The first expansion pack to Star Control: Origins, Earth Rising, is broken into 4 parts that is being delivered as a season pass (that is, a new part every season). The first part, Aftermath, was released in December and added a whole new region of space to explore, as well as new quests for your crew and the beginning of Earth's journey into being an interstellar power.
Part 2 is arriving soon and it concerns itself mostly on the mysterious Lexites. The Lexites first appeared in Dawn of the Singularity and started out as a small group of humans that developed strong AI, resulting in a controlled technological singularity. The Lexites contributed greatly to humanity in the mid part of the 21st century, but then suddenly, they left, with very little reason given. Their departure was the original impetus for the formation of Star Control.
Now, the player will learn more about why the Lexites left and what this means for the future for not just humanity, but for all the worlds that exist in Orion's Spur (the part of the galaxy that we live in).
As we put the finishing touches on it, we thought we'd share some of the first gameplay screenshots. Note: these aren't final shots, but you can get an idea of what the Lexites, or at least the beings you encounter, look like.
The Lexites have their own set of ships that you'll get to see first hand.
Of course the Tywom dress up like humans. Because: OF COURSE THEY DO.
New weapons and other goodies come with part 2 that you can experience in battle.
Encounter with a group of Lexites.
If you don't already have Star Control: Origins, you can grab it at www.starcontrol.com. Earth Rising is also available there as well. The nice thing about Star Control being a non-linear "sandboxy" RPG is that you don't have to have finished the game to enjoy the expansion. In fact, you don't even have to have started the game to start experience the new content. It simply builds out the universe. What you do in that universe is up to you.