Quite honestly, this is one of the best games that has ever been written--period. The amount of work and dedication by the authors and artists must do to just publish a game like is immense; that Eclipse Phase is the quality that it is, given this, is amazing.

This is a hard-science fiction game depicting a Transhuman future. Human consciousness need not now be confined to a single body, and humanity now has the potential for "immortality." The game takes place a decade after humans were nearly destroyed by both themselves, and their creations. Now humans, and your players, must struggle against the silence of the void. Humanity must survive, and quite possibly only the PCs stand in the way of forces that will lead to our destruction.

On an intellectual level this game is brilliant. It creates a universe where many themes can be explored, but only as many as you want to. For example, it invites players to struggle with notions of ego and identity. What does it mean to be "you" when you are no longer confined to your body. For example, are you the same person if all of your life you've been a man, and suddenly you find yourself in an electronic shell with no body at all? What if you have a body, but the face is not one you remember? What if you were a man who suddenly found themselves in the body of a woman? Similarly, since you "uploaded" your consciousness, are you still you, or a copy? These are issues you could choose to explore in this game, or you could not explore them and just think of the bodies characters inhabit as specialized gear.

Eclipse Phase uses the setting to also set up a political world, which explores alternative modes of organizing societies and what happens when economies are no longer confined by scarcity. This is fertile ground for stories the explore these issues in depth, or just an amazing set piece for stories that stay away from the politics of the future.

And it Eclipse Phase does not end there. The game is so deep, addressing issues ranging from the meaning of sapience to animal rights, that it would take me 20 pages to do it justice. All I can say is that I have never regretted purchasing into this game line. It's genius and of the highest quality. The universe of Eclipse Phase is one of the most robust ever produced for a game, and Eclipse Phase books are filled with wonderful short stories, amazing art, and detail that just brings the setting to life.

The only downside to the game is the game mechanics, and they are not really that big of a downside. The system is a percentile "blackjack" system, where the goal is to roll under a target number while getting as close to that target as possible. People familiar with Call of Cthuhulu, Warhammer 40k RPG, or Palladium should have no trouble adapting to it's system. Plus, if you do not like the system, there a number of Eclipse Phase approved hacks of the Eclipse Phase universe to other RPG systems out there.

But, even if this were a d2 system that relied on non-linear or boolean algebra to run, I would still give it five stars. The depth and quality of the fiction and world building materials alone qualify Eclipse Phase to easily hold a position in my mind as one of the greatest RPGs ever written.