Tachyon: The Fringe
What can I say? 10/10 would buy again. This little gem has been a classic and to my knowledge no space fighter game has been able to live up to this, unless somebody would like to make a recommendation.
The intuitive nature to this game is beyond compelling, I’ve taken down multiple capital ships, overcome insane odds, all while strategically being able to manuever my craft and manage my shield and energy/ammo reserves. The ability to turbo and then slide is exactly something a space simulator should have, I’m not sure how I could play any other without it. The way the physics are set up are awkward, but make sense to how true space physics would be.
– Real player with 142.5 hrs in game
Read More: Best Simulation Classic Games.
Despite being an out dated space pilot simulator that dated 2001, it scratches that nostalgic itch for me when I had this game on the disk. The game is an underrated gem of the past that would of had so much more if a sequel was ever to be made.
You play as star pilot Jake Logan (Who is voiced by the legendary Bruce Campbell) who takes on contracts to take on jobs that range on from simple fetch quests, ship escorting, and of course, the dog fights of enemy pilots and large star ships. What I enjoy about this game is, when fighting the huge star ships, you can cycle through targeting to find the ship’s weak points such as power plants that power the ship’s engines, shield regenerators, and weapon power cores to destroy and weaken those ships. Note you can’t pilot them. Just your star ships. The game does feature a nice variety of ships on 1 or 2 factions. Bora or GalSpan. Both ships have their strengths and weaknesses. Bora ships are built very durable for taking damage and have a better arsenal of energy based weaponry. They also have a few more special weapons they can use as well. Downside is, not all their ships are built for speed, and missiles are always unguided. So you have to rely on being up close using your missiles and sappers to get better results. GalSpan star ships are built more stylish and smooth like eye candy. Unlike Bora, their ships do make up in speed in exchange of defense from their ship’s shields and hulls. They have more of a wide range of being the missile users then energy weapons. They also have their own turret that uses ammo instead of energy that can be recharged after completing missions, but can run out if you’re still in the middle of a fight. Almost all missiles are guided and can be homed to your enemies. They only have one special weapon that is a vacuum to pull your enemies who are at a short distance to you to hold them from flying away and pulling them slowly to you. It can backfire if you crash into your enemy and not only damage your ship, but the enemy as well. (I also think this special weapon feels somewhat game breaking in the story. Which made dog fights so easy for me, I breezed through the game’s story!) The choice is yours on who you side with. Giving you different contracts to complete, different wingmen you can hire from the respective factions, and two different endings between the stories. There’s also added lore you can listen and/or read into from the game’s new channel of current events that happen during the contracts you complete. Involving the contracts you complete and outside events that happen in the game. Some give you added clues on things to look out for. While other news articles are just useless filler. The game may not have any character models that are mostly still images. But the voice actors are just amazing to listen to and build their own character to the game just by hearing their voice. I recommend playing this game mainly using mouse and keys for full control of the game. The game is too clunky to play using keys alone. It is possible to play using a flight stick joystick like a flight simulator, or using a controller if you can hot key the keys with the right software. If you’re interested of playing this game, buy this game when a sale hits. I am aware there’s a multiplayer feature, but I’m not gonna bother with it to think the multiplayer is dead. Maybe if enough people play this game, it can be fun. X3
– Real player with 33.6 hrs in game
Evochron Legacy SE
I am a newcomer to 3D space and flight games, so I will start by explaining what I liked about a different space game, which inspired me to seek out Evochron Legacy. In Endless Space, I shoot across a 2D galaxy in custom-built ships, turn by turn, exploring solar systems. Each one is like a Christmas present as I approach, and the red, yellow, blue and white stars are the bows on top. When I get there, a window opens up revealing multiple planets. It is possible to guess beforehand what types of planets are in the system based on the type of star, but there is no accounting for the variety of anomalies, resources and conditions that each planet might reveal. Each one is a present unto itself, filled with envisioned potential. In times like that, I think someone should make a whole game just about this. Well, Evochron Legacy is almost that game.
