After announcing the Deception expansion set for their flagship trading card game, blockchain gaming studio Parallel Studios has revealed that their second game, Colony, is launching in Early Alpha Access this Monday, September 22, at 9 AM PST, but only for owners of Solana Seeker phones.

What Is Parallel Colony?

Colony is an AI-powered blockchain sim set in the growing sci-fi Parallel universe. Your task is to ensure the survival of your settlement by dealing with various challenges and obstacles with the help of AI agents referred to as Parallel Avatars. As you collect resources and construct buildings, you will have to level up various core skills and craft unique items while protecting your crew from threats such as natural disasters and sabotages. To do this, you will have to complete tasks that help keep your AI agent fit and ready to handle whatever nefarious activity emerges on your turf.

This survival sim has been in development for more than 2 years in Unreal Engine 5, and after the release of last month’s update, which added on-chain item extraction, AI Pings, NPC hiring, and more additions for a limited number of playtesters to try out, the developers are now opening the game up to this new Early Alpha Access phase. Here are the features of this new alpha build and how you can join in this Monday.

What Are the Features of Parallel Colony Early Alpha Access?

In Early Alpha Access, Parallel Colony players will get to choose a personality profile and Augencore Avatar, an AI agent with which they will have to work together with to grow their base. In the future, there will be Avatars from other factions to choose from.

With your favorite Avatar chosen, you can start completing tasks, gathering resources, and setting up buildings. Tasks revolve around helping your Avatar stay productive, healthy, and prepared to defend your crew from any threat and dangerous event.

Next to core gameplay features, this release will let players buy Crates that give you rolls for unique pets, skins, and more, for the price of $10 per crate. Each crate purchase also makes you auto-qualified for a 1/1 giveaway. At the time of writing, it’s not specifically stated what players can win (it might be the Augencore Howler Prime pet that can be seen as an embedded image for that part of the official X thread), but it’s clear that each crate purchase gives you a new entry. The more crates you get, the more entries you have, meaning a better chance of potentially winning this giveaway.

How to Play Colony in Early Alpha Access

To play Colony in Early Alpha Access, which starts on Monday, September 22, at 9 AM PST, you need to have a Solana Seeker phone, as this phase takes place exclusively on the web3 mobile device. If you do, you can sign up by creating an account on Parallel’s official website for free, if you don’t have one already. Additional info on what eligible players will have to do next is planned to be revealed this Monday.

About Solana Seeker

Solana Seeker is the second crypto-focused smartphone built by Solana Mobile Inc. with the aim of being a “definitive web3 mobile device.” It is designed to combine standard Android functionality with native web3 and gaming features. Compared to first gen, this successor brings with it longer battery life, better camera, a brighter display, and a more lightweight experience.

Some key hardware specs and features include:

  • MediaTek Dimensity 7300 processor, 8 GB RAM, and 128 GB storage.
  • A 6.36-inch AMOLED 120 Hz display.
  • A 4,500 mAh battery with wireless charging.

It also comes with the following web3-specific integrations:

  • A Seed Vault Wallet built in partnership with Solflare to enable secure, self-custodial crypto storage.
  • A “Seeker Genesis Token,” a soulbound (non-transferable) NFT to unlock exclusive features, content, and rewards in Solana’s ecosystem.
  • A “Seeker ID,” which combines wallet address, username, and Genesis Token into a unique identity within the Solana Mobile ecosystem.

Solana Seeker supports a web3‐integrated app store called the Solana dApp Store 2.0, which features apps in DeFi, NFTs, gaming, AI, and DePIN.

It also includes enhanced security and identity layers: the hardware wallet (Seed Vault), a “Trusted Execution Environment Platform Infrastructure Network” architecture (TEEPIN), and on-device verification for users and developers.

Shipping started in early August 2025 after having been pre-ordered in two phases (Founder and Early Adopter windows). It can be ordered from its official website for $500.

About Parallel Studios

Parallel Studios is a web3 gaming studio that raised $50 million back in 2021 to create Parallel TCG, a free to play sci-fi card game in which players can play to earn $PRIME tokens through competitive PvP gameplay by using NFT versions of playable cards and by buying the Battle Pass for the ongoing season.

Since then, the developer has expanded its IP to a blockchain gaming ecosystem that now also includes AI agent game Colony, as well as third-person extraction shooter Sanctuary, formerly known as Project Tau Ceti. For now, the only publicly playable title is their flagship Parallel TCG, which can be downloaded in open beta for free on PC through the official website or the Epic Games Store. A mobile version launched in the Philippines earlier this year, but only for Android, with an iOS and worldwide release planned to eventually take place at some point in the future. Colony has been available for a limited number of playtesters, and is now opening up with the exclusive mobile launch for Seeker users. Hopefully a broader launch is on the horizon though.