Another great news I share on this rainy day is that Ishtar Games and publisher NACON have locked in a release date for Dead in Antares, the next entry in the long-running “Dead in” survival strategy series.
Dead in Antares once again mixes survival, management, and RPG systems, but this time the cast is a crew of ten specialists sent into space to secure resources that might save a dying Earth.
Things go wrong fast: a mysterious wormhole pulls their ship off course, and they crash-land on Antares Prime, an alien world that looks beautiful on the surface and much less friendly once you start exploring. From that point on, the mission shifts from saving the planet to simply staying alive long enough to find a way home.
The game leans into detailed survival management. Players have to track food, water, fatigue, injuries, and mental health, all tied into a web of interlocking systems.
The wreck of the ship becomes the backbone of a makeshift camp, where you repurpose advanced technology, assign tasks, repair modules, and squeeze efficiency out of every limited resource.
Each of the ten characters has their own skills, traits, strengths, and weaknesses, so who you send to gather, research, craft, or venture out is vital both for success rates and for long-term stability.
Relationships are a big part of that stability. Ishtar describes Dead in Antares as an evolution of the social systems from Dead in Vinland; relationships between characters now grow through working together on expeditions, in combat, or at camp, tracked by gauges that unlock gameplay bonuses at key thresholds.
The intent this time is a more structured, predictable relationship system that still lets dynamics between characters matter without making the whole simulation wildly volatile.
Exploration and combat push the crew off the relative safety of camp and into Antares Prime itself. The planet is divided into distinct biomes, from dense jungles and volcanic deserts to strange crystal forests.
Expeditions are where you gather resources, uncover lore, and trigger events, but they also expose the crew to hostile forces and environmental threats. Fights play out as tactical, turn-based encounters where positioning and ability use are key, and success feeds back into the broader survival loop through loot, injuries, and morale shifts.
Narratively, Dead in Antares follows the series’ focus on small groups under pressure, with a strong emphasis on choice and consequence.
The crew members arrive with their own backgrounds, ambitions, and secrets, and players have to steer not only their workload but also their relationships and conflicts. Choices in events and long-term decisions can shape alliances, rivalries, and betrayals, leading to multiple possible endings.
Dead in Antares is designed as a standalone story. You don’t need to have played Dead In Bermuda (2015) or Dead In Vinland (2018) to follow what’s happening on Antares Prime, even though it’s the third entry in the series and builds on the same survival/management DNA those games established.
Veterans, however, are being quietly teased with the promise of answers to long-running mysteries and callbacks to earlier games’ lore threads, tying the tropical plane-crash and Viking exile stories to this new sci-fi disaster.
Right now, players can wishlist Dead in Antares, try the demo and wait for February 19, 2026 when it launches on PC. Below i share the release date trailer.
