Age of Ascent
The year is 2176 and humanity has been forced to abandon the earth and rise into space, to start a new civilisation. Faster-than-light travel and communications have been achieved, and now it is time to help build the new world and fight for your way of life.
Age of Ascent is a truly massive multiplayer space game set in a vast galaxy, where you can play solo or join an alliance to explore and advance in an ever-evolving sandbox environment. It features six degrees of freedom direct-piloting real-time battles with thousands of ships; millions in the same galaxy, an entirely player-driven economy, deep strategy, and multi-device support.
We’re using the real Milky Way star catalogue and as much real science as we possibly can to provide a vast galaxy to explore, but with a unique custom visual style. We provide deep game play that encompasses all components of strategy-based and first-person sandbox MMO games where players interact with each other and the universe.
We’ve held regular playtests of the real-time dogfighting module, as we tweaked and optimised the combat code and physics engine. All that work - the most critical layer to get right - is finished!
We have now moved on to the core components of the rest of the MMO experience, ranging from trade/industry and missions, NPC AI & 3D pathfinding algorithms to the new, full UI, incorporating build-your-own cockpit and multi-device support:
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Real-time, epic, direct-piloting battles using our brand new cloud-based distributed MMO architecture that can support thousands of players in the same battle
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Everyone plays in the same universe, even across devices
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Multiple ship classes and modular ship loadouts
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A fully player-led economy from resource gathering to manufacturing and trading
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Exciting and rewarding galactic exploration
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Play solo or in groups, larger than you’ve ever seen before
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Player vs Environment (PvE) mission running and Non-Player Character Faction AI
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Alliances and Clans large or small as you wish, with sophisticated management and access tools
Once we get all of the initial gameplay framework up and running, we will start to layer in enhancements and further depth of play:
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New ship and hull classes (science ships, support ships, drone carriers, weapons platforms, minelayers and minesweepers, stealth recon)
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Build and manage space stations
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Claim territories and build an empire in space
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Deep and involving storyarcs that will play out over days, weeks and months
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Build your own multi-device cockpit
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Multi-player options for co-operative capital ship flying
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Banking and advanced currency exchange systems
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Full set of player APIs and extension libraries
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Advanced control and display device support (such as Oculus Rift)
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Player-operated tournament arena combat and racing zones
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Multiple language localization
Read More: Best Massively Multiplayer Economy Games.
AMG
Does have some heavy p2w with cash shop but the majority of people look to be spending only a little or none at all. Do get a lot of free stuff (including cash shop currency) as you progress through quests and achievements which is nice. Pretty fun game overall.
– Real player with 229.8 hrs in game
Read More: Best Massively Multiplayer Sci-fi Games.
Nothing but Pay to win title. worked all of the modes and sadly the same still applies. The A.I. seems to be designed to make you constantly upgrade to advance and of course the levels CAN all be bought through or wait days while being raped in the modes. Find another game .
– Real player with 42.0 hrs in game
Starbase
LauriFB is the disease of this game. Everyone that was loyal has left. The only people here now are the multiple dev accounts or the yes men that the devs like having around oblivious to their own existence. Or the few left in the ship designer.
No PVP - they banned them all for not PVPing the way FB wanted them to (banning in an alpha LOL)
No PVE - Devs are idiots - no trade, no missions, no bounties, nothing to create a single drop of PVP. They even stated NO PVE EVER, should tell you their brain capacity. I mean look at all the other successful MMO sandbox space titles with PVP only. HAHA
– Real player with 1236.8 hrs in game
Read More: Best Massively Multiplayer Sci-fi Games.
Played this game for quite awhile in earlier days. just came back to try it out while im still waiting for capital ships. but Super surprised at how smooth the game runs now. definately get the sense that theyve been working on it.
For those who care, the ship and station building is unsurpassed by anything i ever played. you will lose ships to the EZ builder unless thats been fixed. the level of freedom you have to do what you want is just amazing. when capital ships come out which make it so u can have a mobile safezone out in pvp space you will litterally be able to live anywhere and do as u will, store your own ships, explore the great reaches of undiscovered space. seriously cant wait for that. and if you have a group the scale and scope of what you can do is pretty redic.
