Petersen Games is returning to outer space with a new “4X” style board game called Hyperspace, scheduled to release in August 2020.

As a game in the 4X genre (eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, eXterminate), Hyperspace puts players in control of interstellar empires determined to conquer an unknown region of space.  Petersen puts a very alien spin on the genre, featuring races that look nothing like the humanoid aliens more frequently encountered in science fiction, drawing on his personal studies in zoology for inspiration.  Each race has unique strengths and weaknesses, giving each its own playing style.

Each race explores and inhabits new planets that they then use to acquire resources to build up their forces so they can expand further.  Unlike most games in the genre, Hyperspace allows different races to occupy the same planets peacefully, or choose to fight for control, using different polyhedral dice for different classes of ships or planetary defenses.  The game is designed to minimize downtime, with no “upkeep” phases or game rounds, helping to reduce overall playing time to less than two hours.

The Hyperspace base game will include 108 unpainted plastic miniatures, 42 planet tiles, 133 cards, 384 tokens and other markers, and 24 polyhedral dice.  It was designed for 2 to 4 players, ages 14 and up, and takes about 20 minutes per player to play a full game.  MSRP is $99.00.

The base game will feature four alien races.  20 additional alien races will also be available as separate expansions, each with an MSRP of $14.99.  A 5-6 Player Expansion is also planned.

Petersen Games is raising funding for the production through a Kickstarter campaign that has attracted 1,156 backers to pledge $239,297 (an average of $207.00 per backer) as of this writing, with 22 days remaining. 

This summer, Petersen Games will release Sandy Petersen’s Cthulhu Mythos for 5th Edition (see “Sandy Petersen Gives ‘5E’ the Cthulhu Treatment”).