u/idlerunner00

Hey everyone,

OGame was the first online game I played as a kid, and I still think back to that time every now and then.

At some point I stopped playing. The monetization/pay-to-win direction made it hard for me to enjoy it the same way anymore, but I never really stopped missing the genre.

About two years ago I started searching for games like OGame again: persistent, browser-based, strategic, async, playable alongside real life, but without premium boosts or paid resource packages.

I did not really find the thing I wanted.

So I started building my own answer to that search.

 

It is called ExoSiege:

https://exosiege.com/

 

It is not a 1:1 OGame clone and it is not set in space. Instead, every player is trapped on one giant living planet. You do not colonize it. You infect it.

You start with one territory, extract resources from the planet’s tissue, build production, research tech, train armies, move across a shared hex map, fight PvE threats, salvage ruins, trade, join alliances and expand.

It is free in the browser, no download required, guest account available, no pay-to-win, no premium boosts, no paid resource packages.

If anyone here has been in the same situation, missing that old browser strategy feeling but not the monetization around it, maybe take a look. I would genuinely be curious what longtime OGame players think.

ExoSiege is a free browser-based persistent strategy MMO / PBBG inspired by OGame, where every player is trapped on one giant living planet, extracting its body, building territories, raising armies, and surviving PvE threats while the game keeps progressing offline.

Last year, around 350 players joined the first open playtest, broke the economy, exposed race conditions, and made it very clear that the foundation was not ready yet. One week ago, Playtest 2 opened. This time, the important part is: the game is holding.

The first week in numbers:

• 492 accounts on the leaderboard, inlcuding guest accounts
• 130 active players in the last 24 hours
• 199 active players in the last 3 days
• 19.9k army movements
• 1.2M units dispatched
• 1.5k combats
• 54 alliances
• 175 linked Discord accounts
• 1.3k alliance chat messages
• 159 early pacing survey answers
• 116 first 48 hours feedback answers

The current top player is already above 5,600 score, the leading alliance Donkey Cult sits at 16,500+ with 3 members. The playtest still runs until at least October 31, so this is still the very beginning.

The best part for me was seeing the world become active again under normal conditions: alliances forming, old testers returning, new players asking questions, people comparing routes, reporting bugs, discussing balance, and treating the game like an actual place.

The surveys were maybe the most useful part.

Across the first week, 159 players answered the early pacing survey and 116 players answered the more detailed first 48 hours feedback survey. The overall picture was very clear:

• 60% said their first impression was good and they wanted to keep playing
• 40% were mixed or unsure
• 0% picked the negative first-impression option
• 59% said the speed in the beginning felt just right
• 38% said the speed in the beginning felt too slow / 3% too fast
• 42% said the overall game speed felt just right
• 57% said the overall game speed felt too slow / 1% too fast

The happiest technical result for me: 0% reported major technical or performance problems. 77% reported no problems at all, and the remaining 23% reported minor issues like map jank, mobile UX rough edges, UI polish and other smaller stuff.

So the foundation held, but the early-game lesson is clear:

Players generally like the game, but the beginning needs to provide more agency.

The roughest points from the feedback were resource progression, too much waiting, combat clarity, map / movement, and early points of interest that appeared on the map before players could meaningfully interact with them.

That last one was especially useful feedback. The living planet is supposed to feel active, but if your nearby map fills with traders, hostages, support services, or other content you cannot use yet, it can feel like being locked out of the interesting parts.

So today, July 4, the first early-game improvement patch went live.

The update is focused on making the first stretch more active without turning ExoSiege into a fast game. The tutorial now introduces more playable encounters, early quests were cleaned up, resource production and early NPC rewards were increased, unreachable NPC content appears less often around new players, Diplomacy unlocks earlier and NPC tiering selection was improved.

I also adjusted several rough edges from the feedback: exploration is clearer, research-gated NPC missions now explain what is missing before you send an army, daily and weekly quests got better tooltips, and the mobile map / Discord chat integration received quality-of-life fixes.

There is more in the full changelog, but the main point is this: the first player feedback loop already changed the game.

This is still a playtest. There will be bugs, balance problems, and systems that keep changing. Progress will reset at the end of the playtest, but prestige earned through the Megastructure victory system carries forward.

There is no pay-to-win, no premium boosts, and no paid resource packages.

If you tried ExoSiege during the first week and bounced because the early game felt too slow, I would genuinely like to hear how it feels after today’s patch.

If you have not tried it yet: it is free in the browser, no download required, and there is a guest account if you just want to land and look around.

Play: https://exosiege.com/
Discord: https://discord.gg/gNrccFVQxD

Come land on the planet. Thanks a lot for your support & all the feedback you have given!

