Space Games

[Dark Drakan]

Yeah I know its a generic title, im at work and writing this while in a rush but wanted everyones thoughts. Im fascinated with the idea of a game where you have your own ship and can traverse the galaxy (sometimes with friends) and land on planets and explore things on a universal scale.

With so many ambitious looking 'space titles' coming out recently and many that are still very much work in progress I wanted to use this thread to highlight some of them and filter out the ones worth looking into.

Im really intrigued as to which one will tick all my own personal boxes first and wanted to know if anyone else was interested in the genre too. Here are a couple that caught my eye so far...

Will start with the most well know and most ambitious one ive seen...​

Star Citizen (Not released) - MMO, space trading and combat game for PC and Linux which includes a single-player campaign titled Squadron 42. Despite multiple delays its scope has changed massively since it was announced way back in 2012, it has gone on to generate more than $50 million and is still in active development but no release date as of yet. (Some more info in my other thread here).

Elite Dangerous (Released)- The player explores a realistic 1:1 scale open world galaxy based on the real Milky Way, with the gameplay being open-ended. The game is the first in the series to attempt to feature massively multiplayer gameplay, with players' actions affecting the narrative story of the game's persistent universe. Currently averages 80% on metacritic.

No Mans Sky (Released) - Developed by a small indie studio and unfortunately surrounded by controversy after its launch when it was met with HUGE criticism over its marketing before launch and lots of features that were spoken about not actually being in the game. They have however recently come out with some big updates and frequent patches and the game is now being positively reviewed with many saying it feels like a different game now.

Duel Universe (Not Released) - Kickstarter funded (€565,983) continuous Single-Shard sandbox MMORPG taking place in a vast Sci-Fi universe, focusing on emergent gameplay with player-driven in-game economy, politics, trade and warfare. Players can freely modify the voxel-based universe by creating structures, spaceships or giant orbital stations, giving birth to empires and civilizations.

Morphite (Not Released) - Coming this September to Nintendo Switch, PS4, Xbox One, Steam, and iOS its touted as an atmospheric exploration sci-fi shooter with platforming elements and a Low-Poly Look style graphics. Inspired by No Mans Sky, Metroid Prime, Ratchet and Clank, and Turok your goal is to explore the galaxy, research plants and animals, battle hostile entities, and unravel a mystery surrounding a rare material called Morphite. Morphite is set to be a deep and enriching single player experience with both a story-driven plot as well as open-ended, player-driven exploration and discovery.

Eve Online (Released) - Player-created empires, player-driven markets, and endless ways to embark on your personal sci-fi adventure. Conspire with thousands of others to bring the galaxy to its knees, or go it alone and carve your own niche in the massive EVE universe. Harvest, mine, manufacture or play the market. Travel whatever path you choose in the ultimate universe of boundless opportunity.

 

[TRA Rotid]

Of course you have to start somewhere, but I feel like these games are still not there yet. No Mans Sky is a perfect example of quantity vs quality. In another community I'm in has a running gag about a member who's been hyping up Star Citizen for years and trying to recruit others into a game that maybe never gets completed (or gets released in a state people aren't satisfied with, re: No Mans Sky). The exception is Eve, of course, but it limits itself into space management only, without the first person side.
Because of this, personally, I'm not too hyped about this genre just yet.

OK, I don't want to be a total Debbie Downer so I'm going to say that one of the most interesting "space titles" recently has been FTL: Faster Than Light. With shame I must admit I haven't played it myself yet, though I've been hearing great things about it. Not much of an explorer as much as a base management game, but still.

 

[Dark Drakan]

At least No Mans Sky has started to turn around its tragic release and people have to remember that (without that Sony backing) they were just a tiny indie developer. A mile wide and an inch deep unfortunately to begin with and sold on hype but a fairly decent game is starting to form according to players. Hopefully it's supported for a while yet and gets more if those features that sounded so good before release.

Star Citizen has its negative press of course but developers are pretty open these days with weekly updates. The idea & concept is stunning and really hope that it can deliver, might be some time yet but it's one of the most ambitious games ever attempted so I can wait. I've been following its development pretty closely so far and keeping tabs on it and hoping things pick up pace after 3.0 releases & the base of the actual game systems are in place.

None of them are there yet as concept of things on a planetary scale are rather new. Being able to land anywhere on a planet and not being linear experiences in a universe must take some crazy amount of work. So I'm not "hyped" as such for the genre but very excited as to where the tech can go. Soon as a handful of games start to nail the basics and map out the systems they could be supported for many years (like EVE) and expanded into totally different games over time with more and more complex and impressive systems & tech under the hood.