Pistol Shrimp™ Games — an independent studio founded by Toys for Bob veterans — is thrilled to announce today the release of the classic science-fiction action-adventure game Free Stars: The Ur-Quan Masters® on Steam.
Experience the retro charm of this cult-classic space game and embark on a riveting, quirky adventure to save Earth from the ruthless Ur-Quan armada. The Alliance of Free Stars needs YOU!
Free Stars: The Ur-Quan Masters is a return to an award-winning space saga. The setting has inspired countless other creators in the video game industry, including the visionaries behind Mass Effect, Subnautica, and Stellaris — to name just a few. It’s renowned for its colorful cast of characters, rich story, and radically open universe. Its passionate fandom continues to quote the galaxy’s unforgettable alien species, including the cowardly Spathi, the menacing Ur-Quan, and the enigmatic Orz.
“It was the perfect game at the perfect time. It’s exactly what I wanted, exactly what I needed to be playing. When I then had an opportunity to make a game… I was like, ‘this game. It’s gotta be like this game.'”- Tim Cain (Fallout, Fallout 2) of Obsidian Entertainment.
“It was funny, and it was smart, and it was interesting and complicated… I played that game to death.” – Ken Levine (BioShock, System Shock 2) of Ghost Story Games.
Watch the Free Stars: The Ur-Quan Masters Steam Launch Trailer Here:
YouTube | Download
Your story begins as the captain of the last human starship, with Earth trapped under a hostile forcefield. You are the last hope for humanity in a fight for control of the galaxy. Build your fleet and battle enemy starships, exchange colorful insults with fully-voiced, quirky characters, and explore thousands of uncharted worlds across hundreds of stars to gather important resources and technology. When you’re not adventuring, showcase your battle skills in online or split-screen PvP duels.
Free Stars: The Ur-Quan Masters Key Features:
- Experience an “open-world” galactic adventure through space to defeat the invading Ur-Quan and its hierarchy of battle thralls
- Travel through extra-dimensional HyperSpace and discover nearly 500 unknown star systems filled with thousands of alien worlds, collecting resources and technology to upgrade your flagship and grow your fleet
- Fight enemies in fast-paced space battles with 25 different starships, each with its own unique attacks and powers
- Befriend, threaten, or fight a diverse cast of aliens with unique personalities, from scary to funny, to just plain weird
- Play standalone Super Melee to practice space combat against AI opponents or to duel against a friend
- Mod and tinker with readily available, open-source code and content
With the founding of Pistol Shrimp Games by Paul Reiche III and Fred Ford (the original founders of Toys for Bob), Ken Ford, and Dan Gerstein, the legacy of this celebrated part of gaming history continues under the Free Stars name. A direct sequel to Free Stars: The Ur-Quan Masters is currently in development.
Intrepid galactic adventurers should stay tuned for future Free Stars announcements. For more information about Pistol Shrimp Games, please visit https://pistolshrimpgames.com.
Free Stars: The Ur-Quan Masters is available now and is free for Windows PC on Steam at: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2645580/Free_Stars_The_UrQuan_Masters.
Follow Pistol Shrimp Games and Free Stars: The Ur-Quan Masters on X (Twitter), Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitch, and join the community on Discord and Reddit.
A Free Stars: The Ur-Quan Masters press kit with screenshots, trailers, logos, and key art is available here: https://uberstrategist.link/FreeStars-Ur-Quan-PressKit.
About Pistol Shrimp Games
Established in 2021, Pistol Shrimp Games is the new studio founded by Paul Reiche III, Fred Ford, Ken Ford, and Dan Gerstein. In 2002, Paul Reiche III and Fred Ford made The Ur-Quan Masters available for free when they licensed their game’s copyright to the open-source community. This kept the Free Stars universe alive in the public imagination while Reiche and Ford led Toys for Bob, the studio that created the wildly successful Skylanders series. Reiche and Ford have since founded Pistol Shrimp Games to tell new stories about the Alliance of Free Stars and celebrate the legacy of The Ur-Quan Masters. Learn
