Transcendence
You can actually try the WHOLE base game for free, and then if you like it you can buy the additional content that comes with the steam version. FYI.
This game is fun and addictive. Its also got a pretty steep learning curve. When you start and have no idea what you are doing, you will die. A lot. It is as hard a teenage boy in the cheerleaders lockerroom at changing time. That is, until you know what you are doing, at which point you can focus on using your money wisely on the various ship upgrades. Once you get the basics down, it is easier and massively rewarding. My suggestion is on your first go around just use it as a learning experience, get some idea of what everything does enough that on the second attempt you will know exactly which weapons and upgrades to buy. You have to specifically test out a number of things blindly before you know what they are, which is useful for the second (or third) run which should go a lot more smoothly. Given the early stuggle, it is very satisfying to wreck previously tough enemies after you get the right equipment.
– Real player with 330.9 hrs in game
Read More: Best Space Exploration Games.
At its heart, Transcendence is a hybrid of Escape Velocity and Rogue. If that concept excites you, no need to read further; just buy it!
The game meshes the story of a galactic pilgrimage at the behest of the God Domina, with real time, 2D top-down combat across randomly generated star systems (effectively serving as “dungeons”) and a healthy dollop of loot. The star systems always follow a standard progression in terms of the factions and events you will encounter, so they are not entirely random. However, the implementation still ensures that no two games are ever the same.
– Real player with 100.1 hrs in game
Lightway Lines
In 2061, the desire for seamless interstellar travel continues to grow.
LIGHTWAY LINES - a modern, specialist airline - is trialing new technology to make space tourism safe and affordable for everyone. But in this moody, atmospheric sci-fi ARPG adventure, Captain Rain could end up paying the price for attempting to make history.
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Explore the Lightway cruiser and unearth what really happened.
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Fast-paced, ARPG-style combat.
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Custom artwork with detailed, interesting environments.
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A hard-hitting & unnerving soundtrack.
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Plenty of collectibles that expand on the story.
LIGHTWAY LINES is set to launch in November 2022.
Read More: Best Space Sci-fi Games.
BlazeSky
While not perfect, the game is very well done from a mechanics standpoint. The story lines can be a bit janky at times and in its current state there are quite a few issues in the second half of the game where apostrophes and extra line breaks make the text less than ideal. At its core, this is a shoot-em-up space combat game on a two dimensional plane so more like driving than flying, but the visuals are interesting and the gameplay solid. Interested to see more development on this one.
– Real player with 20.0 hrs in game
Read More: Best Space Sci-fi Games.
Multiple Gun Setups
Multiple Ships and Secret Unlockables
Multiple Upgrades
Great galaxy mapping system
Star systems really submerge the player; all of them have multiple points of interest, ways to make credits, quest lines and possible enemies or places to upgrade your ship.
Mission progression setup well; by following the progression of mission the player gets deeper into the game.
Battles seem fast and fun
Multiple enemy types to deal with; some fast and less accurate, others slower but more powerful
– Real player with 15.8 hrs in game
Drox Operative
Update 25/11/2016: Nominated for my “Just 5 More Minutes” Award.
I saw some footage of this game in January 2013 which was enough to tempt me into trying the free demo. My curiosity was piqued but I wasn’t expecting much - just a bit of a time killer to tap away at and fill up a bit of the afternoon. I came away several hours later with the music stuck in my head, feeling as if very little time had passed, then went on to have a dream about Drox Operative that same night. I bought the game from Soldak’s site the next day and have been playing Drox on and off since then without ever having cause to regret the puchase.
– Real player with 71.9 hrs in game
Drox Operative can be described as an Action RPG. It has all the elements of an action rpg, for example you have a character(ship) who has attributes that both increase the overall stats of the ships in obvious categories, such as damage, or speed, and which allows you to equip the items you loot from the dead, provided you reach the minimum level in the required stat. The items you collect from the vanquished correlate in many ways with the types of items you would find in an average RPG sporting a normal human(or whatever) character. You have weapons and armour. However, the ship nature of your main character quickly makes its presence known because you have alot of item types which you will not usually find in an average RPG sporting a humanoid.
– Real player with 57.3 hrs in game
Earth 2160
Earth 2160 is a somewhat unappreciated RTS with a number of nice features mixed in with a truckload of bland. It will provide some decent entertainment in the here and now but it will never be remembered for anything.
