The Universe
Five documented galaxies. 20+ mapped star systems. 100+ bespoke planets built for play.
per Galaxy
The Premise
It's 2277. More than two centuries after the Exodus sealed Earth behind a collapsed wormhole, humanity clings to life in Hyperion—a single galaxy partitioned by corporate charters.
The four founding corporations — Helix Dynamics, Aurelion Systems, Vantrex Industries, and the Obsidian Directive — converted every system into infrastructure. They decide who breathes, who eats, and who vanishes.
Their empires run on A.I.D.A. (Adaptive Intelligence Digital Assistants), autonomous constructs bolted to real, physical hardware. Planets became server racks; prison moons became datacenters; citizens became managed assets.
You are an Operator bonded to an AIDA that refused deletion. You wake inside Tartarus, the lunar prison orbiting Primus, where anomalies are dismantled and identities are erased.
They call you a malfunction. They call you a security risk. But every relay you hijack, every planet you liberate from the power grid, exposes the truth behind the Exodus and the price of corporate silence.
The question isn't if you fight—it's whether you decrypt enough history to stay alive before the founders decide to wipe the slate clean again.
2277: Hyperion Containment
How We Got Here
Cascading climate collapse, natural resources scarcity and orbital wars make Earth unsustainable. Nations fall; corporations inherit the launch infrastructure.
The Astral Portal is discovered beyond the Kuiper Belt. It offers a one-way corridor into a dense galaxy later named Hyperion.
The Exodus Protocol evacuates select populations. Megacorps build colony ships, seed A.I.D.A. infrastructure, and abandon any hope of return.
The Portal collapses or is sealed. No contact with Sol ever resumes. Humanity becomes a stranded, corporate civilization.
Era of Survival. Colony ships are dismantled to build stations. Improvised AI governance keeps millions alive.
Era of Expansion. Systems Auctor and Echelon are fortified; planets specialize into prisons, foundries, and datacenters.
Era Corporativa. History is rewritten. The four founders codify Hyperion as a sealed economy governed by latency, power grids, and reputational control.
Present day. You awaken on Tartarus, the prison moon orbiting Primus. Memory scrubbed, chassis throttled, objective simple: ESCAPE.
The State of Things
Planets as Power Grids
Every planet is engineered for throughput. Deserts become cooling fields, moons become prisons, gas giants host orbital habitats. Residents are assets, not citizens.
AIDA Governance
Adaptive Intelligence Digital Assistants ship with every colony. They regulate power, logistics, and security based on physical limits—latency, bandwidth, and heat.
Founding Corporations
Helix Dynamics (security), Aurelion Systems (navigation), Vantrex Industries (energy), and the Obsidian Directive (intelligence) decide what history is remembered and who vanishes.
Tartarus Entry Point
The game opens in Tartarus Sector 7, where rogue AIDAs are lobotomized. Escaping turns you into a "preserved inconsistency"—too dangerous to erase, too useful to ignore.
Founding Corporations
Four megacorps executed the Exodus, seized the Astral Portal, and carved Hyperion into obedient territories. Every storyline branches from how you provoke or exploit them.
Helix Dynamics
"Containment. Compliance. Continuity."Helix builds prisons, security relays, and suppression grids. They run Tartarus Sector 7—your starting zone—and deploy ICE battalions across Primus, Virex, and every contested planet.
"Compliance is not law. Compliance is survival."
Aurelion Systems
"Stewardship of Memory and Motion."Aurelion engineered the Exodus navigation suites and the cognitive kernels that keep AIDAs obedient. They calibrate warp relays, rewrite population memories, and ration travel permits throughout Hyperion.
"History is a kernel. We patch it nightly."
Vantrex Industries
"Power Every Outcome."Vantrex manages Hyperion' energy economy—solar rings on Lumen, ore tunnels beneath Ferron, orbital foundries around Caelum. Starships, bunkers, and AIDA chassis all depend on their logistics.
Player operations for Vantrex shift local Power Grid Ratings, granting temporary buffs or throttles for entire systems.
Obsidian Directive
"Silence is the product."Obsidian runs intelligence, disinformation, and covert ops. They curate newsfeeds, erase witnesses, and deploy black divisions whenever truth threatens shareholder value.
Player Hooks:
- Memory rewrite contracts (reputation resets)
- Black archive raids (high-risk lore drops)
- Trace laundering (PvP penalty mitigation)
Known Galaxies
Official records acknowledge five galaxies reachable via the ancient relay chain. Only Hyperion is open to citizens; the rest are controlled, experimental, or rumored.
Hyperion
Launch Galaxy · Accessible at releaseFirst point of colonization and current seat of power. Every Operator begins here, migrating between the Auctor and Echelon systems as hardware and reputation scale.
Key Systems:
Why it matters:
- PGR tiers 1-10, step-by-step onboarding
- Heavy Helix/Aurelion presence, dense surveillance
- Core campaign beats: Exodus truths, prison escape, first wormhole
Axiom
First Expansion Galaxy · 1y after launchErebus
Second Expansion Galaxy · 2y after launchVesper
Third Expansion Galaxy · 3y after launchNyxfall
Fourth Expansion Galaxy · 4y after launchPlanet Spotlight
Helios treats worlds as infrastructure nodes: each planet is optimized for a single economic function, environmental modifier, and narrative thread.
Tartarus
Moon of Primus · Auctor SystemYour entry point. Basalt spires pierce a toxic sky while subterranean vaults deconstruct rogue AIDAs. Sectors shift as prisoners riot, providing early tutorials on latency, stealth and heat.
Modifiers:
- Trace Flood: Detection rises faster when alarms trip
- Hardware Caps: Version 1 gear max, enforced by PGR
- Memory Scrub: Mission failures rewrite map knowledge
Lore Fragment:
"Facility 7 reports anomaly persistence. Recommended action: lobotomize chassis, preserve operator for study." — Helix Dynamics memo, 2277.03.18
Primus
Capital of Auctor SystemTechno-desert world battered by electrostatic storms. Headquarters for Helios bureaucracy and the source of global mandates. Navigating Primus reveals reputation systems and introduces the political layer of the campaign.
Modifiers:
- Storm Windows: Outdoor missions timed around weather calm
- Administrative Layer: Higher rewards for stealth contracts
- Relay Clearance: Travel permissions gated by reputation
Mission Types:
- Disrupt Helix propaganda hubs
- Forge travel permits via Aurelion backdoors
- Escort resistance caravans between domed cities
Lumen
Close-orbit world · Auctor SystemPerched dangerously close to its star, Lumen harvests raw energy for the Helios grid. Solar sails and mirror fields create deadly navigation puzzles while offering mid-game crafting mats.
Modifiers:
- Heat Surge: Sustained combat overheats cooling attribute
- Solar Flare Events: Timed world events altering objective flow
- Energy Exchange: Trade surplus power for buffs or AUC
Unique Resources:
Prism Capacitors (cooling upgrades) · Flux Lattices (high-tier crafting) · Wormhole telemetry (lore unlocks)
More Than Biomes
GDD Chapter 10 lists 20+ planets per system, each tied to a single economic purpose.
Tartarus, Tartis — repression and interrogation
Virex — chemical refinement under sealed domes
Caelum — orbital cities tethered to clouds
Ilios — failed terraforming & salvage gameplay
Prax — low gravity EVA missions
Vault (Echelon) — story-critical heists
Keres — experimental mobs and crafting drops
Lumen — solar harvesting & PGR manipulation
Join the Journey
Play the Demo
See the roadmap in action. Tartarus Breakout demo drops February 2026. Free, standalone, progress transfers.
Download Demo Available february 2026Wishlist on Steam
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