Space games

I enjoy a good space game where you can upgrade your ship and explore. What space games would you recommend that falls in this description?

My current favorites are:

• Space Pirates and Zombies 1 and 2
• Star Control: Origins
• Starpoint Gemini 2 and Warlord

The smaller indie titles such as Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space is fun but too small.

I'm playing X4 foundations and it's pretty good. You can fly around, trade, upgrade your ship, buy space stations and assemble your own fleet. Its been patched a lot since launch and, although not perfect, it is in decent enough shape.

it's production values are pretty low and character models are, well, not the developers strong suit. but it is pretty once you are flying about.

Just be warned that it is a slow burner and has a very steep learning curve. Also a CPU with strong single threaded performance is recommended.

I kind of like the grinding if it does not become too tedious, but the balance felt just right for Starpoint, at least for me.

Secondly, I don't have an ultra-wide display, only a ROG laptop with 16:9 display.

I actually think I did try one of the Freelancers a few years back, but I am not sure. Anyway, as far as I could see in a quick Google search, you cannot get it anywhere anymore and I am the rare creature that is heavy anti-piracy (probably because I am an indie developer myself, releasing a small 2D space shooter on Steam on Tuesday), but I will keep looking.

Rebel Galaxy looks promising, I have added it to my wishlist on Steam so I can check it out a bit later.

I have heard quite a bit about No Man's Sky, but never much about the game play, maybe I should have a look at that one as well.

Starcom Nexus does indeed remind me of Star Control. I'l also have a look at that one

Thanks for the suggestions, I now at least have two new titles to have a look at. If anyone has some more suggestions, please let me know.

X4 foundations look good as well, went straight to my wishlist.

Thanks osan

-Well it sounds like Elite: Dangerous is right for you. It can be tedious, but exploring is so much fun in that game, and profitable.

It has super in-depth ship upgrade options as well; you can kit out your engine, shields, weapons, equipment, cargo. You can be a combat ship, explorer, trader, miner (mining is also surprisingly fun now after the update). You can fly around in a ship, land on a planet or moon, and then ride around in your rover.

Be warned that it is an interesting game because it's about 10 minutes of boredom for every 3 minutes of pretty epic moment, but it's still fun.

-It's not a sim, but Stellaris is a pretty fun 4X space game. You can dream up and create just about any kind of civilization, be it a benevolent machine race that looks after humans, to a hive-minded insectoid species that devours the galaxy. You can research a lot of stuff, then build fleets out of highly customizable ships components.

-No Man's Sky is a great game, perfect for exploring.

-Rebel Galaxy is a game that sort of plays like a ship-fighting game; you fly in only two dimensions (it sounds bad, I know, but it actually works out) and you fly a giant ship with broadside cannons and stuff.

-Rebel Galaxy: Outlaw is the opposite of Rebel Galaxy because you fly a small fighter ship instead, and you can go in all directions. It's a throwback to the old-school space sims of yesteryear.

-If you want to go old school, I recommend Freelancer, Darkstar One, Tachyon: The Fringe.

-Strikesuit Zero is good if you want something quick and arcade-like.

-Everspace is a rogue-like space sim game; it's all about combat but still fun.

-Star Citizen: yeah yeah yeah, it's not finished...but man is it awesome nonetheless.

Yeah X4 is pretty good too. Love making a trade empire in that game.

Thanks mrbo, your list was very helpful and descriptive. I really like the looks of Elite Dangerous. Just a quick question on that one, is it an MMO or does it have singleplayer. I see they tagged both on Steam, but I just want to make sure. If it is an MMO then there are usually micro transactions involved and those kind of kill the experience for me.

I am usually not a big 4X fan, but it never hurts to have a look, so I will look at Stellaris and maybe it will surprise me.