HighFleet

if you hear a weird violin while you're in a battle, i wish you good luck

Highfleet is the only game that's ever made my internal monologue go "GOD this is SO F*CKING COOL!" over and over as I play it and learn new mechanics. No other game has so perfectly combined this very particular set of elements in a way that excites my very particular neurons so strongly. It's Soviet cold-war-ish tech (aesthetically awesome) meeting Dune (an amazing narrative franchise) in the style of FTL (a groundbreaking, fantastic game), with a hint of the traditional strategy genres - both RTS and TBS (both of which are fantastic and don't get enough love anymore), and vehicle construction grounded in substantial respect for technical accuracy in a way that actually matters for gameplay and reminds me of Kerbal Space Program (another amazing game). Highfleet is consistent and true enough to this grounding that doing actual math and making impromptu notes (on the game map or on a physical notepad) has a measurable gameplay advantage, which may be more significant at the higher difficulties I have yet to try. I'm generally not a fan of stylistically cluttered user interfaces and distorted visuals since they tend to detract from focusing on gameplay, but this game does it the right way. It's actually immersive, unlike so many attempts at retro-futurism, mostly because once you learn what each element in the UI does, you understand that it has an actual reason to be present. Highfleet is for a particular type of gamer, but people who enjoy FTL especially should give this a go.