Species: Unknown (v0.23.2 & ALL DLC)

An abandoned spacecraft becomes a shifting death trap where every corridor, sealed door, and flickering console may hide evidence of what is hunting the crew. Species: Unknown is a first-person survival-horror contract game built around tense investigations, limited certainty, and the constant fear that the threat is learning how to reach you. Players take the role of armed mercenaries sent aboard derelict vessels for dangerous jobs with a payday attached, but surviving long enough to collect it is never guaranteed. Its tone sits somewhere between sci-fi creature horror and co-op panic, favoring dread, sudden escalation, and hard choices over straightforward shooting.

Contracts can be tackled alone or with up to four players through public or private sessions, with the team choosing how to divide responsibilities and react when a plan falls apart. Objectives range from recovering crucial ship data to capturing or killing a specimen, while some missions demand the ultimate containment measure: destroying the entire vessel before the creature gets loose. Progress depends on searching rooms, inspecting clues, and identifying the monster’s habits, strengths, and vulnerabilities instead of blindly charging into danger. Difficulty rises across contracts, and the combination of objective, map layout, squad coordination, and predator behavior means that a familiar assignment can become a very different problem on the next run.

The standout idea is its procedural threat selection from a roster of five intelligent creatures, each with its own hunting logic and ways of pressuring a team. That system gives the investigation meaningful stakes: recognizing what stalks the ship can determine whether a group extracts safely or walks into an ambush. Co-op creates the expected mix of useful communication and chaotic mistakes, while solo play offers a harsher, more isolated version of the same suspense. Fans of Phasmophobia-style deduction, Lethal Company’s uneasy teamwork, and Alien-inspired spaceship horror should find plenty to like, especially if they enjoy replayable missions where information is as valuable as ammunition.