doom zones, and environmental hazards like molten lava, storms, and tornadoes.
The first levels of early access take place mainly outside, but the following chapters will make you explore the depths which will present a verticality in the levels, it will then be essential to find your way by placing beacons, we do not want to give an experience that is too difficult, it will be possible to make a quick trip to the last base to resupply.
WHAT IS PLANNED FOR 2025
As we told in the kickstarter, we had planned to make an early access that will be released around summer 2025. The early access will be divided into 3 parts, and each will update a major part of the scenario and levels, (like chapters) unfortunately because of the lack of budget we will have to cut a lot of things to be able to release the beginning of the early access until we can finance the rest of the features, there will be a lot of feedback and fixes to be made on the entirety of the early access to have a fully satisfactory experience, that's why we will be very attentive and present to make corrections and modifications during the entire period of the early access.
Thanks to everyone who helps us from discord and the steam forum, it's vital for us because we have no outside help for the moment. Nevertheless, maybe soon we could find the help of a publisher to give us a boost to the project, and why not adapt the game on Xbox Series S/X and PS5 consoles.
to conclude, we hope to be able to release an early access without too much damage by mid-2025 and in the hope that it works, that it can help us finance the development of the game to have the quality that we dreamed of obtaining if the means allow it
thanks again for reading this devlog, and we will keep you informed soon, because we will probably do a closed beta of the early access to spot bugs and problems before its release
see you soon !
Remnant Games Studio