Games are for entertainment. However, Eclipse Phase seemed to have a mission that goes beyond entertaining its players. In fact, the themes and issues tackled in the game gives insight how to save the world in the future.
Eclipse Phase is a tabletop sci/fi computer game set in a post-apocalyptic world. The title derived itself from the phenomenon describe in the game were an infected cell looked health and unaffected. When the virus infects the cell and shows up in that cell, then it is called an eclipse phase.
The game focuses mainly on the themes of re-sleeving and immortality. Re-sleeving is the process where a person transfers his or her consciousness/mind to a new body. The process can be best explained in how you upload and download a file from one computer to another. This process is what you call trans-humanity.
The goal of the game is to protect trans-humans from existing threats and dangers as the world is teetering towards the edge of extinction. The world where Eclipse Phase exists is an uncaring and unforgiving place.
Aside from these themes, Eclipse Phase also tackles serious themes, such as the impact of all these technological changes and innovations, genetic modifications, and artificial intelligence.
"These sort of decentralized, self-empowered social models are going to be crucial for our species going forward, unless we want to suffer under the induced-scarcity yoke of life-extended capitalists or techno-fascists and their killer robots and eventually destroy ourselves," said Robert Boyle, the co-creator and lead developer of Epic Phase.
The game also takes a look at how the world will become when society utilizes the advancements in technology to free themselves from capitalism. As Boyle mentioned, he wants to see the disruptive effects of technology from a social perspective, how people will utilize these future technologies how they relate with each other and how they operate.
