I originally started out with high expctations as my opinion of the title was pretty high based on the previews... that took a nosedive as i started just to go up ... and then drop back down again. So we have the promise of a seafaring eldritch themed rougelike. Sounds good? Well first of all if you wanted to play as a mechant please leave and never look at this game again as it was made with insubstainability in mind. You simply can't earn money by trading at all. as the profit margins on trade goods usually won't go over 2-3 echos (the games currency) so even with selling rumours to the admirality back at london it won't cover the cost of fuel and suplies. In effect doing so will slowly drain your resources untill you learn trading is not the way in this game. My opinion rose up once i realized that rather than look for a good trade route i should visit as many ports and simply collect rumours instead making a big loop. Those partially refund you fuel but also lead to mini stories and bits of lore you can profit from... or get hurt by. So after several hours of cruising between islands i decide to upgrade (enemies like lifebergs up north and most things far east can nearly oneshot your ship and take ages to bring down) and suprise! Everything is so b****y expensive! And at this point you find yourself running circuits around already explored isles trying to save up for a better ship and weapon to push the story onwards as most officer stories require you to visit a port in the nort east or south east corners of the map at some point... and your starter ship can't do that. Oh and permadeath is a major feature here... altho i don't think it actually fits the games style. Most games with ironman mode in mind like FTL or the many rougelike indies are made with the ability to come in play for 15 minutes die and get out. SS however expect its players to sink hours upon hours into it only to take away (almost) everything if you happen to die... and you will die.
The title says it all. The game is certainly playable but it's not really finished yet with many placeholders and hack jobs holding the game together... suprisingly ending up with a pretty decent product that can only get better. So what is this game about anyway? Well imagine freelancer with a strong emphasis on playing capital ships. Sounds awesome but the games unfinished placeholder filled nature gets more obvious the longer you play. Factions - The faction system while chock full of factions runs on a simple reputation meter. It works by simply dividing the numerous factions into 2 relatively homogenous camps consisting of good and bad guys. No individual reputations for any group so if you made the (evil) empire like you you will also be liked by just about every criminal group (with some exeptions who are alays enemies) in the galaxy. Even those you never met! Combat - The AI is as dumb as a brick. I can forgive the fact that destroyers cruisers and battleships of all kinds follow a simple tactic consisting of "get close and unload on the sucker" However the same thing applies to.... well every ship. even carriers. Carriers that don't even launch their strike craft! Also as a side effect any wing that's not a bomber is nearly useless since you will never run into enemy strike craft fighters and interceptors are supposed to tackle. Economy - Simply put there are ships flying around but it's not the living economy you seen in X. Instead we get stations that restock instantly once you leave the area... and no actual economy to speak of really. It's a simple system where place X always sells a certain comodity low and planet Y buys it high and no matter what you do neither of them will run out or get overstocked. Why? Well the stocks reset once you turn your back and leave the area! That's why. I'm giving it 4 stars but mostly because the game is still in development and most likely fix some of the things i mentioned... or at least the more glaring ones.
