Drox Operative 2

Just like the previous with a few refinements and new mechanics - if you liked the first you'll like this, and if you didn't like the first you won't like this. If you aren't familiar, the Drox franchise (and Soldat generally) are giants in a very niche space of indie developers that manage to squeeze in staggeringly complex universe simulations into small packages (Trese Brothers being the other obvious shout-out). The nice thing about the Soldat games in particular is that you can more or less switch your brain off if you prefer, and just enjoy the minute-to-minute action gameplay. The simulation mechanics are somewhat optional. If you are into complex indie sims like Mount and Blade, Elite, Kenshi, Star Traders then you'll find a lot to like here. Just like with those other games you need a good tolerance for jank - in particular, the controls are a mess in Drox. If you're willing to overlook that then this is an absolute gem.

I did enjoy this title for a time, it gave me the mindless ARPG kick and with a nice little twist that was actually meaningful. However, as I play longer I find neither the ARPG part nor the twist, i.e. the simulated world that gives meaning and character to the gameplay environment compared to the usual hand-crafted ARPG environments, offered the creative playfulness and depth required keep the flame going. I believe the title would be much better if all the simulated environment would naturally connect to the ARPG game loop of killing stuff and looting, rather bland and boring menu-based systems where you pay money to change certain relationships with a chance of success. A more living world with diplomats, traders, etc. that you can protect or kill, and better and more in-depth use of items that affect races in various ways would go a long way. The skill building system should also be a bit more interesting and thought provoking then just different classes of weapons doing more or less the same thing, each having their own do +x% more damage kind of skill modifiers. This game is close to greatness though, so I hope a DO3 will do the trick.

You are playing spaceship diablo while acting as a puppetmaster pulling the strings of a bunch of AI that are playing stellaris in a procedurally generated map. The graphics and UI won't win any awards but the game loop is unique and engaging. I am really enjoying it.

