Indie developer Keen Software House have today announced that their six-axis space shooter Miner Wars 2081 has reached the Apha stage, and to celebrate the news they released a new public demo for download featuring the game’s first playable mission – Russian Assault.

Miner Wars 2081, which will feature single player, co-op, and standard multi-player modes, lets gamers control an advanced mining ship in an open-world asteroid belt area. You dig extensive tunnels, harvest ore, travel the solar system, fight enemies, and discover mysterious alien secrets. The game is powered by the VRAGE engine that promises to deliver high-quality rendering, spectacular special effects and realistic physics.

Miner Wars 2081 is expected to launch on Windows PCs on Q3-Q4 of2012. Keen Software House are also in the works for a MMO based on Miner Wars 2081 expected to launch in late 2013. You can check out the new demo (Public Build) at http://www.minerwars.com/Downloads.aspx.