The Top 10 Space Simulators of All Time

Original Elite in 84, Freespace, Freelancer, Starlancer, Star Wars, X series, X wing & Tie Fighter. these older games paved way for SPACE SIMS and general space games back in ~ 90s and now with Star Citizen, Elite Dangerous, Kerbal space program, No man's sky and many many more coming out It's time to look at the 10 BEST, most influential and IMPORTANT space sims, space flight simulators and space combat games!
Timestamps:
00:00 - Start
01:45 - #10
02:50 - #9
04:26 - #8
06:38 - #7
08:27 - #6
10:12 - #5
11:22 - #4
12:15 - #3 & #2
14:55 - #1
16:45 - Honorable mention
#SpaceSims
#SpaceSimulation
#SpaceGames .
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[@bowser515]

Freespace 2 was an amazing game! And it's been heavily modded by lots of dedicated fans. You can play it today with modernised graphics etc and I recommend everybody does. You can even go further and play it themed to several other franchises including Babylon 5 and Battlestar galactica.

[@NovaDragon]

Honestly an honorable mention has to be Space Engineers, if you get on a serious server you can really enjoy a simulated universe, the one I am on even has lore

[@spsam8333]

How do you find good servers

[@NovaDragon]

@@spsam8333 Just like everything, word of mouth, I do recommend Stone Industries, it has a lot of weapon mods, shields and some custom NPC that are quite powerful, including multiple servers where you jump between them using the jump drive.

[@maxwellhawk]

Yupp. I think so far it's the best for today. You not only explore universe, but u can design everything. However I must say there is quit a few things that game is missing.

[@williamvorkosigan5151]

Playing Elite back in the day, it was such a relief to finally be able to upgrade to a Docking Computer. That Mail Slot was very scary.

[@SophiaAphrodite]

Upgrading to a docking computer that takes up space on a ship. ED computers are as powerful as a high end cell phone. It can't manage: resources, docking, dropping out of supercruise, entering an atmosphere, landing on a planet, orbiting, mining, picking things up in space, Orbiting to use a scoop. Current cars can manage more than ED ships.

[@williamvorkosigan5151]

@@SophiaAphrodite I was talking about the original game. It took up nothing. It was an upgrade that you bought with hard earned credits. Going through the mail slot was a scary scary moment in the original game. Were you going to manage or loose yet another cargo?

[@CrazyYog]

I totally agree. Docking a scary proposition in the original Elite!

[@denmanfite3156]

Proud T9 pilot with no computer assists.

[@williamvorkosigan5151]

@@denmanfite3156 That's great. In 80s there was the Cobra or you could use the Cobra, you upgraded it with Credits only. I had an A4 piece of paper with cargo routes, what prices where. Was always a wonder if I was going to smash in trying to keep the correct spin rate of the post box with the arrow keys. It wasn't that much bigger than the Cobra.

[@RGMS_]

Damn, freelancer is so nostalgic, i still have it saved on my secondary drive, i think im going to play it again sometime

[@garethhughes4437]

I have to throw a vote in for Frontier: Elite 2. My mate and I spent days playing that on the Amiga back in the day. Whilst I appreciate the original Elite, the fact that Frontier did it all with colour and allowed planetary landings too blew my mind!

[@wearecoterminous]

I adore the colour palette of that game

[@garethhughes4437]

@@wearecoterminous It was great wasn't it? Considering it only ran in like 16 colours, it was crazy... now i want to go and install frontier again...

[@Shrapnel1337]

Voted

[@leebarfoot9603]

Came here to say the same, fantastic game.

[@scfan7231]

Same here, but on PC. It was my first Elite game, and it really is an overwhelming(-ly good) sandbox.

[@henrikd.7529]

Good old Freespace, followed by Freespace 2. And then today, we have the glorious guys over at Hard Light Productions and the FS-Open Team modding the shit out of the original source code.

[@brodriguez11000]

I remember Freespace as the game great for generating vertigo.

[@DasIllu]

X4 tickles me in all the right spots. The Interface is very complex, but you can do so much stuff with it, and once you get a hang of it you wouldn't want it any other way.

[@Doomblade3890]

Honestly I never understood the hate of the user interface. I really didn't have all that much issue at all with it.

[@repatomonor21]

@@Doomblade3890 It overwhelms newcomers and if you are not invested in the game right away, it will drive you away. I’m a long term fan of the X-series, hell, I even work for them now, but the same thing happened to me with X-Rebirth. It just detered me from playing.

[@ClassyJackBF]

Loved Freespace and Freelancer, they're both among my all-time favorite games.

[@JeremyD986]

Chris Robert’s Privateer 1 & 2 imo made a big impact and were the precursors to Freelancer and what followed. X-wing Vs Tie fighter was in many ways ahead of its time. Multiplayer over LAN or tcp/ip was still pretty new with games when it released. Not only did it feature those options but it also let player co-operatively play a campaign together. Typically if a game even had multiplayer features back then, it was simple death-match with no ai. Unfortunately the game was also balanced in a way that it expected multiple live players and did not scale up or down on difficulty. Thus some missions were near impossible to play solo or with few players unless you memorized all the triggers and spawns.

[@jamespfp]

I was a total fanboi for XvT; even with the crappy internet speeds of the time, the multiplayer aspect gave a big boost to player-organized Clans / Squadrons, including worldwide competitive play in things like "Week of War" (which was hosted by/on Battlestats Dot Com until 2012). And yes, Privateer was definitely the high-water mark of Chris Roberts' "Wing Commander" beginnings.

