too many games are super concentrated on first-person naval and squad combat and they lose the point of being a pirate - buried treasure, romance, and flair!
Small dev team, realistic plots, old school role-playing and no handholding. It's several games like Chivalry, Skyrim, and Assassin's Creed mixed together. Why do AAA titles have to be all bling and no substance?
this game is old and tons of reviews - so, what they said
it wants me to review so I will. It's as good as you've heard.
caesar and others give a lot of leeway but this one doesnt. go fast, go boldly, but remember Rome wasn't built in a day.
I'm giving it 2 stars because of the text. The story isn't much of a story and is comprised of fetch&loot tasks to gather news. There's no decision or investigation, just click and collect your story. Then you phone in the story to your "Fake News" editor for money. And there's the problem. If you're going to make crappy dialog and story, just keep it crappy. Somehow the developers thought it would be fun to interject today's culture war politics into the 80s Soviet-era, complete with soliloquoies on the "freedom" of Tunguska. I suppose if you like swamps, gunplay, and nuclear radiation then it is a kind of freedom. It's not tongue in cheek or trying to make jokes, this schlock is central to the thin plot. Again, it would be forgiveable if it was just bland and crappy. Or I could overlook it if the game was really special and unique, but that lacks as well. It's a decent commando-style tactical especially if you amp the difficulty up. It's not Stalker, though they rip it off generously. But there's no depth - no puzzles to unlock artifacts (like Stalker) just random hit boxes and an AI that doesn't understand object permanence (like Stalker). So if you enjoy Tucker Carlson-style characters in your apocalypse with a ripped off plot, then this game is for you. But not for me.
Many have tried to recapture the spirit of exploration, mystery, and action that came together in the late 1980s for Starflight 1 and 2. Starcom Nexus really does it. It has a plot and can be humorous in its dialog. Fighting is intuitive but has enough diversity to keep me blasting away till endgame. Missions are more than just "fetch and return", some have multiple endings, and some can be frustrating as you have to fill in the blanks, but that's what sets this game apart from all the others. The game isn't procedurally generated which makes replay a bit rough, but then so were the original Starflights. The planning out of what anomalies are where is noticeable and appreciated. Again, it's that little edge that sets this title apart from so many others and delivers on the promise of exploring new reaches of space, finding interesting alien species, and either swindling or blasting them (or help - hey, do YOUR thing). If you're looking for deep character development and jaw dropping vistas, then this is not for you. It's an indie game with an indie price. If you want an engaging, nonlinear exploration and adventure game that doesn't take itself seriously while delivering a serious 20-30 hours of fun, then get this and recommend it so they make more. Last tip: be not afraid, go for the harder difficulties from the get-go.