Earth 2160 sets you in the future, corporations fight for control over the Solar System’s dwindling resources as a new discovery rocks the power structure and sets the game’s events in motion. As you start out you get to play as either a generic male dominated corporation or the curiously female dominated Mars corporation. They both, not surprisingly, turn out to be evil rather quickly into the campaign and you eventually get to play as the “good” faction, a generic robot corporation that really has no personality and eventually, a menacing alien horde.
– Real player with 67.0 hrs in game
I finally got down and finished the game all the way through, after nearly completing it some 12 years ago, and then not-even-close to finishing it some 5 years ago, so I’m naturally biased with nostalgia, but I think it’s an overall great rts, but sadly with a few shortcomings that can ruin the experience if you can’t or can’t be arsed to learn to avoid them.
The graphics in the game are often complimented, and at times they’re really amazing for 2005, but it kinda depends where you look. What I’m most impressed with though, is that each of the four factions has a COMPLETELY different gameplay. Literally every mechanic is altered: completely different vehicles with completely different types weapons, different ways to harvest resources (which require very different planning and sometimes microcontrol), different ways to set up bases and interconnect buildings, different defence systems (which require completely different base layout), etc. It’s literally a different game depending on what faction you play with, which is incredibly enjoyable. Crucially, the factions are all really well balanced, so that every faction has a fair chance against every other. Together with expansive unit customisation and cool base expansion options, it makes for tremendously fun gameplay once you get a hold of the basic faction mechanics. On top of that, the soundtrack is wicked!
– Real player with 39.6 hrs in game
Drox Operative 2
Drox Operative 2 is an Action-RPG on top of a background of AI-controlled 4X sectors.
You can influence, beg, threaten and bribe endless races into situations, trades and treaties more beneficial for your guild (and most importantly yourself) but never have to worry about actually running things as you tend to your own business as the captain of your own ship.
A game loop (or “Sector”) consist of completing quests, killing monsters, hunting, destroying or rescuing various targets while exploring your sector which is made up of many solar systems. Said solar systems are joined together by jump gates and wormholes. Sectors make up galaxies whose main elements persist between your adventures. Your galaxies can be visited by any of your characters. Winning a sector consist of reaching one of many win conditions; a new sector is then created to your specifications, such as size.
– Real player with 416.6 hrs in game
- TL;DR: As with every Soldak game review i posted before i would strongly advice anyone reading this to at least give the demo a try. Soldak titles lack the triple-a quality graphics other titles have, but this is entirely offset by offering great gameplay experience.
Soldak Entertainment is a bit of an anomaly in my game collection.
I have been buying Soldak games for nearly a decade now, and during that time i purchased virtually every game and expansion pack made. What makes these games anomalous is that each and every single one of them ended up in my “100+ hours played” list. And to add some context to this: Less than 10% of the 600 or so games in library meet that criteria. That of course isn’t exactly an objective metric that clearly proves the quality of these games, but if nothing else it should at least hint they are fun for some people.
– Real player with 187.8 hrs in game
Starpoint Gemini 3
Starpoint Gemini 3 Review
Release Version 5th Nov 2020
Starpoint Gemini 3, 4th title from LGM Dev Team. This time around LGM went with a different view on the Gemini Star System, So lets get into the nitty gritty of it all.
SPG 3 puts you in the shoes of Captain Bold, a brash upstart pilot of a starship who has his AI sidekick ADAH which both are at logger heads over things quite often. This to me adds some charm into the cockpit as I could see my future self in a similar situation as I went to do the dumb things and the AI constantly reminding me of how stupid it is going to be.
– Real player with 165.9 hrs in game
I don’t often write reviews, as I don’t often get around to games until looooong after they’re released, but I gave this a day one try and… now I remember why I wait so long to play games after they’re released.
With this being the third game in a franchise I’ve come to enjoy, I had high expectations. And I was left sorely disappointed. While the graphics are okay, and the ship fighting is decent, that’s about where my enjoyment ended. Here are some of my highlights that I hope the devs can take to heart:
– Real player with 43.1 hrs in game
After The End: The Harvest
Originally written for early access version 0.9u3 - 29May2017
Edited for version 1.4 20Jun2018
After nearly 90 hours and having seen the game to its completion, I’m finally comfortable editing in a final review.
