'The League of Lonely Geologists' Is a Game About Collecting and Sharing Rocks With Strangers

The most boring way to describe The League of Lonely Geologists is to say it's a game about digging up and collecting rocks. That's an exciting enough activity to nerds like us at Motherboard, but if you're not convinced, The League of Lonely Geologists also lets players throw your rocks through a goddamn portal and onto an alien planet.

Yes, this is any geologist's dream game: scan a large patch of fertile soil, find a pile of pebbles, dig a spade in, and uproot a new rock friend. You can even name it, have your name attributed to its discovery, and freely write notes on it, describing its features or giving it a back story perhaps. This is encouraged by the fact that every rock found in the game is automatically stored in a shared online catalog that every other player can view.

But let's be real. Once you find the portal, you're gonna throw everything you can into it, just for the satisfaction of hearing the electric sound of whir-zrrrp every time. What you may realize once the endorphins have worn off is that this is actually how you trade rocks with other players.

Throw a rock into the portal and you'll get someone else's back. Then you can drag it back to your mat, open up the catalog, and find out who discovered it, and what notes they left. The strange feeling you'll get when you do this is called human connection. Through these rocks you have reached out through space and time and found another sentient being.

And, hey, if you don't like it then you can always dig up more rocks and line them up on your mat and pretend they're your family. There's no shame in that. At least that way if you fall out with a sibling you can just throw 'em guiltlessly into a space portal and get a new one.

You can download The League of Lonely Geologists from itch.io for free.