– Real player with 150.6 hrs in game
Andromeda: Rebirth of Humanity
this game has potential but in its current state its basically unplayable on an end game scale. massive game breaking bugs are a regular thing. there are no in game moderators what so ever so aside from automated suspensions for too many accounts there is virtually no check on the toxic behavior of the player base. pvp is drastically slanted to the defender and taking over a full system for a single person can take weeks and the defender can just instantly populate other planets. players can run full pvp fleets from a protected set of starter systems so there is no way to really cripple your opponents and the end game combat is lacking in any sort of diversity. maybe in a decade it will be playable but after over a thousand hours playing this game i must say that i am truly disappoint.
– Real player with 1544.5 hrs in game
This is like some 4x meets a kind of dwarf fortress in outer space.
While the game shows a lot of promise the wildly unpredictable nature of the interface and random bugs will have you scratching your nuts off. A convoluted, ad-hoc asymmetrical click fest to do simple tasks, a distinct lack of basic search facilities or even fundamental next/prev selection, walls of worthless text thrown up in modal dialogs, it is arcane, yet strangely addictive.
If you are a diehard basement dwelling mutant grognard with nothing better to do than lament the fact that the Dwarves of Dwarf Fortress never made spaceships, then I highly recommend this game for you, provided you have some kind of obsessive compulsive disorder or like sitting on sharp nails and can’t be bothered getting up off it.
– Real player with 491.3 hrs in game
Elite Dangerous
I’ve played this game a wee bit, but using words to describe how I feel is difficult, so I’ll just go ever each aspect and things I find important to mention.
Point #1, Starting Out:
Steep learning curve. The game is extremely difficult to get “good” at at base level. The first couple of weeks (Yes, weeks!) were spent looking up tutorials and flying around aimlessly. Learning that you have to plot routes on the galaxy map took me a while too! Really learning the little details and small things about this game will take a lot of time, and it can be frustrating trying to figure out why your ship constantly overheats when fuel-scooping, or what “Jump Exceeds drive fuel use limit of 5 Tons” even means. This complexity makes the game feel like you are actually flying a spaceship, which I quite like, but some people may not like that steepness to the game.
– Real player with 2423.7 hrs in game
After 2000 hours of gameplay, I feel like I did almost everything I could on the game. The truth is, I probably didn’t.
I’m not a fanboy and I do store this game from time to time in my library giving it some time to allow me to miss it. But I can ensure you that this is the kind of game that you would actually miss, indeed.
From the beauty and tranquility of mining on frozen rings of distant planets, to surface exploration on the most daring and unexpected places, asteroid belts 10x bigger then the biggest gas giant, alien life on different forms and places, stuff that you spend hours amazed defying what you thought it could be possible.
– Real player with 2233.0 hrs in game
Infinity: Battlescape
Review is broken up into Rating (for those who hate walls of unending text) and My Thoughts (walls of unending text). I may change this review in the future when enough changes are made.
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Rating
Art: 6/10 (still early in development, but it looks good even at this stage)
Sound: 8/10 (Battlestar galactica style explosions ftw)
Performance: 9/10 (surprisingly smooth, even with dozens of capital ships roaming around)
Gameplay: 7/10 (The combat is pretty fun, addicting even. Issues are generally only found on the macro-level in the game)
– Real player with 41.4 hrs in game
Infinity: Battlescape (IB) is insanely good. And it is only in Early Access so it is only going to get better!
I am going to compare IB to Elite: Dangerous (ED) for the most part since, as far as the combat and ship controls are concerned, the two games are similar (also because you probably play ED too).
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The devs are often in-game with the rest of us. How cool is that?
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The flight model of IB is fantastic! It feels so much better than ED’s. I’m sure that much of that has to do with IB’s Newtonian flight model. It just feels so right, so good. Although I admit, after years of being coddled by ED’s flight model (how ED slows your ship down when you throttle down, speed limits at full\boosted thrust, nerfed yaw, etc.), it takes a little while to adjust to IBs more realistic flight model. IB also has Flight Assist, but it is a lot more toned down (and yes, you can turn it off).
