First contact · Free flight
First contact: every warp jump can bring someone new
Beyond the Solar System the IKAREE is not alone. On almost every other warp jump the game invents an encounter while you travel: a species nobody has met, their ship, what they want and what they keep to themselves. You meet them the way a captain does, with your voice, through a translator that doesn't understand everything yet.
How an encounter unfolds
- Contact. You drop out of warp and Cole reports an unknown vessel. It might be a first contact, a ship in distress, a border patrol, traders, refugees, a misunderstanding waiting to happen, or someone who simply wants you gone.
- The channel opens. Some hail you, some wait to see what you do. Their words pass through the translator, which starts rough and gets better with every exchange, and faster if you order it to analyse their language.
- Not everyone speaks. Some species answer in music, in light or in patterns. Hart tells you what it might mean.
- It ends the way you play it. A trade, help given, a careful retreat or a fight. And they remember: meet the same species again and they know what the IKAREE did last time.
What counts in the conversation
- Greetings and giftsOpen the right way and offer something they value. Get it wrong and the channel cools.
- TaboosEvery species has things you must never do. Counsellor Bennett often spots the tell before you do and warns you quietly.
- ScansSome species take a sensor sweep as an insult, and they notice.
- Lies and threatsThey can catch a lie, and raised weapons mean red alert on both sides.
- PatienceLeave them waiting or mute the channel and their patience runs out.
- Hidden factsSome things they reveal only once they trust you, or once your sensors or a comms intercept finds them.
If it comes to a fight
Shields, phasers, torpedoes and evasive manoeuvres, on your order. How they react depends on who they are: a patrol fires back, a merchant defends itself, others run, and a ship adrift can't do anything at all. The IKAREE can be badly hurt, but her hull never drops below 5 %. There is no game over: you retreat, repair and live with what happened.
Story episodes stay handcrafted
Invented encounters belong to free flight and never interrupt a Season 1 episode. The species of the Planetary Union and its neighbours have their own customs; their pages tell you what earns their trust and what offends them.
Encounters are generated by AI while you are at warp, so they need an internet connection, like the crew's voices.
In development
Take the chair.
IKAREE is in development. Testers play early builds; the public store page will open later.
- Meta Quest 3 / 3S, standalone
- PC VR on Windows: Air Link, Link or OpenXR
- Seated, voice-driven, internet and microphone required