Space sandbox games have always held a lot of appeal to me, roaming a galaxy, exploring new worlds and taking part in epic space battles makes the sci-fi nerd in me very happy. They are fairly niche these days though there are still some fantastic ones out there to enjoy! I was going to say space games in general but realised I had enough to do a separate post for space combat sims... So, here we are, yay!
So, what is it I enjoy about these kinds of games I hear you asking? Exploration of a living galaxy, knowing that all those ships moving about are just doing their own thing regardless of whether I am watching or not. Then there's often the variety of things to do, trading, fighting, mining and sometimes a few extras depending on the game.
There aren't a huge amount of them that come out these days which is a shame, I'd love to see Freelancer either get a sequel or just a good remaster for one. Now, I am not going to include anything I haven't played like Star Citizen and I will leave EVE Online off the list as that feels like a whole separate thing to be worthy of its own post in the future.
Elite: Dangerous
I played Elite Dangerous a lot and tried almost everything from passenger hauling to bulk trading, exploration, combat, bounty hunting and anything else that piqued my interest. It might not be an in-depth simulated galaxy (a lot of the background simulation was abstracted as I recall) though it still felt alive all the same.
Honestly, the atmosphere in Elite was always incredible owed in large part to the graphics and especially the sound design. Drifting through a planetary ring mining as the light and shadows play about the asteroids or watching an enemy ship ripple with internal explosions before being blasted apart never really got old visually.
I don't think focusing on it as a live service multiplayer thing or the addition of a ground-based FPS portion made much sense and I feel it could have been so much more. It is still a favourite and there is a hope they might improve it still. Let's hope!
X4: Foundations
I'll preface this by saying I haven't played a sizeable amount of this though what I have played quickly pushed it up my list of favourites. This one is a much truer sandbox simulation than the more abstracted one of Elite and I find it far better for it. There is also much more you can do in this, not only can you build your stations and production facilities but you can manage an entire fleet of ships from fighters up to carriers.
Just watching a huge battle erupting is quite a spectacle though all this depth and the breadth of options has downsides as everything does. The voice acting is a bit primitive and the graphics aren't cutting edge though the latter is fine given the game's scale... My PC would catch fire otherwise. The second is the interface can take a while to learn making those early hours feel especially clunky.
All in all, this game is a favourite to me given I loved most of the previous games in the series, X2, X3, Terran Conflict... 4 was... A bit of a mess, I could see what they were aiming for but it faceplanted pretty hard. Now, if only I had more time to sink into this... One can dream.
Starsector
This was one of the very first early-access games I remember buying (the other being Space Pirates and Zombies) a long time ago now, to say it has come a long way doesn't do it justice. This is a top-down space sandbox where you manage a growing fleet in a sort of sci-fi post-apocalypse as the various human factions in the sector vie for dominance.
The combat is fun, in-depth and wonderfully chaotic especially as you engage in larger battles. You can go exploring, salvaging wrecks and surveying planets for the various factions. You can join those factions, make your own and colonise worlds all while everyone else is seemingly doing the same thing.
There are also a plethora of amazing mods for it including one that turns the game into a 4X strategy game of sorts which is frankly incredible. If you want a sandbox space game that won't break the bank or need a surplus NASA computer to run, this is definitely worth looking into.
So, with that another post is done! Do you like sandbox space games? Do you have any favourites? Let me know here or on Twitter!
Also, if you want to keep me writing blog posts and reviews don't forget to support me via Ko-Fi or Patreon it all helps and is hugely appreciated. The Dragon Age review should drop this month and also a first impression of Helldivers 2 if I can squeeze it in, so thanks for reading and watch this space for more!
Comments