Precursors (video game)

The Precursors is a video game from Ukrainian developer Deep Shadows. It was released on the 4 December 2009 as retail for the PC in Russia.[1]. The game is set in a futuristic sci-fi environment where many political factions are engaged in an intergalactic war. The player will be able to explore a multitude of planets, travel through outer space to complete missions, obtain information, and buy weapons and supplies in a free-roaming environment. "The game blends role-playing engagement and dynamic FPS-style action in a completely open world".[2]

The Precursors
Developer(s)Deep Shadows
Publisher(s)Russobit-M
EngineVital Engine 3
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows
Release4 December 2009 (Russia)
21 December 2010 (GamersGate)
4 February 2017 (Steam)
Genre(s)Space simulator, First-person shooter, Role-playing game
Mode(s)Single-player

Gameplay

The game features a free-roaming world, with vast open areas, diverse weapons and a multitude of land, air and space vehicles. The player will be able to do a multitude of missions on six different planets or moons and even the interior of spaceships and space stations. Different vehicles can be used in engagements on the ground ranging from simple buggies and flyers to hover tanks and mechanical robots. After getting a spaceship, the player can also engage in space trade and combat with other factions in between the planetary missions. The player's spaceship can be upgraded throughout the game and the player character himself can be developed using a perk system.[3]

Factions

There are seven main factions in the game. Two being aliens and the rest representing various humanoid factions which are split into separate alliances that are usually fighting each other. These factions are the Empire, the Democratic Union, the Free Traders, the Clatz of the Nest, the revolutionary Clatz, the bandits and the civilians.

History

The Precursors has been in development for PC and Xbox 360 from Kiev-based developer Deep Shadows; the Xbox 360 version was later cancelled. The game was built based on Deep Shadows in-house game engine Vital Engine 3 which also powers White Gold: War in Paradise. The game was first demonstrated in August 2005 at the Games Convention in Leipzig, Germany and at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles in May 2006.

The Precursors was released on the 4 December 2009 as retail for the PC in Russia.[1] In May 2010, a spokesperson from Deep Shadows confirmed that the console version of the game has been put "on hold" indefinitely.[4] In December 2010, an English version was made available via digital distribution by GamersGate.[5] and online retailer Beamdog.[6]. On February 4, 2017 a Steam re-release followed.[7].

After the end of official support by Deep Shadows, remaining bugs and issues, like the missing voice overs in the localized English version,[8] were fixed by the game community via unofficial patches which also form the base of and are included in the current English digital distribution versions of the game.[9]

Reception

The game holds a mixed score on Metacritic based on four reviews.[10]

gollark: Haskell.
gollark: > You agree that your mind, thoughts, soul and other distinguishing characteristics may be repurposed/utilized at any time for the training of GPT-██ or other artificial intelligences at the discretion of the PotatOS Advanced Projects team. You also agree that your soul may be temporarily6 be placed into various apioformic entities (see Appendix 6.7) for various purposes³. You can opt out of this by being soulless and an empty husk of what you once were. You are permitted to maintain consciousness as long as this does not negatively affect PotatOS™ operations. You agree that you either are a robot or may be converted into one if it is deemed necessary.
gollark: Under potatOS privacy policy clause 4.7 your soul can be harvested anyway.
gollark: 3.
gollark: I'm looking at adding a Soul Harvester feature to AutoBotRobot where it logs all messages here.

References
  1. http://www.russobit-m.ru/catalogue/item/predtechi/ Archived 2008-10-20 at the Wayback Machine The Precursors at Russobit-M
  2. http://uk.xbox360.ign.com/objects/825/825295.html The Precursors summary
  3. https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/01/04/wot-i-think-precursors/
  4. http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=245906 The Precursors canned for Xbox 360
  5. http://www.bluesnews.com/s/117122/english-precursors-and-xenus-2-released English Precursors and Xenus 2 Released
  6. http://www.bluesnews.com/s/117122/english-precursors-and-xenus-2-released
  7. https://store.steampowered.com/app/547930/Precursors/
  8. "The Precursors Fan Improvement Pack". beamdog.com. Archived from the original on 2015-02-13. Retrieved 2014-09-20. This pack, made by the kind folks over at RPG Watch, adds Russian audio to fill in some missing gaps from the English version of the game.
  9. "Wesp5's Patches And Kickstarter - Updated". Blue's News. 2013-04-05. Retrieved 2014-09-20. Here's a flurry of news from Wesp5, who has released several of his unofficial patches for unsupported games [...] there's a new Precursors patch on Mod DB and The Patches Scrolls to update Deep Shadows' shooter to version 1.7.
  10. https://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/the-precursors

See also
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