Hello all, and thanks for reading! Today I have the distinct pleasure of being able to announce the release of our new project: Rocketship is an add-on to the regular story campaign that brings in new strategy features, allowing you to design, build and launch your own starship -- if you can. It will take a lot of doing, but if you pull it off, you'll be able to reach a new ending among the sta…
If you're interested in the Rocketship DLC, we just reached beta, and we require your assistance! Obviously I want to make sure everything is bug-free and balanced before we let it out into the wild. So, whether you have The Next World or Planetary Exploration (it will be compatible with both), if you want to check out Rocketship before anyone else, get in touch. It'll be fun! You can volunteer…
I bring an important message to everyone who enjoyed The Next World and Planetary Exploration! We at Illuminated Games are considering options for a brand new DLC. Something small -- say, an intriguing subplot -- for only a couple of dollars. And best of all, we're taking votes from our excellent fans as to what it's going to be. The options on the table are: 1. Rocketship -- A difficult path t…
I'm very pleased to announce that we're releasing a major update to The Next World and TNW: PE on the 7th of March -- the day it first came out 2 years ago. This update will include a bunch of patches and stability upgrades, some new achievements, and several never-before-seen events to make your survival a little more interesting. It'll also give players more control over the game's difficulty…
This has been a long time coming, but here we are -- Steam Achievements have arrived in The Next World! 24 shiny new trophies are waiting to be collected by exploring everything the game has to offer. They can be unlocked in both the vanilla game as well as Planetary Exploration. Old saved games will still work, though they won't be able to unlock all the achievements. Speaking of Planetary Exp…
It's time to take a much closer look at the planet which now hosts the last, battered remnants of the Exodus mission -- and at the niche which those survivors can carve out for themselves in their hostile environment. The Planetary Exploration expansion offers: ● A completely new exploration system ● Direct your salvage expeditions in detail ● Find ore to mine - then mine it! ● Manage your colo…
To commemmorate the impending release of The Next World: Planetary Exploration, our beefy expansion to the original game, we're adding the expansion's music to our regular soundtrack, free of charge. It features several brand-new tracks by our extremely talented composer Steve Barnes, all of which are unique to the expansion. It's just a little taste of the high-quality content to come. Planeta…
Illuminated Games is now recruiting diligent testers for a massive TNW expansion that is about to hit beta. If you're interested in experiencing the game in a completely new way, this is your chance, and now is the time. Send us an email at [email protected] today to apply for tester status! (This is a volunteer effort apart from a free expansion key provided for play.)
The Next World is one month old today! The growing pains are past, bug reports have become virtually nil, and this all deserves a celebration. So with great fanfare we are now releasing the official TNW soundtrack! All music from the game is included in this album by our fantastic composers, Steve Barnes and Nicolas Lee. All credit goes to them for making TNW sound amazing. And now you can enjo…
Red dust flutters in the dry, desultory breeze. The wreckage of the starship Exodus lies scattered across miles of empty ground. The broken pieces of what was supposed to be your home. There's no air and no life but what you bring with you. The deck is stacked against you. But when has that ever stopped you before? This planet will challenge you. Now rise to meet it. Build a home. Rally your pe…
The seed that would become Next World began, when one young teenager went out on a limb and pulled an old PC game called Outpost 2 out of a bargain bin. It was an underrated, unexpectedly literary gem of real-time strategy, which sparked a lifelong love of colony stories. In the years that followed, the concept developed in fits and starts. It briefly flourished as a potential comic in 2006, wi…
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Announcements are the developer’s own posts to the game’s Steam news feed: updates and their patch notes, in-game events, releases and sales. The important ones are marked on the players chart.