Beyond Contact Survive a dying planet

You are Quinn Hicks of Space Corps, called to the edge of known space where the planet Ketern is breaking apart. Something inside it is threatening the civilization that lives there, and the campaign takes you from bare survival to trying to save an entire world. Along the way you meet alien factions, uncover unknown technology and piece together what killed the planet, with moral dilemmas along the way. If you want a survival game with an actual plot, this one has one.

Progress runs through a deep research system: scan, mine and scavenge Ketern's exotic materials, and each discovery unlocks new blueprints for tools, weapons, gadgets and structures. Later, the farming system lets you create genetically modified plants and grow them inside protective habitats, tuning yields to keep yourself fed. There is a real rhythm to it: head out with a shopping list of data and materials, come back, unlock something new, head out further.

Your base is your lifeline, and it runs on systems you push to their limits. Wind and other power sources feed your machines, oxygen and heat keep the inside livable, and the Habitat system gives you room to build creative survival sanctuaries. One honest note: combat is on the clunky side, and attacks with a controller can feel imprecise. Mouse aiming is more reliable.

Ketern is unforgiving by design. Oxygen ticks down constantly, food rots fast, and aggressive creatures cover the map, so every trip out is a calculation: how far, how much air, what to bring back. The biomes are distinct, from frozen north to lava south, and each new hazard pushes you to research the next protective AtmoSuit before pushing on. Dark rifts tear the planet apart, corrupted hordes raid your base, and hazards and chaotic weather keep spreading. If normal feels too punishing, the settings let you turn it down.

You can take on Ketern with friends in a co-op campaign. Each player picks a character with their own skills, abilities and tools: Quinn the versatile generalist, Kangah the fierce warrior, Professor Zaine the expert builder. Research and objectives are shared, so the group can split up, one digging into tech while another gathers or defends. Multiplayer-only features let you revive fallen teammates, which turns disasters into stories rather than lost progress. A late-game push that demands piles of resources goes much faster with more hands.