The BEST Space Games Of The Past 10 Years

[@ROCKFISHGames]

It's been awesome to be a part of the return of the genre with our EVERSPACE games and we're so glad to see enthusiasts like ObsidianAnt championing space games of all kinds. Space games are great games! Thanks again for including us in your videos!

[@ObsidianAnt]

Can't wait to see what you do next! :)

[@SingularPing]

Elite will always hold a special place in my heart, I just wish FDev would see it the way the players do.

[@PetersonJoseph]

Amen.

[@SolarFlare307]

It seems to be making a bit of a comeback! Couple new ships FINALLY recently, and nerfs and reworks to the abysmal Engineering grind.

[@hardwire666too]

Same and agreed.

[@hardwire666too]

@@SolarFlare307 I'm glad they are taking steps but I am not optimistic about any of it. Nefring things as opposed to fixing them is a bad sign. It is a step in the right direction. It just doesn't give me any confidence in them.

[@erebusparcae]

true... em bitter with ED but still has a place in ma heart too..

[@MichaelLesterClockwork]

How the fuck is 2014 already 10 years ago?!?! ***immediately ages visibly***

[@seaskimmer]

Lol.

[@CASA-dy4vs]

2014 felt only a week ago for me..

[@aggonzalezdc]

I feel you friend. I swear it was 2018 a few days ago.

[@commentarytalk1446]

For what it's worth my expectations have shrunk: I'm enjoying watching the progress of an indie space game where you take control of a ship AI with top down pixel graphics: Jitter !

[@in-craig-ible6160]

No Man's Sky's impact is definitely unforgettable, that's for sure.

[@cmdrandreyuenari4150]

No Man's Sky is not a space game though. It's a cartoon survival game.

[@runnergo1398]

@@cmdrandreyuenari4150 WTF? It's 100% a space game!

[@egosoft]

Thanks for including us! 🪐

[@ObsidianAnt]

You guys have had such a positive impact on the genre, thank you!

[@dentara-rast]

22:20 I forgot how amazing asteroid belts in the alpha and beta of Elite were!

[@FrankB1110]

It's incredible how after over thousands of hours if I close my eyes and try to imagine an Elite belt THAT at 22:20 is still the pattern that comes to mind.

[@OverlordZephyros]

Wasnt very good for performance though

[@MikhailFedotov]

Elite looked AMAZING in that test phase. I wish they kept that hud and galaxy background.

[@acidtwin]

And the smaller galaxy which forced more user interaction was great in beta.

[@CMDROldDuck]

Yes, my good memories of Elite are from earlier days. Some games like NMS and X4 age like wine. Elite has aged like milk.

[@BGIANAKy]

Imagine if they only kept focused on flight experience. I would still be playing it.

[@BGIANAKy]

@@acidtwinseasonal gameplay similar to what NMS does would have been a great idea. Or at least certain massive wars that only happened in certain parts of the galaxy.

[@cmdrandreyuenari4150]

NMS is a cartoon game and X4 is really bad. I regret buying X4 and I'm still playing Elite.​@@CMDROldDuck

[@davidludwig7501]

Elite Dangerous was great. I wish they wouldn't have abandoned us console players. I sunk hundreds of hours in the game just to get abandoned in the end. It's such a shame.

[@arch_..]

join us on PC and keep enjoying Elite!

[@davidludwig7501]

@arch_.. I did recently buy my first gaming pc but dread the thought of starting all over from the beginning.

[@keysersozeh3576]

@@davidludwig7501 you can port your data over from console, so you do not start over at all.

[@CMDR_Shokwave]

​@@davidludwig7501 Port your character over.

[@davidludwig7501]

@@CMDR_Shokwavehow do you do that?

[@lordflashheart3680]

Ha! I was "pretty young" in 1974 mate. There are more of us first gen gamers still about than you may think! Great selections for the video, there are a lot of very strong games there!

[@zrakonthekrakon494]

How does it feel to see gaming come to where it has been? Having been around to witness the first titles? My first games where grand turismo 5 on the ps3 and sonic unleashed, when I got serious about gaming I was playing the first battle front and destiny, that’s where I entered the space, but as for you, how does it feel to go from pixelated side scrollers and platformers to something like cyberpunk 2077 and star citizen?

[@lordflashheart3680]

@@zrakonthekrakon494 Honestly it’s great to see computer gaming (I’ve never been a console player) come into the mainstream. We have amazing choice in games, amazing talent writing games, big money behind games, etc. Sure there are some terrible ones around but overall it’s a golden age. I remember buying games in underground used book shops. Some were in ziplock bags with dot matrix labels and instructions. You had only the title to tell you what you might be getting. To put me in context, I started gaming on a Commodore VIC 20. It had 3.5kb of ram and a tape drive. We have come so far and I’m loving it.

