Open Sandbox Space Sim Drifter Makes The Jump To Mac On Steam

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You call this a beta? Wow, gorgeous.
You call this a beta? Wow, gorgeous.

I’ve had my eye on Celsius Game Studios since I first heard about their in-development space simulator game, Drifter, back in 2012. Since then, developer Colin Walsh has continued to pour on the awesomesauce to create a game that–while still in active beta–impresses on every level.

Drifter takes place in a procedurally-generated galaxy that contains 100,000 light years worth of star systems to explore (that’s a lot of star systems–tens of thousands). The soundtrack is by indie-darling composer Danny Baranowsky (Super Meat Boy, The Blinding of Isaac) and it will thrill you in all the right places. Take a look at the trailer below to get a sense of how it looks and sounds.

Drifter is available on Steam today for almost 20 percent off the eventual price in the Early Access program; you’ll pay $9.95 to get the game now, which is pretty much finished, though not enough for the developers to call it a day.

“Because Drifter is an open-world sandbox game we feel like it’s a good fit for Early Access,” say the developers on the Steam page. “The game is already enjoyable and relatively bug free, however, it is missing a number of features that we feel should be in the game before calling it 1.0. We hope that this way you’ll be able to have fun with the game while it’s still being worked on; this will give us the ability to create the best game possible based on your support and feedback.”

Slip slidin' away...
Slip slidin’ away…

You’ll take on the role of a spaceship captain, trying to make ends meet out among the stars, trading goods, mining asteroids for precious metals, and hunting space pirates for the bounties. Heck, you can even become a pirate yourself. The game looks stunning even as a beta; chances are it will look and play even better when they’re done with the development cycle.

If you have any interest in an open-ended, sandbox-style space simulation game with a tone of gameplay and star systems to explore, head on over to Steam and drop your ten bucks down. You can thank us later.

The retail version of Drifter will be available for PC, Mac, Linux and iOS, hopefully this year, for a $14.99 price tag.

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