Starsiege

Starsiege (1999)

by Dynamix, Sierra On-Line
Genres:Shooter, Simulator
Themes:Action, Science fiction
Game modes:Single player, Multiplayer
Story:Starsiege takes place in the 29th century, portraying the conflict between humanity and the artificially intelligent Cybrid war machines. Played out in various locations throughout the solar system, the story examines both civil unrest in the colonies and an all-or-nothing genocidal invasion by the machines. Bipedal mecha known as HERCs are the mainstay of ground-based combat, and the focus of gameplay. Humanity is nominally united in an interplanetary Empire, led from Earth by the Immortal Emperor Solomon Petresun. Petresun's policy is the defence of Earth at all costs. While Earth is prosperous and well protected, the colonies on Luna, Mars, and Venus suffer from increasingly harsh regulations and production quotas. The combat units of the Empire are represented by the Imperial Police, Terran Defense Force and the Imperial Knights. The former paramilitary group is responsible for maintaining order in the colonies. The Terran Defense Force are the standard military with bases from Mercury to Titan. The Knights, led by Grand Master Caanon Weathers, are the military's elite and are provided with the best pilots and equipment. The inequality between the colonies and Earth foments rebellion. In 2802 there are two guerilla movements on Mars, one that concentrates on destroying and capturing Imperial infrastructure and supplies and another bent on killing Imperial personnel and sympathizers. Both groups operate from underground bases and make do with modified mining HERCs and tanks. The rebels partially offset their disadvantages with superior weapons taken from the alien "Tharsis Cache"; an underground stockpile of alien technology discovered by rebels while digging new tunnels. Eventually the rebellion becomes too great for the police to contain and the Knights are deployed to Mars to crush the insurrection. The Cybrids are a race of sentient robots responsible for the first Earthsiege. They are led by the first Cybrid, Prometheus, who is revered with god-like status. The Cybrids established themselves in the outer solar system after being defeated two centuries before during the first Earthsiege. Since then they have built up their strength for another bid to destroy humanity and claim Earth for their own. Like the Martian rebels, the Cybrids discover their own cache of alien weapons and adapt it to use, but their cache is inferior to the Tharsis Cache. The game offers two story campaigns, with different endings. The Human campaign puts the player in control of a Martian rebel, initially fighting the Empire before humanity unites against the Cybrid invasion midway through the campaign. The human campaign culminates in an attack on Prometheus on Pluto. The Cybrid campaign starts with their invasion across the outer colonies and proceeds to Earth, ending in an assault on the Imperial palace to kill Petresun.Show more
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Stories about this game (8)
What’s your memory of Starsiege?Share your favorite moments and see what others remember about this game.
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user avatar@wesker47user avatar@wesker47
January 30, 2025
This game, I played to death. I played it over so many times. I had save points at every cutscene. I loved how there are 2 unique and I mean very unique campaigns to this game. The big box came with Huge compendium books and manuals. The evil campaign where you play as the cybrids was considered Hard mode. I could not stop playing this game. Please bring this one and Earthsiege back!
Unique mech machines and all the weapons and different combinations you can do depending on the power required always felt unique. The missions are always fun (replayed the campaign over 20 times back in the day, even saved files so I can go back and play specific missions whenever I wanted). Every single one is different, The story's intriguing and you get attached to characters to the point that you're willing to replay a whole mission just because your your pilot died. Some missions I had to repeatedly do because at some point they are challenging, especially if you're not focusing on selecting the right pilots and their specialties. This game originally got me into Mecwarrior type games and I would love to play it again. I would 100% buy this game and play it over and over for the next 20 years.
user avatar@Maccrageuser avatar@Maccrage
March 06, 2025
I loved Starsiege and it's universe so much as a kid that I ended up starting a Youtube channel that (among other universes), talks about it's history, it's characters and it's HERCs 20 years later. I think that pretty much sums up my take on this game.
It's the best mech game I've played. The mech construction and part stats are surprisingly in depth, it has Mark Hamill, and _unlike_ other mech games I've played had a story that I thought was pretty interesting even if it does smack of things like Terminator and Total Recall. The multiplayer and modding was pretty standout at the time and it would be great to try to revitalize some of that spirit.
user avatar@zewyuser avatar@zewy
April 02, 2025
I enjoy the story and the AI companions. And all the weapons, and try to keep my squad alive whas the real battle. For they like to run in and get them self killed!
user avatar@gohanf22user avatar@gohanf22
July 01, 2025
I played this game so much back when I was younger. Me and my one buddy, who I got into the game with, loved playing this and we even made our own clans back in the day. It was even more heartbroken for us when we heard the Starsiege 2845 project went belly up. What also upsets me is developers like Prophecy Games ruining and abusing the IP and spitting on this IP's name. GOG needs to preserve this game. It was the ONLY one, other than Heavy Gear, to stand toe to toe against Mechwarrior back in the 90s.
Starsiege is a Mechgame that easily beat Mechwarrior in terms of Story Campaign, Mech Variants and the many ways to play it. Two extreme different Races and Campaigns. It was very unique and one hell of a suprise game that hooked me hard. I would love to have it on GOG because its absolutely awesome, its a hidden gem in terms of Mecha Games, where games like Mechwarrior dominated and the manual had a whole damn fictional story segment in it. I really liked that.
user avatar@Justouser avatar@Justo
July 10, 2025
This game delivered such a rich experience. There was so much lore to pour through and the game and the world felt so deep and rich. I love the variety of settings yoru played in, and the mission types. It wasn't just go here, kill stuff, leave. Every mission was different. And the story truely felt epic in ways that few games even attempt. The last mission stretch was impossible though, holy crap.
Those games also need your vote!
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