[@lordflashheart3680]

​@@zrakonthekrakon494 Damn, KZbin ate my reply! Let's try again: I really appreciate that computer games are now so much more mainstream than they were in the early days. I was never a console player but now we have computer games that have lots of creative talent and money behind them. When I got started with my Commodore VIC 20 (3.5Kb of RAM and a tape drive) we used to go to basement used book stores for games that weren't the usual cartridge based stuff. Very often they came in a ziplock bag with dot-matrix printed labels and instructions. You bought them blind based on the title and hoped it was decent enough to play. Nowadays we are in what I think of as a golden age, I know there is a lot of junk around and some titles that are simply cash grabs but we also have so many incredible games in all genres to choose from. Alot of the games themselves are phenomninal too. For example: aventure games used to be text only and then came some crude graphics - the first graphical adventure I played was Temple of Apshai. Compare that to BG3 and there is no comparison the newer games are just incredible. No, we are spoiled with choice and quality these days and I'm very there for it, it's a brilliant time to be a gamer!

[@lordflashheart3680]

@zrakonthekrakon494 Damn, KZbin ate my reply! Let's try again: I really appreciate that computer games are now so much more mainstream than they were in the early days. I was never a console player but now we have computer games that have lots of talent and money behind them. When I got started with my Commodore VIC 20 (3.5Kb of RAM and a tape drive) we used to go to basement used book stores for games. Very often they came in a ziplock bag with dot-matrix printed labels and instructions. You bought them blind based on the title and hoped it was decent enough to play. Nowadays we are in what I think of as a golden age, I know there is a lot of junk around and some titiles that are simply cash grabs but we also have so many incredible games in all genres to choose from. The games themselves are phenomninal too. For example aventure games used to be text only and then some crude graphics - the first graphical adventure I played was Temple of Apshai. Compare that to BG3 and there is no comparison the newer games are just incredible. No, we are spoiled with choice and quality these days and I'm very there for it, it's a brilliant time to be a gamer!

[@lordflashheart3680]

​ @zrakonthekrakon494 Damn, KZbin ate my reply! Let's try again: I really appreciate that computer games are now so much more mainstream than they were in the early days. I was never a console player but now we have computer games that have lots of talent and money behind them. When I got started with my Commodore VIC 20 (3.5Kb of RAM and a tape drive) we used to go to basement used book stores for games. Very often they came in a ziplock bag with dot-matrix printed labels and instructions. You bought them blind based on the title and hoped it was decent enough to play. Nowadays we are in what I think of as a golden age, I know there is a lot of junk around and some titiles that are simply cash grabs but we also have so many incredible games in all genres to choose from. The games themselves are phenomninal too. For example aventure games used to be text only and then some crude graphics - the first graphical adventure I played was Temple of Apshai. Compare that to BG3 and there is no comparison the newer games are just incredible. No, we are spoiled with choice and quality these days and I'm very there for it, it's a brilliant time to be a gamer!

[@efxnews4776]

Let's get real, X series is carrying the space sim on their backs since the last millenium, Egosoft deserve far more love than what they get. By the way, X4 is pretty amazing.

[@NightshadeDE]

I’m always amazed how people constantly are wishing for this space sim with a ton of sandbox options etc, while the X series just sits there forever underrated

[@CMDROldDuck]

They have my love!

[@Ahntera-n4u]

I'm actually waiting for a sale right now after seeing the latest update and actually getting reminded the game still exists. I used to play X3 a lot back in the days but for some reason I though it died of after the game that came afterwards. I did not know X4 is a thing

[@Corusame]

I heard it was buggy and incomplete, was a while ago admittedly. If its more polished now I might have to check it out. Got fond memories from X2 back in the day

[@efxnews4776]

@@Ahntera-n4u are you kidding me? You didn't even know that X4 exist? 😞 Egosoft definitely need to do some market campaign, im tired to do this for free...

[@kaplishk]

I feel old because I was only 18 back in 2014 when I started to follow Elite: Dangerous and Star Citizen, and now I am 28. Pretty nuts when you think about it.

[@adventurer180]

A few other space games of the past decade that may not be the best, but wanted to mention for those looking for other types or more: - ΔV: Rings of Saturn - AI War 2 - Astroneer - Avorion - Between the Stars - Breathedge - Cosmoteer - Crying Suns - Deep Space Battle Simulator - Deliver Us The Moon - Distant Worlds: Universe / Distant Worlds 2 - Dyson Sphere Program - Endless Space 2 - Executive Assault 2 - Exo One - FTL: Faster Than Light w/ Multiverse mod - For The Warp - Galactic Civilizations III / Galactic Civilizations IV - Halcyon 6: Starbase Commander - Hardspace: Shipbreaker - Heavenly Bodies - Imagine Earth - J.U.L.I.A.: Among the Stars - Juno: New Origins - Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime - Master of Orion - Nova Drift - Planet Crafter - Planetbase - Reassembly - Rebel Galaxy / Rebel Galaxy Outlaw - Reentry - A Space Flight Simulator - SpaceEngine - Space Haven - Star Ruler 2 - Star Trek: Resurgence - Star Valor - Starcom: Unknown Space - Starpoint Gemini Warlords - Starsector - Stationeers - Surviving Mars - Tales of Cosmos - Terra Invicta - Tharsis - Transcendence - Universe Sandbox - Voyager-19

[@zimriel]

FTL might legit belong among the best. I'd shout out to Remnants of the Percursors for reminding us why the first Orion was so good, and it's free. Although maybe too close to that first Orion to count (since it is a fan remake).

