Cylon infiltrators, scarce nukes, and brutal choices fuel a meta‑progression loop built to keep hope—and your convoy—alive.
Announced at Gamescom ONL 2025, Battlestar Galactica: Scattered Hopes is a story‑rich tactical roguelite from Alt Shift and Dotemu where you shepherd a desperate fleet, sniff out Cylon infiltrators, and “resist until you can jump.” Here’s everything we know.
Quick facts
- Genre: Story‑rich tactical roguelite (single‑player)
- Developer / Publisher: Alt Shift (Crying Suns) / Dotemu (in collaboration with Universal Products & Experiences)
- Platforms: PC (Steam) confirmed
- Release window: Q1 / early 2026
- Hook: Make brutal calls aboard your fleet, then hold off Raiders long enough to punch the FTL—“resist until you can jump.”
What Scattered Hopes is (and isn’t)
Scattered Hopes puts you in the captain’s chair of a Gunstar escorting a rag‑tag convoy that’s been separated from the Battlestar Galactica. Your immediate orders: survive, manage the crisis‑ridden fleet, and reunite with Adama’s flagship before the Cylons run you down. The pitch is equal parts narrative choice‑making and tactical space combat, with the franchise’s paranoia—there might be a Cylon already among your advisors—baked into the core loop.
Dotemu formally unveiled the game during Gamescom Opening Night Live on August 19, 2025, noting a collaboration with Universal and development by Alt Shift, the French studio behind acclaimed roguelite Crying Suns.
The two‑phase loop: hard choices, harder escapes
Phase 1 — Crisis, management, and suspicion
Between jumps you work through turn‑based decision sequences: send VIP officers to quell unrest, scavenge fuel, parley with shady factions, or triage fires (literal and political). Choices ripple through the fleet’s faction system (Military, Workers, and the Underworld), and mismanaging them can snowball into multi‑stage disasters. Oh—and one of those VIPs might be a Cylon saboteur. Expect roughly a handful of turns per stop before the Cylons close in.
Phase 2 — “Resist until you can jump”
When the red contact board lights up, the game shifts into real‑time (with pause) engagements. Your fleet needs precious minutes to compute an FTL jump; your job is to keep Raiders and other Cylon squadrons from tearing the convoy apart. You’ll deploy fighters, reposition ships by engagement ranges, fire homing missiles or even nukes (scarce!), and absorb damage where the fleet can take it. Victory isn’t about wiping the board—it’s about buying time.
Progression: runs, fleets, and the meta layer
As a roguelite, you’ll wipe after catastrophic failures—but each run feeds a meta‑progression layer. Previews describe unlockable starting fleets with different identities (resource‑hungry traders, combat‑heavy escorts, and more), new squadrons and weapons (from cloaking fighters to railguns), and a persistent currency—“Hope”—used to secure permanent buffs and new options.
Why the pedigree matters
Alt Shift’s previous game, Crying Suns, built a reputation for sharp tactical combat and consequence‑driven event design—the exact blend Scattered Hopes is chasing, only now with official BSG DNA and Dotemu’s track record stewarding beloved IPs. For fans who always wanted to feel like a harried Colonial officer juggling scarce fuel, brittle morale, and a relentless enemy, the fit looks natural.
Release date, platforms, and how to play first
- Release window: Q1 / early 2026.
- Platform confirmed: PC via Steam (wishlist now).
- Consoles: Not announced as of August 20, 2025.
- System requirements / price: TBD.
Trailer & first screenshots
The reveal trailer premiered during Gamescom ONL and spotlights the fleet’s flight, colonial iconography, and those “hold the line” jump defenses. It’s a mood‑setter more than a deep dive, but it telegraphs the show’s tone: bleak, resolute, and human. Watch the trailer and scan the gallery on the Steam page for combat UI and squadron deployment shots.
Hands‑on impressions: early signal is promising
Early previews consistently describe tense resource management tied to a lively event system (faction politics, shipboard crises, and VIP assignments), punctuated by pausable, wave‑based space battles that frame “escape” as the win condition. The result feels authentically BSG: the fleet’s barely holding together, and every compromise threatens to cost you later—especially if a hidden Cylon is planting bombs behind your back.
A separate preview calls out the variety of fleet builds, the high‑risk use of limited nukes, and the “Hope” meta‑currency that gradually tips the odds across runs without dulling the razor’s edge.
Dotemu’s own materials underscore the mantra at the heart of combat: survive long enough to jump. If you loved FTL’s scramble but wanted more political texture—and you liked Crying Suns’ scale—keep this on your radar.
FAQ
Is it “Scattered Hopes” or “Shattered Hopes”?
Officially Scattered Hopes. Some early articles used “Shattered” during the reveal window, but the announcement and Steam listing confirm Scattered.
Is this set in the 2004 reimagined series universe?
Yes—the setup and tone clearly echo the 2004 series (Adama is referenced, Cylons infiltrate the fleet, and the focus is on survival over conquest).
Single‑player or multiplayer?
Single‑player.
Will it come to consoles?
Only PC (Steam) is announced so far; no console platforms have been confirmed at the time of writing.
When can I play it?
It’s targeting early / Q1 2026. Hit Wishlist on Steam for updates.
Why this matters for BSG fans
Most Battlestar games have either emphasized ship‑to‑ship tactics or arcade dogfighting. Scattered Hopes aims at something uniquely Battlestar: the exhausting relay between political triage and last‑second escapes. If Alt Shift nails the event variety (so runs don’t blur) and keeps combat readable in the chaos, this could be the licensed roguelite that finally captures the show’s cadence: make the hard call, hold the line, jump. So say we all.
