The developers who founded the acclaimed studio Toys for Bob are returning to their roots, launching a Kickstarter campaign for a long-awaited sequel to the beloved 1992 open-world space game that helped inspire the Mass Effect series.
Free Stars: Children of Infinity is a direct sequel to Star Control 2, known as The Ur-Quan Masters, and it’s being created by the original game’s developers, including Paul Reiche III and Fred Ford, the founders of Toys for Bob. While they no longer have the rights to the Star Control name, this new title promises to recapture the magic of the beloved classic.
Like its predecessor, Free Stars: Children of Infinity is an open-world space exploration game where players captain their own ship, engage in combat, and forge relationships with a diverse cast of alien characters through expansive dialog trees. This formula has been praised as a major influence on the Mass Effect series, with former BioWare developer Mike Laidlaw noting that “the inspiration is all over the Mass Effect series.”
The Kickstarter campaign for Free Stars: Children of Infinity launched today and has already smashed its $100,000 goal in under three hours, demonstrating the immense enthusiasm from fans of the original game. “This is the ultimate, best feeling in the world,” the developers said in an update post.
The developers behind Free Stars: Children of Infinity have promised to make the game highly moddable, with plans to include features like keyboard and controller support, co-op play, multiple difficulty modes, and accessibility options for vision-impaired players. They’ve also set a $200,000 stretch goal to provide native Linux and macOS versions of the game.
With the original Star Control 2, now known as The Ur-Quan Masters, widely regarded as one of the greatest games of all time, the anticipation for this long-awaited sequel is palpable. Fans of open-world space adventures and the Mass Effect series will undoubtedly be keeping a close eye on the development of Free Stars: Children of Infinity as it aims to recapture the magic of its beloved predecessor.