[@MichaelPohoreski]

It is pretty crazy that Chris Roberts has had a hand in _Wing Commander, Privateer, Strike Commander, Freelancer,_ and _Star Citizen._ X-Wing vs Tie Fighter is a classic. I wonder if there is a HD mod …

[@samaitcheson7057]

Frontier: Elite II was the game that started my interest in the genre. I had an Amiga at the time, and there were plenty time sink titles around, but Frontier was so huge in scope, had a physics model, a flight model, impressive graphics, procedural generation and was truly immersive. The game moved the Amiga hardware into new territory, from simulating arcade games, into a platform capable of running simulation games. X: Beyond the Frontier deserves a special mention for updating the core elements of Elite for newer hardware, and demonstrating there was still a market for Elite style games.

[@Rigel_Chiokis]

Just a heads up; Frontier is the name of the publisher, not the game. You were playing Elite II, not Frontier. :)

[@samaitcheson7057]

@@Rigel_Chiokis Nope. Sorry but you're wrong - the publisher was GameTek. The game's title was Frontier: Elite II.

[@VonDrinkoften]

I have fond memories of Wing Commander 3 back in the day with Mark Hamil and Malcolm McDowell doing proper acting scenes. This was mind blowing to me at the time. But, my all time favorite, and the one that got me into space sims, was Elite 2: Frontier. I spent countless hours on it back in the day on my trusty old Amiga and was THE core reason I picked up Elite Dangerous when it released. How they managed to fuck it all up as they have done today is just beyond me? Anyway, cool reflection video Yamiks, cheers for posting 👍

[@grittynerd]

I'd say modern openworld live service games are like tissue paper too. That repeatitive game loop waiting for possibily something different coming soon from the devs to be excited again. The thing is that with a linear game you could really shelve it and move on, with these modern games you struggle to drop something because you really invested so much time in it.

[@bogdangrigore89]

Ah Freelancer. My first true love of this genre of games. A cliche of a story but very well told and fun. Mediocre mechanics but very finished that were actually enjoyable to play. But my oh my did it have excellent voice acting and great cinematics for a game from that period. I played it for years, even in multiplayer, it even supported mods. I miss you Freelancer.

[@CaptPatrick01]

Frontier First Encounters fit the entire Milky Way on a floppy disk. Evochron is made by a lone madlad with infinity spare time. Freespace 2 has some of the best written stories and mods I had ever seen. Avorion is a fully procedural 4X game with player-designed voxel ships and looter-shooter mechanics. No Man's Sky has quite possibly the biggest comeback story in gaming history. Star Trek Online is space-WoW that makes you feel like the lead actor in your very own Trek series. KSP gives you a slice of what NASA has to deal with every day. Tie Fighter makes you feel like a badass ace. So badass that even Vader quakes at the sight of you. Tachyon: The Fringe is *BRUCE MOTHE-------G CAMBELL* nuff said. Vega Strike "We have Freelancer at home." _Freelancer at home:_

[@ficklef0x]

Seems no one has even heard of the Evochron series of space sims. All made by one very dedicated dude. Evochron Mercenary is what got me hooked on the space sim genre. It had seemless planetary landings, even on planets with atmospheres long before E:D even existed. Maybe one day @Yamiks will make a comparison between Elite's and Evochron's gameplay features ;)

[@marcelgregorik3477]

exactly, Evochron, especially :Legacy is one of the most immersive and engaging space sims.

[@KK-fi6ms]

@@marcelgregorik3477 How can it be immersive and engaging? It is a hollow empty gameworld that will put Elite Dangerous to shame. It is commendable for a one developer project. But it is not a good space sim.

[@marcelgregorik3477]

@@KK-fi6ms Well, it is your opinion, you have right to have opinions. As well as I do. I've spent 500+ hours in the game, so I guess it's pretty immersive for me.

[@KK-fi6ms]

@@marcelgregorik3477 Yeah and some people have spent 500+ hours in Candy Crush. That does not mean anything.

[@marcelgregorik3477]

@@KK-fi6ms It does mean that people like different things. If you don't like the game, it's your business. For people who like it it's their business. As simple as that. Nobody is obliged to have the same opinion as you.

[@CdtFabio]

Descent 3 was my first true video game. Freespace 1/2 had me fall in love with space Sims. Now we have squadrons that brings the arena style space combat to life. Elite brings the feeling of being in space that freespace had but with no objectives but the ship customization of starsiege. Yet, none of them bring it all together. I'm still waiting for the one space sim to rule them all. Maybe that will be star citizen?

[@ThePlayerOfGames]

Independence War 2: Edge of Chaos is an excellent space game for it's immersion. This isn't going to make the list, but I feel it's very important to mention I appreciate SC & ED being level pegging, the discussion as to which is better could be endless but functionally neither one is greatly a good game right now If you want to try the lovechild of Elite and the X-series try Pioneer which is on Linux storefronts and also has a Windows version

[@edgepixel8467]

IW2 should have been on the list. How is Pioneer?

[@Hot4Darmat1]

Excellent points. I have always been a huge fan of the I War games too

[@minstakatten9023]

Freespace 2 deserves better than that. Great controls. Great story. Varied missions that made sense and felt important. Still very much playable and even better today because Volition released the source code for everyone.

