Dark Matter: a sidescrolling sci-fi Metroid-like from the creators of Nuclear Dawn

Nothing good has ever happened on a spaceship. Nothing good will ever happen on a spaceship, so someone should probably stop Richard Branson before he dooms mankind to extinction via grisly alien parasites or a race of malevolent space-gods. Dark Matter is the latest game to offer proof of humanity's hubris. It's a sidescrolling survival horror/action/exploration game set - you guessed it - on a hulking piece of space-junk, populated by carnivorous aliens. It's due out next year, and InterWave Studios have just released its first gameplay video . You'll find it beneath the event horizon - but beware of a demonic Sam Neill.

If you were expecting action, you might want to adjust your expectations. This is a video that takes a few seconds out of its schedule to show off the light switches - but what lovely light switches they are. Technically, Dark Matter is looking pretty impressive, boasting a fairly impressive lighting engine, vital for that all-important atmosphere. The other thing to note is that CRAFTING. I have a feeling crafting will be in every game ever from now on - even Tetris - and it certainly seems a good fit for survival horror.

The website still says that Dark Matter is expected to be finished by the end of the year, but as IndieGames note, there isn't really much of 2012 left. A developer comment now puts the game down for 2013, which is shaping up to be a good year for dying horribly in space .

Tom Sykes

Tom loves exploring in games, whether it’s going the wrong way in a platformer or burgling an apartment in Deus Ex. His favourite game worlds—Stalker, Dark Souls, Thief—have an atmosphere you could wallop with a blackjack. He enjoys horror, adventure, puzzle games and RPGs, and played the Japanese version of Final Fantasy VIII with a translated script he printed off from the internet. Tom has been writing about free games for PC Gamer since 2012. If he were packing for a desert island, he’d take his giant Columbo boxset and a laptop stuffed with PuzzleScript games.

Latest in Gaming Industry
Two brightly colored stormtroopers dressed like Run-DMC stand in front of PAX Australia's WELCOME HOME banner.
Tickets for PAX Australia 2025 are on sale now
Lara Croft Unified Art
Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics lays off 17 employees 'to better align our current business needs and the studio's future success'
Monster Hunter Wilds' stockpile master studying a manifest
As layoffs and studio closures continue to deathroll the western AAA industry, analyst points out 5 of 8 major Japanese companies hit all-time share prices this year
A still from a video announcement of Game Informer's return, featuring the magazine's Halo 2 issue.
Game Informer is back from the dead: 'The whole team has returned'
Typing on internet search toolbar: What am I doing?
How a Microsoft exec managed to pitch Microsoft Word through the genius tactic of being able to actually use it in a 'type-off' demanded by clients: 'I was the only one who'd actually been a secretary'
Half-Life wallpaper - Gordon Freeman
Former Valve exec says the company struggled to sell Half-Life until coming up with the ultimate 'one simple trick' of marketing manoeuvres: slapping a 'Game of the Year' sticker on the box
Latest in News
Two brightly colored stormtroopers dressed like Run-DMC stand in front of PAX Australia's WELCOME HOME banner.
Tickets for PAX Australia 2025 are on sale now
An Enshrouded player in a recreation of Erebor from The Lord of the Rings
Kings under the Mountain! 33 Enshrouded players spent 10,000 hours to recreate this iconic location from The Lord of the Rings
A mech awakens.
Mecha Break developer is considering unlocking all mechs following open beta feedback
Lara Croft Unified Art
Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics lays off 17 employees 'to better align our current business needs and the studio's future success'
A long bendy arm stealing money from people in a subway car
'You're a very long arm. You steal things. It's a comedy game,' explains developer of comedy game where you steal things with a very long arm
The heroes are attacked by monsters
Pillars of Eternity is getting turn-based combat to mark its 10th anniversary, and that means PC Gamer editors will soon be arguing about combat mechanics again