ULTIMATE SPACE SIMULATOR TIER LIST - Best and worst space ship games ranked!

[@TheYamiks]

First 50seconds = silence! Thanks YT ContentID...i hate you too! Freespace 2 fans : after playing the game a little on stream.....OK FINE... I agree it's more than MEDIOCRE. It's INTERESTING (in a good way ), but I still feel it has way too many "BUTs" to put even in GOOD tier, but it's close!

[@mr_nate8911]

classic youtube being a dickhead

[@jacobwrigglesworth7140]

50 seconds alone with my inner demons was too much. Curse YT!!

[@Rathat11]

i spent 20 min thinking my headphones where broke again. im ether dumb or over reacting. prob booth

[@erroneousbosch]

You included Star Raiders and took me right back to being like 5 years old and playing it on my family Atari 800. Thank you!

[@efxnews4776]

You forgot one of the most influential and popular space games ever made... And don't came to me saying that it doesn't count, because you add Redout on your list... You forgot Star Fox.

[@raubuhn4354]

Honestly that Freelancer rating hurt. I know I look at it with rose tinted glasses but i still come back to it now and then, and think it stands up pretty well to its contemporaries.

[@thijsjong]

For its time it was great. I loved the soundtrack. The storyline was ok. And I had to apply some pretty outlandish tactics to beat the game. The flying and spacecombat were ok. Kind if repettative. I think it was because the a.i. of you enemies all behaved the same. If they had more variety in spaceships and a.i. behavior it woupd have deserved top tier. The space nations were a space USA, a Space Germany, a space Britton and a Space Japan lol. Maybe there were more. I dont remember. You could maneuvre in 3d but all lications were located in a 2d grid. So it was a 2.5 D experience. It had potential but they dropped the ball on a few things.

[@raubuhn4354]

@thijsjong I think that's the point. For it's time it was pretty stellar. The universe was well conceived if a bit simplistic, the mechanics were fun abs the 2.5D as you put it mechs helped the game feel polished. It was beautiful for it's time and as you say, the music is fantastic. It's a game that stands up quite well as they did a good job with the very limited hardware available.

[@yellownomadglitch3309]

I always come back to Freelancer to play it, be in a server with mods, mods or just doing the campaign yet again for fun, I mean my pfp speaks for itself and my username as well. I personally find it the best space game, the only one that I played so far that could come close are the Everspace games. Both are very well made. For being a 2003 game and standing up to those 2 for me is surprising, Freelancer overall has a whole had a lot of potential, Discovery Freelancer vastly expands on that Universe, but beside that I don't feel it makes much improvements to the actual game like I would want to see, but it has been a long time I even played it...

[@exodore2000]

Freelancer is one of my favorite games of all time, I love X3 Terran conflict too.

[@Cyphax55]

Me too, Freelancer was the first game of its genre that I actually played and enjoyed (E:D being the second) it is pretty accessible and playable because the controls are pretty decent. It's very unfortunate it can't be bought anywhere today (other than used).

[@KubratTomov]

Damn it, Yamiks. Putting X3 in mediocre and having not playerd starsector?! What are you on, i want some. Saying you love space games and not having played starsector is like being a virgin p*rn actor.

[@koopanique]

FreeSpace, mediocre? Wow, I feel attacked. I only discovered FreeSpace as a late teen in like 2010 or something but it really blew me away. Sure, I was raised with X-Wing vs Tie Fighter so I guess I was already somewhat "used" to that kind of space sims but calling FreeSpace mediocre is bold to say the least. It wasn't revolutionary. Sure. So what? Can't a superbly executed game be anything above mediocre if it's not revolutionary? Can't it be "great"? FreeSpace is a floating camera because you're a ship floating in space. That's such a weird comment lol. FreeSpace has great mechanics, great narration, great setting with a great enemy, extremely enjoyable gameplay, great ship designs with all 3 factions being visually distinct, I don't know how it could be classified as merely "mediocre".

[@Adonnay76]

100% agree, Freespace was easily one of the best of its time!

[@warc8us]

Freespace was excellent, there was nothing that matched it in terms of scale and grandiosity at the time. The Mission Editor was excellent, commanding your squads worked well, the large battles felt impactful, the capital ships felt huge. Even simple shit like escorting a frigate class ship felt good. Freespace 2 took it to the next level. In my opinion its crazy to consider it mediocre. My only thought is Yamiks must not have actually played Freespace and Freespace 2 when they came out.

[@zimriel]

Freespace is best experienced with Freespace 2, modded with FSOpen, then loading up the FS1 mod.

[@Falsechicken]

But aren't you a pilot in a ship floating in space? My criticism of games like that (where you are just a camera and a hud) was that I feel like if a game considers itself a simulation then I am so much less immersed when my viewpoint is like my head is detached and mounted on the hull lol. Even Descent 2 had a cockpit. The gameplay in FreeSpace 2 is top notch though if you like combat.

[@koopanique]

@@Falsechicken Yeah I agree that the lack of cockpit in vanilla FreeSpace has always bothered me

[@_Jay_Maker_]

I was a Beta Backer of Elite: Dangerous. I didn't regret my support and to some extent, I still don't. The flight mechanics and combat are _still_ unsurpassed in the genre. But boy oh boy did Frontier screw the pooch.

[@KajuTheRudeMonke]

Although I was not a Beta Backer, I fully agree with you. The flight model and combat is A-mazing!

[@efxnews4776]

You know what... The problem of Frontier was trying to compeate with Star Citizen, when they should have tried to compeate with No Man's Sky (and even Chris Roberts it's trying to copy NMS in some ways). By focusing on implement the features of Star Citizen Frontier failed to realize what their game was trully about... Is not about flight mechanics or physics,neither a plot about war with aliens, it was the exploration, the discovery... NMS is very cartoonish when you look at it superficially, but no way it doesn't have depth, or good gameplay... The only aspect that Elite should have copy of Star Citizen was graphical realism and the ship interiors. All the rest they should have copied from NMS.