[@DJMavis]

32k. Those guys were geniuses. Elite was my first game addiction.

[@horseteeth6139]

Loved it on the C 64

[@HitoriL]

For me, the only space sim mentioned there was Kerbal Space Program, and its mine top #1 in my personal list. It is a game where you need to be aware of gravity slingshots, orbital mechanics, pilots passing out by high g-force and also it has mods that makes it even more real (real life/size solar system, rockets and fuels). Heck! there is a f*king mod which includes space radiation that can kill your "kerbonauts" if they're exposed in space for too long...

[@Alitlittlehedgehog]

Freelancer was the crack that started the itching for a space sime for me. Used to dream about it when i was a kid.

[@bluesy22]

Good to see some love for Freelancer. ❤️

[@icaleinns6233]

I think you pretty much nailed it. I remember playing Elite back in the day, and it was AMAZING!! I absolutely hated the mail slot, a docking computer was a MUST.

[@UkDave3856]

being in my 50s, i remember all of these. I was in highschool when i first scored a bootleg floppy of Elite, and I was hooked

[@duncanwallace7760]

The original elite was mind-blowing for its time! It was super hard as well (at least until you got docking computers), and I played it a LOT as a kid. I agree it deserves number 1 spot.

[@luranta]

It ammuses me greatly imagining flat earthers playing space games. heh.

[@Tallenn]

I spent SO much time in Freespace. It was the game that introduced me to space sims, having been a big fan of the Descent games, which often left me with a neck ache. For some reason, I couldn't help moving my head to look around the corners as I was navigating the tunnels in those games. Descent: Freespace captured my attention so much that it's the reason I didn't start playing Everquest until January 2000, even though I had played in the 3rd beta. I was just too much into Freespace when it came out to even notice it had released.

[@firstlast5350]

DARKSTAR ONE is a very decent effort which, sadly, tends to be overlooked.

[@bluelotuslandscapes]

Oh, I had that on XBox 360. Disk is probably still in a drawer somewhere. It was fun, not super complex or hard though.

[@firstlast5350]

@@bluelotuslandscapes 'not super complex or hard though' I would suggest that many of the best games are easy to get into. Also you've to cockpit view and on the pc you can use joystick.

[@masterofthelag8414]

Ah, yes I remember that one. I was a big fan as a kid, loved the flashy looking mc ship and the way it evolved as time went on, though was always a bit sad you couldn't switch to any of the other ships and it was definitely a bit basic.

[@firstlast5350]

@@masterofthelag8414 'I was a big fan as a kid' Clearly you are not an 'oldie' :) It is nice also that the game runs really well at 1920 x 1080 on modern PC unlike some of the older games mentioned by OP.

[@FizzyPop]

I'll throw my hat in as another person who enjoyed Darkstar One. My older sisters boyfriend got it for me as a birthday gift when I was in high school. Was my very first space sim. Was disappointed at the time that I wasn't able to step out of the cockpit and shoot at stuff since the guy on the cover is carrying a rifle but I still enjoyed it.

[@DaveMcRee]

One of your best vids yet, and perfect number 1.

[@syphonfilter9588]

Honorable mention for galaxy on fire 2 for being one of the few space sims on mobile/tablets, and remaining free to play without gating its content behind a paywall. Well, you get an entire campaign free of charge, sure there's a player purchaseable station that takes literal weeks of grinding or your credit card number, and they made a DLC campaign with more stuff, but neither are necessary to the enjoyment of the main story.

[@sethhancock40]

Never played it on mobile, didn't learn about it until it was put on Steam, and then I obsessed over the game all through the main story. The story was great, the ships are amazing, and the range of content (for a game originally developed for mobile) was pretty fulfilling for what it presented and how it was handled.

[@trakkerp4202]

I feel old hearing Eve Online called a dinosaur, but then again I've played the game off and on since it came out in 2003. Still have most of the older games in this video in their original boxes too. I'm looking forward to seeing what the newest from Bathesda is like when Starfield hits the market in November this year and what other companies are going to have in reply.

[@NecroBones]

One of the ones that was the most influential on me was the game called "Starflight" from 1986. It was remarkably forward thinking, and the first one that I'm aware of that had procedurally generated planets. It set the stage for another excellent one, Star Control 2. But they're a little different because they're not cockpit simulators, but rather top-down view space adventures.

[@Sneemaster]

Starflight was one of my first space games. It was amazing for what they managed to do on one floppy disk.

[@jamesalec1321]

Starflight was first for me too. Hard to believe that was almost 40 years ago.

[@vertisce2845]

I am just here to see if Line of Defense or Battlecruiser made the list. No? Ah...didn't think so.

[@RedWingPixy]

Fun fact elite is a prequel story with protagonist before Elite Dangerous

[@BlackSilver23]

Wing Commander was amazing, back in the days of the 80286-80486 PCs. The game that really got me hooked on the Space-Sim was Freelancer. My friend and I put countless hours into that game (IMG all the way). I played a bit of Elite Dangerous a few years ago, but these days I've actually been spending quite a bit of time in No Man's Sky. 👽

[@gamertherapyconsoleyoursel5804]

Amazing intro on this one. You've outdone yourself.

