EVE Frontier brings fresh new elements, including blockchain, to EVE universe

By Patrick Hearn Published December 5, 2024

Concept art from Eve Frontier — CCP Games

During today’s PC Gaming Show: Most Wanted, CCP Games showed a new trailer for EVE Frontier. The upcoming game is a mix of the same space sim elements that made the original game so popular, along with survival horror elements. CCP Games also promises more complex combat, but the biggest takeaway is that the entire game is built on a blockchain-based framework that actually looks like it might work.

Surprising, we know. When the word blockchain gets thrown around, I tend to zone out — but EVE Frontier (so far, anyway) doesn’t have anything resembling an NFT. In fact, the intent of the blockchain is so that players can write their own code for the game and deploy it in real time, sort of helping CCP Games to build the universe. “It is not really a blockchain game, no more than EVE is a database game,” said CCP CEO Hilmar Veigar Petursson to PC Gamer.

Recommended Videos

Of course, when I think of EVE Online, I think of spreadsheets.

Concept art from Eve Frontier — CCP Games

The blockchain element is intended to work like modding in a traditional game. Players will be able to experience the original game without any coding knowledge, but the ability to customize things (and set up your own developmental environments) adds to the long-term replayability.

Get your weekly teardown of the tech behind PC gaming

CCP was clear that the blockchain elements won’t allow players to cheat. Honestly, the proposed system sounds truly unique, and that’s saying something in today’s crowded gaming environment. The company intends to make EVE‘s Carbon engine open source, too.

The developer is putting a lot of trust in the hands of the players, especially with the changes to the combat system. Eve Frontier will be faster-paced while also introducing line-of-sight and cover elements. Stealth and surprise will play a role in combat in a way that it never did in the original game.

Concept art from Eve Frontier — CCP Games

If you try to start playing EVE Online now, it can feel impenetrable. The world is too established, but EVE Frontier hopes to provide a point of entry for new players.

EVE Frontier is an exciting game with a lot of promise, but most of all, it might be the first and only title to use blockchain in a way that doesn’t absolutely suck.

Topics

Mobile Writer

Patrick Hearn writes about smart home technology like Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, smart light bulbs, and more. If it's a…

Gaming

3 new Xbox Game Pass games to play this weekend (November 1-3)

xbox game pass recommendations november 1 throne and liberty

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 was a monumental addition to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate last week, so no week of additions to the service will live up to that for a while. Still, that didn't stop some more games from trickling onto Microsoft's subscription service in the wake of the latest Call of Duty. In fact, the games that came to the service were quite good. If you're wondering what you should be checking out next as a Game Pass subscriber after you're done with Black Ops 6, consider trying one of these games.
Ashen
ASHEN | Gamescom 2018 Gameplay

In July, A44 released Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn, and it was part of Xbox Game Pass from day one. Now, the studio has brought its previous Soulslike to the subscription service. Originally released in 2018, Ashen stood out from the crowd at the time thanks to its distinct, grayish cel-shaded look and open-world design years before Elden Ring came out. Ashen still stands as one of the best indie Soulslikes ever released, so those who have never played it before should give it a shot now that it's on Xbox Game Pass. It'll also make for an enjoyable Game Pass Soulslike double-feature with Flintlock.

Gaming

Tetris Forever includes a new game with a time-warping twist

Different Tetris boards appear in Tetris Forever.

Tetris has had too many variants to count during its lifetime, but the latest installment of the series is unlike any of them. Tetris Forever is a playable documentary from Digital Eclipse, the team behind this year's Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story, which includes several classic games. It's not meant to be an exhaustive collection bringing together every game in the series. Rather, it's an interactive history lesson filled with archival material, original interviews, and a selection of games that tell its story.

When it releases on November 12, players will be able to dive into obscure titles like Hatris and Super Bombliss alongside standard Tetris. There's one big twist coming in the package though: Tetris Time Warp. The new game is an original creation by Digital Eclipse that's a sort of playable extension of its documentary efforts. Ahead of its release, Digital Trends got a closer look at Tetris Forever and its wealth of historical material. Our hands-on session included a few rounds of Tetris Time Warp, a charming project that's only making a must-own package even more enticing.
Let's do the Time Warp again
If you've played The Making of Karateka or Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story, you should know what to expect with Tetris Forever. The project is laid out into five chapters, each one containing an interactive timeline. If you follow that from start to finish, you'll get a full history lesson on Alexey Pajitnov and how Tetris came to be. The project doesn't just tell that now familiar story, though. As I poked through the timelines, I found a lot of surprising references. One slide showcased Pokémon Tetris, an oddball spinoff made for the even-odder Pokémon Mini. Another showed McDonald's recent chicken nugget handheld, which could run Tetris.

Gaming

3 new Xbox Game Pass games to check out this weekend (September 20-22)

Key art for Frostpunk 2.

As the fall season approaches, the number of high-profile Xbox Game Pass additions is rising. That said, the service also does a great job of appealing to players who are fans of more specific, niche genres. September 2024 has been particularly kind to Xbox Game Pass subscribers who are fans of simulation or strategy games that require a deeper level of engagement and dedication. These are the kinds of games I'm recommending to you this week, especially because one of them launches right into Microsoft's video game subscription service today.
Frostpunk 2

Later today, Frostpunk 2 will get its wide release on PC and be available to Game Pass subscribers. It is a more ambitious sequel to an enthralling yet stressful city-builder in which players try to survive in a harsh, snowy apocalypse. Frostpunk 2 increases the scale of things as players try to maintain the restored civilization they built from scratch in the first game. It exacerbates the already stressful nature of real-time city-builders but in a way that works perfectly in its postapocalyptic world. Frostpunk 2 is only available on PC, and you can play it there with a PC Game Pass or Game Pass Ultimate subscription.
Expeditions: A MudRunner Game