[@efxnews4776]

You know what... The problem of Frontier was trying to compeate with Star Citizen, when they should have tried to compeate with No Man's Sky (and even Chris Roberts it's trying to copy NMS in some ways). By focusing on implement the features of Star Citizen Frontier failed to realize what their game was trully about... Is not about flight mechanics or physics,neither a plot about war with aliens, it was the exploration, the discovery... NMS is very cartoonish when you look at it superficially, but no way it doesn't have depth, or good gameplay... The only aspect that Elite should have copy of Star Citizen was graphical realism and the ship interiors. All the rest they should have copied from NMS.

[@robl6291]

Elite Dangerous has left so much potential on the table it hurts. I shouldn't be mad after getting thousands of hours of fun out of it, but, it COULD have been so so so much more.

[@efxnews4776]

@@robl6291 you should try to play X4... I have 5k hours playing X4 and I don't regret any of then. By the way, X4 is another game that would benefit if have some NMS in its DNA too... The difference to ED is That what X4 can do great, it does great...

[@disabledchatzen5276]

Saying Avorion "isn't good" makes me question everything else about this list.

[@calluxdoaron1903]

Pretty much entire list is subjective. Elite is on the same level as Oolite just because it's precursor is subjective, while objectively Oolite, Frontier and Dangerous are objectively better in visuals, capabilities and gameplay. Also Rebel Galaxy Outlaw is inferior comparing to RG original.

[@SpaceiumGames]

X4 Foundations is actually REALLY enjoyable. Probably my favorite on this list, not only does it have a LARGE variety of ships it also has so many different features that give you a feeling of true freedom. Here's a short list of things possible in X4 Foundations. Trading, Mining, Combat *of course*, but where it really begins to shine, Ship Construction, Custom Station Construction, Fleet Management, Supply Chain Management, System Claiming & Faction Creation, and there are plenty more I didn't mention. X4 Foundations is hands down the best if you want something that offers a good balance between depth, freedom, and complexity/simplicity.

[@Bullminator]

1.0 sucked tho. Took them a while to fix the game. My biggest complaint is that you have to get dlc to be able to genocide borons again.

[@efxnews4776]

@@Bullminator they have the faster traveler scout ship of all scout ships...

[@efxnews4776]

@@SpaceiumGames X4 IS hands down my best space game of all time. If they mix X4 with NMS, and add streaming radio (like Eurotruck / American truck simulator), it would be pretty much the best space game ever made.

[@Khrenan]

Yes and the controls dont suck as Yamiks said. The default setup maybe, but they are fully customizable. And its only a menu simulator if you wish to be as time efficient (meta) as possible for multitasking. Otherwise you can do almost everything yourself.

[@flowstategaming-c2t]

@@efxnews4776 This, man. SOOO this.

[@filip1117s]

about freelancer... it was one of few first games that had characters with real eyes ( eyes were separate objects )

[@totallylegit4092]

X3 is mediocre? Good lord mate…it was awesome.

[@Khrenan]

Yes and i did play for story too. X lore is wonderful and goes deeper than the game lets you know on the surface.

[@Twistshock]

Especially Albion Prelude

[@GodDemis]

Freelancer's fast paced combat and fluidity is unparalled even by today's games.

[@CTE-6000EagleVeryHeavyFighter]

Yes, nothing has ever come even remotely close

[@Capt_CrimsoN]

​@@CTE-6000EagleVeryHeavyFighter Why does everyone always say that? There are a TON of Freelancer clones that have improved on the formula. Starpoint Gemini, EverSpace 2, Spacebourne, Rebel Galaxy Outlaw, No Mans Sky and even Starfield (I actually enjoy it, sue me). Freelancer's impact was bringing the space combat trading genre to the "mainstream". In the sense that you didn't need a flightstick to play it. But that's really all it did and yes I have wasted countless hours in it and even have it on CD (with a pristine looking box). Freelancer isn't a bad game, but I definitely feel like too many people overhype it.

[@lihkan]

@@Capt_CrimsoN Starfield combat is extremely superficial, with extremely limited weapon loadouts, progression, and builds (I actually also consider myself fan of Starfield, but come on)

[@Capt_CrimsoN]

@@lihkan I was more referring to the space combat and trading aspects as I firmly put Starfield in this category. It's something of a hybrid RPG. But Starfield is what I would have imagined out of a 2023 Freelancer.

[@RealDieselMeister]

Freelancer was awesome and for that this whole video got a negative rating from me. Alone the thing with freespace and freespace 2.

[@Al-ny8dr]

What is truly missing from this list, is one of the biggest debacles in gaming history. It was called Battlecruiser 3000 A.D. How that game ever even made it into a box was astounding. For a few years, popular gaming magazines had an advertisement for it. It was always a scantily dressed woman being told you were too busy because you were playing this game. When it finally released, is was more horrifying than No Man's Sky was. Not only was the game virtually unplayable and buggy, but even the game manual was buggy. The game manual upon printing had a letter (I believe was an "L") mysteriously replaced globally with a semicolon, which made the manual nearly unreadable. Created by a single developer, with the last name Smart, clearly wasn't. It was pinched off and released in 1996. It was truly a steamer that would leave Randy Marsh of South Park jealous. It simply was the most painful game I ever tried to play.

[@TheYamiks]

OH that one. I saw that name appear here and there but since it never really appeared much elsewhere I kind of skipped it!

[@Al-ny8dr]

@@TheYamiks Haha. Awesome video again, btw. Love your stuff. Being a gamer as long as I have, since I started with the Atari 2600, goes down in my gaming history as the worst game I ever tried. The way it was marketed made it stand out as a truly remarkable bomb. "Not right now, darling. I'm too busy flying my Battlecruiser". LOL. Seriously. That's when people still actually read magazines.