[@MacVerick]

When Elite came out, I was playing on ps4p and i went through 4 tflight hotas sticks playing that game. Every ship engineered to the max, every body kit, most paint jobs.... I now have it on PC but find myself hesitant to return. Star Citizen was great for a few wipes, however I can't motivate myself to play anymore until they maybe implement some sort of ship-progression-saving through the wipes.

[@Rougepelt]

I remember first finding kickstarter in late 2012 and falling hard into its model. Within a week I’d backed Elite, SC and Limit Theory. The sense of pure righteousness in supporting these projects was tangible. Of course, it was tarnished somewhat, and we’ve all gotten wiser in the years since, but still, that feeling at the time was singular.

[@Taxi_Cab_]

Don't give up on Elite Dangerous! It's by far the best space game of all time. Just gotta have hope in FDEV to finally listen.

[@gubstorm3518]

This was a great vid. Was really glad to see some of my favorite games making an appearance here.

[@engineer1178]

Space engineers will always remain my dream game, with SE 2 exciting me beyond my core

[@dh8203]

As a fan of space games, I think there are a few titles that really deserve to be honerable mentions because they each do something special. Avorion, Empyrion - Galactic Survival, Dyson Sphere Program.

[@t-evans]

Exactly, really surprised by the lack of Empyrion mention here.

[@daxnagtegaal4369]

100% missing empyrion here, what a game! I had so much fun exploring that with two friends.. fantastic experience

[@trashcanmannn]

why is no one talking about no man’s sky? consistent updates for 8 years, free, tons of content and like just freaking awesome in general

[@dh8203]

@@trashcanmannn 6:30 Not sure what you're smoking, but maybe cut back on it?

[@trashcanmannn]

@@dh8203 i’m talking about people i’m the comments, not in the video. weed btw

[@verdisquo97_arts]

I really appreciate you mentioning broken age, that game had a great impact on me when I watched the playthrough by Stampy, it was a cherished childhood memory

[@seaskimmer]

Loved this upload! Couldn't believe my eyes when I first saw Elite Dangerous from remembering Elite from 84 it was incredible. Bit of a hard learning curve did put me off at first as to who wants to watch a you tube video by the devs just to learn how to exit a space station and dock? Once you're past that it was (and is) a fantastic game. No man's sky though has surpassed expectations easily. Me and my family are heavily into playing it again after the space station update and on top of that, the Worlds part one update, wow!

[@TheFawz]

Hope you'll take a look at Sins of a Solar Empire 2 when it launches later this month, and also Starcom Nexus/Unknown Space, as not all good Space games have to be 1st or 3rd person perspective

[@hatchimmmmm]

Dam i need to play more elite, i love the fill of emptiness, alone on space it's like therapie

[@rhyblanques874]

great video mate, thank you

[@SolidPeaks]

Rebel Galaxy outlaw is pretty much my favorite modern space game! it's simplistic enough but offers a decent challenge. I'm also VERY excited for Star Wars Outlaws later this month.

[@zimriel]

yeah it's good. i think people are still salty that it was an epic exclusive for its first year but, like, whatever dudes, just wait that year and then buy it. (that's what I did)

[@KK-fi6ms]

There are two space sims that I desperately want - 1. A single player gameworld like Freelancer - with a unique and distinct space-nations, multitude of factions, guilds, corporations, military organizations etc, each with unique locations, characters, ships, equipment, storylines, PLUS the audio-visual and technical fidelity of flying in Elite: Tedious. I thought Starfield would be it, but they completely dropped the ball on the space-sim aspects. 2. The semi-open dynamic gameworld, ship and equipment upgrading from Starfleet Command or StarSector, PLUS the day-to-day management of your ship, proper NPC officers with individual personalities and abilities from Bridge Commander.

[@CyberiusT]

Sounds like 1 might be satisfied with Squadron 42. Ehm... Don't hold your breath waiting for launch, though. Sometime next year? Maybe? If it doesn't slip again.

[@KK-fi6ms]

@@CyberiusT Squadron 42 is not open world. It will be a linear series of missions like old Wing Commander games (i.e. not Privateer). May be it will have some branching narratives. But you certainly will not be free to engage with an open galaxy like in Freelancer. And indeed. Next year is also optimistic. I do not trust in anything Roberts & Co say. They have lied too many times.

[@zimriel]

Everspace 2, Rebel Galaxy Outlaw... and some people are talking Underspace

[@Capt_CrimsoN]

You're literally describing Starfield. You stated that "I thought it would be Starfield, but they dropped the ball on the space-sim aspects". I don't see how so. Literally the only thing that stands to criticize is the loading screens between landing and taking off from planets, but like 90% of space games that even let you go down to the surface of planets have loading screens or at least transitions. Most don't even let you go to planet surfaces. Also, Freelancer is even MORE arcade-y than Starfield because at least in Starfield you have to manage your energy/power between several different systems including all your weapons (ballistics, laser, pulse or missiles), shields, engines and grav drive. Freelancer doesn't have any power management what so ever. Systems can also be crippled on your own ship and the enemies. As for the world, whelp again Starfield has what you're asking for: Space nations - Check Factions/Guilds/Corporations/Military Organizations - Check Unique locations/Characters/Ships/Equipment/Storyline - Check Open World (I'll admit that it's not particularly dynamic though) - Partially Check NPC Crew Members with individual personalities - Definitely Check And with mods, a lot of the other stuff you're asking for will come. There are already mods to do things like owning your own mining corporation, supercruise between planets (like in Elite), build colonies, own a space station, build capital ships, alternate start, and many more.

