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Pandora: First Contact will scratch that Alpha Centauri itch

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Nearly 15 years on since the release of Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri we’re still waiting for a new game to satisfy all our space colonisation needs. That wait may be over with Proxy Studios’ Alpha Centauri 2 Pandora: First Contact.

As the dev video below shows, they’ve been heavily inspired by Meier’s classic and also look to have adopted a number of the innovations that have appeared in Firaxis’ other franchises, such as a hex-based grid system first seen in Civilization V.

While Civilization may be Firaxis’ bread and butter, it’s a shame that they’ve not returned to the Alpha Centauri series, letting it essentially fall into obsolescence. So the news that another team are taking up the mantle, even if only to create a spiritual successor, is good news indeed. The issue, of course, is that, not being Firaxis, we have no idea what to expect quality-wise.

The only other game Proxy Studios have released is Conquest: Divide and Conquer, which didn’t exactly receive universal acclaim (it received scores spanning the 60s). Also, from the trailer for Conquest, you may see some visual similarities between their last game and Pandora:

Slitherine are handling the publishing duties for Pandora: First Contact. Specialising in turn-based strategy games, Slitherine recently acquired the rights to produce a turn-based Warhammer 40k game. So it would seem they’ve hands a number of rather warm pies.