Nexus is a highly enjoyable, rewarding experience and a great game particularly if you like strategy games
The story itself plays out like an epic space opera which builds itself up with many twists and turns in its plot. You play as Marcus Cromwell, whose father disappeared after traveling through a wormhole found in our solar system. Without spoiling too much of the story, eventually you too will have to travel through that same wormhole and survive what lies beyond.
Graphically, the game looks phenomenal. You can tell the developers spent a lot of time in deciding on the look and feel of Nexus. Each race in the game has intricately designed ships with their own distinctive appearances and attributes. The background graphics are not just a simple "stars on black space" motif, but instead use vibrant colours, high-resolution textures and excellent lighting effects to ensure the game in no way looks "boring."
Nexus' gameplay centres around space battles between opposing ship fleets, and it is one that can be both very simple and incredibly hard at the same time. Some missions can be very easy to complete, while other missions (especially the later ones) can be excruciatingly hard. The control scheme takes a little time to get used to, but it will become second nature once you get used to it. Ship-to-ship combat is easily initiated by right-clicking on an enemy ship. Moreover, you can also target specific components onboard enemy vessels such as their engines, shields, or weapon generators, which allow you to plan your attacks strategically rather than just throwing everything you've got at the enemy.
In between missions you are also able to outfit your ships with new weapons, armor, and engines, and with this option you can outfit specific ships under your command to perform different roles. For example, one of your ships can be designed solely to take down an enemy vessel's shields, while another can be used to obliterate their hull. My main complaint with the gameplay of Nexus is that, unlike the Homeworld series, you cannot travel to any point on the map you wish, but only to the various "nav-points" on the map. Also, this game is not for anybody who is impatient. It can take some time for your ships to get to their destinations even with engine power maxed out, so prepare to sink a fair bit of time into this game. However, these are only minor complaints which detract little from the game itself.
Sound wise Nexus does a decent job as well. The game employs some subtle yet very moody music in the background. The sound effects of engines firing, torpedo impacts, and laser blasts are done well also. As for the voice acting, while many people thought the voice acting was bad, personally I thought it was pretty good. Now obviously the actors are not going to win any Oscars, but what they say and how they act is done well enough to convey how the characters feel and to advance the plot.
In the end, Nexus may not be as high profile as some of the games released this year, but do not let that fool you. Nexus is a highly enjoyable, rewarding experience and a great game particularly if you like strategy games. I would even go as far as to say it is one of the first sleeper hits of the year, so go out and give it a try.