Time for some galactic stonk shenanigans.
Developer Pixelmatic has released a trailer for upcoming sci-fi MMO Infinite Fleet, scored by longtime Hollywood composer Vince Dicola. Infinite Fleet is a little odd one. It’s evolution pedigree, is ambitious enough to be going into the MMO room using a retro anime art style–and it is all built on crypto.
The programmer’s been quite coy about what exactly differentiates Infinite Fleet from its obvious inspirations like EVE. Players work co-operatively with their fleets to combat an AI alien threat,”leaving their legacy in the game’s lore through its own directed narrative feature,” and there is also”open combat” which is some sort of equivalent to EVE’s nullsec PvP zones. The press release cites Homeworld and EVE as big inspirations, before dropping the bomb about the way that it is”incorporating a crypto advantage to power its own in-game peer-to-peer market.”
Yay. Players earn a cryptocurrency called INF by playing that, as with EVE’s PLEX platform, is of limited distribution and, unlike the PLEX system, is developed on”a secondary layer of this Bitcoin blockchain” known as the Liquid Network. The game’s business model is basically built on the expectation that it will get large enough for a secondary market to develop around this, as has been the case to some extent with PLEX. This will give players”true possession of the asset” (except, obviously, the chances of anyone outside of Infinite Fleet ever desiring that advantage are improbable ).
The game itself seems alright. DiCola’s soaring score certainly helps, the battles appear to be an interesting mix of realtime firing and wider strategy. I can view this scratching a Homeworld itch for players that miss that game’s glorious galactic vistas. But these games are notoriously difficult to market in a preview, given their nature since life-swallowing hobbies: Only when it’s at the hands will players get a sense for whether Infinite Fleet gets the strategic and structural depth to control attention.
If you would like more detail about what Infinite Fleet is about for, or to start buying $40 spaceships to get a game which is not out yet (wonder where they got that notion ), here is the game’s homepage.
Obviously EVE is not the sole competitor Infinite Fleet has: If you be inclined to spaff money up the wall on space opera claims, Star Citizen remains in route. Elite grows more impressive with each upgrade, although No Man’s Sky has developed into the ultimate cosmic chillout. Judging by this trailer Infinite Fleet has its work cut out: Virtual space is much more cut-throat battleground than any Hollywood movie could envision.