Review 1
Purchased!
I wish I could give the game a Rank Score. I would probably give it a 5.5.
While my hours played state that I have played 26 hours, I had bought it in the
past and played for over 100 hrs. There have been improvements since my first
play through.
The Good:
The story itself is decent. I think a smaller area of play would have
facilitated it greatly. The equipment system, scavenging, and flight system were
fun as well. I enjoyed raiding other ships and trading between systems. The
combat system itself, and in and of itself, is pretty good. The issue here is
how generic the locations are. I did not get far enough to experience the
Azimuth system, and I am sure it works well.
If you play this game as a sort of Escape Velocity type game with more features,
you might be pleased with it. Its strength is its story line, space combat, and
trading. Ground combat makes most sense as side missions and raiding other
ships. But ground combat and ground missions outside the story are not the
mainstay of this game despite their potential.
The Bad:
There is much going on for it, but for me, it is too obviously procedurally
generated- I feel like I am running around in a game engine rather than a lived
in, breathed in galaxy. The main story line was intriguing, but as soon as you
veer off into the vast Galaxy, you find that there is nothing to veer to. No
cities or towns, or vast ruins, only outposts and space stations. Perhaps I was
spoiled when I was younger, I grew up with Baulders Gate 1 and 2, Fallout 1 and
2, Arcanum, Torment, X-Com, even Excelsior and some of the Ultima’s- all which,
despite some of their limited resources had life and locations. If you want
life, follow the story or shoot down ships. This is really where the game
shines.
Quests are generic: pick a quest type, quest difficulty, and then you go to a
location to a generic location of a generic them.
There is not much variety in these various locations- very little distinguishes
one faction from another architecturally, mainly the faction NPC's and
equipment. The greatest variety will be found among the human NPC’s and the
Phage. But generic mutants and spiders will be your bread and butter outside of
that. Not variety of species in this vast galaxy.
NPC's that join your team are not that unique. They feel like a robot that has a
portrait and a starting skill bonus, but you can choose to rearrange all their
stats at the start.
Primary Attributes: sort of weird. I am used to Primary stats staying put, with
some minor tweaking during game play. Once I got used to it I could work with
it, but it does not seem natural.
There is so much potential, and I really do want to like it, but it is still all
bones to me. For a civilisation that boasts of being around for about 800 years,
they have not much to show for it.
Suggestions:
These are not things I expect to be done, but things that could reign in the
design.
* Smaller Galaxy- less play room means more detailed areas, which creates the
illusion of life. No man's sky is barren because it is too spread apart, but
Star Field is more populated because they focused their resources on a few
well-built places.
*Diverse NPC's- this does not require some deep backstory for every character.
Rather, set beginning stats that you cannot pick, but can afterwards.
*Mask the generic questing- It feels like you are generating quests rather than
getting a quest. Instead of picking the quests nature and difficulty, Have a
quest board for each faction that randomly generates a few quests of difference
length, difficulty, and nature. As you complete them, they get removed. These
board can replenish or refresh their quests over time. This would make it see
more lively.
Conclusion:
The creator has obviously spent much time and effort into this game. There are
many highlights, as it has many good individual systems that can be fun in and
of themselves. What I see here is not so much a game, but a very robust and
strong game system that could be used to create games. With this system and a
team, it would facilitate a smaller, well built and detailed area with
everything you would need for a good story. As it is, the game feels more like a
prototype built to showcase the engine rather than the game itself.
Whether your game does well or not, think about leveraging the strength of the
game system you built- make it modifiable and sell the engine to those who are
interested.
Do I recommend it? No. But some might find it fun, and if you do not veer off,
if you don't care too much about exploration or variety in ground combat, if you
enjoy games like Escape Velocity and consider this a supped up version (rather
than a downgraded RPG), you might find a place for it in your game library.
Review 2
Purchased!
This game - oh my!
For me, this game has one big and overwhelming problem: The ground missions are
way too long while being utterly uninteresting in terms of tactics and variety.
In theory, you can do many different things in terms of specializing, but to try
any and each of these, you would have to level up your character in that regard
for literally dozens of hours in samey turn-based ground combat on samey maps.
The pace of the ground missions destroys the flow of the game. You can choose to
have long missions, which can last over two hours in a game where everything
else only takes minutes. Even the short mission option will take at least half
an hour each time. The only other thing in the game as long-winded as the GC is
mining. It is only needed for crafting. No point in doing it for cash, because
it is a MASSIVE time sink and utterly boring. Think EVE mining without the PVP
threat.
I won't vote this down - I mean, I have like 150 hours in it and have gotten my
worth. However - this just too long-winded, too slow-paced, pace of different
sections of the game is too different. Pushing around your four characters for
literal hours in mediocre turn-based combat on ever repeating maps just to gain
a couple of levels or a couple of credits is simply not fun. At least not to me.
Please, developers, start to value the time of your players!
I have never seen the second chapter of the game because it must be gated by
player level or similar and I am not investing the massive amount of time that
that requires. Dev is working on Chapter 3 right now. Chapter one was more of a
tutorial (and an annoyance at the same time - but that is a problem I have with
all modern games, where they think they have to hand-hold you for the first 3-5
hours, because they think you don't know WASD).
If you are looking for a massive time sink and like the setting and love turn
based, party-based combat, this game may be for you. Everybody else - sigh - I
don't know, man!
Review 3
Purchased!
Unique blend of squad level tactics set in a procedural galaxy. Incredible
amount of variance and exploration.
Review 4
Purchased!
This is a great game with a great dev. I love the concept and playstyle. It is a
work in progress but there is much blood, sweat and tears put into it by one
human being (props dev). I wish I had more time to play it. I love the crew
building, the combat and the storyline. It may not be for everyone but if you
like space RPG with ship combat and tactical ground crew combat I urge you to
try it out. It's only 20 bucks and frequently on sale. Even if you only play 20
hours you got your moneys worth. Just about the price of going to a 1.5 hour
movie and that's not including snacks.
Review 5
Purchased!
Its a fun relaxing space exploration and combat game. The turn base ground
combat is spot on and the space combat is more arcade like. I have over 100
hours in it and I am having a lot of fun. I hope the Developer continues working
on it as it a great upside. I do wish there was a discord channel where players
could give their ideas and ask questions about the game.
Worth every penny