[@KK-fi6ms]

@@Capt_CrimsoN Well yes. Like I said, Starfield would have been it, except for space sim aspects "audio-visual and technical fidelity of flying in Elite: Tedious". I will check out the super-cruise mod you are referring to. If patches or mods can add other things like space-highways, flying through asteroids and space-debris, space mining, NPC companions flying alongside you in a second ship (e.g. Juni in Freelancer), HOTAS-worthy flight and combat mechanics, pirates disrupting the player mid-flight, the player chasing down pirates and smuggles, space convoys etc, it will be perfect.

[@cmdrandreyuenari4150]

I've played several different space game and I can confirm Elite: Dangerous is still the only true and best space sim.

[@Titanic_II]

Was not aware what no man's sky has become, wow! I should play this

[@MattSimmonsSysAdmin]

Needs more Kerbal Space Program! :-D

[@ugib8377]

Who else played Stars! back in the day? I miss that game, and wish I could get it to run on a modern machine (Was for windows 3.11/windows 95) Really happy to see Space Engineers mentioned here. I picked it up in early access, and it was almost unplayable at that time. Tried again a few years ago, and it was mind blowing to see how far it had come in those years. Sunk a few thousand hours into it since. It is worth pointing out that Keen built their own in house engine for the game. One that is capable of keeping track of/processing 100,000's of Kilometers of space in real time. You can stick to the planetary areas in the game, but you can also use your jump drive and lose yourself in deep space as well. They are also fairly guilty of the egregious DLC content, however each dlc get a free patch for owners of only the base game. So it's not as bad as Paradox.

[@borderreaper2833]

Cool video, thanks for doing this! I’ll have to check out X4, played X-3 way back in the day..

[@coltkimber2074]

Thanks for the video, I always love your content! I played Elite until they tossed console players in the trash. I moved over to Star Citizen and man what a "game"! I understand that SC is just a tech demo at this point but the back end tech they are developing is gonna be huge for not just space games but the industry as a whole. Wish ya would have talked a little about that. But still a great vid! Keep up the great work!

[@lumistrad]

I wish someone would make a new Descent and Descent Freespace again. Those are truly defining games.

[@sitedel]

Rebel Galaxy outlaws and Headspace; shopbreaker are great space game too. The first one is a shooter with a nice story driven background in some sort of "wild west" world. In the second one your only duty is to dismantle various ships. A new and refreshing gameplay, not so boring as it may seems.

[@jessehays]

I was 34 in 2014. Why do you have to attack me like this!!?!? 8-)

[@Tiki832]

Want I really want is some modern version of Independence War 2. To this day, no space sim I've played quite touches on all the things I-War 2 did so well.

[@Scarecr0wn]

I just wish this genre was not such utter niche. The success of Star Citizen alpha, all things considered, should be enough evidence of even us "few" space nerds can fill the pool with money if the game is what we want (or dream about at least). Instead there is like 5 medieval/fantasy/survival game released every 3 days and from time to time some indie studio attempts to deliver at least smaller space experience (thank god for them).

[@goestah]

I'm a relative newcomer to the genre. I was a teenager when ED and SC and NMS were getting hyped up and "released" (I hesitate to call SC released and NMS's release was of course infamous) and I never experienced the old era of space games like Wing Commander or Elite. It's occurred to me that the slow and steady disappointment of SC taking such a long time and ED getting semiabandoned by Frontier maybe must've been a bit like how it felt as a more veteran space gamer watching the genre get abandoned up until about 2012 or so.

[@cmdrandreyuenari4150]

@@goestah Elite semiabandoned? That's not the correct term for a game that is getting new ships and content updates as well as reworks of existing game mechanics.

[@chtulie]

Understandable that Kerbal kinda falls out of the date range as though the official release was in 15, it was in early acces in 13 and available from the devs directly in 11. Appreciate that Starfield is not on the list. Would've been nice to have some honourable mentions of 2D and 2.5D space games.

[@Tiki832]

Okay, opening up by saying "Chances are at least a few of you watching this video were pretty young in 2014" is really a bad intro vibe as a viewer. 2014 was just last week, and if anyone considers 2014 "A long time ago", then they better be keeping off my lawn and not be doing any tricktocks on my patio! :))

[@det0na904]

Getting close to my 8000th hours of Space Engineers, and don't know exactly how much, but a couple thousands of Star Citizen as well.. 😅

[@AcheliusDecimus]

SC is me retirement game, for it really scratches my immersion itch.

[@haloplanet1988]

I sunk so many hours into ED. But FD deemed consoleros unworthy. Oh well...