Game Title: ExoSiege

Playable Link: https://exosiege.com/

Platform: Web Browser / Mobile PWA

Description:

If you miss the old browser strategy loop of queues, resources, armies and waking up to new reports, ExoSiege is my attempt to make that feeling alive again.

ExoSiege is a free persistent strategy MMO inspired by classics like OGame, but instead of spreading across a galaxy of dead rocks, every player is trapped on one giant living planet. You do not colonize it. You infect it and the planet fights back.

You start with one territory, extract resources from the planet's tissue, build production, research tech, train armies, move them across a shared hex map, clear PvE threats, salvage Lost Ruins, raid Bandit Camps, trade, join alliances, expand to new territories and push toward Megastructure and winning the game.

Playtest 2 is live now and runs until at least October 31, 2026. After about a week, the planet has around 600 players in the last 7 days, 54 alliances, 19.9k army movements and 1.2M units dispatched. A patch just improved early-game pacing with more playable tutorial encounters, earlier trading/diplomacy, +15% raw production and smarter NPC spawning and I am looking for fresh perspectives into the adjusted pacing.

You can play directly in the browser, no download, and guest accounts are available if you just want to land and look around.

Free to Play Status:

- [x] Free to play

No pay-to-win, no premium boosts, no paid resource packages. The world resets after the playtest, but prestige earned through Megastructure victory carries forward.

Involvement:

I am the solo developer of ExoSiege.

Join Discord: https://discord.gg/gNrccFVQxD

Come land on the planet and tell me what you think.

Last summer I posted ExoSiege's first open playtest here. Around 350 players landed on the planet, broke the economy, lost armies to race conditions, and triggered the kind of bugs you only find when real people touch a system you thought was stable.

I kept patching through the playtest, but when it ended I took the server offline instead of pretending the foundation was fine.

Two and a half months ago I came back here looking for technical testers: people willing to stress the rebuilt systems before the next public push.

Since then, the technical test has been running quietly. No armies lost to limbo, no melting server, no economy collapse. And for the first time I can say this without feeling like I am tempting fate: I think the game now holds.

That is why ExoSiege's second open playtest is live now, June 27, 2026 at 19:00 CEST / 17:00 UTC, and runs until at least October 31, 2026. The world resets when the playtest ends, but prestige earned through Megastructure victory carries forward for the first time.

It is free in the browser, no download, installable as a PWA on mobile, and there is a guest account if you just want to land and look around. No pay-to-win, no premium boosts, no paid resource packages, not now, not in the future.

What ExoSiege is

ExoSiege is a bio-punk browser MMO 4X with deep incremental systems. The whole map is one living planet, and every player is trapped on its surface. You do not settle a planet here. You infest one giant creature.

You cut 15 resources across 5 tiers out of its tissue, build your first territory over its skin, research, queue, optimize, train armies, and eventually run several specialized territories. If you grew up with OGame, the rhythm will feel familiar: your queues keep working offline, you come back, collect, adjust, and push the next layer.

The difference is that the planet is not a backdrop. Biomes shift, terrain matters, PvE threats move across the map, and the world keeps going while you sleep. Bandits, traders, warmongers, ruins, and strange old inhabitants can raid you offline, but systems like the Vault, Bunker, and protected storage mean a bad night should be a setback, not an account-ending disaster.

PvP exists, espionage exists, and alliances can coordinate strikes. But the heart of the game has shifted toward cooperative PvE, async strategy, territory specialization, and surviving the planet together. If you just want to build the most efficient extraction network you can and be mostly left alone, that is valid too. Just keep some defense up.

How you win

The strange part is that ExoSiege now has a real win condition.

An alliance can claim one of the planet's Megastructures, defend it, feed its Rift Generator, and force it open. When the rift opens, the winning alliance is pulled in and wiped. That is victory.

Your old empire collapses into Graves of Legends for everyone else to scavenge. Your alliance is written into the Hall of Legends. You restart from nothing, carrying prestige no normal wipe can take away.

You do not conquer the planet. You make it remember you.

Disclaimer & AI Disclosure

Generative AI was used as an assistance tool. The small in-game images use AI-generated source material and were then selected and touched up by hand. AI tools also helped with frontend iteration, wording, translation, and debugging support. I review, test, and own what ships.

ExoSiege is a text-first game, and the images were never the core of it, but I know this matters to the community, so I want to be clear about it.

I am a solo dev still learning, this is my first project this large, and it is still a playtest. Expect bugs. But I keep iterating hard on feedback, and the loop is finally the thing I always wanted it to become.

ExoSiege is not a classic cookie clicker. It is a persistent strategy MMO, but it is incremental through and through: resources, queues, tiers, unlocks, offline progress, optimization, and prestige.

Playtest Start: June 27, 2026 at 19:00 CEST (live now)

Playtest End: October 31, 2026

 

Come land on the planet.

