When the announcement hit that Firefly would be returning in the form of the mobile MMO Firefly Online, the news was met with a resounding “Meh” from most of the show’s loyal fans. Sparkplug Games are trying to rectify that by bringing back the space-western’s original cast for one more trip through the ‘verse (even Alan Tudyk’s sorely missed Hoban “Wash” Washburne). The announcement came at this year’s San Diego Comic Con, and coincided with the release of a brand new gameplay trailer.
Despite looking a little like an original Xbox game, Firefly Online is starting to sound a little more promising. Footage from the trailer shows combat, exploration and character design, which makes me think that the game will try to stay faithful to the creativity and variety of the show and its fans. A familiar face even shows up at the end of the trailer, just to add some icing onto the cake of fan service.
At any rate, the game’s premise sounds solid enough to build a decent Firefly game from it:
Players take on the role of a ship captain as they hire a crew and lead missions, while trading with and competing against millions of other players like themselves. Much like the crew of Serenity, the Firefly-class transport ship featured in the original show, players must do whatever it takes to survive in the Verse: find a crew, find a job and keep flying.
Firefly Online is currently in development for PC, Mac, Android and iOS.
