Outernauts

Outernauts is a creature-collecting and battling game developed by Insomniac Games, the studio best known for Ratchet & Clank and Spyro, and published in partnership with EA, launched in 2012 as a social game on Facebook and later adapted for iOS and Android. Drawing clear inspiration from the monster-collecting tradition of Pokemon, it casts players as interstellar explorers who travel to alien worlds to discover, capture, train and battle a wide menagerie of original creatures. Gameplay combines exploration of varied planets with turn-based, type-matchup battles in which players build teams of captured 'beasts', level them up, evolve them and pit them against rivals. As a free-to-play social title, it incorporated the energy systems, friend interactions and microtransactions typical of Facebook gaming, while offering more depth and polish than many of its peers, befitting its experienced developer. Notably, Outernauts marked an unusual foray into social and mobile gaming for the console-focused Insomniac. Reception was modest, and like many Facebook games of the era its lifespan was limited as the platform's gaming ecosystem declined. It remains a curiosity as a polished, Pokemon-style creature-collector from a major action-game studio, reflecting the early-2010s rush by established developers into social gaming. As Facebook gaming declined, the game was eventually shut down, a common fate for the era's social titles.