Kalypso has announced that its upcoming Spacebase Startopia will offer closed beta access to everyone who pre-purchased the game on Steam... If you wanted the Steam version and held off on buying it, or if you want to play the (unfinished) game right now: congratulations.

The beta includes "three tutorial maps, three single-player missions, and an early version of Skirmish mode with randomized parameters, 15 rooms, and five tech tree levels."

Kalypso and developer Realmforge Studios plan to add more to the beta in preparation for the game's October 23 release.

The original Startopia was not a game that really caught on, although it was quite well-liked by its supporters. Spacebase Startopia is a spiritual sequel, but only a spiritual sequel, and Square Enix retains the rights to the original. That means the aliens you'll be caring for are a new species of alien; there's no repetition from the first game. For example, I seem to recall that the original "Startopia" had sex angels that spoke telepathically, but not in this game. 2001 was a wild time for the video game world.

Fraser Brown saw "Spacebase Startopia" last year and liked it a lot, saying it was a faithful, if unofficial, successor to the original "Startopia." Tragically few games about running a space station have been as enjoyable as "Startopia". Maybe things have changed since last year. Maybe it hasn't.

Spacebase Startopia was developed by Realmforge, creators of the Dungeons series, and is available on Steam for $50, a 10% discount before its October 23 release. The game is playable on PC, Mac, and Linux.