First Person space game recommendation

[Jack Nastyface]

So I have Elite Dangerous, but I really suck at it.  I can barely get passed the "one on one" combat trainer without getting mostly wasted.  And I just purchased void destroyer 2, which is a bit cartoony (I'm okay with that) but again, the controls are a little funky.


Question:  Should I look into Star Citizen?  Or perhaps something else?  Any recommendations?  BTW...I have Kerbal Space, which is still one of my favourites, but looking for something deep space.


Thanks,


Jack Nastyface

[Pete Dero]

X Rebirth  (bad launch but current state is good) http://store.steampowered.com/app/2870/X_Rebirth/

Freespace 2 (old but still very good game)  http://store.steampowered.com/app/273620/Freespace_2/

[Jarhead0331]

What are you looking for? Space combat mostly or other trades, such as discovery, exploration, trading/mining, etc.? This decision may largely guide your approach to the search...

I'm a huge proponent of Star Citizen, but if you're struggling with Elite, which is a much more complete and stable game, I would stay away from Star Citizen for now. However, it is truly FPS in every sense of the term. The player walks, drives and flies in the world and it is all seemless. Alpha 3.0 was just released to the first wave of PTU testers and my limited time with it has been really exciting, but definitely not without frustration due to bugs and poor overall performance.  This game will be king when (and if) it is ever finished. Its already revolutionary in so many ways.

In addition to X-Rebirth, check out the X3 titles. They are still very good and engrossing games. Stay tuned for X4 though, because it will probably be out sometime next year.

Also check out:

Evochron Legacy, a very impressive title for a one man development team.

Helium Rain, a nice indie space sim that incorporates a hard newtonian physics model

Hellion, a multiplayer space sim that also incorporates a complex newtonian model

House of the Dying Sun, a combat centric space flight game in the vein of Fresspace

Pulsar: Lost Colony, a neat capital ship simulator in development. Capable of being played solo, but meant to be played in a multi-player mode

Rogue System, the DCS study-sim of space flight, still in early development and progressing very slowly, but certainly worth a look

Don't forget the whole line of ship building games, such as Empyrion: Galactic Survival, Space Engineers, StarMade, Kinetic Void, and Interstellar Rift. All very good games in their own right, but much more expansive from just space flight. Building and resource collection is a major part of these games. Of the games listed, I enjoy Empyrion the most. Its an impressive title.

[spelk]

Some suggestions...

Evochron Legacy
http://www.starwraith.com/evochronlegacy/index.htm

Everspace
https://everspace-game.com/

House of the Dying Sun
http://dyingsungame.com/

Children of a Dead Earth (Kerbal with Kombat)
http://childrenofadeadearth.com/

Rebel Galaxy
http://rebel-galaxy.com/

[JasonPratt]

Don't forget the whole line of ship building games, such as Empyrion: Galactic Survival, Space Engineers, StarMade, Kinetic Void, and Interstellar Rift. All very good games in their own right, but much more expansive from just space flight. Building and resource collection is a major part of these games. Of the games listed, I enjoy Empyrion the most. Its an impressive title.

Those have the advantage of being truly First-person (and/or 3rd person), too. (Well, not Kinetic Void, which also has dreadful reviews on Steam. It's more of a sim in the sense of Evochron Legacy, previously mentioned by spelk and JH; which by the way has a very indepth ship builder.)

Out of the games in the list I quoted, I think StarMade has had the most development, although I'm personally familiar with Empyrion (at least in its earlier build from a year or two ago) and I agree with JH it's worth a look.


The Everspace series is interesting in that it's a roguelike where you're expected to die. Missions are randomly generated, and look quite sharp, and I gather that the flight model is functionally basic (since it isn't the kind of game where you're really supposed to be 'simming' your ship with dozens of controls.) It's currently on sale at US$18, but people are somewhat divided on whether the "Encounters" DLC (not on sale for $10) is necessary or not.

[JasonPratt]

Oh, and House of the Dying Sun, mentioned above by spelk and JH, has the advantage of a flight model easy enough to use with a twin-stick controller. (In fact joysticks aren't officially supported.) You can build up a fleet to command, too.

[Gusington]

Everspace looks really good...never heard of it before this thread either.

[mikeck]

I'd take a look at Helium Rain mentioned above. It's an early access but pretty fleshed out. Newtonian physics. You play ina system consisting of one planet and several moons. Each has sectors around it with various stations producing different products. You start your own corporation and build it up through trading and building stations. You can have a fleet of ships including military craft. You can go to war with other corporations for control.

[Jack Nastyface]

Excellent - thanks everyone.  I am definately going to look into these recommendations.  It is a bit difficult to determine exactly WHAT I like...I really enjoy KSP, and I would like to enjoy more of Elite Dangerous, but finding the right balance, that je ne sais quoi that makes a great game, is sometimes hard to pinpoint.

[Pete Dero]

So I have Elite Dangerous, but I really suck at it.  I can barely get passed the "one on one" combat trainer without getting mostly wasted.

Do you use a joystick ?  (must have to enjoy games like this)

[Jack Nastyface]

Do you use a joystick ?  (must have to enjoy games like this)

Oh yeah. It's just a Logitiech 3d pro, but it seems good enough.  I've mapped a bunch of keys (thrust vectors) so that I can be more maneouverable, etc, but I am obviously still missing some key mappings.   As I mentioned, if I play 10 games of the "Sidewinder combat challenge" (? - 1 on 1 versus another skilled opponent in the exact same craft), I lose about 8 out of the 10 fights.  The AI craft seems to be able to flip direction / orientation on a dime.