Mercury Steam released the second developer diary for Raiders of the Broken Planet today, and it details a lot of information about its backstory.

In Raiders of the Broken Planet, a scientific expedition lands on a moon of Saturn to investigate an abandoned space ship millions of years old. The team discovers a new power source, called Aleph, which is the key to intergalactic travel. A paramilitary group is then sent to retrieve the Aleph, but an accident on arrival renders their weapons ineffective. This group is then thrust into a fight with others on the Broken Planet not only to survive, but to also retrieve the Aleph in order to return to Earth.

As players, we have a choice to enter the game as either one of four members of this paramilitary group or the antagonist. This player is spawned as an enemy character into the campaign of the other four players. They will be able to issue commands to the other AI enemies, and therefore drastically alter how the level plays out.

Not only will players need to complete their objective to advance, but they will also need to overcome the antagonist's modifications to the level itself. The implementation of the antagonist at random points within a level ensures a high level of repeatability and strategic teamwork.

I've been able to play Raiders of the Broken Planet the last couple of weekends in the closed beta. I decided to try the same map three times in a row, and played the 2nd round as the antagonist with the 1st and 3rd part of the team of four. Each time was like a brand new game due to the high amount of variables. Nearly everything in the level was different and had to be tackled in a variety of ways in order to win.

Even though the game is still in closed beta, I suggest keeping an eye out for Raiders of the Broken Planet if you're unable to get into the testing. The wide variety of gameplay options and in depth upgrade system has me excited for what's to come.

Raiders of the Broken Planet will release on Xbox One, PS4 and PC on launch later this year . Check out the developer diary below.