[@TsvetanVR]

I realised I had forgotten all about my sci-fi/space game love (apart from Mass Effect series) a few years ago when I found Star Citizen and Elite Dangerous. Then I remembered the fun I had playing Freelancer and did another playthrough. I was really sucked into SC especially throughout the first lockdown, got fed up with it in a few hundred hours and switched to ED. A few hundred hours into ED I found out that you can't really do anything in multiplayer if you don't spend 1000 hours engineering even with the best fully A-rated combat ship and went back to SC. Serious and roleplay org gameplay kept me playing for a few thousand hours, 4-digit USD "backing" and a couple of years until recently I got really sick of CIG/Chris Roberts constantly lying and milking their backers (many of them brainwashed to believe that this is the way) so I rarely bother to start the game anymore. Then I watched a stream and finally pulled the trigger on X4 as (no idea why nobody covers this when talking about X4) flying a ship/fighting seemed really fun. And I still enjoy it. Even coming from SC and ED combat can be really, really fun...and dangerous. Especially when you start feeling too brave in Xenon space or Jump Gate invasions. It's actually tougher and much more intense to fight X4 NPCs than most players in SC. :D

[@KK-fi6ms]

The best space sims regardless of their age (i.e. not cutting any slack to the likes of Elite 1984 just because they were made for calculators) - 1. Freelancer: Story, characters, large and diverse roster of ships, variety of missions, interactive NPCs, space highways, good balance of grind vs progression, distinct factions and locations that offer unique content, focus on what matters most i.e. space flight, combat, trading instead of FPS, industry or other nonsense. All these elements have never come together again in any space sim since 2003. 2. StarSector 3. Tachyon: The Fringe 4. Independence Wars 2 5. X3 / X4 ... Everything else.

[@TimBraithwaite]

Shout out to Warhead on the Amiga and I-War (Independence War 1) to which that game led. Massive star-jumps forward for the genre in terms of Newtonian physics, immersive sim elements and story.

[@sethhancock40]

I would probably have put in an honorable mention for Rebel Galaxy. The original one I mean, where it was focused on Capital Ships and naval-style warfare. Yeah, the range of content was fairly limited, but when you really stop and think about how it was developed by such a small group it came out amazing. The number of ships and module types, how many different systems we got, the procedural generation that always gives a random layout for the stations, planets and junk/asteroid fields in each system, plus the factions and reputation system, it's honestly a good game, and I go back to it more often than I do Outlaw, which was...a *semi*-decent successor, but has unfortunately been abandoned and left somewhat unfinished and with unfulfilled promises by its lead programmer and company CEO who decided to go into Audiobook Narration, of all things.

[@edgepixel8467]

Audiobooks, huh? Interesting trivia.

[@TangomanX2008]

Star Raiders had key mechanics of space sims as far back as 1979.

[@Shrapnel1337]

My first space game Time Gate - on the ZX Spectrum 48K .

[@sim.frischh9781]

For me, TIE Fighter was what started my space sim love, later i went to Privateer 2 The Darkening, the first X - Beyond the Frontier and had some other titles i played with friends. Like that Star Trek Starfleet Academy sim where we flew against each other in a local network. Tachyon: The Fringe, Freelancer, Starlancer all found their way onto my harddrive at one point. Independence War left a deep impression on my, i played both the first and the second. And while i skipped the first Decend Freespace until much later, i played the everliving crap out of the second one. From the Wing Commander games, i only played 3, 4 and Prophecy, but X-Wing Alliance was one of those titles that kept me bussy for a loooong time. Even played Colony Wars on the PlayStation a little. Later, the X series games got my attention again, with the X3 Reunion pack that had all the DLCs included, only for me to play it through and immediately go for X3 Terran Conflict, at which i stayed for a long time as well.

[@matrusdoubt6696]

I'm positively surprised by your list. I was just searching the comments for keywords like Independence War or The Darkening and found this. My beginnings were identical to yours up to the point of Star Trek Starfleet Academy. I'ts good to see a all the titles I would have listed in a familiar chronology :) The most influential space/sim game would be, in my guess, one of the early Star Wars ones, like X-Wing or B-Wing addon with deathstars. Since Star Wars movies already amazed a big audience, the games allowed everyone who had a PC to experience that then very magical world in interactive ways. The cockpit and it's functionality were highly useful in a 3d-space-sim and the feeling of borderless freedom was given. That imho is already enough to be qualified as a milestone in space-sim progression, with such a huge consumer- and fanbase. Even though for me the most captivating was X Beyond the Frontier, which made me want to be able to land on planets and walk around. (The UI... ye... it is non-intuitive, but it gives you a ton of options that are not found in other space sims. I rather have more options with less userfriendlyness than be restricted to a handfull of options that are all stylized and colorful. A combination would be nice, but if I had to chose, I'd always go with more controll. While Independence War made me want to be able to walk around in my ship and use some sort of planetary map, or walk and get into the mobile turret. Independence War II was good, too. More from the aspect of having a freighter for a base that you can upgrade and dock your ships in, and of being open world.

[@sim.frischh9781]

@@matrusdoubt6696 I´m born 1979 and thus had the chance to play many of those titles when they came out, however overall my portfolio is rather humble as i did not play THROUGH all of those games.

[@CrazyYog]

I used to play the original Elite on my Commodore 64 when I was in college back in the late 80s. It was such a great game, as there was nothing quite like it. I played the heck out of Tie-Fighter when it came out. To this day I still think it is the best space combat sim. It was so much fun!

