This is my most played game on Steam, and I am glad to also own it on GOG. The amount of different ships and strategies in the vanilla game is definitely enough to keep you busy for a while. The game is a challenge, but I wouldn't say the RNG is a deal-breaker for me, because it requires the player to adapt if a run is not going according to plan. Once I realized that, I fell in love with the replayability. Maybe I don't find the best weapons, and at first I might think I'm screwed. But that's an example of having to adapt. Ok, I can't find another Burst Laser Mk 2, but I did find a Heavy Laser and Hull Laser 3, so that's what I'll have to use. Maybe one of my guys died early on, and that can suck, but the next sector might be pirate controlled, meaning free crew. It can seem unfair sometimes, especially to new players, but with how many ships you can unlock, not every loss will be a complete loss. It might even allow new players to find their preferred way to play the game. And that's all without even discussing community made ships, expansions, and other mods. I would personally recommend beating the game at least once without any mods before messing with them, and unlocking other ships would be a good idea since some modded ships replace existing ones you may not have yet. But different community-made ships are why this is my most played game in my Steam library. They offer even more replayability, and have their own "quirks" to work with/around that aren't always there with ships in the vanilla game. For under $3 on sale, this game is a steal, and I would argue is a must if you're a roguelike/roguelite fan, or if this is your first game in the genre.
Maybe there's something I'm missing, maybe if I had played Morrowind and/or Oblivion first, I'd feel different, but there's nothing getting me to care. NPCs are well voice-acted, but most of the dialogue reminds me of when I was in like 2nd or 3rd grade English class and had to write something for an assignment while meeting a specific word count. It's just filler and most of what I hear isn't necessary to get a quest done. That's even before you see the game will put a marker showing exactly where I need to go as if my attention span can't handle exploring a specific location for more than 60 seconds. The game doesn't hinder me in any way, let alone offer a challenge, even at higher difficulties when it comes to exploring the world. All upping the difficulty does is make enemies more of a tank that hit harder, but I can still see a marker showing me exactly where I need to go to complete a quest as if I have keys jingling right in front of me to keep me entertained. Combat, at first glance, seems a bit more varied and strategic given you have melee weapons, magic, and can use a bow with arrows. But then you realize combat is dead easy when you horde a ton of health potions and no other type of potion because soon nothing else will matter, only get up close and melee enemies, and when needed, use a health potion because you'll end up with like 50 on you and it'll take a bit for you to run low. And with a player improving their melee damage instead of magic or use of bows, it won't take long for wacking an enemy to deal more damage than magic or a bow. Could I decide to play differently so the game isn't a boring slogfest? Yes. Would it be any fun to deal with the limited amount of magika or arrows I have when swinging a melee weapon is just pressing mouse 1? No. No wonder my peers liked this game when I was a pre-teen. It was so easy they didn't have to bother thinking and could shut their brains off after school. Still doesn't mean the game is good.
Metro 2033 and Last Light Redux are great FPS games, but for some reason the Linux ports are not available on GOG. I picked up Last Light Redux for free a few years ago on GOG, and thought to buy 2033 Redux as well rather than buying both games on Steam. But unlike GOG, Steam has the Linux ports as well, and if I knew that before buying 2033 Redux, I wouldn't have bought both Redux games on Steam instead. I doubt this is GOG's fault, but I think it's something worth mentioning for others.