– Real player with 180.9 hrs in game
Read More: Best Simulation Exploration Games.
Edit 10.9.2019
My house is now the rest of my ship. While flying to the Red Circle, I can cook, do laundry, and wash dishes while contemplating how to take over the sector with my fleet.
Been flying for 2 years now, I’ll be in my bunk.
Edit 4.15.2017
After almost 40 hours it felt like time to update this. In short, this game has sunk it’s teeth really deep and it’s still biting hard. None of the wow factor outlined previously is gone…in fact, it has increased the longer I’ve played. Bear in mind I’m in no hurry to complete anything, get the best gear or ships, or become dirty rich - and I’ve stayed away from tutorials as much as possible. I think this is where this game really shines for me - it rewards patient exploration of it’s mechanics, and they run deep…I only just became a good enough pilot to win my first race!
– Real player with 127.8 hrs in game
Helium Rain
Helium Rain (HR) is an atmospheric Economy/Management simulation game, set in a “hard sci-fi” space setting.
The atmosphere of HR gives off a bit of a lonely and relaxing vibe. The game setting taking place entirely in the orbit of a gas giant named “Nema”. The station and ship designs are great in HR, I like the more realistic designs here which is a bit of a departure from the majority of games set in space. The overall setting being in orbit of a gas giant gives a lot of opportunities for a nice backdrop. There is no sound in space which HR portrays.
– Real player with 159.9 hrs in game
Read More: Best Simulation Strategy Games.
I have been looking for a game that recaptures the magic of X3 for a long time. It is rare to find a space sim that has the same ethos as X3: your goal is to build an empire, and you build fleets to protect that empire, rather than the more common philosophy of “it’s fun to blow stuff up, so that’s the main goal”. But the devs are well on their way to delivering this, even though the game is VERY early access. I’m really quite surprised at how much there is since it was released (in EA) like a week ago. I really, really hope they continue to develop this game. So if you like space trading sims, it is playable as is but will no doubt get better and better. Probably its biggest advantage over X3 is a pretty sane interface.
– Real player with 88.6 hrs in game
A Hole In Space
At the moment, the game is unplayable. The commands to navigate are highly unintuitive. The devs should update the navigation so that instead of relying only on keys being pressed, the direction of navigation could be determined by the angle of the camera. Moreover, they should also give some visual cues if the most nearby stars are up or down in the plane you are navigating. Otherwise, you may lose a good half hour without absorbing any star, quickly becoming frustrated with the game.
– Real player with 1.3 hrs in game
fun if youre bored
– Real player with 1.1 hrs in game
BLACKBODY THEORY OF MOTION
This game is still in early stages, but it is addictive and genuinely scary.
There are some much-needed improvements, including
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Better controls for up/down, a function to reset to the “normal” plane where most asteroids are located,
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View distance that doesn’t look unnatural (now the objects just spawn out of blackness),
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Saves,
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Goals, achievements,
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Softer sounds, current ones are way too harsh.
– Real player with 0.3 hrs in game
I Fetch Rocks
The year is 2150. You’ve successfully landed a job working for one of the many mining facilities stationed in the asteroid belt between Jupiter and Mars. Using a company issued Asteroid Hauler, your job is to search for mineral rich asteroids and tow them back to the primary mining facility for further processing.
Be warned, this trivial sounding job will push you to your creative engineering limits. The asteroid belt is extremely dangerous, radiation and cosmic rays will continuously degrade the components of your ship. Over the course of your employment you will need to become intimately familiar with how all ship systems operate and fit together so that you can rearrange, rewire and reprogram them as they fail around you. You’ll need to get creative to survive and get your payload back to the primary mining facility.
Psi 5 Trading Company
Command your ship through an edge-of-your-seat adventure in the 35th Century.
