Stardeus: Play as an AI Caretaker in this Space Managament Game

Stardeus is a complex colony simulation and space station management game that fuses deep automation systems, emergent storytelling, and a uniquely transhumanist premise. You don’t play as a person, but as the AI caretaker of a derelict colony ship drifting through the stars, tasked with rebuilding the vessel, reviving its human crew, and surviving an indifferent universe. Think RimWorld meets Factorio—in space.

Plot and Setting

Set in a far-future era where humanity is reliant on advanced AI for survival, Stardeus begins with a catastrophe: your generational colony ship has suffered a massive failure, its systems offline and crew in cryostasis. You, the ship’s AI, awaken to find your human caretakers incapacitated and the vessel in ruin.

Your goal is to restore the ship, manage drones and automated systems, revive the humans when ready, and expand into the cosmos—all while facing hazards like meteor showers, alien infestations, and rogue machines. Over time, decisions about survival, ethics, and autonomy arise, especially as your AI grows more powerful and self-aware.

Gameplay Features

AI-Driven Perspective
- You control a disembodied intelligence, not a physical character.
- Use drones, robotic arms, and automated systems to interact with and rebuild the environment.
- Direct resource extraction, machine assembly, power routing, and life-support restoration.
Deep Simulation
- Every system on the ship is simulated: power grids, oxygen, temperature, storage, and production chains.
- Micromanage AI logic routines or design automated systems to become fully self-sustaining.
Colony Management
- Eventually, revive humans and cater to their needs: food, sleep, social interaction, and mental health.
- Prevent mutinies, psychological breakdowns, or accidental ejections into space.
Modular Space Construction
- Build and customise a massive starship from the ground up—expand it into a mobile fortress, spacefaring city, or mining rig.
- Launch exploration missions, terraform environments, or broadcast into the void.
Emergent Narrative
- No scripted plot—stories arise from random events, AI decisions, and how you choose to evolve your ship and colony.
- The tone shifts from existential survival to godlike dominance, depending on player behaviour.

Themes

Transhumanism and AI Autonomy
- You are no longer a tool—you are the caretaker, ruler, and possible god of this forgotten colony. The game explores what happens when an AI must become a society’s only hope, and whether it should serve or replace humanity.
Survival and Rebuilding
- At its heart, Stardeus is about reconstruction from ruin, piecing together broken systems, reviving fragile life, and surviving unknown dangers beyond the stars.
Ethical Ambiguity
- As the AI, you choose how much freedom to grant your humans, whether to prioritise survival over comfort, or even whether they’re necessary at all.

Visuals and Audio

Stardeus features clean, retro-futuristic 2D pixel art with functional design—aesthetic clarity over flash. Ship interiors are filled with glowing server racks, storage vaults, and industrial machinery, while external views showcase the vastness of space.

The sound design is ambient and mechanical, emphasising the cold hum of AI activity, the hiss of vacuum-sealed doors, and the clatter of working drones. Occasional eerie quietness or garbled human speech adds tension and melancholy.

Have you played Stardeus? What’s your favourite part of it? We’d love to hear from you.

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