OGame, the browser-based sci-fi strategy game that first drew players in the early 2000s, is preparing a major update as it approaches its 25th anniversary in 2027. Orion arrives on newly launched universes on November 6, 2026, adding missions against computer-controlled enemies, wave-based battles and cooperative play alongside new systems that rival players can disrupt.
GameForge executives Martin Liedtke, director of browser-game products, and Enrico Mareth, senior project manager for OGame PC and mobile, told Space.com that the game’s lasting appeal comes from its core premise: building an interstellar empire through decisions that shape a shared universe. Liedtke said updates aim to add meaningful choices, while players create much of the stories and history that give the game its character.
Orion introduces anomalies, mission sites discovered with a new scanner. Players can send ships into combat missions, where they must hold their position against waves of automated fleets, or use cargo ships to collect rewards in peaceful missions. Some objectives are open to cooperation, while others can be attacked by rival commanders. The more challenging options offer better rewards.
The update is designed to give players different ways to approach missions. Some focus on their economies, while others prefer expeditions or coordinated fleet operations. Liedtke said cooperative PvE gives players another reason to build and use fleets together, without replacing the game’s established PvP, which he described as a contest of information and coordination.
GameForge also continues to adapt OGame for mobile. Mareth said touch controls, navigation and readability on smaller screens are now central design considerations, and the team is working on an app redesign informed by player feedback. Liedtke noted that players may use a phone for brief activities such as mining and trading, then switch to a browser for longer sessions and complex fleet planning.
The game’s science-fiction setting also draws on real-world astronomy, though not as a strict simulation. For example, debris from destroyed ships can form a moon around a planet, with the chance linked to the lunar cycle and higher around a full moon. Players have turned the mechanic into “Moonshots”: planned battles in which they exchange sacrificial fleets to help one another create moons.
Orion will give the developers a basis for learning which kinds of missions players find rewarding. Liedtke said he is interested in exploring encounters that make commanders rethink which ships to send and how to cooperate, while stressing that this was not an announcement of future features.
OGame is available on PC through a browser and GameForge’s platform, as well as on mobile through the App Store and Google Play.
Sources: Space.com.