Summon your management skills and man the bridge. The physical and economic survival of the Psi 5 Trading Company is in your hands.
You must first choose your cargo and course through the Parvin Frontier. Then select the best crew possible from a cast of human and nonhuman characters. As you take command of your space freighter on its perilous voyage, your challenge will be to command the mission by successfully managing your resources and allocating task assignments to your crew. As captain of the Space Freighter, you must constantly delegate authority throughout the mission. With space outlaws on the horizon, what do you repair first - the defense shields or your weapons?
If you’re ripe for a stiff challenge and feel comfortable in the role of Space Freighter Captain, your ship just came in.
Spaceship Simulator
A fairly decent game for the price, definitely worth checking out. Not very long though, I beat it in about 8hrs and that was with me messing about fighting enemies I didn’t really need to while testing out different ship designs. There are also a few game breaking bugs - namely sometimes you can only attempt a challenge mission once (which is clearly not intended) thus preventing the game from continuing.
Despite that, it is still a lot of fun. The major draw - harvesting parts from enemies to build your ship - is done well enough and the actual ship design segment (despite some counter intuitive elements and a tediousness that could be solved with a copy/paste feature) is actually rather fun. The sinuous nature of the ships moving about like living things is not something you see often, especially not a as major role in the ship design. In that, this game achieves exactly what it set out to do.
– Real player with 7.2 hrs in game
I had a good time playing this game for the most part. The various enemies were cool, I really liked the spider spaceship design. Just keep in mind: when building your spacecraft, you must select the part you want to add and then click and drag from a joint to place it. It must be within a certain range of that joint. The game is pretty simplistic, but it isn’t too expensive and I’m a sucker for games where you build on to your vehicle by destroying enemy vehicles. Some updates to the game and maybe a way to do pvp would be cool. I probably won’t explore the game further unless it gets updated.
– Real player with 3.9 hrs in game
Star Trek™: Starfleet Academy
This was the first PC game I ever owned and - wow! - does it take me back! I understand why many gamers don’t feel that this game matches up to Starfleet Command or Klingon Academy but I was one of the few that thought this was an AMAZING game. Sure, it’s dogfighting with Trek ships, but who cares?!
As a professional composer, I have to make mention this upfront: the soundtrack by Star Trek TNG Allum Ron Jones is exquisite and about as Star Trek as it gets! A huge thumbs up for the sound design too!
– Real player with 34.7 hrs in game
In the 90s, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy was heavily anticipated and it was supposed to be best Star Trek game ever. Certainly, it ended being a great game but did not end up meeting the hype and high expectations. Years ago, I bought the physical copy of Starfleet Academy but didn’t realize that a working joystick was essential and all the controls you had to memorize was overwhelming at the time so I gave up on the first mission.
Imagine my excitement when I picked it up on sale recently and now I finally get to give it a second chance. As a big Trek fan, I really enjoyed it. The basic story is you play as cadet on the command track who is working his way through Starfleet Academy by completing a bunch of simulations and at the same time, you must manage all the different personalities of your crew. The game does a good job with its FMV (full motion video) cutscenes which were common in so many 90s games though some of the acting needs improvement. Periodically during these cutscenes, you will have to make several choices which will change the direction of the story and affect your crew’s performance. William Shatner, George Takei and Walter Koenig do a fantastic job reprising their old roles from TOS.
– Real player with 32.9 hrs in game
Starship Simulator
Starship Simulator is a true work of passion, born of many a childhood dream to experience what it would truly be like to live and work on a massive deep space exploration vessel, just like the ones you see depicted in classic science fiction. A dream of walking among the stars, exploring distant worlds, and answering one of mankind’s oldest questions… what awaits us in the great unknown?
You will serve as a crewmember on the maiden voyage of mankind’s first-ever deep space exploration vessel - the Magellan Class. The ship has been designed and built from the ground up with an unprecedented level of detail. From the bare structural framework to the miles of cables and conduits, every part of the ship is fully simulated and designed to be scientifically plausible. Nothing is mere surface detail. Every button does something, and every piece of hardware serves a real purpose.