[@JohnMichaelson]

@@TheYamiks There really aren't words for it. Dev Derek Smart is as infamous as the game itself. It was the original Star Citizen in many ways, promising absolutely everything imaginable while ending up with practically none of it functional.

[@ericlanglois3782]

@@JohnMichaelson It truly was the very definition of "wide as an ocean but deep as a puddle."

[@bblvrable]

I remember BC3000AD. And its insufferable developer Derek Smart who could not accept criticism from *anyone* despite it being pretty much universally agreed-upon that his game was trash. I'm guessing Yamiks didn't bother because it's in the same category as Dai Katana, where it's mostly well known because of how absolutely trash the game is, and how absolutely out-of-touch with reality its developer was.

[@michaeltorresii5248]

Freespace? Mediocre? Bruh what. That's a HOT take.

[@AlcomIsst]

Hotter than a Capellan supernova.

[@Leon_Portier]

IKR, its fantastic

[@snakepitskeleton4193]

It is arguably one of the best games ever made and i firmly believe that it still holds up very well nearly 30 years later

[@tl7338]

You rank freespace mediocre because it came out at the same time as Half Life? Have you even played it?

[@Daneoid81]

No cockpit view automatically made it unplayable.

[@WanderAbroad-pq5ph]

He probably played it as much as he played Freelancer. He had the audacity to call Freelancer trash and rated it even after stating he pretty much had to be forced to play it. I get the idea he barely scratched the surface before he exited and dunked on it. The fact the only scenes he showed were of the very beginning zone suggests even more he never even really played the game.

[@theinternetknows]

Was he even born yet? Kids…

[@StarsectorEnjoyer]

Starsector, hell yeah.

[@JackGreenwood-k5m]

Only one I’ve played, so I’m definitely not biased.

[@_Jay_Maker_]

Starsector, hell yeah. Starsector plus mods... HELL YEAH!

[@mathers000]

you'd better not be hiding any AI cores

[@jenathan76]

@@mathers000Heggies, go home!

[@xanoric]

Freelancer was the foundation of so many amazing games. Loved it. Needed to be in a higher rating.

[@WanderAbroad-pq5ph]

Some have gone as calling Freelancer the father of modern space games. Yes there were other fantastic games before it but it truly marked a pivotal point and many modern games still lack Freelancers ability to make something so immersive and complex yet keep it simple enough to be enjoyable. So many space games have a demanding learning curve that wears me out.

[@jb94103]

Freespace 2 has a dedicated hardcore fan base that is still at it to this day, making new campaigns. They've even done SDK revamping of the game with modern graphics, scripts and physics. Blue Planet alone is S-Tier!

[@TheYamiks]

yep saw it. however still some clunky stuff remains hard. Still mad props to FSO folks !

[@zimriel]

imo FSOpen is the only way to play FS1, also.

[@complover116]

Many X series fans to this day regard X3 as the best games in the series. I understand that you haven't played it thanks to the label, but it's pretty wild seeing the best space empire building game in existence all the way up until X4 got good (which wasn't too long ago!) in "mediocre". Feels like you didn't even acknowledge that in X games you don't just control a single ship, that's not the point of the games at all.

[@Unsound427]

Average people: Did you know cracked caffeine is bad for you? Yamiks: Lets make 62 space games reviev in 1,2h 👍 If you stare at the abyss long enough, the abyss starting to shoot you back..

[@friendlyspacedragon7250]

I have to disagree with Freespace 2 being mediocre. Especially since you ranked Chorus as good for the same reason as FS2 was mediocre. First, I admit having some nostalgia goggles for the game. That said... It's a really solid game. Sure, it didn't add anything technical that wasn't done before but it can still be a good game. You can compare it with Boltgun as a recent example, it's a boomer shooter that is just so good you don't care if it doesn't have anything technically new. The plot and the missions were well done and memorable. I haven't played it in a decade but still remember a lot of the missions like the one where you come out of a jump gate looking at an accelerating capital ship in a face, or the one where you travel through a nebula with Actium and Lysander, or activating the Knossos gate. It did polish the usability features to a great level with targeting controls and objective tracking and the like. Yes, some of those did exist in the previous games too but they did take what worked and improved upon it. Graphics, audio and soundtrack were all good for the time. Big ships broke off in chunks as opposed to vanishing in an explosion and beams burned through the hull after a delay. The soundtrack had three levels of intensity for the track that played during a mission and would seamlessly switch to a more intense version when in combat. And the game served as a significant if not the preferred platform for space combat mods during the great space game drought. Maybe I should replay FS2 again at some point and see if it is still good or has the same happened to it as Half-Life 2 where it's still good but all the modern games have the features that made it special at the time.

[@Goober5000]

It's still really good. And the release of the source code has allowed it to keep pace with modern games. Take a look at all the mods that have been created for it - not just the graphical upgrades, but the stories as well.

[@efxnews4776]

Is a solid good game. What it's funny is that Freespace 2 make a decent success and it's still remembered as a good game. Chorus is just a cheap copy of Everspace 2, it is simply mediocre.

[@XenonLxx]

Isn't it a bit unfair that post-release free updates are not taken into account when you talk about X Rebirth, which got way way way better thanks to updates after release, but when it comes to Elite you take updates into account and downgrade it and you put X4 higher because updates improved it? Yes, rebirth was trash at release, but literal years of updates have changed it into a pretty good game. Shouldn't that at least be mentioned?

[@ridhwanrayramadhan3411]

agree, especially being able to use drones to plant bombs and using remote control torpedoes to cripple capital ship modules, those were pretty fun mechanics

[@RDD756]

he put SC in S tier i don't think he really cares if it's not his favorite franchise. it's very good ragebait

[@Magnumaniac]

Star Citizen needs its own tier - T for "Tech Demo". The fact that you could rate it above fully released and excellent games such as X4 is laughable.

