The Sentient, a hyper-aware A.I., was originally developed to assist the elderly (whose life stories taught the A.I. about human emotion and empathy) -- but now it’s tasked with helping mankind overcome the hurdles of a failing space exploration program. Playing as the A.I., you must recover the research and knowledge needed for humanity to find a new home.

Recruit crew members with different perks and needs that affect overall efficiency. Customize each room -- from light fixtures to shield generators -- and conduct research to improve technology. As time goes on, new weapon upgrades, shield enhancements, and crew members become available to boost exploration efforts. Face space pirates and meet friendly (and not-so-friendly) aliens. Put your crew to work to deploy powerful weapons on the battlefield, and raise shields to deflect energy attacks. You can risk staying out for a longer period of time (returning to The Ark for increased rewards); however, if you fail to come back to Earth, you will lose not only your crew -- but all the points acquired so far.

“A highly intelligent A.I. is often portrayed as an evil being bent on ‘taking revenge’ against its creators . . . us. We’re excited to share a different kind of story. Rather than the methodical extermination of mankind, The Sentient strives to make life better for humans -- much like children, who later in life help their aging parents as caring adults,” says Uncaged Studios CEO Sharif Gaines.

Key Features:

• Procedurally-generated: Explore endlessly unpredictable sectors of space.
• Choose your crew: Recruit a crew with individual perks and daily needs.
• Fully-customizable ship: Design and optimize the complete layout of your ship -- from the number of shield generators to toilets!
• Ship-to-ship combat: Not able to withstand enough damage? Increase the number of shield generators and shield consoles. Not enough damage output? Increase the number of weapon tanks and consoles.
• Ongoing research: Gain research usable in upgrading weaponry, ship stats, and capabilities.

The Sentient is now available on Steam Early Access for only $9.87 (approximately 25% off retail). On March 7th, the game will return to $12.99.