$24.99LOST PLANET® 3 Frozen pay dirt, buried secrets
A prequel that trades the series' frantic mech battles for something slower and stranger: Jim Peyton, a rig pilot working a frozen planet for a paycheck, digging up secrets NEVEC would rather stayed buried. On-foot shooting, first-person rig work, and a story with real twists on the ice.
Is LOST PLANET® 3 worth it?
LOST PLANET® 3 is worth it if…
- you want a slower, more atmospheric shooter than the earlier Lost Planet games
- you like stories with twists and don't mind a slow opening stretch
- you enjoy piloting a big, heavy machine from the cockpit
- you can forgive some clunky port-era controls in exchange for a good story
Screenshots
One rig, one frozen planet, one contract
Jim Peyton came to E.D.N. III for the same reason anyone takes a dangerous job: the money is good and his family is back on Earth. Working for NEVEC at Coronis base, he surveys uncharted terrain and hunts for Thermal Energy, the resource the whole colonial mission depends on. Your utility rig is home, toolkit and shield against a climate that wants you dead, and when you climb into the cab the view switches to first person: a slow, heavy machine that feels like piloting a powered building. Step outside and it becomes a third-person cover shooter against the Akrid, the planet's own wildlife. The rig has no ranged weapons, so big fights mean getting close, blocking at the right moment and working the machine's arms. It is deliberate, physical and tense in a way the earlier games never were.
A story that earns its twists
This is a prequel, set long before the first game, when the planet was still a fresh frontier and NEVEC was just a construction company, not yet the villain fans know. You do not need to have played anything else to follow it. The early hours are chores: fix this, survey that, run errands for scientists at base. Stick with it and the plot opens up, with turns that reframe what Jim thought he was doing on this rock, and choices that stop being easy. The locations carry it too: abandoned bases, dark caves, lava fields and Akrid nests, a planet that keeps changing its mind about what it is.
Can you play it solo?
Can you play it solo?
Yes. The single-player campaign is the heart of the game, and it stands completely on its own. There are multiplayer modes on the menu, but they are effectively empty these days, so treat this as a story-driven single-player purchase and nothing else.
Do you need to play the first two games first?
No. This is a prequel set before the original, when E.D.N. III was still being settled and NEVEC was a construction firm rather than a villain. It explains its own world as it goes, and it reveals new truths about the planet's colonial history rather than continuing the old plot.
How does the rig change the gameplay?
Inside the rig the game becomes first person: slow movement, heavy arms, and boss fights won by timed blocks and close-quarters work rather than shooting, since the rig carries no ranged weapons. The two halves alternate throughout the campaign, and upgrades to the rig unlock new areas to explore.
Is it scary or just cold?
Closer to tense than horror. The comparisons people draw are to Dead Space and Doom 3: dark corridors, creatures that appear when you would rather they didn't, and a constant sense that the planet is hostile. It leans less on jump scares and more on atmosphere, isolation and story twists.