[@ikkeheltvanlig]

Idk about that, it's a really good experience these days, actually more fun than many good games. I'm not saying it's better than X4, but I have more fun with it than with X4

[@MikhailRomantsov]

@@ikkeheltvanlig Totally agree. And it gets constant updates. Yet I can still agree with "Tech Demo" label because they mainly focus on visuals rather than actual gameplay. And they do that probably because they want to sell Starengine more. We, as backers, want the game to actually be a game, instead of being constantly stuck in this visual direction.

[@Khrenan]

Ye, i agree. Calling it a game is too generous at this stage. Im a backer btw. But i dont wish to experience a shitshow of bugs in a feature incomplete tech demo that i paid for. Ppl ingame told me to Alt+F4 to fix some issue i had. They werent joking or being rude. It was the genuine way to fix it.

[@LandsOfDespair]

I guess that it even should not be in any rating, being basically a scam. And yes - I have "played" it.

[@rafaelgoncalvesdias7459]

Scam citizen 😂

[@im_piano]

Wish you did include Empyrion Galactic Survival. It's like a different version of No Man's Sky with a very different aesthetics and feel, but overall interesting.

[@moonraven8394]

Empyrion is more like a middleground between NMS and Space Engineers. Ok when played vanilla and pretty good with the Reforged Eden mod.

[@WanderAbroad-pq5ph]

ding ding ding! Shocked he missed that but then he seemed to miss a lot.

[@mikewaterfield3599]

I’m surprised you ranked SC that high. I walked away with all the bugs and server wipes.

[@TheYamiks]

S tier is not the highest ranking!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@mikewaterfield3599]

@@TheYamiks eh fair, plus part i guess is personal taste. SC is ambitious as hell, no question there. Part of me feels like it is stuck in Beta Limbo.

[@Cynry]

@@mikewaterfield3599 I wish it was in beta man... But even that is still years off.

[@mikewaterfield3599]

@@Cynry ambitious, no question. Hard to objectively judge something that is not complete for good or ill.

[@FlameSoulis]

Hmm... I wouldn't group FreeSpace with Descent. That's like grouping Duke Nukem Forever with Duke3D... I threw up in my mouth a bit just typing that. TLDR: Descent plays more like an arcadier version of FreeSpace, but in a tunnel system and pioneered a more refined 6DOF movement system. Seriously, look up the joysticks made almost EXCLUSIVELY for the game. That also said, jesus christ, that game series is HARD. You'll love it!

[@Chordonblue]

At 58 years old, I suppose I have to be the torch bearer for the older space sims. Star Raiders: I was 13 years old when I first saw this game in 1980. You HAVE to put things in perspective here. A fully 3D space sim at a time when the far more simplistic 'Space Invaders' and 'Asteroids' were all the rage. This game stayed on the EG's top 10 list for YEARS until Electronic Games folded. I begged my parents for a computer for a while at this point - but that game? That sealed the deal for me. I wanted to make my own games, and if that could be done, maybe I could program something myself. I had my Atari 8-bit in the spring of 1981 - with a copy of this, of course! Rescue on Fractalus: The best version was on the Atari 8-bit, developed by Lucasfilm Games. My God, you have NO idea what a shock this was. Star Trek II (which featured a fractally generated moon sequence), wasn't even a year old and this game arrives with real time fractal terrain generation. Is it a space sim? Eh, you started out in space! 😀 Elite: Yeah - this was the big one - but it wasn't until 1984 in the UK and we didn't have it in the States for a while. In fact, the first time I saw it running was on an Atari ST - a 16 bit computer. Sundog: Oh, how could you forget this?! Sundog by FTL Games (the ones who gave us the wonderful Dungeon Master). I'll let Grok describe the difference from Elite: "In summary, while both games are space trading and combat simulations, Sundog offers a more diverse gameplay experience with a structured story and RPG elements, while Elite focuses on a sandbox experience with more emphasis on trading and combat." Yes. And it was a terrific, time consuming game - released before Elite, BTW... The 1985 Atari ST version was just GREAT!

[@PrinceAlhorian]

Freelancer was my childhood, but in retrospective it was... Just good enough... Until I discovered MODS!!!

[@HarenunHoppus]

Those mods where people were hardcore roleplaying. They really took it seriously

[@RonnieBowlsby]

Bro! I still play it now and then! The community has died a bit. But there was a time that it was always full, Role-playing hardcore! I freaking love it!

[@antwan1357]

6286 hours space trucking in Elite Dangerous , and listening to this review.

[@darkione5675]

Freespace 2 in mediocre? Sorry but that invalidates your whole list

[@Cythrawl102]

Just proves that you don't understand what subjective means..

[@petezzzz]

No, it invalidates nothing. I loved FS and played each version to the end. As Y mentioned, FS came out at the time "real" 3d was becoming a thing. Despite the game being gorgeous, and the story kicking ass, it lacked many other important things. Mainly the Accept Missiion button teleporting you to the site, you pewpew and either die or jump out at end of mission. Even simple flying out from base and landing on return would have made immursion 100 times better. Lack of a cockpit made it bland and this overall stale game flow leaves it rightfully were the Y placed it.

[@Goober5000]

Agreed. FreeSpace took everything that was great about existing space sims, brought them together in beautiful harmony, and polished them to a golden sheen. On top of that, the moddability was unparalleled and led to a huge amount of terrific user-created expansions and spin-offs.

[@efxnews4776]

@@petezzzz Freespace isn't mediocre, it is a good game and one of the most popular space games ever made, if nothing else is simply a good fun game that wouldn't disappoint you for playing it. It's sequel is even better... And by looking at the comments, you can clearly see that a lot of folks disagree with it's classification...

[@donzinnmbjr]

Freespace 1 is marginally better than 2. Freespace 2 had lackluster flight physics and extremely dull dogfighting. It instead showcased the combat of its massive, slow, and ugly capships. In consequence of this more cinematic approach, the game ended up killing the space sim genre.