[@ZeratKJ]

Many of the PC players hate the performance of the space legs / odysey dlc purely ignoring it. Over time Elite got to grindy for me... I haave time, I simply lack the intrest to progress, or on a nother way .. I have a ship I like, I have no intrest in other ships, I have best equipment, There is no carrot for me to fallow

[@RadimentriX]

the way they handle the game makes it look like they deem all players unworthy

[@admiralmallard7500]

You can transfer your console account to PC?

[@AmShaedar]

Although different genre I believe that the Homeworld franchise is underapreciated in it's contribution to the popularity of the space games. Homeworld cataclysm was my introduction to the franchise and then went back to play the first one. The dynamic battles, the grand story and the epic space opera music will remain unmatched in my mind even if it the nostalgia talking.

[@zimriel]

it falls out of the decade though.

[@lennyw7840]

i wish there was as much of a selection for space games as there is for medieval fantasy games.

[@leinadreign3510]

I started elite pretty late, but befor ethe introduction of space legs. And after I played Star Citizen. Needless to say, that I was pretty shocked, how many mechanics are in elite which are only announced for SC. But most of all, I will never forget the great sound design of Elite. Cracking my first asteroid was something else. It felt powerful, gigantic. I really was holding my breath, speechless watching and listening to the sound. Also I fell in panic, when the cockpit glass broke the first time. The sound vanished with parts opf the hud and I was trying to reach a station in time. These moments are branded into my brain. I just wished the space legs where more thought through. They are just a bit strangly implemented with the teleportation out of the cockpit and obviously vr integration. For vr: I understand why they did it that way: to prevent motion sickness (I would guess). But it is still odd feeling.

[@trashtuber6021]

Not in the past 10 years, but Mario Galaxy is a really cool space game too, a bit on the whimsical side though.

[@CMDROldDuck]

My favorite in your list (from most to least) - X4 Foundations, Space Engineers, and No Man's Sky. Elite Dangerous used to be in that list, long ago, but not any more. I wish Starfield was on that list, but I'm not touching that with a 10 foot pole (maybe I'll touch it with a $10 bill if it ever goes on that much of a sale). And only time will tell if Starship Simulator will ever become a reality. Until then, my trinity of space games will keep me going.

[@peterdrysdale2602]

Great survey of space game development over the past ten years OA! Perhaps you might follow up with a prediction for the next 10 years and the impact of AI - also wonder if you considered Eve online at all? Thanks again. PD (ED diehard fan)

[@Maluband]

I still don’t understand why Elite Dangerous dropped the console players. Use to love playing it on the PS4.

[@simondaniel4028]

Nice vid. Stellaris is on my wishlist now, thanks. You ever do more history vids on space games I'd love a mention of Independence War, or the more accessible sequel. Be well.

[@efxnews4776]

Stellaris is basically X4 foundations without the first person perspective.

[@simondaniel4028]

@@efxnews4776 ah, ha ha, a 4X X4

[@efxnews4776]

@@simondaniel4028 the funniest part is that X4 is a sequel of X3

[@phrixos2826]

I have Elite Dangerous, and Space Engineers, and they are very different games, but both are wonderful. I was very addicted to Space Engineers for 10 solid years!

[@torgrim123]

Elite is by far the best space game for the past 10 years.

[@Lightfu11]

Lone Echo / 2, is an amezing space game :D

[@emotodude]

@obsidianant please try StarSector and Nebulous

[@VAL9THOU]

Surprised KSP didn't make the list

[@stevelamb9453]

Hello Games puts every space game to shame and other compaines for what they have done and never charged for anything extra is a massive talking point and should be talked about more just to prove it is possible!

[@gamingtonight1526]

One of these days you're going to check out Stellar Tactics!!!

[@demonicalpha6498]

Between all the space games I have, Elite dangerous has been my go too. I have x4, star citizen, and a few others but Elite has been scratching the itch to what I've been looking for so far. It could do with some improvements in a few departments but to me its 1. elite dangerous, 2. X4, and 3. Star citizen. Star citizen kinda does what elite has been doing except on a more immersive scale. Only thing is the amount of bugs and pushed out release dates. I played elite on xbox then move to PC when they shut down console access. I was annoyed but after picking it up on PC I'm loving the new ships and reworks I've been seeing. Walking around on planets and space hubs is always nice. X4 is awesome to me because of their capital ships you can pilot and the fleets you can make with them along with base building. These are just my opinions so far.

[@Ocean5ix]

Everspace felt a bit weird to me because the arcade controls with fast strafing made me feel like I was controlling a character in a shooter like Doom, except floating in 3 dimensions. It didn’t immerse me in space like other games unfortunately.

[@thoughtgale]

I really enjoyed Freelancer back in the day. I spent quite a bit of time on ED, which I probably should have been using for more productive pursuits and that has made me a bit hesitant to try other titles even if I did buy Star Citizen, X4, Outerworld, Kerbold etc and then not play them

[@Quecojo]

I would love another game in the Descent: Freespace series and another game similar to Rebel Galaxy, but with more mechanics to manage your crew and ship.

