Legendary SF Game on Steam for Free. Sequel in Development
Legendary Star Control 2 will soon hit Steam in a refreshed version. The devs are also working on the sequel.
We have good news for fans of the Star Control series. The refreshed version of the second installment of the series, Free Stars: The Ur-Quan Masters, will be available for free on Steam on February 19th.
The situation with the naming is a bit complicated, so let us briefly explain it. The second installment of the series was released in 1992 as Star Control II: The Ur-Quan Masters. Ten years later, the game's developers, Paul Reiche III and Fred Ford, regained the rights to it from the publisher, but this didn't include the name itself. That's why, when releasing the title for free in open-source, they simply had to rename it to The Ur-Quan Masters. The fans continued to improve and develop the project for many years, and its latest version, enhanced with several bonus elements, is set to premiere on Steam as Free Stars: The Ur-Quan Masters on February 19th.
Fans have many more reasons to be happy than just the release of this free classic on Steam. Paul Reiche III and Fred Ford (now working under Pistol Shrimp) decided to include Free Stars in the title to kick off a new brand, as they are also developing a new game called Free Stars: Children of Infinity, which will expand on the concepts from Star Control II. So far, nothing is known about this game. We are hopeful that we won't have to wait much longer for the first details, as work on it has been ongoing since 2021.
It's worth noting that Free Stars: Children of Infinity was previously known as Ghosts of the Precursors. The delay in revealing the name change is due to a legal dispute between the devs and Stardock company. This studio bought the rights to the Star Control brand, but the legal situation of other aspects of the series, including its universe, was very confusing. In the end, both sides came to an agreement and Stardock could proceed with selling Origins. Instead, it was confirmed that Paul Reiche III and Fred Ford have sole rights to the universe and its alien inhabitants. As part of the agreement, the developers committed to renaming Ghosts of the Precursors to something new and also pledged to delay the title's disclosure for several years to avoid impacting the sales of Star Control: Origins. It seems that the release of Free Stars: The Ur-Quan Masters on Steam signifies the end of this agreed period of silence.
