As empires expand into the Starry Rift, they encounter the Xenos, a violent xenophobic race. Historians scour the Alien Archives for how to defeat them.Meanwhile, a flexible Uplift race develops Bio-Terraforming technology. Welcome to The Starry Rift, the first New Frontiers expansion.

- New start colonies, developments, worlds, and goals provide lots of variety.
- Xeno colonies — once explored — must be conquered by game end, adding risk to military paths.
- 6 solo campaigns supply a new play experience.