[@chrisrowland7782]

Shoutout to Escape Velocity series. Yes it was for Mac computers (3rd, Nova, was on windows too). Damn good game that got me into space games as a kid

[@ChadWinters]

I had a Mac back when they came out, great games

[@JAnx01]

For someone complaining about the No Man's Sky combat, you surely can't spot "good combat", I mean "great combat", "the greatest combat in a space sim ever" when it's right under your nose, given the treatment you gave Freespace 2 which plays absolutely beautifully, especially with a good joystick.

[@SigurdStormhand]

You missed X-wing vs TIE Fighter, the first serious attempt at space combat multiplayer in Windows, and X-wing Alliance, the last great Star Wars space combat sim. You also failed to mention Wing Commander's branching storyline, and especially the fact that the games had an actual losing path you could get stuck on without just dying. The losing path in Wing Commander 3 results in the destruction of Earth! Also, Wing Commander IV is responsible for popularising the "floating HUD" over the 2-D cockpit. That's before we get into the complex mission design that the X-wing series pioneered. All these advancements were then fed into Freespace and Freespace 2, and the latter is generally considered the pinnacle of the "Golden Age" of the Space Combat Sim. I can also tell you're playing a lot of these older games with mouse and keyboard - you're really not getting the full experience without a joystick. To the extend I'd say it's difficult to really made a judgement of the gameplay.

[@TheYamiks]

Interesting, noted. About SW yeah there were some other titles that poped up as well, but most notable at the very least were the 2 i picked.

[@SigurdStormhand]

@@TheYamiks I'm sorry, but you skipped over the first serious multiplayer game, which was a HUGE success and got a double-page spread in PC Gamer. X-wing Alliance was also a very good game. Both had a much bigger impact than Wing Commander Prophecy.

[@MrCpfreitas]

@@SigurdStormhand Have you tried XWA with 2024 upgrade? This game's community has been working on this mod for more than 20 years. I don't even know if it should still be considered a mod. This year they've achieve a landmark with a totally new HD UI.

[@SigurdStormhand]

@@MrCpfreitas I'm a Beta tester. You like the new gunsight on the X-wing?

[@MrCpfreitas]

@@SigurdStormhand Nice! Yeahh, the gunsight is much better than the generic original one. There has been a long time since I've played to tell the thruth. I've found about the 2024 upgrade today, and had it installed a few hours ago. Luckly my old pilot save worked, and I was just about to join the rebelion and fly the Y-Wing and X-Wing missions :) Btw, don't know if you play Rebel Galaxy Outlaw, but I've released several mods at Nexus, with additional stuff to the game in these last 2 months. I'm now working on rebalancing the ship turning rates and speeds to try to make it less arcade.

[@jedig2560]

"Exploitative garbage" *shows a picture of Warframe* OBJECTION your Honor!

[@Tenolidion]

What is truly a problem with Warframe in this list is that if Yamiks ranked Eve and FTL, Warframe should get rating due to Railjack, as that's at least as relevant to the list as those two. ;)

[@jedig2560]

@@Tenolidion If it was on the list, Railjack should get bonus points just for Cephalon Cy.

[@zefnoly9147]

Puts starcitizen above games like X4 on S is shamefull. As someone who wasted over a hundred hours into SC

[@draco84oz]

Here's one you may have missed - a 2006 German game I picked up once in a bargain bin called Darkstar One. Its decent, with trading, combat, a decent open universe, four alien species each with their own personalities and combat tactics, and an interesting mechanic for upgrading your ship, with multiple upgrade paths available. On the downside, its gameplay is fairly repetitive, the solar systems are small and little more than a stage curtain, the characters are bland, and whilst each of the enemy species have their own tactics, they can be dealt with in the exact same way (moar dakka!). Plus the story is not only average, the ending is a literal kick in the nuts. Played it once, not really going to again. Mediocre!

[@stuartmillican1995]

He lies !!!! Over rated . Over price . Was a heap of shiit

[@zimriel]

Like... the game actually pulled on its boots, got out of the screen and punted you? ow.

[@soleenzo893]

A few games I think should have been included: - *House of the Dying Sun* (Great little space combat game with realistic-ish physics, 6DOF, a Homeworld-like tactical view and amazing VR in cockpit.) - *Children of a Dead Earth* (Ultra realistic orbital combat game. ie: KSP with railguns, armor and TRUE orbital mechanics) - *Orbital Racer* (Newtonian physics racing sim, in orbit, as the name suggests) Also i'm sad about The Outer Wilds rating not being at least Great... but i accept it

[@InterdictorCompellor]

I've seen a lot of people discovering HotDS recently, it didn't make a big splash on release but it's becoming a cult classic. 2 I'd like to mention: - Homeplanet (2003). A Russian game with full newtonian physics. Pretty obscure on its own and maybe not the best, but it was developed alongside a freeware Babylon 5 fangame called "I've Found Her". Remember Babylon 5, the Deep Space 9 competitor? Anyone? No? I'm getting old. Anyone, mostly notable for being from the dark age and because we never got that official Starfury game. -Microsoft Allegiance (2000). Allegiance was Microsoft's early experiment in large-scale multiplayer gaming, with up to 100 players on a server. It was hybrid between ordinary space shooting and an RTS, one of those rare games where one player per team was the commander. These days it's open source and you can usually still find a game on Sundays.

[@Trooper10231]

Tachyon The Fringe had one claim to fame: Bruce Campbell voice acting the MC and bringing his signature snark!

[@Jasta85]

It's in early access so it doesn't qualify for this list, but SpaceBourne 2 is an interesting project if nothing else, it's basically a solo developer trying to do what Star Citizen is doing all by himself haha. It's janky as hell and filled with bugs but has a surprising amount of content and I admire the ambition if nothing else.

[@Cynry]

Urh, everytime I read that, "it's a solo dev doing what SC is doing by himself"... It's nowhere even close in terms of scope, stop spreading that nonsense. SpaceBourne is much closer to Starfield, if anything.

[@efxnews4776]

@@Cynry it's much better than Starfield, theres even a vehicle, and the worlds are trully open.

