Between the Stars

The small dev team started off great 3 years ago. But the lack of content, VERY slow updates and time spent developing another game they started 2 years ago shows. They'd rather spend time doing other things and milk this game for as much money as they can.

The game as is (03.2020) is fun to play, but some functions and mechanics are hard to grasp/understand. 1. Auto-Dock at stations is more than needed. 2. More Ship Variety is badly needed. 3. Moddability is needed for the long-term future 4. Mechanics around the rpg-leveling part of the captain has to be redone (crew is alright, but captain doesn't seem to level up at all) 5. Ships seem like not agile enough to really get out of the way of enemy attacks, you have to rely on shields or fast "spinning" in space.. 6. an information about new quests on which station in which sector would be nice, as is, you have to travel around all sectors to check that part for yourself.

.....and that's where you'll stay, because the Devs have been promising to finish the thing with nothing to back their claims up. The last update added Steam Deck. Shame about it all is there could be a half decent game in all this and initially it seems so. After playing awhile you find you can predict the random encounters - as they repeat from a handful of sceanarios. Some of the Captain decisions you'll make have bizarre outcomes that go against logic. Bottom line though is it seems like a project that began with lots of enthusiasm and ideas, but fizziled out during Early Access but the money kept coming in from buyers hopeful. I would heavily recommend only considering buying once completed with this one.

You are one of the best (female) captains of the combat fleet of the Federation (can confuse names). You are on the good side and the game starts with beeing attacked after a Search & Secure mission. Your ship is nearly destroyed and you need to stop in the nearest sector to fight of the following ships and get to the next allied station / free station to repair where you find out that the upcoming Meeting of the Leaders in the Federation is already pulling back a lot of Federation Police ships to the capital and pirates start trying to take control of every lucrative source.... After you finish the first part of the story / tutorial you are free to roam around the sector to help out or leave the sector to get to the capital of the federation. This game is no "hardcore simulation". The controls are good and you can upgrade and swap out modules of you ship and get new crew / give them day off. Sadly there is no FPS part but a more DND read story and decide what to do on you missions when on foreign / other ships where you often need to think whats best for your crew and what dice roll e.g. repair yourself or repair with parts by using your engineers. TL;DR chill game with real time fights and DND story decisions when bording ships. No real synchronisation except when flying you ship. Outside your ship it is a mix of reading and listening (70:30 %)

...you're probably going to love this too. All the freedom to build out your ship, explore the galaxy, follow a set story line, or mostly ignore it. In addition to exploring, bounty hunting, and generally upgrading your ship and crew, there is a host of small interactive text adventures throughout the game, some standalone, some with layers. These allow you to flesh out the kind of captain you always imagined being but never have the game to let you be. It's still early access, so some things aren't obvious (interrogate prisoners by pressing U in space to access ship story options), and the voice acting and main story is corny. Some of the text adventure options are random and don't give you a heads up on what your likely outcomes will be, so it's a blind shoot sometimes. ...but honestly it's a lot of fun. I grew up playing Privateer and Freelancer and this scratches all the right itches for the 'Han Solo' genre, only instead of being a hot shot pilot, you're a hot shot captain....so 'Admiral Ackbar' sim? Regardless, it's a great game as it stands, and only getting better.