[@zimriel]

or you could just play FS2 with mods

[@CyberiusT]

"The Outer Wilds" is _really_ not my game. I passed on it at the announcement, tries the demo and uninstalled it, passed again at launch, and promo discount... but gave in when a friend who likes similar games as I do recommended it. Nup. It's well executed - props to the programming team - but almost everything else grates on me. Lots of other people think it's brilliant, and I'm not going to try to convince them not to - I'd just rather have a dental appointment.

[@MrPaelleon]

Damn, nobody out there seems to know that there is Empyrion Galactic Survival. It is a great game, better than most more famous space games.

[@peterf9006]

Before I watch the video, are 90% still in early access? Cuz it seems like all space games other than Elite are still there.

[@elaron2537]

Thanks for the video! The comment about games suffering from decisions made to broaden their appeal applies just as much to Homeworld 3 as the other examples you gave. Mechanics were clearly more influenced by Starcraft 2 than earlier Homeworld games, and there are rumours out there that the campaign suffered from external meddling which also hoped for that elusive wider audience. As an early Fig backer of Homeworld 3, who did so based on fond memories of the original games, and optimism based on the team that was put together for it, I was bitterly disappointed with the result.

[@Erwachsener1492]

what about freelander? Its old sure, but i think its still the king of easily accessible, comprehensive space exploration game with a pretty neatly designed universe and good storycampaign. Nothing out there up to this day rivaling it. Except for star citizen, which is still in development and will also take things to a whole different dimension.

[@SnapshotHoffy]

I agree with most that you say, but you missed one off the list that set the standard that most had to live with or better and that is EVE. Possible the best of them all and one of the most complex.

[@primusofcatarina4910]

I know I'm going to get a lot of hate for this but No man's sky is awful as a space game. It's great at a lot of things, from planetary exploration and procedural generation to base building but not space. The combat is as basic as it gets and outside of shooting meteorites it's the only thing to do. Space only exists to go from point a to point b. Freighters and space stations all have a forced loading sequence, which after playing Space engineers and Empyrion just feels fake. Ships also have no interior (static freighters don't count). The trading economy is a joke since you can fast travel so easily with portals, which makes trade runs with a space ship pointless. I still love the game but the space part is by far the least enjoyable aspect of the game.

[@efxnews4776]

@@primusofcatarina4910 as someone who love Empyreon I understand where you criticism is coming, but let's get real, neither Empyrion or SE can match NMS space exploration, Empyreon gets close, but still years behind in several technical points. SE is even worst, because it basically lacks the exploration part... So maybe, the point of NMS is precisly the exploration... Seriously, nothing beats to find the top of a mountain in NMS and simply stop there to admire a breathtaking view. Is almost something spiritual when you find out that perfect, and look at all those stars a night, knowing that they are all under your reach (more or less). Believe me i play more than a thousand hours of Empyreon, and i know how this game play, it's strengths and weakness...

[@CMDROldDuck]

Actually that's a good point - NMS really isn't a "space" game, it's more of an infinite planet game (infinite planets made of the same dozen biome types and Mr Potato Head parts). Though mods do help with the "space" side of the game.

[@chrisstokoe3169]

Hello games really do show u how to fuck it up and put it wright better than anybody well done to them we as a consumer don't mind mistakes and failing as long as u learn from it

[@johanmaasing]

They lied and mislead consumers at launch. I did certainly mind that they took my money and still have not delivered what they showed as ‘game footage’ back then.

[@NoOneFPV]

Starfield is fun, but I'm not a fan of uTX crap. As a general rule, I won't buy "cosmetics" and I won't buy a game that incorporates "Pay 2 Win" mechanics either. Nor will I buy into games that are just a re-hashed cash-grab like ARK Ascended. But I did/do enjoy Starfield and X4 is one of my favorite space games of all time. Squadron 42 and Star Citizen though... I played the original Wing Commander series back in the day and I loved them. I can't wait for SQ42 and SC to finally be released in their full glory! I have to laugh at all the people that have been crying "SCAM" about those two games... Those cries are dying off finally as SQ42 and SC are coming closer to actuality. Few are still shouting "TECH DEMO!" from the rooftops. And No Man's Sky is one of my favorites, too. I also like Space Engineers. Many of the games on this list I already have and have played a lot of. Stellaris and Outer Wilds being notable exceptions, though I intend to pick those up at some point as well. Great vid! Cheers!

[@bigbangerz5856]

VR was the big change for space sims and Frontier were ‘at the Frontier’, but instead of pushing that innovation they fell back on mobile game design mechanics and used Elite as a cash cow to milk the easily impressed space grandads who think 1080p graphics is a revelation 😅

[@cmdrandreyuenari4150]

Wait, Frontier has to earn money? THAT'S INSANE!

[@bigbangerz5856]

@@cmdrandreyuenari4150 treat your customers with respect or find out... share price is what 10% what it was in 2021?

[@cmdrandreyuenari4150]

@@bigbangerz5856 Giving away their work for free all the time doesn't make it better.

