Space Crew: Legendary Edition Review Summary

Space crew management and ship progression shine, but missions grow repetitive and grindy, leaving it inferior to Bomber Crew despite its improved structure.

Generally positive reception: Many describe the game as good, beautiful, interesting, enjoyable, and perfectly OK. It is a quality game that satisfies players.

Improves on Bomber Crew: Reviewers consistently say the game expands on Bomber Crew with substantial improvements, more polish, and quality-of-life enhancements. It is seen as a worthy spiritual successor that fixes issues like long flight times.

Targeting and difficulty options: Auto-targeting can be enabled from the start and adjusted in settings, making the game less frustrating. Multiple difficulty settings are freely selectable and provide vast customization.

Spaceship and crew management: The core feature is managing a whole crew on a spaceship, making players feel like a captain in charge of every detail.

Amazing game with potential: The game has the bones of an amazing game and a lot of potential, with great gameplay.

Repetitive and grindy missions: Players frequently note that mission structure becomes repetitive after a few hours, with limited variety and a grindy loop. Many mention that after completing a few missions, only repetitive tasks remain, making the game quickly boring.

Inferior to Bomber Crew: Numerous reviews compare the game unfavorably to Bomber Crew, stating it is less fun, lacks depth, and feels like a cheap knock-off. Some even call it a bad reskin or asset flip of Bomber Crew.

Lack of ship customization: Players complain that there is only one spaceship model available and it cannot be modified in any real way. Customization is limited to colors and decals, and you cannot change to another ship.

Horrible controls and UI: Many find the controls clunky, awkward, and horrible, with some noting they cannot be changed. The UI is also criticized as part of the problem.

Enemy boarding issues: Enemies can board the ship too easily, and there is no door lock or turret at the cargo hold entrance to stop them. This leads to overwhelming situations with numerous enemies.

Crew management in space: Players manage a spaceship crew, controlling various stations and ensuring the ship remains operational. This core mechanic involves training, equipping, and assigning crew members to roles such as captain, engineer, and gunner.

Ship and crew progression: The game features progression systems for both the ship and crew, including upgrades, leveling, and unlocking new abilities and equipment. Players can customize their ship with improved shields, engines, and weapons.

Space combat with aliens: Combat involves fighting aliens and androids, often requiring players to defend their ship from boarding parties. Enemies are numerous, agile, and include elite variants.

Mission variety and structure: Missions include a range of types such as rescues, dogfights, escort, and exploration, but some players find them repetitive and grindy. Missions are selected from a risk-based system and involve traveling to different locations.

Crew micro-management during missions: During missions, players must constantly manage crew by assigning them to stations, using abilities, and handling emergencies like fires and repairs. This involves shuffling crew between turrets and other stations.

Windowed mode missing: Players report there is no option to play in windowed mode and no setting to enable it. This limits flexibility for users who prefer windowed gameplay.

Game hangs at mission end: Some players experience the game hanging or crashing at the end of missions. This disrupts progression and can cause loss of progress.

Forced fullscreen on startup: The game forces itself back into fullscreen on startup even when launch options are set. This overrides user preferences and can be frustrating.

Old launcher removed: The old launcher that allowed resolution tweaking is no longer available. This removes a previously available customization option.

No performance issues reported: One player noted that the game runs without performance problems. This positive feedback contrasts with other technical complaints.

Not Recommended in Current State: Several reviewers explicitly do not recommend the game due to frustration, lack of polish, and unresolved issues. They suggest waiting for patches or avoiding purchase until the game improves.

Recommended for Bomber Crew Fans: Many recommend the game specifically to those who enjoyed Bomber Crew or similar titles. Veterans of the series are likely to appreciate the familiar gameplay and style.

Bomber Crew Preferred Over Space Crew: Many reviewers recommend playing Bomber Crew or its DLC instead of Space Crew, as they find the predecessor superior in nearly every aspect. These players often suggest skipping Space Crew entirely or only buying it if already exhausted Bomber Crew's content.

Worth Purchasing on Sale: A recurring sentiment is that the game is only worth its price when discounted. Reviewers advise waiting for a sale and not paying full price.

Mixed or Conditional Recommendations: Some reviewers give conditional recommendations based on specific preferences, such as liking chaos or having limited time. Others are neutral, suggesting players decide for themselves.

Community fair range: $8.00 - $16.00.

Game completion: 30.0h.

Story completion: 25.0h.

Session length: 1.0h.

Endgame: 5.0h.

Space Crew is commonly described as fun or okay initially, then turning repetitive and tedious after a while, with cited drop-offs after the first 6 missions or the 7 hour mark. A minority reports getting more hooked over time or facing early grind before upgrades, so the dominant profile is fun then drops.

Friction: Early grind for EXP, research points, and money.; First few hours stuck with a few boring default mission types until ship and crew upgrades.; Steep learning curve and a misleading tutorial.; Micromanagement and awkward controls.; Long wave-based combat sectors within missions.; Early game can feel brutal..

Bomber Crew Veteran: Methodical mission play with crew leveling, directly comparing new systems and difficulty against the predecessor. Motivation: To continue and compare the crew-management sequel against the Bomber Crew game they already love. Stance: buy.

FTL-Style Crew-Management Fan: Multitasking crew assignments and resource management during chaotic firefights. Motivation: The tension of organizing and managing a crew and ship systems under combat pressure. Stance: sale.

Grind-Weary Progression Optimizer: Repeating easy missions to farm EXP, research points, and money, then spending it on upgrades. Motivation: Advancing through ship upgrades, research, and crew and pilot progression. Stance: sale.

Unfavorable Bomber Crew comparisons: Many reviewers compare the game unfavorably to Bomber Crew, calling it worse, less enjoyable, or a cheap knock-off with less depth. They feel it falls short of Bomber Crew's high standards and lacks originality.

Similar to Bomber Crew: Multiple reviewers note the game is comparable or similar to Bomber Crew, with some saying it is a little less difficult and more polished. Others describe it as a successor with similar mechanics.

Unfavorable FTL comparisons: Some reviewers compare the game to FTL, stating FTL is a better version, or that the game lacks FTL's smoothness, polish, and fun. They feel it falls short of FTL's heights.

Described as Bomber Crew reskin: Some reviewers call the game a reskin or asset flip of Bomber Crew, with one calling it a 'BomberCrew victim'. This suggests a lack of original content.

Improvements over Bomber Crew: A few reviewers say the game takes elements from Bomber Crew and improves upon them, expanding on the formula with quality of life enhancements. They see it as a polished evolution.