On the harmstead you sow crops by day, plough hordes of alien pests by night, and spelunk the “Very Dark” depths whenever you damn well please. This bloodthirsty alien planet doesn’t want you here, but you’re a farmer in a tractormech so what do you care? PLANETATION is a first-person co-op ‘farmvival’ game that combines the unrestrained creativity of a basebuilder ( Factorio, Stardew Valley ) with the day/night tension cycle of a survival game ( Seven Days to Die, The Forest ). With up to eight players you will plant, explore, harvest, shoot, build, refine, and die at the whim of Ol’ Gal, the uncaring owner of your very souls. Run a hyper-unrealistic 'harmstead' on an unbelievably hostile planet. Trade dollarweed for bullets, and bullets for dead aliens. Trade dead aliens for another day alive on this blessed world. Customise your tractormech in any way imaginable, and many that are not. Plant protatoes with a shotgun. Build perimeter turrets with your mind. The world is in the palm of your hand - right beside the magnetic chainsaw . This crackpot western planet is too beautiful not to plunder, so jump in your mech and explore the distant “Very Dark” . Take your friends to watch your back, for the things that lurk in the depths do so for a very good reason... Farm - Sow a crop of protatoes for a protein-rich snack. Crossbreed seedlings into something new and useful; you might not even blow yourself up . Or just do as you’re told and plant more dollarweed , which you can trade for things you can’t grow like super-rare tractormech components or Ol’ Gal’s love. Progress - Got plenty of ironberries and don’t like the taste? Build a smeltery and turn them into iron ! Then build a refinery and make some steel ! Hunt down a metalweb spider in the Very Dark and smoosh it with some steel to get darksteel . Then build some laser or magnesis turrets and suddenly the night is looking a little less dark. Expand - You’ll need something to power all of these toys, so build some solar panels or tap a geothermal vent - as long as you can defend it through the night! Or cage a few vampiric fireflies and as long as you keep them fed you’ll have all the power you need for your mile long electrostatic fence . Explore - If you’re feeling adventurous you might journey farther, perhaps all the way to the Very Dark . The deeper into the Very Dark you go the more loot you will find, including body parts you can repurpose as components for your tractormech - but things lurk in the dark places, things that do not wish to be disturbed. Things with names . Fight - Eventually night is going to fall , and that’s when you fight for your synthetic life. Jump into your tractormech, swap that vacuum harvester out for a darksteel pummeler and get a-whacking! First person shooter, hack’n’slash, battlefield commander - combat is what you want it to be ! Die - Does the night not pose enough danger? Make it harder. Lure the horrors of the deepest chasms, the named things of the Very Dark, up to your farm and slay them for their shiny baubles! All it takes is a carefully performed ritual and a whole lot of blood .
