Powered by Unreal Engine 5, Polaris takes place in a region of space overtaken by a ruthless force known as the Regime, where players must reclaim their homeworlds and raze every last enemy stronghold to the ground.

Battles take place across meticulously detailed, entirely destructible environments: whole cityscapes, wild forests, and even the planet’s very terrain can be destroyed throughout the game’s intense PvE match-ups. Banding together as superpowered freedom fighters, players will execute guerrilla tactics to take back their territory, flying through dynamic open levels, destroying enemy infrastructure, and unearthing the coveted mysteries that drive the Regime’s war of conquest.

All in-game structures— installed by the Regime, but not yet inhabited by their indoctrinated citizens— can be crushed, blown apart, and otherwise annihilated over the course of every match, and the same is true of the natural environments and terrain upon which they’ve been constructed. Whether decimating towering buildings or blowing craters in the earth, players will find that the worlds of Polaris are intricately destroyable, leading to a reactive and ever-evolving combat environment.

Team up with your most trusted comrades to liberate your home system’s planets and lay waste to your oppressors.

UK-based indie studio, Variable State, just announced plans to delay the Polaris pre-alpha test until later this fall, as their team works to further polish the early build for an improved playtest experience.

Hi - Jonathan here, creative director on Polaris

I’ve decided to postpone the playtest today. in the last day we’ve encountered some serious bugs which require attention before I can in good conscience share a build of the game with you.

Your time is valuable. As is your trust in us as developers. I don’t want abuse either your time or your trust by sharing a build with you which doesn’t meet my standards.

Fully understand this will be disappointing. I’m sorry about that. I hate overpromising and underdelivering.

If you’ve wishlisted and follow the game on steam, you’ll receive any updates we share. The same if belong to discord.gg/PolarisPvE.

I think we’re cooking up something really cool with Polaris. And I want to make sure you can experience its best qualities when I share it with you.

If I can ask you to be a little patient with me, I’ll update you with new dates as soon as we have them

I’ll be in and out of discord over the coming days so I’ll make sure to reply to any questions. you're always welcome to reply to this mail too - every reply gets read by me directly.

Your interest in our game means more than you can know. my job is to return the faith you’ve placed in us with a game worthy of your time. Gonna make sure we can do that.

Sincerely,

Jonathan

Polaris is a departure from their previous titles, such as the BAFTA-winning mystery adventure Virginia. This stylistic contrast led to the creation of a new division within Variable State: Polaris Team, whose eponymous project channels the developers’ shared passion for the craft and techniques of PvE game design. Featuring former members of studios such as Creative Assembly, Splash Damage, Ninja Theory, Rebellion & Cloud Imperium, Polaris Team immediately brought a wealth of multiplayer combat action experience to the table, devising a project that focused on a mix of refined combat mechanics, team-oriented gameplay, and dynamically-destructible settings.

Polaris is coming to PC (Steam) in 2024.