The most recent dev diary for Space Siege seems to be a step away from Gas Powered Game's dungeon crawling roots. The shifted focus from team-based gameplay to a solo character seems to allow the creation of a more compelling protagonist. Seth Walker fights a number of invading baddies aboard humanity's last space station while upgrading his weapons and himself with all sorts of cool future technology. It sounds as if the moral choice of upgrading Seth and ultimately altering his humanity will play a large role in Space Siege.

UPDATE: James from GPG got in touch, and his helpful "fullscreen=false" command line addition got me in, after which I set my resolution and was good to go. Would have added this bit sooner, but I got a little caught up playing. Definitely worth a download.

Space Siege Demo [Strategy Informer]

With that in mind, I present you Sega's trailer for Gas Powered Games space-themed follow-up to Dungeon Siege, Space Siege. Just the name alone, going by the classic "Add Space To Anything" rule, is full of epic win. So says Space Fahey.

Hollywood has a cry button...That's damn refined art...It's like science. They were in a lab researching it and refining it. It's the science of refining the art and the tools and it'll take us years and years.

The first time you play through you're probably going to say 'yes, yes, yes - give me the cybernetics' and you're going to be a hulking cybernetic master...But you're ending's going to reflect that - you'll walk into a room and people will scream and be like 'who the hell is that?! That's the hero?!

Freaking brilliant. It sounds like Too Human, but they get to the point in one game. Can games make you cry? [cvg]

Space Siege takes place in the confines of the Armstrong, one of the few remaining colonization ships carrying the last bastions of human civilization after a devastating attack on Earth from an unknown alien race. Players will take the role of Seth Walker, a cybernetics engineer suddenly thrust into a struggle to save humanity from extermination. As the adventure progresses Seth is offered opportunities to sacrifice pieces of his humanity for cybernetic upgrades that will assist him in his mission to preserve the human race. But what price will he pay to save his own humanity? Only the player can decide Seth's ultimate fate.

Incorporating innovative cybernetic augmentations into its storyline, Space Siege explores the dilemmas faced while keeping one's humanity in the face of adversity. Cybernetic augmentations can be performed on every part of Seth's body. On the extreme end, players will be able to outfit Seth with cybernetic upgrades that will leave little or none of his original humanity intact. But this choice comes with the risk of alienating Seth from the people he's trying to save. Players can also insist on preserving Seth's humanity by not using upgrades, instead forging ahead clearing the Armstrong of its alien invaders with natural human ingenuity and strength. Such a decision will increase the difficulty of completing his mission of uncovering and eliminating the alien menace that's bent on destroying the human race.

That's right the game will let you make cybernetic modifications to your character. It will also include co-op multiplayer for up to four players. Color me sold. Hit the jump for the full press release.

SAN FRANCISCO & LONDON (July 6, 2007) - SEGA® of America, Inc. and SEGA® Europe Ltd. today announced the development of Space Siege™ for the PC. Developed by Gas Powered Games, SEGA has tapped Chris Taylor's creative prowess to create this engaging action-RPG title. Space Siege features a deep and compelling storyline, intense combat and a dynamic character development system. Space Siege is scheduled to ship for the PC in North America and Europe in Q1 of 2008.

Space Siege takes place in the confines of the Armstrong, one of the few remaining colonization ships carrying the last bastions of human civilization after a devastating attack on Earth from an unknown alien race. Players will take the role of Seth Walker, a cybernetics engineer suddenly thrust into a struggle to save humanity from extermination. As the adventure progresses Seth is offered opportunities to sacrifice pieces of his humanity for cybernetic upgrades that will assist him in his mission to preserve the human race. But what price will he pay to save his own humanity? Only the player can decide Seth's ultimate fate.

"Chris Taylor and his talented team at Gas Powered Games are recognized as leading innovators in the industry," said Scott A. Steinberg, Vice President of Marketing, SEGA of America, Inc. "Space Siege promises to be a compelling and innovative successor to the very popular Dungeon Siege franchise."

Incorporating innovative cybernetic augmentations into its storyline, Space Siege explores the dilemmas faced while keeping one's humanity in the face of adversity. Cybernetic augmentations can be performed on every part of Seth's body. On the extreme end, players will be able to outfit Seth with cybernetic upgrades that will leave little or none of his original humanity intact. But this choice comes with the risk of alienating Seth from the people he's trying to save. Players can also insist on preserving Seth's humanity by not using upgrades, instead forging ahead clearing the Armstrong of its alien invaders with natural human ingenuity and strength. Such a decision will increase the difficulty of completing his mission of uncovering and eliminating the alien menace that's bent on destroying the human race.

Space Siege features a dynamic storyline based upon the decisions the player makes throughout the course of the game. Based upon the cybernetic modifications the player chooses to make on Seth's body, NPC's will react and interact with the player differently and, ultimately, different story resolutions will be reached. Space Siege will feature a separate immersive co-op multiplayer mode allowing up to four players to create and experience a completely unique mission structure.