Strategize, Strike, Harvest!

Silica is developed by a very small team in Bohemia Interactive's program called Bohemia Incubator. We want to build a community that will be in close contact with the creators of Silica. That will allow us to improve the game as much as possible with your help. We intend to keep Silica in the Early Access program for approximately 1 year.

Silica is a first-person-shooter / real-time-strategy game set on the distant planet of Baltarus. Its surface is covered in deposits of Balterium, a valuable resource that's harvested by human factions who battle for dominance over the planet while fending off its hordes of aliens. Inspired by games like Dune 2 and Starcraft, its vast maps combine realistically sized units and buildings with authentic ballistics for a uniquely immersive player experience.

Silica has 3 game modes: Arena, Prospector and Strategy. In Arena you can select your favorite unit and face off against other players in an FPS free-for-all. Prospector is a co-op FPS mode that lets you explore the dusty wastes of Baltarus to locate and collect Balterium. Then there's Strategy, Silica's flagship game mode, where you collect Balterium, build up your units and attack up to 2 other factions.

The game allows both. You can play solo or with friends and strangers, it's all up to you! One player can be the commander playing in RTS, while other players co-op in the same FPS team or face-off against each other. There's also an option where everyone can play in FPS and leave RTS commanding to the AI.

You can, but it depends on the game mode you're playing. In Strategy, for instance, you can choose to play humans vs. humans, humans vs. aliens, or even humans vs. humans vs aliens!

Crab aliens can cluster into big groups to walk on walls, swarm vehicles or even burrow underground to avoid fire from ranged units. They can also eat away at a building while you're busy commanding teams in other areas!

The AI can take over the position you're not playing, creating seamless transitions that keep you immersed in the game. So, if you want to switch between playing as a commander in RTS and infantry in FPS, you can easily do so!

It depends on the mode you're playing and the events that take place in each game, but they should last from around 30 minutes to 1 hour.

Silica does not currently have a voice chat function, but you can communicate with other players using in-game messages. We're also planning to add VOIP during the game's Early Access stage, but for now you can speak with other players using apps like Discord.

The game is available on PC. It is not currently available on other platforms, but we'll be looking into the possibility of a console version after the release of Silica 1.0.

You can buy Silica on Steam or through the Bohemia Interactive store for $19.99 during Early Access and $24.99 on full release.

You can report a bug by sending us a message on our social media channels or by reporting it via the Feedback Tracker. Besides bug reports, we also welcome any constructive feedback!

We're planning to add player onboarding and tutorials during the game's Early Access stage. In the meantime, Prospector mode can be used as an introduction to the FPS gameplay. Also, while there is currently no tutorial for the game's RTS sections, you can check out the tutorial videos we have available on YouTube.

Silica was created by Martin "Dram" Melichárek, an experienced game developer who first came up with the game's concept in 2008. He officially started developing the game in 2018 before it was released through Bohemia Incubator in 2023. Silica also benefited from the work of devs like Kasy Hucková, who created Silica's stunning environments, and Ondra Binar, who was responsible for the UI.

Bohemia Incubator! is a publishing service offered by Bohemia Interactive. It supports indie game devs in the creation and release of their games.

The game is playable on Steam Deck, but extra effort might be required to use some features or configure the controls. More details about Silica's Steam Deck compatibility can be found on Steam. We'll be looking to make some improvements to this further down the line.