- Engaging hybrid idle and active gameplay.
- Rich content and rewarding progression system.
- Offers diverse core gameplay loop.
- Features appealing visuals and audio.
- User interface and experience needs polish.
- Lacks fleet system, focused on solo play.
Emotions
Players felt satisfied due to the game's flexible active/idle gameplay, significant improvements from updates, and its suitability for background play. The abundance of loot, upgrades, crafting options, and its stress-free nature contributed to finding a desirable and well-fitting game experience.
Enjoyment stemmed from the game's overall fun nature, relaxing qualities, and engaging active combat, particularly when exploring the galaxy or playing as a bounty hunter. The continuous improvement of the game and its suitability for multitasking or second-screen play also enhanced the experience.
Excitement was generated by the game's concept, often compared to titles like EVE or Escape Velocity, and its deep player agency and progression. The potential for future content, improvements, and the constant availability of new systems to explore also fueled this emotion.
Players felt anticipation for upcoming game updates, future development, and the prospect of more skills, ships, and systems. The promising roadmap for future content and continuous improvements also contributed to this feeling.
Frustration arose from limitations in UI elements, such as zoom range and text size, which impacted usability on certain setups. Clunky menu navigation and limited AI configuration options also contributed to a less smooth user experience.
Verdict
Mostly positive
Summary
Positive 96% · Negative 4%. Score: 4 / 100
Positives:
- Players laud the game for its excellent blend of idle and active gameplay, allowing for both hands-on engagement and passive progression. This flexible approach makes the game enjoyable and stress-free, suitable for short check-ins or extended play sessions. The dynamic fuel system further enhances this choice.
- The game offers a wide variety of activities including missions, exploration, mining, and combat, all contributing to a strong sense of player progression. Players enjoy upgrading ships, acquiring loot, and leveling skills, finding new systems genuinely exciting. Core features are well-implemented, providing a substantial experience.
- Players consistently praise the game's art style, pixel graphics, and overall visuals/VFX. The music is also noted as enjoyable, contributing positively to the game's atmosphere and player experience.
- The game successfully captures the essence of beloved space titles like Escape Velocity and Star Valor, but in an accessible idle format. It's even compared to a "Micro EVE," suggesting a familiar depth in a smaller package.
- The "Echo" AI companion is a well-received feature that enhances idle play by autonomously performing tasks like missions and mining. This convenience allows players to step away while maintaining progression, making idle sessions more productive and engaging.
Negatives:
- Players report that quests are repetitive and farming is boring, leading to boredom and a desire for faster game speed after some hours of play. This indicates a need for more diverse and engaging core activities.
- Several user interface elements are problematic, including clunky menu navigation, insufficient zoom-out range on the map, and text that is too small and difficult to read on certain display setups.
- The game suffers from a lack of detailed sound effects for elements such as mining lasers and thrusters. Additionally, there's a perceived scarcity of diverse small, medium, and large ship types available.
- A key missing feature highlighted by players is a robust fleet system, which currently forces players to operate primarily alone. This is noted in comparison to other games in the genre.
- The AI for handling tasks and ship operations requires more granular configuration options. Players desire features like task prioritization and the ability to prevent AI from accepting random quests automatically.
Gameplay:
- The game offers a wide array of activities including mining, trading, combat, salvaging, upgrading ships, and crafting. Players progress from basic choices and story missions to unlock more ships, equipment, and systems, eventually enabling an AI-driven idle mode after an initial 1-2 hours of active play.
- Players can only change turrets (for assault, mining, or scavenging) at a space station, which prevents quick swaps during active gameplay. This limitation impacts tactical flexibility, especially for ships equipped with multiple turret slots.
- While an AI-driven idle mode is available, it provides fewer experience points and loot rewards compared to engaging in active gameplay. This encourages players to actively participate for optimal progression and resource gathering.
- The game currently does not impose fuel costs for travel, simplifying logistics for players, especially in the early stages. Given the early access status, this may be subject to change in future updates.
- The game is currently in an early access phase, meaning it is still under active development. This context is important for players to understand that features and content may evolve over time.
Performance:
- Players indicate that the existing UI scaling support, while present, does not offer a high enough maximum value for all monitor configurations. This creates readability issues, especially on specific setups like side monitors used in portrait mode.
Recommendations:
- Players consistently give a strong positive recommendation for this game, praising it as fun and a relaxing experience. It is particularly recommended for those who enjoy space, mining, and idle game genres.
Miscellaneous:
- Players express strong anticipation for continued game development, hoping for new skills, ships, systems, and overall content variety. There is a clear desire for the game to be expanded and not abandoned, with reviewers looking forward to future updates.
- Reviewers suggest incorporating more RPG-like features, such as distinct ships, captains, cooperative play, or recruiting ships for fun missions. Starsector is specifically mentioned as a source of inspiration for these ideas, indicating a desire for deeper progression and interaction.
- A specific suggestion was made to introduce fuel costs into the game mechanics. This aims to add more realism and potentially another layer of strategic decision-making to gameplay.
- Players noted a complete change in the game experience following an auto-pilot update. While the feedback lacks specific details on whether the change was positive or negative, it highlights a significant shift in gameplay. This point is based on limited detail.
