Planet Explorers is a (now free) open-world survival, adventure, RPG action game by PatheaGames for Windows PC, available via Steam and in open source. First released in 2016, the game became completely free to play in July 2019 due to the multiplayer code part of the game going missing and irretrievable. This was a very unfortunate event for the developers, and the players who had bought the game, but this event also translated in the game’s single-player experience being offered for free to any new players. The game is quite huge, well made, offers many modes and features (exploration, tower defense, survival, adventure, sandbox, vehicles, etc.) and was never meant to become free, so you should definitely try it.

Game Plot

In Planet Explorers, it is the year 2287, one of the first colony ships sent out by Earth arrives at the planet Maria, in the Epsilon Indi Star System. During its landing sequence, something appears in front of the massive ship that causes it to lose control and crash into the planet. Some of the colonists survive in lifeboats, but what they find is an unforgiving land filled with creatures ready to outlast the visitors from Earth. Now the survivors must explorer, gather, build, create, fight, and ultimately, build a new home.

Game Modes

Story Mode: Story mode is the main meat and bones of the game, it is the action-adventure-rpg-somewhat-4X segment, offering npcs, missions, colony building, farming, training, diplomacy, and of course, a storyline that you can follow or ignore. This story features a 17X8km world map with many unique character, landscapes, biomes, locations, and over 140 types of potential enemies. Even though we’ve made it seem like a very action oriented game in the trailers, in reality, players can choose to not fight so much as to just plant a farm, make some food, keep the colonists alive, negotiate with the sentient aliens, and defend the perimeter from the local life forms. That can still eventually arrive at the ending. And yes, there is an ending. Story mode also features coop with other players.
Adventure Mode: This mode is based on a procedural map generated from a seed. It comes in a 40X40 kilometer map. Players will be able to complete random missions, defeat bosses, dive through dungeons, and explore different landscapes. This mode also features survival and versus.
Build Mode: In this mode, there are no enemies and an infinite amount of building material. It also currently comes in a 40X40km map. Players will be able to build whatever they want in this mode, including everything in the Creations Editor. Think of this as the perfect testing ground to test everything you build. Or…it’s your place to build your garden without ever worrying about the pesky aliens.

Game Features

30+ hours of storyline
140+ types of enemies
40+ unique mainline NPCs
Able to dig
Able to build
Able to plant farm
Able to build colony
Able to have followers
Creation Editor to create vehicles, weapons, objects, vtols, boats, armor, and more
Day/night cycle with realistic moon cycles
Weather system
15+ types of mineral types
200+ unique items
Resource scanner
Realtime AI pathfinding
Realtime water physics
Multiple boss types
Story Editor
AI robot follower
Negotiation with aliens
War with aliens