– Real player with 32.8 hrs in game
Rise: The Vieneo Province
This game is one of the unique gaming experiences I had for the last years. But it is obviously not for everyone. Who will like it?
If you are much into space flying/trading simulators like Elite Dangerous, X series etc., and you want to bring it to a next, much more realistic level, this game might be for you.
What is Rise? It is mostly airplane/spaceship simulator placed in future on a moon which is being colonized. If you have some experience in Microsoft Flight Simulator or X-Plane it will help you a lot because this simulator is realistic. Different planes every with its own flight model, some with vertical t/o capability and everything in realistic physics. You will need some piloting skill or you can learn these skills during gameplay. But it’s not only about flying in the atmosphere. Some ships will allow you for a suborbital and even orbital flight to the space stations. So basic knowledge of orbital flight is needed as everything is modelled correctly in Newtonian physics. If you have experience in Orbiter or even in Kerbal Space Program it will be very helpful. If not - you will have to learn it.
Now while mentioned simulators only give you possibility to fly your own scenario, Rise also simulates your career. You start as a poor colonist who has to literally drive taxi to earn. Soon you will be able rent a truck and start hauling vehicles or do some basic trading. From that it’s very soon to renting first flying vehicle, which will allow you to visit nearby colonies and earn much more on trading. Now I must admit here that car driving might not be very appealing, as the city seems empty without AI traffic, but it really works well for the immersion and also as basic guide before you start to understand how the game mechanics work. At that time you can also use a simulator to get the feel of flying.
As a more endgame activity you can build your own colonies. You will first have to find a good spot which is rich either in some rare materials or fuel ore and then you can build your first mine. You will also need to have a farm to feed the colonists and a town if you want to future refine your ore and basic materials into more valuable stuff. The game is an online MMO and whole economy is player driven. Everyone sets their own prices hoping that other pilots will supply their colonies with stuff they need and buying their products. Nothing is scripted here. People can form alliances or even make some economical wars, for example setting up dumping prices to shut down other enterprises. Unfortunately the player base is small mostly because the game is difficult and requires a lot of effort to get into.
The game interface might be a bit puzzling at first but actually it is pretty effective. Most of the stuff is done either by context menu or by writing in the computer window. Again it gives a lot of immersion. For example if you want to load some stuff to a cargo hold you will have to write something like “1+10” which will mean to put 10 tones into bay 1. I really like that idea because it feels more realistic than just moving some sliders on a menu. There is also so much attention put into little details. For example if you want to build a mine, you will first have to visit a place where you buy the land, then you will have to buy or rent a container which will suit your new project, then you have to visit a company which will put a mine project inside. Then you bring it to your spot and deploy. Next you will have to supply it with needed materials and personnel, or pay others to do it for you. With enough materials you can now order your workers to build certain elements of the mine like extractors, separators, storage buildings etc. It’s very fun to see how it grows and how your products affect the global economy. If you for example buy an ATM for your colony, so people can get cash from their account to buy stuff from you, you will have to put some money inside. That is the level of detail involved.
The game itself is more or less a hobby project developed for many years. Therefore, the graphics may look outdated but it’s not for the graphics itself why you play the game. And some views, especially sun setting from the orbit are just beautiful. The game even though advertised as in alpha state is fully playable but in the same time still developed. You may be sure it won’t be abandoned, because people involved in development also love to play it themselves. They are very open to discussion and any opinions. The game is connected to a discord server and you will spend a lot of time talking with them, learning the stuff and giving your own ideas.
The game is made by people with some real life aviation background and you can really see it. You can do ILS approaches and there is even ATC which will vector you to the airfield. But also the economy model is very realistic with a lot of attention into details. While flying similar routes may seem to get boring quickly it’s not, because every flight is different. The plane will behave differently depending on how much cargo and fuel it is carrying. Depending on distance your suborbital flights will look different. You will get better at planing a good and not so very hot re-entry every time. It’s so fun to see how your skills in piloting increase and so how does your bank account. As the game is MMO there is no time compression. You will sometimes have to wait for example for a take-off window to a space station and flights may take from few minutes to even few hours. It’s designed for hardcore simmers but it’s really worth the effort.
