Starcom: Unknown Space

Trying to progress in this game is just a series of brick walls to ram your head into repeatedly, all to get the amazing reward of more resources to farm, more dice rolls on whether or not you get to participate in the "exploration" aspect of this game, and more boring enemies to be a pain in the ass and little more. This cannot be the best they could do.

I finished the game. I didn’t like it. If I had never played Starcom: Nexus, I probably would have enjoyed it. Everything is relative. Unfortunately, the sequel feels like a pale shadow of the original. The new story didn’t grab me at all. Bits and pieces of information never really come together into a coherent picture, and when you finally learn the truth, it feels like some overdramatic fanfiction soaked in pathos. The ship’s arsenal is poorer than in the previous game. This is especially noticeable because you get laser weapons very early and then just stick with them until the very end. Resources are easy to trade or farm, so they barely limit anything. Instead, you’re constantly hitting the ship slot limit. The game is very easy, even on the highest difficulty. The crew having personalities is a clear plus, but the entire progression system is basically killed by RNG. Right before any action you get a 0–20% roll that wipes out almost all crew bonuses, except those that affect space flight, where you only need 1–2 skill points anyway. There are a few interesting stories about the races inhabiting the galaxy, but they’re presented in a very rushed and fragmented way. Visually, the game is prettier, but it lost any sense of realism (even though the author jokes about this in the game itself). Some destructive phenomena do look impressive, but they don’t create the same sense of SCALE that the first game had. Is it playable? Yes. Can you have some fun? Sure. But it’s much weaker than the original.

What a thoroughly enjoyable sci-fi exploration strategy game this is. It's not Star Trek but by-jove, you can image it being one. Excellently executed and it keeps you hooked! It has resource collecting and management, research trees, hidden mysteries, wit, some humour and it's design and graphics are beautiful. Love how you can customise and build up your space craft. Or just build a vessel to suit your needs. Need a fast scout? Design one! Need a hulking juggernaut that's armed with every possible weapon it can carry? Build it! Want your craft to look like the USS Enterprise? You can build that too! This game came out in 2024, I wish I had seen it earlier! I hope there content or future games in this series! Very engaging and a delight to place. Support indie devs like this! They make the freshest games!

Starcom: Unknown Space is a mixed bag. There is some good in it, as well as some meh, bad, and ugly. The good: The game scratches an itch that combines exploration, space battles and some rpg-type choices (although it is weak on the third area.) It is stable and looks decent. The combat mechanics are fun. The meh: The map is hard to read and navigate. Certain things aren't explained well. For example, there is no way of seeing a weapon's dps before mounting it and then going to the ship screen. The ship editor is a bit too clunky for this day and age. There are some weird difficulty spikes. The bad: The game is unfinished. It starts strong. Then mid to late game, you simply run out of things to do and as far as I can tell, there is no resolution to the main story line or a boss fight or something like that. It just stops giving you new information and quests after a while. The ugly: The game doesn't respect your time. Exploration gets really tedious. Combat gets repetitive. After a while, missions start blending into each other after a while. The crew mechanics are badly explained and hard to dial in. Experimentation is discouraged. You get only one chance to reset your techtree choices. This last bit is a real shame because it would have added tons of value without any cost to the developers. It is a puzzling design choice. Verdict: I recommend in a deep discount. At or near full price, this is a hard pass. Over all, I am leaning negative, although it is not a bad game. If the developers finish it and polish it up just a tiny bit, it would be an instant classic with tons of replay value.

Simply purchase both titles. The second version is more advanced, yet each game offers a vast world for exploration with unique objectives and narratives. It embodies classic gameplay for enthusiasts who cherish and long for the essence of space exploration as it was meant to be. It surpasses contemporary games that impose restrictions. This is my first and only comment I’ll ever place. I appreciate your efforts once more. Please continue to produce content of this caliber. I genuinely miss and eagerly anticipate replaying and discovering additional content that I overlooked during my initial playthrough.

If you are a fan of Star Trek - do not play! You will spend endless hours scanning planets, sending away missions, exploring void, not to mention what the game is actually about - customising the ship and decimating aliens who don't understand diplomacy. Your family will not recognise you when you emerge. The story line feels like good proper Star Trek and keeps giving. Just when I think I've figured it out and it was a nice quick game to beat - No, I haven't even started. The combat is challenging if you go places you're not supposed to (and you can!) and not too complicated, but still fun. Actually, you can make it as complicated as you like, depending on how you configure the ship. Perfect balance between complexity (research, modules, abilities) and ease. I loved it.

Just finished both endings. I played all the original 90s star control, this is a good compromise bringing modern graphic that fan base. Things that I like: - travel between planets to investigate and pick up resource - customizable ship design and space combat - puzzles and plot, wish there is some DLC to extend them Things that I didnt like: - empty border, I spent too long trying to find extra planets to investigate while there were just void, on the other hand its part of what brings rewarding feeling when I hit one. - ship combat got a bit too easy in late game

Однозначно рекомендую. Майже кожна досліджена система та планета дарує тобі відчуття відкриття чогось нового. Керування просте, будівництво корабля також легке Щодо сюжету: початок може втомити, але чим більше дізнаєшся нової інформації, тим цікавіше стає. Тексту для читання достатьо, але є україніська локалізація (трапляються помилки, але не критичні і рідко)