[@commentarytalk1446]

I thought we'd have a 'Combined Arms' Space MMO by now x10 the size of WOW at it's height ! Oh well. A few games have got close eg Star Citizen or Dual Universe but imho both seem to be keeling over under their own over-scope reach eg the former "Fidelity" and the latter "Voxel Magic". I was imagining Guilds flying around in fleets and bording space stations or deploying ground assaults akin to the Ice Battle on Hoth back in 2012 ! What happened??

[@NuBOrn21]

I agree, it never took off for some reason

[@efxnews4776]

Perhaps X series is the hope for this type of gameplay.

[@KK-fi6ms]

StarSector should have been on your list. It is better than most of the games on your list.

[@renwynoutcast]

With the dropping of all console support the least ED could do is open the darn permit locked areas for console. Its not like anything is happening or will ever happen in those areas for us.

[@stevenkies802]

$700 million and nothing to show for it but a buggy Alpha. It's crazy; that more than most games earn in sales.☹

[@festersmith8352]

If people put there wallet where they enjoy, than it kinda says something about how the released games did in meeting expectations doesn't it. The buggy alpha raising more funds than any released space game.

[@stanleyclark923]

And they've done more to push gaming/server technology than all of those games together x10.

[@4DCResinSmoker]

Over monetization is killing gaming

[@purefoldnz3070]

The fan remake of Tie Fighter should be on here as well

[@zimriel]

there's ... a fan remake ... of Tie Fighter? omgomg Right: I looked it up. It's on the X-Wing Alliance engine (also 90stastic, lol) with the XWAUpgrade. I need to do this!

[@purefoldnz3070]

@@zimriel and its amazing! Probably the best space sim out there right now.

[@Capt_CrimsoN]

@@purefoldnz3070 I mean technically that's a mod. Not necessarily a game.

[@Trigger200284]

What I wouldn't give for a new Star Trek Armada game...

[@evan-du3vk]

Elite is the only game I like from those you mentioned. It's pitty that all space games are just exploration games right now. They made space shooters in to Minecraft. And there's no game on horizont that can change that. It's so sad .

[@valorin5762]

I think one factor that messed a lot of things up, is the idea of the "Everything Game". Us, the players want it, and developers are struggling to deliver, but of course it's never enough, because the "Everything Game" is a dream. "But back in Frontier: Elite 2 we were able to land on earth-likes!" which consisted of flat green surfaces with mixed-in blue surfaces. Would be just a little more work to create those in a game today, just like so many other details given you want a certain level of realism. No Man's Sky for example went for fantasy space, completely ditched the idea of realism, also went for comic graphics, and _that_ worked. Still no Everything Game though, Hello Games at least definitely made the game _they_ wanted. I'm under the impression, other developers lost focus of that and tried to run after their player's Everything Game dreams and kinda got lost. I also think that's where a lot of criticism comes from. Like, there's no seamless landings, real ship controls and the like in Starfield. Which is an RPG. We can't land on Earth-likes in Elite. Which is an insane amount of work and effort to get that right realistically. We can walk now, but we all know how that turned out... Star Citizen still didn't release. Yeaaah... "Everything" takes its time... and so on. I want the Everything Game! But more than that I actually want games that feel like they know where they are going and what they actually want. I still love Elite to bits, but I rarely play these days, because the content they keep adding doesn't cater at all to what I like in Elite. I want exploration, they deliver combat. Same problem with focusing on only one area in an Everything Game, but when they still tried to cater to all, no one was satisfied with what they got.

[@efxnews4776]

@@valorin5762 it is a impossible dream though? To me all you have to do to make the perfect space was just mix No Man's Sky exploration with X4 4x empire building economy and that would be the perfect sim.

[@valorin5762]

@@efxnews4776 yes, you just throw it into a pot, mix well, and poof, all those worlds in NMS translate to a realistic version needed for the X universe, presented with realistic physics for systems, planets, tides, if it applies, foliage, with that biomes and everything a realistic simulation of life on another planet needs. To be honest, X4 wouldn't be my choice here, but rather Elite Dangerous or Star Citizen. At least those already come with planet terrain, and Elite with close to realistic astronomic simulation. No Man's Sky works because it's not a sim. It's a fantasy space comic game which doesn't need to account for realism and astro physics at all. I wouldn't want anything from NMS in a half realistic space sim. I wouldn't even start comparing NMS with Elite or SC in terms of Sim content. Sorry, but you sound like game development was some kind of shake-and-bake process, and I think that kind of thinking is part of the problem and unrealistic expectations.

[@efxnews4776]

@@valorin5762 like i said this would be the perfect sim TO ME... What i meant isn't even the procgen of NMS, X4 doesn't need a quintilions of worlds, but what i meant was more like a game that combine 4x strategy with space exploration. Doesn't even need to be a whole galaxy some 10 or 15 star systems with possibly to add more via mods or dlcs. Add the possibility of the player build structures both on planets and space, maybe a custom made HQ to serve as a personal base for the player, add so good FPS ground combat and see the magic happens. If your perfect space sim is different well, that is with you...

