Bears In Space: Everything We Know

Broadside Games has officially lifted the veil on Bears In Space, a bullet-riddled first-person shooter that will look to transport its players to the epicenter of an intergalactic war between robots and, you know, bears. And in case you haven’t caught on yet — yes, it is slightly odd, and not to mention one of the weirdest concepts we’ve come across in recent years. Not that we’re complaining, mind you.

It isn’t due for a fair while yet, what with its release date still hovering somewhere around the 2024 window. But until that time does come, here’s everything you should know about it before placing down a pre-order. Bears In Space: just what is it, and when can we expect to get our paws on it? Let’s dive right in.

What Is Bears In Space?

I’d be lying if I said I knew exactly what Bears In Space was. However, for the sake of painting a picture and adding a splash of color to the canvas, I will say this: Bears In Space is an intergalactic first-person shooter in which players assume control over an “extraterrestrial castaway” named Maxwell Atoms. His quest? To rid a faraway planet of all its robots and find a way back home. Strange, yes — but all the more reason to give it some attention, nonetheless.

“Get ready to unleash your inner bear in Bears In Space, the over-the-top bullet-hell first-person shooter that’s bound to have you ROARING with excitement!” the Steam description reads in part. “Dive headfirst into hordes of oil-thirsty robots as you embody Maxwell Atoms, a Spacetronaut turned extraterrestrial castaway, whose DNA has been merged with Beartana, the She-Bear.” Oil-thirsty robots? Spacetronauts? She-Bears? Take from that what you will, my friends.

Story

Bears In Space will follow in the paw prints of Maxwell Atoms, a waylaid astronaut who finds himself alone on a robot-infested planet that’s seemingly engulfed in all-out pandemonium. With his crew nowhere to be found and an entire network of foes standing between the epicenter of the world and the escape pod, Maxwell will need to activate a powerful force that idles deep within his DNA. Cue the She-Bear, I guess?

At the time of writing, there’s still a great deal we don’t actually know about the story, other than the fact that it’ll feature a myriad of characters, biomes, and vibrant colors, to boot. From the looks of it, though, it won’t be your run-of-the-mill first-person shooter, so don’t expect it to incorporate anything particularly ordinary into the framework.

Gameplay

The developer describes Bears In Space as an “over-the-top bullet-hell” first-person shooter, and rightly so. In the flesh, it’s a combat-centric action extravaganza. More to the point, it’s a mind-boggling shooter with a blueprint that’s highly reminiscent of both High on Life and Journey to the Savage Planet. That’s really the best way we can describe it — and it begs the question: how will it compare to some of the other OTT first-person shooters of 2023? Only time will tell on that one, it seems.

An excerpt from the blurb reads: “Embark on a zany and humorous out-of-this-world adventure that’ll have you blasting your way across exciting and varied locations, from wastelands to space carnivals to ancient hidden temples and more as you quest to find your way back to earth and if there’s time, save your crew.”

“Bears In Space offers non-stop, high-energy gameplay,” the description adds. “Fight your way through waves of fiendish robots using an arsenal of outrageous weaponry and gadgets. Double jump, dash, and dodge enemy attacks in the tradition of the best old-school shooters.”

Development

In case you missed the Realms Deep event that aired earlier this week, Bears In Space is being made by none other than Broadside Games. Turns out, the project has been under the hammer for several years now, and has, more or less, been making steady progress since Epic Games pledged its support to the indie studio back in 2021. But more on that shortly.

“We are incredibly excited to announce that we have been awarded a Megagrant!” Broadside Games shared back in 2021. “A massive thank you to Epic, for giving us the opportunity to work on Bears In Space full time! Up until now we have only been deving on the weekends. This will allow us to level up all the wackyness you’ve come to expect from us!” Right on.

Trailer

Thanks to the Realms Deep showcase, we do have a little bit of footage to gloss over with a fine-tooth comb. Need we say more? You can check it out for yourself in the trailer embedded above.

Release Date, Platforms & Editions

Bears In Space will be launching on PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store at some point in early 2024.will it find its way to consoles at a later date? Who knows. Either way, here’s hoping Broadside Games will ship it over to Xbox and PlayStation at some stage in the (hopefully) not-so distant future. Again, only time will tell on that one.

As far as launch editions travel, Broadside Games has only announced the one, which is the standard version for PC. You can go ahead and add that one to your wishlist over on Steam here.

Interested in keeping up to date with Broadside Games’ latest bullet-riddled venture? If so, then be sure to keep tabs on the team’s official social handle for all the latest pre-launch updates here. If anything changes ahead of its global release, we’ll be sure to fill you in on all the key details right here on gaming.net.

So, what’s your take? Will you be picking up a copy of Bears In Space when it releases on PC? Let us know your thoughts over on our socials here.