In the distant future, humankind has explored the galaxy. Whether by vessel or probe, every celestial body has been cataloged and we have found...nothing. The Milky Way is a desolate, lonely, lifeless void. The age of discovery is over, as is the dream of finding a new Eden somewhere in the cosmos. We are alone, utterly alone.

Or rather, we were.

Four years ago, a long dormant probe at the edge of the Legasov Nebula suddenly re-activated, relaying an anomalous signal from a hitherto empty region of space. The signal, a strange pulse, proved ineffable - all mathematical and neurolinguistic attempts to decipher it failed.

The governments of Earth decided that the only course of action was to revive the long-lost art of exploration and dispatch a vessel to discover the source of the pulse. The brightest scientific minds spent the intervening years constructing the most advanced starship ever created, sparing no expense to put it at the very frontier of spectroscopy, nanoforging, and fold-drive technology. To assist the crew in a mission of this import, the ship builders installed the latest AI quantum core, dubbed SNPAI, at the heart of the ship.

To crew this singular vessel, the chairs of the expedition filled the various roles of the ship, from officers on down to janitorial, with the best candidates they could find, and provided them with the best training and equipment available. They would be humanity's first explorers in centuries, able to overcome any obstacle their journey put in front of them. Or so they hoped.

They set out looking for answers. What they will find will go beyond anything they could fathom.

In the turbulent times that the videogames industry is facing, a beacon of hope is shining brightly from a newly formed, self-funded development studio Airlock Games.

Founded by games industry veterans Justin Fischer and Brock Feldman (Battlefield, Marvel, DC, and Star Wars), Airlock Games are focusing on creating engaging experiences which excite them both as players and developers resulting in games that they themselves would like to play.

Founded by a team of experienced industry veterans with a shared passion for storytelling, innovation, and horror, Airlock Games' products will be innovative and creative while understanding the time restrictions of gamers today by providing shorter playtimes and at a lower price point.. After working on AAA projects for major studios, the team has decided to pursue their passion; creating games that prioritize artistic expression, player immersion, and pure enjoyment.

Airlock Games’ business model sees a shift to making smaller games as efficiently as possible in a deliberate response to the increasing complexity of developing AAA titles. They aim to leverage their joint 45 years+ experience into products that recapture the creative risk taking and innovation of the golden age of games. Through working in a more flexible, experimental space with the capacity to complete titles in under a year, Airlock Games are committed to generating truly unique experiences for their growing community.

Their first game, titled What the Stars Forgot, will go into Steam early access later this year, and is also available to support in Kickstarter. 

Brock Feldman and Justin Fisher, founders of Airlock Games say “We’ve spent years working on high-profile AAA titles, but we missed the wonderful, reckless creativity of more focused games. It's a space where we can focus on providing new experiences that interest us both as players and developers. We're so excited to have the freedom to take creative risks, push boundaries, and tell stories that just aren't feasible for AAA productions.”

What The Stars Forgot is a horror-based management sim. You play the role of SNPAI (Sentient Neuromonitoring Partner AI), this ship's onboard AI supercomputer. The crew can handle their day-to-day responsibilities, so your job is to help them handle the events that occur during the course of the adventure. That could mean changing crew member assignments to make the best use of their individual skill sets, figuring our how to best balance the workload as the casualties mount, and how to respond to various emergencies that will crop up during the course of you adventure.

One moment you may need to dispatch engineers to put out a shipboard fire, and in the next you'll need to quarantine individuals who have been infected with a dangerous virus and prioritize the development of a vaccine.

A large part of your responsibilities will be to manage the crew's performance. Some crew members will have hidden talents that will suit them for a new role. Others may be complete novices at a particular job, but have a high potential for growth if you let them build experience. You will have to balance what assignments are optimal now, versus which could unlock advantages over time. And the wrong person on the wrong assignment can be catastrophic.

You will also need to pay attention to the moods of the crew members. The crew will provide clues, in the form of their words and deeds, about how they are feeling. Do they feel confident in their current assignment? Are they stressed out? Planning a mutiny? Suffering a complete break with reality? Left unchecked, crew member's stress can drive them to drink too much, stop performing their duties, or even start a dangerous, eldritch-worshipping cult.

What The Stars Forgot is broken up into four sectors, each corresponding to a chapter of the game. In each sector, you will need to look for resources, manage dynamic events, and find the path to the next sector. As you progress through the adventure, the events you encounter will become more bizarre, disturbing, and supernatural.

The target game time for a single playthrough is approximately four hours, with a deep learning curve and high replay-ability.

What The Stars Forgot is coming to PC (Steam) in March 2026