EBE to spring to life in 2021

Written by Jack Allin — August 6, 2020 at 06:56

Most sci-fi adventure games are about mankind trying to learn more about alien worlds in order to survive. Indie developer Tom Kaleta's upcoming EBE, however, is about an alien lifeform who's trying to learn more about us, though survival is still an ongoing concern.

The title's acronym stands for "extraterrestrial biological entity," whom players control directly on a distant planet somewhere in the Lyra constellation. After discovering a "strange micro-device from a humanoid alien lying dead in his crashed flying saucer," the EBE will be able to use it to "connect to an alien network, solve puzzles, see distant locations (some of them on Earth), and bring back to life alien entities" in order to make contact with you, the player. But doing so will mean draining "PSI" from the planet's other living inhabitants, even as some of them threaten to deprive you of your own.

EBE's distinctive art style is not unlike some of Amanita Design's games, falling somewhere between Samorost and Botanicula. Here on this world "teeming with life, from strange PSI energy-producing plants to small insect-like creatures," you'll also encounter "remnants of alien civilization." To traverse a variety of hostile environments, you'll guide the EBE where you want it to go with the mouse without clicking, allowing it to "climb trees, rocks, or ancient buildings" in a natural way based on physics. While you do need to avoid entities that will drain your PSI if they get too close, the main emphasis is on "exploration, free movement, and solving of puzzles" rather than action since the EBE cannot die.

There is currently no release date scheduled, but EBE is due to launch on Steam for Windows and Mac sometime in 2021. To follow its progress in the meantime, be sure to drop by the official website.