[@Cythrawl102]

Fun fact: The C64 version of Elite featured "Trumbles" that were based off Tribbles from the early Star Trek series. You would get a special mission that would off you to transport 1T of Trumbles, and just like the Tribbles they would multiply and would eventually see them on your screen moving around and would keep multiplying until your ship exploded.. Or you flew close to a star to kill them.

[@andreasp1098]

For me, it's TIE Fighter, it was just a joy to throw your TIE Fighter around and the dogfighting was so enjoyable. Added to this the mission design was really nice, there was much more variety compared to its predecessor X-Wing. There was also a really nice overall plot and some wonderful tech you could play with in the later stages. I'd also give a shout out to the much maligned Frontier First Encounters. I missed the boat with Frontier because I didn't have a PC powerful enough (or an Amiga) but I liked FFE despite it being incredibly buggy.

[@RickRobinsonDonnellan]

Freelancer is greatly underrated in this list. When I speak to most space sim fans, they always compare any new game with Elite and Freelancer.

[@tomitiustritus6672]

I don't think Freelancer is underrated. The game is treated like a myth from the dawn age by many. It's almost as it is held sacred by space game people. To a degree that i am shy to admit i liked Starlancer more.

[@anonymousphone9706]

Yup, as I grew on Space Sims, my heart will always be with Descent Freespace, FreeSpace 2 & Wing Commander 3....If only we would know whatever happened to Admiral Aken Bosch...

[@drewwagar]

Good list. :) Can't argue with that.

[@AnotherDoomerWeeb]

As a wing commander fan, I know where my heart lies. However the default answer of FREESPACE 2 is valid, purely from a modding perspective. Also I will never stop being salty that Babylon 5 Into the fire was cancelled.

[@privacyfirst2790]

No "Colony Wars" or "G-police"... My childhood thumbs its' nose at you sir.

[@Piombo65]

I loved G-Police.

[@privacyfirst2790]

@@Piombo65 part of the rare genre of games that had an actual grown up story.

[@Piombo65]

@@privacyfirst2790 I played the sequel (Weapons of justice). I should try the first one. But yet my copy is so old that can't load the final cutscene and some audio is missing. I have to re-buy that for my PS1

[@privacyfirst2790]

@@Piombo65 i know what you mean. every copy ive seen for sale was so badly damaged it wouldnt run, i dont own the games or even a console to play either on. I find it criminal neither came to PC, would have been so moddable and the audience would have been LARGE.

[@Piombo65]

@@privacyfirst2790 ah....... So are you saying that every copy that I want to buy online (and yeah, there's who sells it) is heavily damaged?

[@mgerlicki]

I'm disappointed that Privateer wasn't on the list, I think it really should be. The reputation system alone in that game was fantastic, an open world that you could 100% ignore the entire story, and really no limits to how you wanted to play. To me it's a foundational game of the genre.

[@ankhmorpok1497]

Was just thinking that. Privateer had better more complicated ship controls that Freelancer. Also opponents matched with the player as they skilled up. None of the systems were blocked in-game. If you went into adangerous system as a nhoob player, you paid the price.

[@aliensuperweapon]

As I really came into Gaming playing TIE Fighter, my fondest memories always were with the flawed Freelancer and even mor the Freespace 1 and 2. Hardly were I could young me know that that when I arrived, the Space Opera Genre was already on the leave. The immersion in the epic battles between Freespace 2's capital ships and the dangers of the escort missions through the endless void are nothing but a memory now, a gap that nothing since then could fill. ;-;

[@drdisconnect-za]

I played Elite as a kid, it was very difficult but a lot of fun. That was the game that pushed me in to space games since then.

[@ShinobiFox1980]

I'd always liked Flight Sims, Space Sims were a logical extension. I played through X-Wing, Tie Fighter, X-Wing vs Tie Fighter, Wing Commander 3 & 5, I couldn't get too far in Privateer despite my best efforts. But I did really well in Freespace when I got my hands on it. Then, the space games kinda just disappeared. I picked up Elite: Dangerous when I was unemployed in 2014, loved it but gave it up when I got a job again. Star Wars Squadrons brought me back despite my now apparent loathing for what Star Wars has become. But then while I was waiting for my friends to come online, I started playing Elite: Dangerous again. My old ship was there waiting, a Type-7 I was using for trading. I grabbed it and traded my way up to the Type-9. I got my friend into it and we went mining in Pythons all the way up until Odyssey. Last Friday we reminisced about it and we asked the question, "Why didn't they just add more ships and game depth? As opposed to investing in a terribly designed set of space legs."

[@thecrow4631]

What got me interested in space sims or just space games in general was a mobile game called Galaxy on Fire 2. I dont remember when it came out but it was when mobile games were actually decent. It had a reasonable (if a little short) story, which was expanded on with 2 DLC stories. It's not the best space game out there but it's where I started so that's something.

[@ankhmorpok1497]

I'm still playing GOF2 HD!

[@TheAfallon]

Space Rangers is a space sim I replay every few years. It's and old space sim most of you probably never heard of but for its time it was really good and to this day has an active modding community.