[@valorin5762]

@@efxnews4776 yeah, that's the other thing: for _you_ that would be it. For me not so much. For others it's another mix. It's just so many moving parts, it can't be perfect, especially not for all players. I for one would want to continue where elite started: the simulated galaxy as close to realistic as possible with tons of nerdy space stuff, science, exploration, landable planets and all... BUT since I'm not the only player, others want their combat, their aliens, their BGS, their powerplay, their whatnot. Things I completely don't need. Thing is, that this is part of the Everything Game problem.

[@festersmith8352]

Its proven that we players do want the the most realistic "Everything Game". And are willing to pay for it. Its also proven that it is not as easy as we players expect it to be. Only one studio still seems to be trying. And that studio has never forced players to spend more for that expanded effort.

[@andymehmet8206]

didn't star trek bridge crew get d listed ? or was it only d listed on ps4

[@GödekeMichels_72]

Star Citizen has been released? Google help me. Ah probably the often unstable tests stuff they are doing. Pew.

[@yourdonefor4454]

as a current player of the game it has not been released. currency is still aUEC. ALPHA united earth credits. They have not announce the actual release

[@GödekeMichels_72]

@@yourdonefor4454 Yea was already worried reality was unravleing. These are the truth we know: 1. Politicans lie. Always! .. .. 42. Star Citizen is in development. Always!

[@viniciusfranciscoxavier4957]

X4

[@mike605]

space games go back long before 2014. game called free lancer and others from back in windows 8 and 95.

[@zimriel]

ObsidianAnt is well aware, bro, he's so old he might even have personally met a Yuli before the Dnyarri got 'em

[@hardwire666too]

I just started the video but I was compelled to say this. You can't blame yourself for being wrong about stuff that we were all predicting back then. We were all hopeful, but a lot of developers have dropped the ball between then and now. FDev being one of them. Just about every space game has failed to reach target at this point with the exception of a very small few. Point is we all thought things looked promising for the future of space games. We had no way of knowing that the majority of them would end up the way they did and it blows my mind how many people have failed to nail down the genre.

[@festersmith8352]

It tells me that our expectations are a lot harder to develop than we thought it would be. With most studios just giving up.

[@MrTotalNiceGuy]

Surprised KSP didnt make it in.

[@MrJack556]

1: Elite Dangerous 2: Elite Dangerous 3: Elite Dangerous 4: Elite Dangerous 5: Elite Dangerous 6: Elite Dangerous 7: Elite Dangerous 8: Elite Dangerous 9: Elite Dangerous 10: Elite Dangerous

[@stevesgaming7475]

I will always have very fond memories for Elite, Frontier and even First Encounters but ED nope. I did drop a ton of money on the kickstarter but I stopped playing ED something like 3+ years ago now and I have no intentions of ever returning.

[@MrJack556]

@@stevesgaming7475 Reasons?

[@antyteistapolskix3275]

​@@MrJack556cm on its a waiting simulator😢I never play online only solo why I have to waste my time in cockpit doing nothing!! Elte 2 frontier resolved that with the speed time option! That's my reason it remain uninstalled till it will be fixed.

[@bedner23]

@@MrJack556 Because SC is more fun. There is a reason Elite lost a majority of its playerbase. And this is coming from someone who has 400+ hours in elite on PC

[@efxnews4776]

@@MrJack556 Elite is boring, it's bleeding players to SC, NMS and X4 for years now, and frankly, i suspect that every fan like you of ED probably never played one this other sims, or you wouldn't be such fan of ED, if you had played one of this 3 games...

[@9255223]

Darn it, I’m a recent subscriber and every time I watch one of your videos my wallet and my Steam/GOG backlogs cry…

[@MichaelLesterClockwork]

Star Citizen still only in Alpha after more than 10 years....

[@pingwrx]

That game what a joke didn't they start there kick starter back in 2012?

[@kjvail]

I love ED but I only have a PS 4 atm. So ED is playable, but it never updates anymore and they don’t support it .

[@shadowcub5751]

Lol we're getting Space Engineers 2 before SC is out of alpha.

[@chrisstokoe3169]

Lol yeah I was getting on a bit

[@richardshearer3041]

Elite is still the best. Hands down.

[@TheSkyHawkMT]

Best Star Trek game is Bridge Commander... I can't believe we never got a sequel... if you have contacts you should tell them about it... but I think there's a whole mess of who owns the rights to star trek, and bridge commander game... WE NEED A BRIDGE COMMANDER SEQUEL!

[@raptordoesyoutube107]

My favorite space games were dreadnought and fractured space. I loved that they were easily accessible to players that wanted just capital ship combat. Kind of like world of warships in a sci-if setting. But the former got shut down and the latter was bought by Wargaming then shut down. Damn Russians ruin everything…

[@NULUSIOS]

I still don't understand why you don't make chapters (I think you attempted once?). Is it something to do with views or what? Anyway, just a comment.

[@ObsidianAnt]

Chapters generally improve views. The reason my videos often don't have chapters is super simple. I nearly always forget about them. I will add them to this video later today, thanks for the reminder.

[@jymcaballero5748]

all this games battle simulations are WW2 simulators with the skin of space

[@chrisstokoe3169]

Yeah hello games did the unthinkable the changed for the better alot of game companys could learn from this

[@Napalmdog]

I think when you said Star Trek: Bridge Crew you really meant to say Artemis.