[@user-um6qe4ds1l]

ΔV: Rings of Saturn, Starcom Nexus and Star Valor is missing in the list. Really good top-down view space sim.

[@sublakuty715]

Not sure how much it would fit, but... where tf is Galaxy on Fire 2 ??

[@enteplays3662]

Damn the only really good space game on mobile. A tragedy that they f...ed up the GoF 3

[@RIP2UALL]

That Avorion ranking is horrible, entire tier list invalidated.

[@GuTTs1975]

Small side note, there is a group fixing Hellion. The devs did not want to pass the game on for no less than 5 million dollar.

[@TheYamiks]

mmmmm....why does that would not surprise me!?

[@hajkie]

Elite 2 frontier and first encounter was amazing for me, i loved exploring the galaxy. It was the best exploring galaxy game out there.

[@KD-_-]

Freespace 2 in mediocre is diabolical. If I see you in open you better DIVE DIVE DIVE

[@nathantanner9703]

ID2 was cool with its modular design. There was an open universe travel system (no instances like X Series) and an asteroid base! Also, Terminus was a pretty interesting game.

[@jrherita]

1984-1985’s “Sundog” is something to consider for a future space game list. You have to maintain your ship’s systems while trading, exploring, etc.

[@RonnieBowlsby]

Broooo! Parkan was way ahead of its time! Freelancer also! Socially with the modded community! I still play it now and then!

[@cherminatorDR]

Man, you should have mentioned Pioneer Space Sim, since you mentioned Oolite - graphics might not be rivaling Elite Dangerous any time soon, but it's a free open source project that expands on Elite 2's mechanics. Sadly, not enough people know about it.

[@mikegameslayer8682]

There was one game that I credit for me getting into space sim games, and that's "Galaxy on fire 2 HD" it was such a good game even though it was a small phone game. It even got DLC's with fully voiced campaings.

[@efxnews4776]

😅 i also think that Rebel Galaxy Outlaw is a great game, nothing new about it but just the fact that you can literally shuffle through radio stations, looking for some really great songs to listen while you play that crazy arcade game. On the other hand, X4 is my dream game, i have more than 5k hours playing it and i don't regreat any, if you mix X4 with No Man's Sky it would be pretty much the perfect space sim.

[@zimriel]

RGO was underrated fo' sho'. It gets a lot of hate, I don't understand why.

[@efxnews4776]

@@zimriel i guess it's because it was an Epic exclusive for about a year before going to other stores...

[@zimriel]

@@efxnews4776 i just waited out that year, played it then

[@golias121]

Well, Starlancer has one interesting thing ant that you may fail an objective in the mission and still complete that mission.

[@vib80]

Star Raiders borrowed a lot from an old text game called Star Trek. Where you inputted text commands to move the Enterprise, explore sectors, shoot Klingons, etc. It gave it the actual action and flying mechanics that makes it a proper space sim.

[@zimriel]

so did Starflight 1-2, not on this list. Maybe because not a sim?

[@ramiel7666]

No Darkstar One? It's not outstanding, but was decent at what it was supposed to do. Would have been nice to hear your opinion on it.....

[@vast634]

Was ok, but not great, and quite repetitive. The studio was much more skilled in economy games.

[@mickeficks]

I invested countless hours in Star Raiders as a kid. It definitely deserves a spot on any list as being one of the true OGs of the genre if nothing else.

[@zimriel]

... i'll step away from your lawn now

[@mickeficks]

@@zimriel You better. Don't make me reach for my cane.

[@monkfiche9384]

Starlancer was on the Dreamcast, and such, it was the only relevant game on the console. It was pretty good. One game that was different and wasn’t included was The Jupiter Incident - fantastic game at the time with great story and game mechanics, but it flew under the radar I believe.

[@NULUSIOS]

Freespace 2 was great. The most important thing? It made you believe you fly a ship. Also the sense of scale... Many newer games failed in this.

[@KralTube2]

Outer Wilds that low makes it either a troll list or taste so criminally poor as to invalidate the rest of it.

[@efxnews4776]

Or you simply didn't play the other games in the list... I played a lot of games in this list, but the only game from the X series i played is X4 and i consider to be the best space sim i ever play, Yamiks does give credit to it but no enough as i wanted...

[@torrb420]

I mean, it's Yamiks, who is such a clown he regularly gets trolled out of ED boards for his hot takes.

[@DvorakJosef]

This is a space sim ranking list. Outer Wilds is an absolute must-play S-tier game overall. But the "space sim" part of it is barely a method of transport. And that's OK.

[@warzIbanez]

I disagree with quite a few games on the list (Star Citizen shouldn't be on the list as it breaks one of his own major rules, ) and Outer Wilds probably shouldn't be on the list either. The space craft is interesting, but it's more akin to flying a quad copter and its transmitter has a bad knockoff of opentx and betaflight on it.

[@Ejsnes]

Totally agree! This dude must have mental of 12yo for putting sw squadrons tier higher....

[@Asharas]

Puting Outer Wilds in any other category than Special is heresy, it's probably the only game so far with fully simulated gravity. Yes, you read that right, fully simulated: planets are not on rails, the village zero G cave is zero G because the whole planet is pulling you all around and, heck, the game doesn't even limit your speed, computer physics does. While not a pure space sim, it litterally gave birth to a new video game genre, the knowledge-vania. Play the god damn game then go watch the making of documentary by NoClip and come back to apologise once you've realised how wrong you were.

[@warzIbanez]

I do like the game a lot, but the thing that puts me off from saying it's a masterpiece is the controlling of the space craft. It was developed in mind akin to controlling a quad copter, then it needs to follow those control conventions- twin sticks to control the majority of movement.

[@Ejsnes]

Dude rated star wars game higher, dont expect too much from him...

[@warzIbanez]

@@Ejsnes do remember that X-Wing, Tie Fighter, and X- Wing Alliance do indeed exist and are genre defining.

