GRcade

Damn it guys, I was there! I was there! I don't know where there was but I was so in there!

I gave this a quick try and I think I just don't get on with Roguelites - I understand the point of them and their gameplay loops, but I don't "get" it - getting splatted over and over in the first couple of stages just seems like a waste of time to me. I really enjoyed Nuclear Throne but had the same feeling, I'm just doing the same thing over and over and am unlikely to ever get to the end, which puts me off somewhat. It looks really nice though.

Managed to figure out how to activate an Ancient Structure!

Lagamorph wrote:Managed to figure out how to activate an Ancient Structure!

Nice! Which glyph did you get? I've got two so far, one adds the ancient structures on your star chart, the other... I forget. Still the first one is pretty useful!

Hell yes...



There seems to be a continuation even after you reach Adam

Rightey wrote:

Lagamorph wrote:Managed to figure out how to activate an Ancient Structure!

Nice! Which glyph did you get? I've got two so far, one adds the ancient structures on your star chart, the other... I forget. Still the first one is pretty useful!

It was the add Ancient Structures on your star chart.

I actually got two more in a single run. The first was that Okkar pursuers no longer jump in after a certain length of time, but the downside was that every single location would have a jump suppressor, so not using that one.
The second one causes Ancients to occasionally spawn in to defend me.

Got quite excited when this was announced for Switch, because I'd love a proper space-y flight sim and it genuinely looks amazing, but rogue-like is probably an even bigger turn-off for me than "metroidvania". You can't define a genre by saying it's like another game.

Does the rogue-like element mean that there's basically no progression, or what? I know Rightey mentioned that your credits carry over if you die so you can buy things for your ship that stick around, but is there actually a game worth playing or is it just fly around, fight these guys (maybe), fly some more, then restart and do it all again tomorrow?

Frank wrote:Got quite excited when this was announced for Switch, because I'd love a proper space-y flight sim and it genuinely looks amazing, but rogue-like is probably an even bigger turn-off for me than "metroidvania". You can't define a genre by saying it's like another game.

Does the rogue-like element mean that there's basically no progression, or what? I know Rightey mentioned that your credits carry over if you die so you can buy things for your ship that stick around, but is there actually a game worth playing or is it just fly around, fight these guys (maybe), fly some more, then restart and do it all again tomorrow?

There is progression in that there is a story that you uncover by advancing to new sectors in the game, a sector is composed of several star systems. When you get to a new sector for the first time there might be a cutscene that plays to give you some background on what's going on. There are also some side quests you can do, they add in a bit of variety but due to the nature of the game, where you end up dying a lot it's not a huge amount, I think there are like 5 or so quest givers, and you can run into some random quests (like trader ship was attacked and needs these resources for repairs), but that's it.

Regarding rouge-like, I think that just refers to randomly generated systems. No two systems are totally the same, you start to notice patterns, like lots of systems have one large asteroid, and this will normally have 2 loot boxes inside etc. but there is a fair amount of variety of enemy bases, NPC's and other fixtures that I never felt like I knew what was going to be in any given system.

Also, the credits don't carry over. When you die you have to spend the credits you earned in that run on upgrades, which do carry over from play through to play through, before you head out again. Any credits you don't spend are lost.

The gameplay is fun, the flying is smooth (at least with the mouse and keyboard), but the story is fairly flat and totally linear. You just play the game and the story progresses, you have no way to change anything that happens. After you complete the story, there is a sort of after story for you to complete, although I havn't got too far into that yet.

If you want a space sim, sadly this isn't it. For example, there is no going backwards in a run, that is once you move from sector 1 into sector 2, there is no way to go back. There are resources, which you can harvest, and even trade for to build upgrades and equipment, but there is no economy, where a resource in one system will cost more or less than in another system.

Thanks for the in depth response! It still kind of sounds like a game I'd enjoy, but not for like, any extended period of time. Will definitely keep it on my watch list, at least.

Wish they'd just hurry up and give me a new X-Wing Alliance....

A new Star Wars game like a Rogue Squadron would be the dream, don't see it happening though

Anyway, I'm starting to think this will be price dependant on if I get it at launch or wait for a sale. It looks great and I imagine it plays really well (plus flying round in space is just kind of cool) but the game resetting on each death has made me slightly weary of it. It's still something I definitely want to play, just for the right price.

If anyone is thinking about giving this a go, it's £6.89 on GoG.com right now in their Back to School sale.