Indie Sci-Fi RPG Gravastar Announced

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Studio Atma revealed Gravastar, an upcoming sci-fi fantasy RPG.

The developers revealed that Gravastar began in 2015 and ballooned into the project shown today. Through a Game Design Document, the world, characters, design, and mechanics were outlined, culminating in nearly 100 pages of ideas.

In the decade since, the studio overhauled the game from a traditional 2D game, originally meant to honour Capcom’s Breath of Fire 4 through its environments and overworld, to a game with a combat engine featuring the same animation quality and energy as Marvel Vs. Capcom 2.  The studio continued to work on this part of the game and implemented more systems and mechanics.

Through industry shows like The Mix and feedback, Gravastar continued to grow and evolve. And despite burnout, the team kept plugging away, but ultimately shifted focus to a smaller game about a single character.

That was Erwin’s Retreat, which can be seen here. The game is an action RPG in which you play as a mourning, retired Astrobotanist for the Teknos Corporation. He moved to the remote woods and lived a simple life, but he was met with mysterious occurrences.

You would use a lantern and elemental ammunition to solve puzzles and fight monsters while hiking through the forest. This project reenergized Studio Atma, establishing level design and production pipelines. And it was moved from 2D to 3D, which required a ton of work, including a new cel-shaded look, rigging, modelling, and texturing.

This is where Gravastar finally comes into focus. The change to 3D helped decrease production time. The studio shows a 2D version of an attack, with a barebones team and next to zero budget, and it took them a month to finish.  The 3D version of an attack, with a barebones team and next to zero budget, took them 8 hours to finish.

Gravastar stars Baird, an orphaned boy on Aetherea, who has learned he is a spectre, a rare human with power tied to the stars. His journey will take him worldwide, where he will meet new people and learn to master his newfound power, which he needs to save Aetherea.

Gravastar is launching for Xbox Series, PlayStation 5, Switch 2, and PC.

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