[@I3uh]

This video has to take sooo much work..! Wow! Good job! Btw Parkan: Imperial Chronicles was my first space simulator, when i was a kid. This game got some extra nostalgia for me..

[@Blackie-Chan]

What about Darkstar one?

[@TheYamiks]

yeah i remember seeing it float about but even among the peers ... it's kind of meh. I mean hell I included tacyon the fringe and that too is a very MEH title. ehh.. maybe i should have include it but my take is : "MEH TIER!"

[@AlienDarkmind]

I dont know why, but i actually lovede darkstar one. Its was arcadey, but it actually had a story and manageble progression.

[@flare242]

OMG, i completely forgot that Jules-Pierre Mao was in Wing Commander 4!

[@Pappy_1775]

I am surprised you did not put Star Wars: Galaxies on the list once they added the "Jump to Lightspeed" DLC. It had some notable firsts like flyable ships with fully usable ship interiors like The Space Yacht, and YT-1300 (Millennium Falcon). Also, it was possibly (don't quote me on this) the first actual space MMO. Now I agree, when it first started it was not a "space" sim but once they added "Jump to Lightspeed it certainly would fall into that category especially when compared to other titles on the list.

[@blubberillo]

I'll also throw ΔV: Rings of Saturn into the ring at this point. A fine little gem!

[@FlecheDeFer]

Yo Yamiks, very comprehensive stuff!

[@-CrimsoN-]

I don't think I could possibly hate this list any further....FreeSpace in mediocre is a crime in and of itself. Also Tie Fighter is better than Wing Commander and thats a hill I will die on. Starfield is also not that bad, but I understand you gotta appeal to the haters for clicks. Freelancer being in "interesting" is also criminal. I hate this so much. I will give you credit for covering some of the more obscure space sims that even passionate fans haven't heard of. Parkan for example. Nice to see that Starlancer isn't forgotten either.

[@efxnews4776]

@@-CrimsoN- Starfield deserve it's rank, especially if you think that it's made by Bethesda wich was backed by Microsoft... Starfield is a space sim as much as Kotor games are a space sim for having some turret sections in space and be about Star Wars... It isn't and wouldn't ever be...

[@-CrimsoN-]

@@efxnews4776 I mean if you're going to go that route, then I don't see how you can't make the same criticisms towards something like Freelancer or Starpoint Gemini. Hell, Freelancer doesn't even support HOTAs (just like Starfield), but it's still on the list and Freelancer is regularly regarded as one of the best "space sims" of all time. Even though Starfield and Freelancer are both space combat trading games. Not necessarily space sims, but I digress. Point Im trying to make is people shit on Starfield and give Freelancer a free pass, even though Starfield is Bethesda's take on a 2023 Freelancer. With the added bonus of ground combat and exploration.

[@-CrimsoN-]

@@efxnews4776 But I will add that you do make a good point. In the sense that a lot of people hated Starfield because they wanted Bethesda's take on Mass Effect and KOTOR and instead what they got is Bethesda's take on Freelancer. I've said it time and time again, if Starfield didn't have the Bethesda label, it would have been rated as an amazing game. But Bethesda unfortunately already have an established playerbase from Fallout and Elder Scrolls who are looking for more of an RPG and less of a space sim or space combat trading game.

[@doodmonkey]

I have the original Wing Commander 1 and 2 sitting on my shelf. That's what got me started. Loved those games. My online game handle, Kirath even came from there.

[@markotark]

I really liked I-War. That game and the MS Flight Simulator were the reason i went through 3 joysticks during one year…

[@andrewsanderson8566]

I miss the days sequels came out a year after originals.

[@PragmaticTornado]

I've played every space sim out there, and Freelancer remains the best overall. Wasn't that long ago I last played it, and it's still a hell of a lot of fun, with a great story, decent voice acting, fun combat and trading loops - and an unbeaten atmosphere that nothing after it has managed to create. Great soundtrack too. The X series is my second favourite; it just has that dynamic, emergent gameplay that nothing else offers in a single player space sim.

[@firestarter000001]

Funnily enough, Privateer, Privateer 2 and StarLancer were one of my fav games of all times. Along with X-Wing and Tie Fighter, but somehow the previous ones I enjoyed a bit more.

[@GubrikGaming]

People just can't imagine, the amount of work you put behind this. I don't agree with some of your ratings but hell, you deserve all recognition for the amount of time you put editing this video.

[@lucastursi]

One that you missed (and understandably so, for that are many games in this vid) is the brazillian indie MMOSG, free to play Taikodom. Not so great lore, but cool mechanics and expanded universe. It should've been a permanent universe, and from 2008, but poor management buried the game a few years later due to lack of investors and funds. They tried to do "all at once", and did not finished the game properly, due to too large scope.

[@thane9]

I'm old enough to have seen these all released and played many of them in their times. This is a pretty interesting analysis...but FreeSpace in '98 had a gameplay feel that I really enjoyed, and felt better than literally anything to come before....personal preference I guess.

[@lordflashheart3680]

Space Engineers deserves to be higher simply based on the homegrown physics engine that is pretty amazing. Prophecy deserves to be higher simply because of how much pure fun it was. Privateer 2 deserves to be higher because the art direction was over the top at the time and it was also quite fun. That’s my HO.

[@shodan6401]

My first two favorite Space games were: Asteroids (I wasn't enamored with Space Invaders at the time) Cosmic Avenger - An early side scroller with cool levels. Spent a lot of quarters on this one...

[@Heheha329]

Bro really started from the birth of the universe love it.

[@sarahnachtrose]

FOFT: FEDERATION OF FREE TRADERS from 1988 is missing from the list.

[@bobsurface908]

I remember playing Space Raiders. And it was GOOD - especially since there was NOTHING like it. Then Elite came out.

[@robdfar]

Very nice and lots of memories . shocked you did not have star wars alliance in there.

[@alux948]

Elite 2 popped my cherry for space games, I played it so much, I'm surprised my Amiga 500 didn't meld the disk.

