This is an early access game which means it is still being developed and the dev team is actively listening to the community for input, ideas, suggestions, bug reports etc... But despite it is still in development It almost feels like an finished, polished game. Only thing that is missing right now for it to be a masterpiece is campaign, (but it's already being implemented!).
The game is an space RPG, where you take role as a starship captain (big ships, not space fighters!). It's an open world, which means you can travel (with your ship) anywhere you want, explore the system, trade, mine, raid other ships, capture them, or get attacked yourself... The trading system is pretty good, with prices varying based on global events, locations, your skill etc. You can even have a log with prices on stations/world you visited... The world has numerous fractions, some of them you have good reputation with,and with other you don't, but that also changes! Fighting can be controlled with fire at will, or manual, and you have target lock camera, turret view camera or ship camera. There is also a tactical overlay (displayed on pic), which is an info system which displays your ship's shield status, weapon status and other useful info.
You can choose from three basic classes, gunner, engineer and commander, each of which has their own set of skills and special abilities. I could go on and on about game's features :D, but I will mention just that the game is fully moddable, which is a great great plus for me. There is already a lot of user generated mods, like Star Trek ships :D, Normandy from Mass Effect etc...
I can finish by saying that the dev team is really dedicated to the community and to the game, they answer all of the questions posted on their forums, listen to the players for their wishes (a lot of game features is actually suggested by the community), and put frequent update. All in all I think this game represents what all games should be, oriented towards community that plays it.