Curious Expedition 2 developer Maschinen-Mensch has announced Mother Machine, a four-player cooperative action RPG / platformer coming to unspecified consoles and PC via Steam. It will launch in Q1 2025.
Built in Unreal Engine 5 and promising to ‘push the limits of procedurally-generated gameplay,’ Mother Machine is set in the cave networks of a derelict space colony. Players control one of many “chaos gremlins” who are endlessly sent to death, then revived by their malfunctioning robot mother in search of resources, technology, and the answers to the planet’s darkest mysteries.
“At Maschinen-Mensch, crafting games with innovative procedural gameplay is in our DNA,” said Maschinen-Mensch Riad Djemli in a press release. “Following the success of Curious Expedition 1 and 2, our team has grown to over 20 very talented individuals. Now, we’re excited to bring our unique approach to the action–RPG genre with our new IP, Mother Machine. We can’t wait to share this new adventure with our community.”
Here is an overview of the game, via Maschinen-Mensch:
About
Climb, jump, and explore alien caves full of emergent surprises in this one-to-four-player cooperative action RPG platformer. Customize your cute chaos gremlin with a never-ending appetite for adventure and mayhem! Unlock a vast range of mutations to choose your preferred playstyle and role in a group.
Set thousand years in the future, Mother Machine takes place on a distant planet once colonized by humans but now almost entirely devoid of life. Abandoned by her creators, an immensely powerful Artificial Intelligence slowly teaches herself to create new life in the form of the chaos gremlins, becoming a loving “mother” to the strange creatures. She sends her children out to explore, collect, die and be revived at her command—but the further the gremlins venture, the more they find out about the dark secrets of the planet’s history, and the true ambitions of their mechanical mother.
Key Features
- Control one of many colorful chaos gremlins, who seamlessly run, climb and leap through intricate procedurally-designed alien caves, where no one run is the same.
- Extend and deepen the active abilities of your gremlins with a vast range of mutations, altering gameplay to suit your preferred playstyle and desired difficulty.
- Join games at any time with easy drop-in multiplayer for up to four players, upping the levels of both chaos and competition.
- Share the experience with friends of all skill levels, as the game’s balanced co-op mechanics allow expert players to join together with novices, making the mania more accessible.
- Enjoy a silly, soulful world where gross-out abilities like healing farts and protective belches bely a deeper narrative about the limits of technology, the nature of loneliness and the power of family.
- Experience unique & personal moments created by physical, emergent gameplay, endlessly replayable generative levels, and unique moments shared with friends.
Watch the announcement teaser trailer below. View the first screenshots at the gallery.