[@Peregrin3]

Star Citizen is an interesting case of polarization, Some people really over-hype it, others go out of their way to demonize it, and a lot of people misunderstand it. For example he says it can't even be called a game which is an interesting take considering that even in its current state it has more content than a lot of the games on his list combined. As for "micro transactions" in Star Citizen being "predatory" is pretty much the equivalent as saying kick starter pledges are predatory because they can cost thousands of dollars. They are pretty much exactly the same thing and serve exactly the same function. Then people complain that it is pay to win and this one actually makes me roll my eyes a bit. Persistent games are unavoidable come first to win whether there is a cash shop or not. If one person starts playing one year before someone else they will have a massive advantage over them, even if you periodically wipe the servers they still have a huge advantage because of experience. In Star Citizen specifically, even if you could remove all the paid ships a new player would be at just as big a disadvantage against long time players. If you don't trust Chris Roberts or Star Citizen then don't fund it, it really is that simple. From personal experience I know that the Hype train can quickly turn into the blame train.

[@sushicatez]

Crazy how the day after you released this no mans sky got a complete overhaul

[@ferdeboergd256]

It's curious how in my head "interesting" is better than "mediocre". I guess that's the beauty of languages. I'm not native English either. Apart from that, thank you for this video! There are some games I didn't know about and some I forgot and would like to replay.

[@TheYamiks]

Its both.. better or worse.

[@zimriel]

@@TheYamiks yeah, i figured that out in context...

[@MrGnugfur]

Star wars squadron is an absolute disaster. Higher level players will absolutely desimate you when you enter the playing field,

[@HoraShadow]

Thanks for the walk down memory lane! played most of those games when they came out and many awesome memories and feelings resurfaced! 👍

[@tomasmicak9041]

Btw you missed DarkStar One, 2006 space sim that came out at a time when genre was basically dead, that was also interesting.

[@ramboahoe]

I swear i didn't cry when you talked about x3

[@IvanRodriguez-tl2zr]

Putting KSP 2 so low is just an insult. Judging the game so harshly and calling the devs idiots is judt plain rude.

[@tibitzu365]

I think it's a pretty good tier list. I disagree that SC is pay to win though and while 700M does sound like a lot of money, that's the total money spent on 2 games. When companies like Rockstar have spent over a billion dollars in salaries alone, it's not that much. Starfield cost 300M and took 7 years to make that POS. It's rumoured that GTA6 is costing 2B and I could totally see that. Despite what people say about Chris Roberts he has been consistently pushing the genre further. Would I spent 40k to have all the ship? Hell no, but if I had the spare cash laying around, I'd just write him a cheque.

[@457dragon]

ya know, you're the first person who's made a tier list I completely agree on, 0.0 honestly didn't think it possible yet here we are! Honestly aside from YT screwing you over for the first 50 seconds this is a very well done video. I wonder if you'll do an rts tier list or something in the future, regardless, loved the video ^_^ canne wait to see the next one!

[@TheYamiks]

Oh gods. I have a soft spot for many of the best RTS..... but the crap and mediocre titles are a PAAAAIIINNNN. So maybe not.. not yet heh

[@457dragon]

@@TheYamiks I completely understand that one haha

[@Ta90Ti]

I know it's an RTS, but Nexus: the jupiter incident is more of a space sim than 50% of the games on this list.

[@HeloHounds]

A lot of work into this video. Good job portraying your opinions.

[@Nola_Travel]

I am so glad you included Star Raiders (as it’s called in the states). It was the first thing that included power management I had ever seen!

[@VeryBritishGaming]

Star Citizen is getting to the point where it's spoiling other space games for me.. It really is good

[@ShaggyShagz13]

I really enjoyed the spaceship building in Starfield and had even started playing the ship building again when mods came out. The game outside of my ship is boring. The game crashes too much, reorders my load order which causes more crashes, and doesn't work at all now that I deleted it again.

[@WolfxxBite]

I feel like Elite Dangerous Odyssey really hits that realiatic space exploration spot. I love NMS but it's way too cartoonish and has zero realism as far as scale of things, how the ships handle, etc. ED with tbe Odyssey DLC has some of the most stunning landscapes and sunsets I've seen in a space game. It's all grounded in a semi-realistic feel, which makes playing it in VR just mindblowing! The on foot stuff is just tacked on garbage, but over all, I see myself getting at least another 500 hours out of this game!

[@adamantiumreaver4283]

I know you said no early access game, but Spacebourne 2 is going places 🔥

[@Dre9872]

Helion was such a great game, I am so disappointed it got abandoned I have 130hrs in that game.

[@revengexmoon2087]

You forgot Empyiron. New graphics would make that the game to play.

[@efxnews4776]

I find Empyreon better than Space Engineers, but it still is on Early Access...

[@Cynry]

@@efxnews4776 Empyrion is released, have been for a couple year at least. I know the game still screams "early access" when played, but yeah, it's not. This one isn't getting better unfortunately.

[@disabledchatzen5276]

@@Cynry There are several campaign overhaul/extension mods that make the game very fun.

[@Cynry]

@@disabledchatzen5276 well, I have close to 2k hours on RE, so I'm not exactly bashing the game or anything It's still very unique with a strong proposition : "build your ship and use it", and that part is well delivered. And then there's on foot combat 😅 and the fact that RE is pretty much the only reason the game is still alive. It feels like a very amateur studio, let's put it that way. There's no "no man's sky" evolution in the future for it, what we have is pretty much the best we'll get I think. Which is a great premise with a "meh" delivery overall.

[@tricorter1]

I know it is subjective.... I LOVED Tachyon: The Fringe. It's your list but it would be higher on mine.

[@dariondesode]

Kind of surprised you didn't include escape velocity. Other than that, good list

[@maliksimon5604]

FreeSpace2 is NOT mediocre ! The mission editor and other features made it at least interesting most of us would say good.