From the heavily jank beginnings, Soldak has somehow both come a long way and seems to be exactly where they were 20 years ago. Drox Operative 2 is largely the same game as Drox Operative 1 with a few add-ons, and while there seem to be more effects processing and stuff in the background, the graphics even seem the same. By which I mean "these are the same ship models." The menus and interface are just a paint job of difference from every other Soldak game (regardless of medieval fantasy or space opera setting,) and the fundamental mechanics are largely the same. DO2 feels more like a combination of HD remake and DLC for the original game than a sequel, and the plot is notably exactly the same. (Of course, this game's "plot" is just a backstory and then the procedural generation and consequences of player actions, anyway, so it's not like there was any story to continue other than the player's, anyway.) With that said, especially considering the low asking price of this indie title, I definitely feel I'm getting my money for this one. It's a game where you try to juggle a dozen different things happening in the background at the same time while you pick a side and just try to make sure your side stays in the game. It's not that complex, but just having AI factions that actually fight and vie for control adds so much chaos to the game that it makes what's going on more hectic and interesting than much higher-budget titles that have such dead, static environments filled with nothing but monsters that wait around for the player to come kill them. This isn't Crusader Kings or anything (and I say that as a huge fan of Grand Strategy games like CK,) and it's deliberately designed to take most strategic concerns away from you, for better or worse. You don't HAVE to care what's going on around you, and at a certain point, you have to make choices, because sure, there's a mega-quake about to destroy a whole planet unless you deliver a crust stabilizer to that planet in the next 3 minutes, but you haven't found the sector where you're supposed to buy that stabilizer yet, and besides, you're distracted hunting down a black hole generator, staving off a backblast uprising, and hunting down a boss monster that has a protection racket running on a whole solar system. And I get 9,000 credits for hunting down that boss, but you're only offering 300 credits for saving that planet?! Take a number, I'm booked for the next 10 minutes. It actually annoys me somewhat that you don't have as many options on the macro level, because one of the things you can do in this game when a faction you favor is behind is sponsor new ships, including colony ships. Plunk down enough cash (which scales by the level of the faction, which is selected at mission start,) and you can simply buy a colony ship that colonizes new planets IF they make it to the destination planet. The problem is, you can't pick the destination. There might be a huge planet of the ideal climate in this system that they previously had a colony on before some boss monster destroyed the colony, but if you fund a colony ship, they'll decide to go colonize a planet on the other side of the whole sector and chart a course for their defenseless and unescorted terribly fragile colony ship directly through plasma storms and nests of space monsters. Oh, did I mention that they ALWAYS send their colony ships to already-colonized planets? So, if you try to protect your investment and guard the ship the entire way to its already-occupied destination, they'll sit there for a second, then decide to go to a new planet... which is back on the other side of the sector... and is ALSO already colonized! GAAAAH! Honestly, you're a mercenary, and you probably should behave like one if you want to be most efficient. You can take or leave any of these yahoos, and just joining the winning team at the last moment is entirely efficient play. It's just that it's not necessarily fun play. Finding a "young" race, sometimes even a medieval race with an interesting random story, and uplifting them to starflight before blasting a path through everything in the way to them becoming a major power in the galaxy is much harder, but more interesting than just siding with the Lithoids again because they have an AI script favoring fast expansion and often grab and maintain an early lead. One of the new features, infiltrating spies, also seems seriously underwhelming. I guess I can throw a spy on a friendly planet set to counter-spy operations to stop the CONSTANT parade of propaganda missions creating unrest on every single planet, but non-lethal weapon deliveries are basically my bread-and-butter mission, so doing so is directly undercutting my own business. I can set up a spy to try to wait and generate spy points, but they always get caught before I can generate enough spy points to be of any use, and I don't need one rumor, I need 50 consecutive rumors to change the opinion the Utopians have of the Drak and Humans before I can get a diplomatic victory. And I mean "at this one point in time" because I'm going to need to come back and do another 20 in a row in about 5 minutes. (Thankfully, I found out you can actually set up a dozen rumors in a row without having to wait for the last one to take effect, so just pay and spam your way to victory.) It's not a deep game, but it is a [i]hectic[/i] game, and those constant minor wins keeps the dopamine trickling through my brain. It's ultimately a game where I click to shoot lasers at the evil giant space bugs and killer robots. The sheer amount of multitasking and things flying at you from every direction serve as enough mental load that it feels a lot more complex than it really is.

There's a speed cap on your ship. Unfortunately, it's not very high. One of the first upgrades you can do will dramatically slow down your ship if your helm stat isn't high enough. This isn't very convenient for a game about space exploration and diplomacy. The combat gets tedious very quickly, you can even get weapons that auto aim, so you just fly somewhere, keep both mouse buttons pressed and see random stuff explode around you. The interesting part of this game is the different races and how they develop and interact with each other. This is slowed down by the speed of your ship and the amount of random enemies you encounter as you move around the galaxy. Until 5 diplomatic events all of a sudden happen in the same second. The Drox missions are most interesting, but getting anything done turns into a sluggish mess very quickly because the overall resistance of the galaxy is so high you can't get anything done.

It's a lot like people describe it - an ARPG spaceship looter. The maps and enemies don't really matter too much as you can always go to a new map with fresh enemies. Your ship is what stays with you, unless you play HC and die (or you break your components there). So, your goal is to gain XP, loot, and credits (credits for more upgrades on your loot via NPC techniques). There's a fairly huge variety of ways to do that, whether it's making alliances or just outright obliterating everyone. There are a variety of Win conditions for each scenario as well, which will give you bonus rewards if successful (chests full of loot). It does get repetitive, but so do all looters, practically by definition. However, there are quite a few things to upgrade, so it lasts a while. I bought it when it wasn't even on sale and already feel I've already gotten my monies worth and have barely just started.

It's a good game. Easily my favorite diablo-like, including Diablo.

Star control meets Diablo :) Highly recommended - nice progression, settings, and well balanced everything. I played drox1 many years ago, now this is almost the same, others listed the small differences - and after all this time it is still highly addictive, you have been warned :)