Star Traders: Frontiers

I genuinely want to like this game, but the level of RNG is just absurd. It literally doesn't matter if you stack everything in your favor, because you can and will just die randomly for no apparent reason. it doesn't matter if the enemy captain is a lower level than you with lower accuracy and range change, because they can somehow ignore everything you do if the RNG goes against you. Inevitably, every run will have a lower level pirate with a weaker ship completely destroy you because of it. It completely sucks the fun out of the game when you know that your build and strategy can be rendered entirely irrelevant at any point in time. The same goes for crew combat, where lower level characters can defeat your crew solely based on RNG even after you have invested hundreds of thousands of credit into weapons and armor for your crew. Every run, there will be a single pistoleer that somehow tanks your entire combat team's attacks for three rounds in a row, even after you've stacked your time with high strength/quickness, a higher level, and elite gear. What's the point of even playing if your entire build can be rendered irrelevant by a couple of bad dice rolls? Just go play DND at that point, where at least there's a DM to work with. Every time I come back to this game, I wind up running into the exact same conundrum: what's the point of investing countless hours into a character when the game can just permanently kill your character at any point in time, and there's nothing you can do about it?

This games first hour(s) doesn't help it much to get more positive recognition. I have played loads of games like this and even me got sometimes lost in those systems. There isn't anything super complicated here but hell is it not clear! That said, once you get, the games opens up and is a great experience.

Nice promise in this game. Bad execution. Shame there is absolutely no tutorial or onboarding to make sense of the systems. To the devs : explaining the basic facts about your gameplay systems isn't an option. Offshoring task to wiki, guides or Youtube videos. I'm here to play, not spend a couple hours finding what menu does what before I can do anything.

This game does something that no other game is doing for space sims. It creates a living universe with actors who have agency, resulting in emergent gameplay which builds excellent stories in a living, breathing universe, which has enormous replayability. You can play in many different ways and all the many occupations have paths to success; the game rewards experimentation, thought and risk taking. The contacts system alone is genius, and maybe is only matched by Crusader Kings 2. The mission system is excellent and actually has consequences for success and failure, and usually also has time penalties for not completing actions in good time. Combat is difficult and often unpredictable, like real life, and often the best course is to run. It is a rpg at it's core but many of it's systems attempt to be realistic simulations. People complaining about RNG in reviews do not get this! The die roll/RNG system is also hugely innovative. It gives players the ability to influence the outcome without knowing exactly how the percentage chance of success/failure is derived, which creates important decision points for the player in everything they do - there is risk and reward in every action. To get the most from Star Traders (and it has a huge amount to offer) you need to accept that the learning curve is huge and the tutorial can only take you so far. You will need to do a little research online but there are many excellent player and Trese brother resources available to help you. I suggest you pick an occupation that appeals (you can't go wrong with Explorer!) and look up some builds and basic strategies and dive in. You will not be doing a single play through... You need to accept graphics may not be the best but they are very functional (have you played Battle Brothers?), and the ship designs are good and you get used to them. Trese brothers are a small (but growing) independent developer making games they love to play themselves. Each new game has got better and better, and have always been super well supported. The level of support for their games is probably more than any other developer I am aware off (and I play No Man's Sky). They have up dated the game regularly for years after launch based on feedback from the very culty and obsessive community, and they are very active with the community. Their latest game is very good, they have delved into 3D graphics and I hope that one day they remake Star Traders with better visuals! You also need to accept and enjoy the difficulty and RNG because that is the point... but remember that because of the all the updates game balance is excellent, and there is always a successful strategy. Star Sector is great but it does not have the depth of this. So in short this is not a pick up and play game (at least not in the beginning). You need to commit some time and effort but if you do it will pay back immeasurably!

no guide no tutorial

This game came out in 2018; it's now 2026 and we're on update #378 - and it won't be the last either. That alone should tell you the level of passion and care that went into this game. Is there a learning curve? Yes. But if you need to be spoon-fed and hand-held through everything a game has to offer, maybe rethink your approach to gaming in general. You are meant to explore and discover! And if you're willing to do that here, then a myriad galaxies filled with different characters, stories and adventures awaits.

Game is a lot more fun than it might look. It has a lot of depth and I have more hours on mobile. Just wish there was cross progression. Definitely one of those games I will always have on my mobile devices. Quite addicting gameplay loop.

Didn't realise I hadn't reviewed. I have another couple of hundred hours on mobile. Could not recommend this game enough! Absolutely fantastic and still getting updates 8 years later. It's probably the best value gaming purchase I've ever made.

I like these devs however the decision to disable achievements when using the modded version is a deal-breaker. I do not care about your imposed limits on my singleplayer game. Best example is Stellaris - cosmetic mods don't disable achievements or unlocks (like this game) and will instead lock you out if you use mods that change the gameplay - which IMO is still odd considering some mods make the game a LOT harder. Why would I care if someone else got achievements with a modded copy whether they made it easier or harder on themselves? (and even then you can simply use 3rd party tools to unlock them without ever touching the game) Not to mention that the modded version unlocks everything by default. Because why give your players agency, right? I've been waiting for a year or so since I got it to see if there would be any change, but no.