[@DartLuke]

I wouldn't call it space sim... But I agree the game is amazing. Endless replay options, live universe... BTW i recommend Star Control 2. It is open source(free)

[@flare242]

I would love to go back to playing Elite. My last E:D binge was during the LTD mining rush around Fleet Carriers release. I commited to the grind. Approached Elite like a second job, and made billions. Got a lot of ships (because i HATE the way ship upgrading works, i bought multiple ships of the same type and kitted each version for combat, exploration and mining respectively). Some of them are fully upgraded and engineered. Some of them aren't. Then the LTDs got nerfed and i badly needed a rest anyway. Since those days, i got a headset, upgraded my PC and reinstalled OS (twice). I wanted to try VR, but there was some bug that prevented me from doing so, so i do have E:D installed, but i found out that none of my control bindings survived. The VR finally works, but just thinking about having to ONCE AGAIN go through the torture of setting up hundreds of control settings triggers a massive headache. Maybe i'm gonna push myself to rebind everything when i get a better Hotas. My entry-level Thrustmaster T.Flight X definitely isn't up to the task. It's BARELY sufficient for stuff like X-Plane/MSFS. There's just not enough buttons.

[@roomtemp6374]

Honorable mention for Independence War 2... It was story driven but there were things to do in between the story missions to improve your chances for the next one. And it had a good combat flight engine for the time. Newtonian (FA off) strafing down the side of the megafreighters with your cutting beam and turning the jump gate zone into a big pile of loot and swarm of angry police was good stuff. :-D

[@Hot4Darmat1]

The I war games were absolutely favorites of mine too. Thanks for bringing them up.

[@aerohead02]

My 2 cents, X3 series (not rebirth), Privateer 2, Freespace, and maybe not so much the same gender but I’m going throw Homeworld in there too. Spent big buck on a pentium 90 computer in the day just so I could play Wing Commander, a big step up in graphics.

[@dcsignal5241]

Snap, I did the same thing and yes, I'd definitely put Privateer 2 high on my list.

[@TheAfallon]

I personally never had any problem with interface in X games. Probably because I played X2 and all that followed since I was like 14 so I just grew up with it. And I also played Eve Online for a bit too so that is that.

[@bluelotuslandscapes]

X:BTF and the first view games were fine. I played and enjoyed them. X3 the UI and controls just went ridiculously complex. Never really got into any of the X3 games because I just couldn’t figure out the controls. Keep meaning to try X4 but still a little put-off from 3.

[@methamphetamememcmeth3422]

@@bluelotuslandscapes Really? The controls were fine for me.

[@XiaNaphryz]

"TIE Fighter and X-Wing goes into the history books as all-around solid games for the time" this is a severe understatement...several people and publications had TIE Fighter in the running for best PC game of all time, regardless of genre, even well after the game first came out.

[@maxjohn6012]

Sad to not see Novalogic's "Tachyon: The Fringe" from 2000 on this list! It was a really solid, well-rounded and fun game.

[@agonyaunt6325]

Agreed

[@SophiaAphrodite]

Yes, great to have Bruce Campbells comforting voice. Loved that game.

[@netshaman9918]

Don't forget the "Evochron " series too.

[@Dissillius]

loved Tachyon was a great game

[@tomitiustritus6672]

"You're hearing Tachyon News Network. Bringing you the news faster than light... literally!"

[@Thiniking]

Thaks for the video. I hope you make a new one on the same topic, but with a bit more meat. Maybe taking tehm individually and give some more evaluation based on the pillars of a space sim (I know you have some vids on some of these already). Alternatively, you could take 3 at a time and go into the details on what they nail agains the pillars of a space sim, and what could have been done differently to bring them to A or S tier.

[@thatchris1626]

Avorion is great, more people need to play it

[@ArtEM-41]

Galaxy on Fire 2

[@TimBraithwaite]

Good shout for a mobile space sim, but too derivative to be a landmark title in its own right.

[@FfbeEXVIUS]

Xwing vs tie fighter, freespace 1+2, those are the high points of the space sim genre.... with a 2nd place going to wing commander, wing commander did the cinematic story telling better then most which is why chris roberts was well remembered. The mark hamill cutscenes and starwars fans adored hamil and that is really what cemented Chris roberts ability to get money for star citizen.

[@jamespfp]

11:45 -- RE: KSP; Ya know, the real distinguishing feature of this program is not the space-flightsim (which, don't get me wrong, is quite fun) but the "bottom up" approach given to Engineering, prior to trying to successfully launch anything.

[@drink15]

Did no one play Independence War 2? It’s like ED with a full story.

[@TimBraithwaite]

I did indeed. And before E:D I’d say it was still the benchmark for the genre. Yamiks, your opinion of that (and I-War) please. 🙏🏻

[@Hot4Darmat1]

This would have been my personal #1. I loved these games.

[@dskpnk]

Elite dangerous for now is the best multiplayer space sim you can found on the market, this game is amazing

[@nevyns9285]

my first space sim was Frontier: Elite 2, it was amazing. Elite Dangerous is insanely ambitious, they built a 1:1 scale GALAXY!!! i really wish they had allowed the player base to make stations and planetary/moon bases and really make the galaxy alive with the spread of humans throughout it.

[@voidempire2174]

This should be the space - sim list by non space sim gamers. Seriously I have no idea who would agree with this order… you have a lot of the right space sims… but I feel that order pleases nobody lol

[@Rigel_Chiokis]

I didn't come upon the Elite franchise until Elite II, which I was playing on my Amiga. It was a great game! X-Wing was a favourite of myself and my nephew. Wing Commander and it's sequels were just, hmmm, painful is the kindest word I can give them. I do have an Eve Online account. "Play any way you want", unless it's as an explorer then you have to have a paid subscription. But if PVP combat it your whole thing, then Eve Online is the place to be because that's all it is. I haven't played No Man's Sky or Star Citizen and I likely won't. I play Elite: Dangerous and that's everything I want (for now). I will admit I've been tempted to try Kerbal Space Program.