One drawback of the game might be the fact that there is no real manual for it and the game is difficult with a steep learning curve. There is a wiki which gives a lot of information but it doesn’t explain everything in detail. You will have to ask people about certain things, how they are done and how they work. So you need to be prepared for some serious learning. If you don’t like it and just want to get straight into action, the game is not for you, so be aware of that. Fortunately the small community is very helpful and will explain everything to you. If you are in doubt there is a fully playable free demo available. Go ahead and try it. You are only limited by no possibility to build your own colonies, but as I mentioned this is more an endgame activity so you really don’t need it at the start. If you get the hang of the game, you can also later buy the full version.
To quickly summarize. Rise is an amazing spaceship/spaceplane simulator focusing mostly on trading and colony management in realistic, player driven economy. The game is difficult but the effort to learn it is well worth it. I highly recommend it to every serious simmer.
– Real player with 280.9 hrs in game
rise is definitly not your ‘‘flight simulator 20xx’’ or ‘‘x-plane (random numbers go here)" this game is a slow burn, you wont start as a pilot doing orbital flights across the moon or anything like that, this game is a career sim first and foremost, you start up as a normal person doing taxi to THEN do flights in a rented plane.
This game have been in years of devlopment by just a single guy, he is not superman so you shouldnt expect top tier mechanics in this game like someone that reviewed this game before me, as a brazilian this game is expensive as hell and i do a LOT of research before buying stuff cause you know poor country, gotta make your money count right?
– Real player with 251.2 hrs in game
CSC | Space MMO
EDIT: 3/20/20 Since the time of this review, missions have been added, refineries have been added, crafting has been added with the ability to make modules and ships, and more. This is a ton of development in less than 6 months! There are tons of new things to do, and development is moving fast, both great signs. This is a game that takes patience and time, if you enjoy the factory/production type aspect of games, and if you like economics and space stuff, you will like this game. It is not for everyone but it is a gem for those who enjoy this type of game. A player economy on this scale is something special that really sets this apart from other games.
– Real player with 1757.8 hrs in game
UPDATE After 1500 hours played…
There now “gate campers” playing the game. These scumbags sit there and wait for players to travel through gates and then kill them when the come out the other side. Wouldn’t be such a big deal if the game developers didn’t purposely leave the players ship completely vulnerable to attack for about 10 seconds after coming out of a gate. Can’t equip shields, or counter attack. If you have hundreds of $$ worth of mods on your ship, you are shit out of luck, and you loose it all. Not only that, but you have to rebuy insurance for your ship, which can range from $5-$15 depending on your ship.
– Real player with 1560.4 hrs in game
Infinite Lagrange
As someone who plays this a lot, no, not right now. Waaay too many things need to be fixed.
Things the game needs:
A way for unions to mark other unions as friend or foe
Something to do with cities
Rally fleets should be one big fleet.
The RNG for ships needs to be increased to make it easier to get ships.
Pathfinding of fleets. Seriously.
Pros
The art style is really good. Very homeworld like and something work going for.
The battles, while simple, are fun to watch
Cons
Damn near everything else.
– Real player with 529.5 hrs in game
Pay to win? Yes.
Fun to play as a walle? Yes -If you are in a Union.
Fun to play as a Free to Play? Yes -If you are in a Union.
Simple as that. You can have almost everything if you pay, but without an Union you will be bored in no time. And if you are a Free to Play player joining an Union will do to you the same fun that the walle will have. Game is totally based in Unions (clans) and when you’re in one have or not all types of ships doens’t make a big diference… Just try, it’s free; but if you will play alone i’ll say again, you get bored very fast, paying or not.
– Real player with 465.5 hrs in game
Space Ranger VR
TL;DR: I was a beta tester, single player mode OK, multiplayer mode awesome.
Biased review here
I was one of the beta testers for Space Ranger. mainly the multiplayer mode
I am not paid to review this game and it is not part of my job.
I Was never a big fan of space games or flight sims so I was a bit skeptic for the amount of fun I could produce from playing this game.
The single-player mode as it exists in it’s current form today (in early access stage), is OK, It’s not awesome, It’s not greatness, It’s OK. I think I finished the campaign in about 2 hours.
– Real player with 34.6 hrs in game