Pros:
–- The game’s description and screenshots are very accurate for what you’re getting here: an expansive open-universe RPG with the look and feel of an old action-adventure SNES game.
— Among the biggest selling points for After the End continues to be developer interaction. Throughout the early access period and post-release, The Sworn has consistently been available to field questions and bug reports in the forums. I very much value this!
– Real player with 86.6 hrs in game
UPDATED REVIEW:
In a time of loot box gambling and unfulfilled promises many devs have been screwing over customers so it’s nice to see
an early access dev actually keep true to their promises and finish their game. This game has a couple of small issues, but what it does achieve is
so fun and refreshing that it is worth peoples attention.
I originally played through and finished the game during its 0.08 alpha.
It was prety different but i loved it! You can read my original review under this one.
– Real player with 60.0 hrs in game
Gaia Beyond
Gaia Beyond is a handcrafted 2D Action-RPG in space.
-multiple save slots, quicksave and quickload, autosaves.
-open world
-quest with multiple solutions
-ship building, upgrade-able weapons
-fight stations with your ship
Sure we’re fans of the genre and bound to like the game more than the usual fare,but those looking for an original and thrilling, handcrafted open world 2d space shooter, this will not disappoint. Gaia Beyond introduced a world with characters I actually cared about, and combat gameplay I could get behind. This game really does have something for every sci-fi shooter fan: Good writing, characters with depth(you get to meet the most spaced-out guys in the galaxy), huge amount of side quests(some with multiple solutions), factions, intimidating ships, upgrade-able ships and weapons, mining, trading, nice OST etc. It was not a very demanding game. You were just a simple nobody mining and shooting your way up, trying to make your way in this seemingly peaceful mysterious space. While all the ships were actually flying in the game world in real time, most of the time it was quite relaxed. Some fights were tough when I didn’t upgrade or choose my guns properly. It played especially good on big monitor(this game has 4K support). No other 2d space shooter I’ve ever played has impressed me like this one. Maybe Starsector has better combat than this but that’s the only thing it is better. I’d played 3030 Deathwar Redux , Star Valor, and Starcom Nexus, this game is better. After playing for around 30 hours , I doubt that I had reached even halfway of the main story, this game is loooooong. Yuki, one of the game writer, said the game is still a bit rough around the edges, but I could see that they were updating and patching up the game almost monthly, and they were quite active on the forum answering questions and acknowledging bugs, so I would not worry about that at all.
– Real player with 51.1 hrs in game
I would recommend this so much, but…I’d wait until the main quest is extended by at least 300%.
In a nutshell: Great game but I’d wait until the main quest is extended by at least 300%. Don’t bother grinding unless you really want to, regardless of main story.
Long review: This is a very cool 2D “Galaxy on fire 2-ish” space action RPG game where you explore, mine, hunt and upgrade your ships and weapons. Kind of like Zelda / Diablo in a spaceship and a huge map set in our solar system in a dystopian future.
– Real player with 34.3 hrs in game
Deep Space
Let me start by saying this wasn’t bad. It was a quick playthrough, about half an hour and you’ll probably beat the game, but that’s the thing, I’m not sure if you gotta sign up for the beta version or what, but the ship I had wasn’t in the trailer and there was no hp or the blue bars, or even the jet pack that was shown in the trailer in the entire game. Maybe they uploaded the wrong game version. The spaceship controls and visuals are out of place though cause they feel really polished even if in the live version there is lacking HUD that once again, was shown in the trailer. I think this has potential and give it a try if you want, the speed at which you can sprint is hilarious as well as the spin speeds of the 2 items you pick up in the first level. I have to agree with the other reviews though, the trailer is a little deceiving.
– Real player with 0.6 hrs in game
Out of all the cheap or free first person shooters, this one is very good. The game is short and will maybe take you between 30 minutes to 1 hour. The shooting and aiming took me a minute to get familiar with. My only complaint is that the AI is very dumb. For the first and second boss, just stand on a chair and they won’t damage you or even attack. For the third boss, you can hide behind stuff and shoot without getting hurt. The drones won’t attack you from a certain distance and if you peak around a corner or are shooting from a different room, they won’t even shoot you or move. The flying part of the game was very chaotic - only attempt it with a mouse. My trackpad and PS3 controller did not work very well. All achievements are story related. It has a simple story, okay graphics, and simple mechanics. I would recommend as it is a quick and fun game.
– Real player with 0.6 hrs in game