[@edgepixel8467]

I will mention Hardwar as an older space game any fan should try. And Independence War 2.

[@TimBraithwaite]

Independence War 2 was still the benchmark, IMO, until Elite: Dangerous came out.

[@edgepixel8467]

Amadeus Productions My one issue with it is it was rather linear and mission-based rather than free-roaming. And you couldn't "really" trade; instead you clicked in a menu and stuff was delivered to your "secret" base. The worst part were some puzzle-like missions, where if you didn't do the correct sequence of actions that the game expected you to do, it wouldn't work. Everything else was brilliant.

[@TimBraithwaite]

@@edgepixel8467 Ah, the discolouration of memory through rose-tinted spectacles. Yes, those aspects were not its highlights. I’m currently replaying I-War (Independence War 1) and loving that. For about the fourth time. What are your top three space sim games?

[@edgepixel8467]

@@TimBraithwaite My top three? Damn. I didn't play all the great ones, so my selection is biased. It's also "nostalgic" in the sense that I rate the games based on the impression that they made when I first experienced them. Top 3: - 1. Elite (on Sinclair Spectrum) -- Totally blew my mind on what a space game could be on that machine. The rest were either vertical or horizontal 2D shoot-em-ups, or clumsy 3D attempts that played like shit. It ate countless of my hours. It's also first in my top 10 Spectrum games. - 2. Independence War 2 -- (Almost) everything I could hope for in a space game at that time. Pretty close to perfection. Graphics, audio, immersion, story, mechanics, combat, lore, UI, attention to detail, it was really great. The moment you entered the ship, and heard that engine whirring, HOLY JESUS FUCKING CHRIST! -- No game to this day has managed to top that excitement and adrenaline rush. - 3. Freespace 2 -- I actually played some Freespace 1, but on its merits, I have to acknowledge the second game. The rest: - 4. Elite: Dangerous -- It has its slew of problems, but delivers something that no other game does. - 5. Frontier: Elite II -- Saw this being played by a friend and it simply looked awesome. - 6. Tie Fighter -- Same as #5. - 7. Hardwar -- An unknown British game, plays in a series of craters on a moon of Saturn, but is an updated Elite in a small, nice package that really packs a punch. It also has things Elite dreams it had. Trade, Combat, Story, Intrigue, Aliens, Immersion, Emergent gameplay. A cult classic, really. - 8. Freelancer -- Despite some jank, it's a really fun game. - 9. I played some Frontier First Encounters much later; I enjoyed it some, but I really hate the in-station UI. It overall has much less visual flair than #5, which still looks good to this day, in an ageless retro way. - 10. Homeworld -- It's not a sim, so I added it to the end of the list. But as a space game, it's legendary.

[@TimBraithwaite]

Yes, seeing Elite playing for the first time (Left view, parallax stars, watching a Viper banking away into the void) pretty much flipped my 11-year-old mind. Then owning it and reading the novella… then skipping lunch and activity afternoons at school to play it for hours. Reverence. Great callout there to Freelancer 2. They nailed dogfighting and capital ships in that one (although earlier memories of buzzing a Star Destroyer in X-Wing were wonderful too for scale). Frontier Elite 2 was incredible but I found it too hard to get into at first; ended up playing it 12 years later on an Amiga emulator while commuting to work and loving it. I also played quite a bit of Freelancer on those journeys and got into that. Tie-Fighter… STILL haven’t played it but have downloaded a mod to give it updated graphics, so I’ll bump that up the list. Homeworld… ah, that was sooo immersive I dreamt about it the first night after I played it. Just wonderful, but quite he’s towards the end. I think I slightly prefer Cataclysm because you can control the mothership and use additional tactics too (although ship capture wasn’t as good). Heard of Hardwar but never played. Going to give a shout out to Warhead though, which was Glynn Williams’ hit on the Amiga before developing I-War. Very much an early blueprint for what was to follow. More recently, I have enjoyed the aesthetic of House of the Dying Sun and the simplistic fun of Rebel Galaxy Outlaw. But those aren’t space sims or near the top of the list, so I ought to Stay On Target. The upcoming Kerbal Space Program 2 looks appealing, as does In The Black although that’s multiplayer only and I highly doubt I’ll find anyone to play that. I hope Elite: Dangerous picks up again; had some wonderful moments in that. Here’s one other retro space game to close on for now: Star Trek 25th Anniversary. Okay, it’s a Star Trek TOS sim, but I love it for that. And finally, do you remember an early Spectrum game called Knot In 3D? It was 3D Snake in 360-degree space! Okay okay, really not a space sim. But it gave us a glimpse of what would follow… :)

[@Insanerobert44]

One of my teachers and my mentor for Master's Degree actually admired Kerbal Space Program for it's fidelity in physics and mechanics (minus it's childish aspect and lego-ish structure of course).If it would have been more realistic in aspect and design, KSP would have been chosen for my work to model a space rocket launch up to orbital insertion. An can be MatLab-supported (a mathematical programming tool used for physics simulations and programming)!

[@dixievfd55]

The X-wing and Tie Fighter games were developed in house at LucasArts which was part of LucasFilm.

[@big6rw]

Nice nostalgia...good to see xwing make the list....loved that game

[@moffin25]

Cant belive you didnt mention StarControl II.. great list thought.

