Like many others I had been waiting for that game with a lot of anticipation, since I'd been looking for something to continue the tradition of Privateer, with proper stick controls, an alive universe, and a lovingly written guiding storyline. In the end, DSO managed to disappoint in every aspect. Trade is actively discouraged by having the player ship transport cargo as a dragged "box" with massively reduced ship speed and maneuverability, and pretty much no way to pass encounters. Combat is repetitive and gets old very quickly. The story is… just meh, plagued by weak writing and even weaker characters (a plot character is kidnapped at one point and missing for a while, which turned out to be relaxing since that character would otherwise molest the player with a stream of meaningless commentary). Add to that one of the worst HUDs in the history of games and badly thought out controls where joystick and mouse input are conflicting, the keyboard layout is just plain weird, and it takes a few seconds to check even shield/armor status because it's a very tiny element at the edge of the screen, and you have a game that's not even worth a $4.99 special offer price. This is the game that killed the last hope of a decent space sim. Thank you, Ascaron, you won't be missed.
