It has the following gameplay types that you can switch to and play as long as you like:
PvE missions where you and other humans (team or randos) battle AI
PvP missions where its you and your team up against anther human team
Free Space missions that you can complete solo or in teams
Free Space exploring where you can jump system-to-system and explore without any objectives
The game studio, Gaijin, is Russian-based and has a tank game War Thunder (infamous for real-world military leaks) and a vehicular combat game called Crossout, though I’ve never played them.
Anyway Star Conflict is free-to-play, pay-to-win (PvP), but if you play the PvE and open space parts you don’t need to invest any money to have fun. You can stick to the lower ship tiers for casual gaming, and switch between fighting styles and ship roles easily. You can pilot blazing-fast interceptors, balanced mid-size fighters, heavy-hitting frigates, or super-slow but massive destroyers, and customize each one with a huge selection of weapon types, shields, and auxillary syatems. The underlying fighting principle is kinda like rock-paper-scissors-lizard-Spock, so an interceptor can easily solo a destroyer, a destroyer can take out a group of frigates, frigates outpower fighters, fighters hunt interceptors, etc. And the same goes for weapons and shields too, with thermal, EM, and kinetic types and their shield counterparts. If you venture into a space region infested with pirates who use kinetic weapons and thermal shields, then equip your ship with weapons of the opposite type of their shields to maximize damage, and equip shields of the same type as their weapons to minimize damage.
Anyway go try it out and let me know what you think!
Some of my other picks have already been mentioned so I’ll go with an obscure answer: Cpt. Olivia Rhodes from the VR game Lone Echo.
She is by far the most realistic and immersive NPC I have ever had the fortune of experiencing. The storytelling and immersion in Lone Echo is S tier. The game itself is in my top three VR games with Half-Life Alyx and Boneworks.
Everspace 2 might be what you’re looking for. It’s fighter piloting and npt battleship style combat bit it’s one of the closest feels I had to what Xwing vs Tie Fighter was back in the day. You can drift and swap end for end just like XvT.
You might also like the spaceship portions of Star Wars Outlaws. I’ve been having fun in there, too.
0451 was a door code in the first level. It’s become iconic since then.
The first game is pretty dated. Most people didn’t like the graphics. I did, but I’m weird. I still think Unreal Engine 1 is beautiful. Just… jagged. The remaster will not be much better. The remaster is just important because we’ll be able to play DX1 on Xbox, PlayStation, and Switch. I can play the original PC version on my Mac, but I’m hoping for a native Mac port since it’s Aspyr and that’s what they were doing before, but to be fair, they were doing Mac ports of Xbox 360 games when both Mac and Xbox 360 used IBM PowerPC chips (in other words, half the work was done for them already since they had the same CPU architecture). But that’s true again since the Mac has the same ARM64 CPU architecture as the Switch and Switch 2, so in theory anything that can run on the Switch can also run on the Mac (and, point of fact, Switch emulators generally work better on Macs because they only have to emulate the code, not the chipset).
If you’re into Babylon 5, there’s actually a game called Babylon 5: I’ve Found Her that captures the spirit of the fighter combat pretty well IMO. Might be worth checking out!
(edit: MARKDOWN FUCKED UP THE SPOILERS, readers beware)
Robin from Iconoclasts:
Pacifist until the end (depending on the definition of “end”), despite the game’s pixel aesthetic it tries to make it clear that murder is her last option;
Altruistic, she goes out of her way to help people with complete disregard of her own safety;
Doesn’t talk much;
Kind hearted, doesn’t reject a well-intentioned yet spoiled acquaintance even though fucking up is his character arc and everyone hates him;
Plot spoilerbecomes friends with Jesus and goes with him back to heaven
Ending spoilerfucking kills god, then fills Him with seeds (tbf all the poor guy did was pull up at the gas station and have strangers harass Him)
Plot spoilershe also fills Jesus’ mom with seeds, I’m beginning to think she has a thing for the clergy
If you want something a bit closer to Starfox, rather than an all-range flight arena, try Rogue Flight. It definitely evokes the power fantasy feeling, living up the classic arcade trope of “one ship being readied on a mission to save humanity”. There’s some very big-name voice actor work in it, as well.
Another good game for the “power fantasy” trope, though it’s a bit more outside the target, is Ace Combat 7. Or, perhaps any games in the series, but this one is pretty accessible. The combat is close to what you’d get in X-Wing/Tie-Fighter, but with fighter planes. It breaks from realism a little bit where needed to make the stunts fun. And, the story very much orients around the silent player character being “scary tough” in a fight, to the point enemy fighters are retreating just from seeing your wing markings.
IKR. An endless supply of real-world adjacent McGuffins, stored in secure locations, with justification for plenty of guards, and none of them are “nuclear codes,” “war plans,” or “drugs.” It’s a great way to keep doing familiar and popular game mechanics with novel narrative, just by picking a different cultural reference.
Most single player games I have mods installed to remove any grindy parts of the game because it just feels like a waste of time to grind for resources in a game where I’m not competing.
There’s a new game in early access called “Jump Space” that has been pretty fun so far. You can play it solo but is more fun with others, as you work as a crew with roles such as pilot, gunner, engineering etc.
Random question about Jump Space. Is it like Sea of Thieves or Void Crew where it’s kind of only fun if you’re playing with actual friends and everyone is on mic and isn’t very functional if you’re matching up with randoms?
Been keeping an eye on this game, but have also come to realize that while I like the idea of games like SoT or Void Crew I don’t actually like playing them cuz I don’t like games that require that level of coordination with randoms who don’t know exactly what to do.
To be clear, I’m obsessed with coop games like Deep Rock Galactic and the new Mycopunk. And I’ve spent decades waiting for that perfect space shooter that transitions from ship combat to ground combat. But the bottom line is I’ll always be matching up with randoms and if this isn’t that kind of game then I’m gonna sit this one out.
Yes I think it would be frustrating if you are playing with random people. Learning is part of the gameplay so experienced players will have to teach / direct new players. For example, my group died multiple times when we had to deal with radiation just because we didn’t know what to do with irradiated material.
On mic is absolutely a requirement as coordination is a major emphasis. Granted the game is still in active development. But from what I’ve heard, the new features will require even more teamwork and coordination.
I.e. you can have fire on one side of the ship and radiation on the other, whilst in the middle of a dogfight. These elements are scaled to the size of your party and difficulty level though. If you play solo, you have an onboard bot that helps and you don’t have to juggle as much.
bin.pol.social
Ważne