[@typhonplume9374]

I honestly would have put Space Engineers on the list, as it is often compared to Kerbal in it's own way. It's also thing for being able to design your own ship form the ground up and have issues with how to run materials and the like make it a more unquie standout to me then other space games.

[@ShaighJosephson]

Eve Online is still the space game that I enjoy the most...but unfortunately, Pearl Abyss bought it and they've been trying to monetize it away from the player-driven economy out of greed...

[@ranger_8717]

Maaaaan, is Space Engineers not considered a space sim? And what about stationers or Astroneers, not honorable mentions?

[@vonbleak101]

Frontier - Elite 2 was a game i spent an unholy amount in when i was young... Also i think Wing Commander Privateer was much more a space sim than just Wing Commander...

[@in-craig-ible6160]

9:39 "Baby's first space sim" Lol XD

[@mark7895]

Freespace one and two best spacegames ever. You can play it today with better graphics. Thanks to the modders for support this great games. You are the best. 👍👍👍

[@kaiserjoe2316]

I have fond memories of the Colony Wars games on Playstation. Maybe not Rising Sun so much.

[@garethhughes4437]

Colony Wars was excellent, helped along by the voice of James Earl Jones too! Great game

[@RoadrunnerGaming-sc5xg]

Elite was the true first that set the bar for years to come. Wing Commander was the first space combat game that had a good storyline and what really set it apart was replay ability, the replay ability was fun because there was usually more than 1 way to complete a mission or fail the mission and that outcome could send you down different paths. Both games were groundbreaking for their time. The best space combat with storyline would have to go to the original Homeworld Trilogy and its sad that we lost Cataclysm in the rerelease and remastered of 1 and 2. I also had a blast playing Freespace 1 but due to my work and a large gap in my gaming time for some of the newer games I can't say. Star Citizen had just come out when I had to put down gaming. I had a chance to jump into EVE but with their updates and changes I lost hundreds of hours and billions in ISK and ships not to combat just simply erased so I'm a little bitter. Starfield I won't play due to the inclusion of woke BS like pronoun selection and transgender main storyline NPCs. Good content honest review keep up the great work

[@JonatanRaven]

Freelancer is one of the greatest games in this genre

[@cjcounts15]

An open-world space sim with no man’s sky’s exploration and Minecraft or space engineers level of creativity would do well. Traveling across the galaxy exploring unique space stations and planets while still having the option to make your spaceship 100% your own would be amazing instead of having pre-generated starships like the ones in no man’s sky or being limited to one solar system like in space engineers.

[@WayneRoberts72]

I personally believed you should've added Stellaris, which is a space empire game with an ASTONISHING amount of detail, though it can get a little complex and the tutorial is definitely a little bad, but damn is it GOOD, it also had a similar story to No Man's Sky, it also has an immense amount of empire customization, meaning, you're not limited to just tyrannical stupidity, or good ol' democracy, but you can be a machine intelligence with bio-trophies, or a devouring swarm, or an aquatic species with organic star ships, not to mention the customizability with the fleets you make, though some technologies are redundant

started on Elite on a euroPC with CGA screen. Loved it. loved the wing commander storylines as much as independence war's (too hard for me). Today I have elite that I never play and NMS that is my comfort game but where I feel I don't go anywhere. Eve Online got me hooked for 3 years, but then I started thinking that I was "playing" more with excel just like I did at work. Gave up. still go back to see the evolution, but not having a team kind of kills it. love the genre, but I am still to find one that fits my gameplay... maybe star citizen is the thing when support and salvaging is around... for now, I don't want to spend 1.5k on a computer to play an alpha.

[@jezus22]

Except star citizen I played in all games that you mentioned. I think you also should mention Independence War 2: Edge of Chaos and very difficult game series starting from battlecruiser 3000ad

[@laszlobalog2615]

playing ELITE on C= Plus4, load from tape WHITOUT saving possibilities!!! short circuit after 24hours gameplay was SO FUN!!!!!!!!!!!! that was the true gaming times.....

[@darkestfugue]

after i abandoned elite dangerous i switched to no mans sky, but i couldnt get into it, perhaps i will give it another go in the future, however i did have quite a bit of fun with rebel galaxy outlaw, its a charming little game without the grind of elite dangerous

[@Hot4Darmat1]

Thanks for such a great video. I don't disagree with your list and your analysis is good, even the honorable mention. However, I need to add another honorable mention: I have a huge soft spot in my heart for Independence War (and I-War2:EOC). It is a true space sim that drew me in and captured my imagination for a few years.

[@Neks0ns]

Eve isn’t only a space simulator. it’s a marketing + sovereignty simulator as well 🤣

[@slavic9069]

I got X2 when I was 14ish. Trying to figure out how to play it, made me learn English, so this space sim was most influential for me personally.

[@ketam1ne381]

Parkan: The Imperial Chronicles ? anyone?

[@leinadreign3510]

Space Nerds in Space would be a good mention

[@redsable6119]

I can't believe the amount of money and time that has gone into Star Citizen without them releasing a finished game.

[@swagginmcjaggin1078]

No love for orbiter. That game was insanely hard but also incredibly realistic and rewarding

[@edgepixel8467]

Kudos for mentioning Orbiter.

[@stuartnow9]

I played Freespace 2 multiple times. Plus the voice acting from Robert Loggia just sucked me in.