Lightyear Frontier is a farming sim with a mech-sized twist

Stand by for Titanfarm.

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In the opening cinematic for Titanfall 2, there’s afour-second shotof a peaceful before: a time when giant mechs were used to haul crops and tend fields before we dropped them out of orbit to mulch each other into goop with guns the size of small cars. But what if we could rewind the clock, and zoom in on a time where our giant metal friends made wheat, not war?

Enter Lightyear Frontier, an interstellar farm ‘em up that has you turning alien plains into a pastoral paradise.The game got a new trailer during the Xbox and Bethesda Showcase today.

Having discovered the most idyllic planet one could possibly imagine, you’re set off in your campervan spaceship to build picturesque farmhouses, fields and grain silos at the edge of space. It is ridiculously cosy-looking, even as you stomp about in a giant robot. Jon Bolding gotextremelyexcited about it when it wasfirst announced last year.

Said giant robot is your very own bipedal tractor, helping you get around and harvest metal and minerals. Three more interstellar farmers can join you in their own mechs, too, though one wonders what kind of soil damage results from eight giant metal feet stomping all over your pastures.

Lightyear Frontier launches in early 2023.

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20 years ago, Nat played Jet Set Radio Future for the first time, and she’s not stopped thinking about games since. Joining PC Gamer in 2020, she comes from three years of freelance reporting at Rock Paper Shotgun, Waypoint, VG247 and more. Embedded in the European indie scene and a part-time game developer herself, Nat is always looking for a new curiosity to scream about—whether it’s the next best indie darling, or simply someone modding a Scotmid into Black Mesa. She also unofficially appears in Apex Legends under the pseudonym Horizon.

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