I've played through a few times now. Died every time. The game is interesting and plays very smoothly. After lucking out on my second run, I came away with a few hundred credits, with which I upgraded my ship for the third playthrough. The perks I bought were significant and I earned more credits that time to buy even more perks, which made it possible for me to actually survive a few dogfights. Perks are not lost on death, although your upgrades are. There's a perk that lets you salvage your wreck that's unlocked through the progression as well. It's one of the nicer early access games I've played in recent months. I'm looking forward to seeing where the developers go with it.