Real Structural Framework
The bare titanium that defines the physical structure of the ship has been designed in line with the latest manufacturing techniques used in the real world today, projected forward 200 years with advances in 3D Printing and AI-driven automation in mind. Unlike typical games where nothing exists behind walls and under floors, our ship exists as a completely solid and physical vessel.
Cables, Pipes & Hardware
Every system on the ship has simulated hardware driving it, and these systems are connected together by a complex network of pipes, cables, and conduits that exist in real-time. As an Engineer, you can follow every cable from source to destination while it passes through various pieces of hardware along the way.
Fully Explorable
With over 200 rooms spread over 7 decks, you are free to explore the entire ship on foot without barriers or loading screens. Gaze out of the panoramic lounge windows while the action outside of the ship is taking place in real-time, or hop in a shuttle and take it out for a quick spin. Our goal is to create a truly immersive sci-fi experience.
Our focus on science and realistic simulation also extends to the galaxy itself, with currently over 2 billion procedurally generated star systems to explore.
Procedural Generation
Our procedural algorithms are based on real-world astrophysics in order to generate not only believable but also scientifically plausible star systems. If you want to find Earth-like worlds, then you will need to seek out a star’s habitable zone where liquid water can exist. This is based on not only the distance from the star but also the planet’s albedo and atmospheric makeup.
Life Among the Stars
When you find a planet that’s capable of supporting life, your scans will reveal the nature of that life and how advanced it is. It could be anything from simple bacteria to ancient alien civilizations that are millions of years more advanced than you. How will they react to your presence, and do you attempt to contact them?
Breathtaking Beauty
A NASA astronaut once said that without exception, every person to have ever looked down upon the Earth from aboard the ISS has shed a tear over its sheer beauty. We find that incredibly inspiring, and we’re leveraging all the latest technologies and pushing Unreal Engine to its limits in order to achieve the most stunning visual experience possible. Entering orbit around a distant exoplanet should take your breath away.
Players can choose to occupy one of a number of different roles on the ship, with each one presenting the player with unique and interesting gameplay challenges.
Captain
Born to be in command, as the Captain, you will be making the big decisions such as which star systems the ship should explore, whether or not an alien species should be contacted, or whether or not to stand your ground or retreat in a hostile situation. How well you handle first contact situations will have a very real impact on how the mission plays out.
Pilot
Taking the Helm, as the ship’s Pilot, you will be responsible for safely navigating the ship through space. You will also pilot the shuttles and other support craft as required by the current mission objectives.
Science Officer
Working on the Bridge and in the Science Labs, as a Scientist, you will be responsible for performing scans of stellar objects and analysing any gathered data. You’ll also be performing tests on samples and artefacts acquired by the ship on its travels.
Tactical Officer
Working on the Bridge and around the ship, as a Tactical Officer you will be responsible for defending the ship and her crew. You’ll man the tactical Bridge station during combat, and serve as the security detail on any away missions.
Engineer
Working in Engineering and around the ship, as an Engineer, you will be responsible for maintaining and repairing the ship’s many systems. Keeping everything in tip-top condition will ensure the ship is always ready to meet any new challenge, but neglect your daily maintenance duties and critical systems will begin to fail.
Doctor
Working in the Medical Facility, the Doctor is responsible for the crew’s physical wellbeing. You will be dealing with everything from simple cuts and bruises to strange alien pathogens that could infect the entire crew.
Morale Officer
Working in the Mess Hall as the ship’s Chef you will be responsible for preparing healthy meals for the crew, but also as their Bartender, you will perform the important role of listening to their concerns and offering helpful advice. It’s up to you to look after their mental health.
Passenger
As a guest aboard the ship, you will have no duties to perform, allowing you to simply relax and explore the ship at your leisure.