Set a callsign
Use the suggested callsign or enter your own. In multiplayer, this is the name other pilots see in the crew list and in mission events.
Pilot handbook
Get down, get the samples, get home.
A Project Helios run is a cycle of descent, extraction, recovery, and preparation. Learn the loop in minutes; mastering a hostile world with an overloaded hold takes longer.
Before launch
Choose the kind of survey
The mission console supports immediate guest play. A cloud profile is optional and is useful when you want compatible progress, cosmetics, campaign history, and achievements on another device.
Pick a destination
Planet Drop creates one direct survey. Star System charts three to five worlds and lets the crew choose among different biome conditions.
Host or join
Launch a sandbox run to create a code, or enter a crew’s code to join it. Hosts can add an access key and decide whether the room appears in the crew finder.
Story mode is separate. “Begin Campaign” starts the Helios Lattice story for one to six pilots. Each chapter supplies its own shared objectives and narrator events. Sandbox surveys remain open-ended.
Core loop
One expedition, five decisions
The surface depot is both your safe harbor and your planning table. Most successful runs alternate between deliberate dives and short returns rather than betting everything on one descent.
Leave the pad
Move away from Helios Base and begin the descent. Your rig can fly, steer, drill, and fire, but thrust consumes fuel and collisions can damage armor and samples.
Extract a route
Aim the extractor into the terrain. Common material appears near the surface; valuable samples, anomalies, liquid caverns, and guardians become more likely deeper down.
Watch the hold
Every resource has weight and value. A full hold slows further recovery, while impacts and environmental stress lower sample integrity and reduce the final sale.
Dock and improve
Return to the base to sell cargo, refill fuel, repair armor, buy rig upgrades, and equip field gear. Shared base upgrades benefit the whole room.
Close the planet
Contribute run credits to the Orbital Tether. Once it is ready, the crew votes to ride home. A successful escape awards Escape Credits for persistent cosmetic rigs.
Follow the survey brief
Active surveys add goals beyond raw profit: recover a material mix, preserve integrity, reach a depth, complete a rescue, investigate an anomaly, or defeat a deep threat.
Input guide
Controls
Touch controls
Touch the left side of the playfield to place the dynamic movement pad, then drag to steer and aim. The right-side buttons fire the equipped weapon, apply thrust, and run the extractor. The on-screen action bar opens the Store, sells cargo when available, opens the backpack, opens the field pack, and arms self-destruct.
| Move and aim | Drag the dynamic pad on the left side of the screen. |
|---|---|
| Thrust | Hold the thrust button. An upward movement gesture also engages lift. |
| Extract | Hold the drill button while aiming into a reachable tile. |
| Fire | Hold the fire button while aiming toward a threat. |
| Field gear | Open Pack, choose an item, then use its active on-screen control. |
Keyboard controls
| Move and aim | WASD or the arrow keys |
|---|---|
| Thrust | Shift, Enter, or X; moving upward also engages lift |
| Extract | Space, J, K, or F |
| Fire | C or V |
| Field pack | B toggles the pack; E opens it; 1–9 use assigned items |
| Depot shortcuts | Q sell, R refuel, T repair, O store |
| Close a panel | Esc or Backspace |
Connected controller
Standard mapped controllers use the left stick or directional pad for movement, with the right stick available for aim. The bottom face button, right trigger, or an upward movement input engages thrust; the right bumper runs the extractor. The right-stick button toggles the store. The right face button opens the backpack or closes the top panel, while the left bumper, left trigger, and top face button provide sell, refuel, and repair shortcuts near the depot.
Controller layouts can vary by browser and operating system. The touch controls return automatically if the controller disconnects.
Survival systems
Read the meters before they read zero
- Fuel powers thrust. Dock at Helios Base to refill it; engine and tank upgrades change how far a rig can travel.
- Armor absorbs collisions, pressure, heat, liquid exposure, projectiles, and other damage. Repair at the base.
- Cargo shows current hold weight. Sell, drop individual samples, or dump the hold when capacity matters more than value.
- Integrity tracks sample condition. Clean extraction and careful flying protect the sale value of recovered evidence.
- Heat rises around rare material and dangerous zones. High thermal signature can contribute to seismic surges.
- Pressure increases with depth and in hostile liquids. Protective gear and upgrades reduce the load.
- Resonance improves when crew members extract close together, rewarding coordinated routes.
Helios Base
Spend for the next problem, not the last one
The workshop can expand the survey hold, fuel stack, armor, extractor, thruster, sale multiplier, cargo compression, cooling, pressure resistance, stability, sample protection, and crew link. The right choice depends on the destination: heavy gravity asks for thrust, long routes ask for fuel, and deep hostile worlds reward pressure and cooling systems.
Field gear includes Breach Bombs for sealed rock and guardians, Jet Boosts for fast tunnels or emergency flight, liquid protection, relay beacons, and underground cargo lifts. The nearby Foundry sells structural kits such as girders, ramps, boost pads, escalators, and elevator columns for shared construction.
Base upgrades are communal. Service Bay levels reduce refuel and repair costs, the Survey Lab improves resource sales, the Workshop Grid discounts craft upgrades and gear, and the Orbital Anchor improves Tether funding and orbit rewards.
Crew tactics
Share more than a room code
The crew list can create a rescue tether to another pilot or an active rescue target. Nearby crews benefit from resonance, and deployed relays improve local extraction and fuel use. Because world changes synchronize, one pilot can open a route while another hauls cargo or returns for supplies.
The map wraps horizontally. If the base seems far away, continuing east or west eventually circles the planet. Vertical distance is less forgiving: plan a fuel reserve for the climb, or establish lifts and relay points before committing to the deepest zones.
Invite links can include an access key. Share private crew links only with the people you want in the survey. Anyone with the complete link may be able to use that key while the room remains active.
Recovery
A destroyed rig is a setback, not the end
When a rig is destroyed, the pilot can respawn and rejoin the survey. Carried resources and some run progress may be lost, so frequent surface returns are safer than one overloaded climb. Self-destruct uses a confirmation step and returns the pilot to the same planet with the run economy reset.
Optional rewarded ads may be offered at certain natural breaks, such as a resupply choice after destruction. Rewards remain inside Project Helios, and the non-ad continuation remains available. See the Privacy Policy for information about Google advertising data and choices.