Play: https://exosiege.com/

Discord: https://discord.gg/gNrccFVQxD

Last year I posted the first open playtest here. Around 350 players joined, broke the economy, exposed race conditions, melted parts of the server, and made it very clear that the game was not ready yet.

After that test, I took the server offline and rebuilt most of the foundation.

Now the second open playtest starts in 1 hour.

ExoSiege is a free browser-based 4X strategy MMO set on a planet-sized living organism. You start with one territory, expand across a hex map, extract 15 resources across 5 tiers, research technologies, specialize territories, build armies, join alliances, and keep progressing while offline.

The 4X loop is there, but in a persistent multiplayer form:

- Explore a hostile living planet with shifting biomes, NPC factions, ruins, raids, and world events.

- Expand from one territory into a larger empire with specialized colonies and mobile outposts.

- Exploit the planet's tissue, resin, crystals, biomass, and higher-tier resources to push your economy.

- Exterminate or survive through PvE threats, alliance warfare, espionage, coordinated attacks, and defensive systems.

PvP exists, but the game is not meant to be a pure gankbox. A lot of the design has moved toward cooperative PvE, async strategy, offline protection, and making sure a bad night hurts without deleting your account.

The new endgame is an alliance victory system. An alliance can claim a Megastructure, defend it, feed its Rift Generator, and open the Rift. When that happens, the winning alliance is wiped, written into the Hall of Legends, and starts over with prestige that persists.

You do not conquer the planet. You make it remember you.

This is still a playtest, and I am a solo dev still learning. Expect bugs. But I keep iterating hard on feedback, and the game finally feels like the thing I was trying to build.

No pay-to-win, no premium boosts, no paid resource packages. Only prestige will survive this playtest. Other progress will be wiped afterwards.

 

Playtest Start: June 27, 2026 at 19:00 CEST / 17:00 UTC

Playtest End: October 31, 2026

 

Play: https://exosiege.com/

Discord: https://discord.gg/gNrccFVQxD

Last year I posted ExoSiege's first open playtest here on r/PBBG. Around 350 players showed up, broke the economy, exposed race conditions, melted parts of the server, and taught me very quickly that the game was not ready yet.

After that playtest ended, I took the server offline instead of pretending the foundation was fine.

Two months ago I came back here looking for technical testers. I needed people willing to stress the rebuilt systems before the next public push. Since then, the technical test has been running, and for the first time I can say this without immediately regretting it: I think the game now holds together.

ExoSiege Playtest 2 starts today, June 27, 2026 at 19:00 CEST / 17:00 UTC, two hours after this post.

It runs until October 31, 2026. The world will reset when the playtest ends, but prestige earned through the Megastructure victory system will carry forward. After open beta begins, there are no planned full-server resets. The only wipes after that are alliance victory wipes that are part of the endgame.

What ExoSiege is

ExoSiege is a free browser-based strategy MMO / PBBG set on a planet-sized living organism.

You start with one territory, extract 15 resources across 5 tiers, build, research, queue, optimize, train armies, expand into multiple specialized territories, and keep progressing while offline. If you grew up with games like OGame, Travian, Utopia, or Tribal Wars, the rhythm should feel familiar.

The difference is that the world is not just a map. The planet shifts, heals, mutates, and pushes back.

There are PvE threats, bandit raids, NPC factions, mobile outposts, espionage, alliance coordination, world events, territory specialization, shared combat reports, district governance, taxes, vaults, bunkers, protected storage, and a full mobile PWA version if you want to check queues from your phone.

PvP exists, but the game has moved strongly toward cooperative PvE, async strategy, and surviving the planet together. A bad offline night should hurt, but it should not delete your account.

How victory works

ExoSiege now has a real win condition.

An alliance can claim a Megastructure, defend it, feed its Rift Generator, and force the Rift open. When that happens, the winning alliance is pulled in and wiped. Their old empire collapses into Graves of Legends for other players to scavenge, their name goes into the Hall of Legends, and they restart with prestige that persists.

You do not conquer the planet. You make it remember you.

Disclaimer

I am a solo dev still learning, this is my first project this large, and it is still a playtest. Expect bugs. But I keep iterating hard on feedback, and the loop is finally the thing I always wanted it to become.

There is no pay-to-win, no premium boosts, and no paid resource packages.

Only prestige will survive this playtest. Other progress will be wiped afterwards.

Playtest Start: June 27, 2026 at 19:00 CEST / 17:00 UTC

Playtest End: October 31, 2026

 

Play: https://exosiege.com/

Discord: https://discord.gg/gNrccFVQxD

 

Also, I would love to hear what old browser game shaped your taste: OGame, Travian, Utopia, Tribal Wars, or something else entirely? For me it was OGame back in the day, and this is my modern spin on it.