John Murdoch posted:

Something full 3D with action and open world elements (or really just any kind of tangible exploration, doesn't have to be a full blown Ubisoft iconfest), but without relying on the same repeated sandbox formula where you toil away space trucking between generic space stations so you can afford to make numbers go up a tiny bit and exploration takes the form of "sometimes you see a pretty skybox". Like I want to zip my little ship inbetween the wreckage of some huge gently caress-off dreadnought to retrieve some cool bespoke weapon, then when pirates inevitably ambush me I can use the terrain to my advantage. It's probably going to sound dumb as hell, but basically the same kind of well-rounded experience as something like the Arkham games or Tomb Raider or something but you just happen to be in a spaceship. Explore/sneak/fight, find collectibles or upgrades, mild RPG elements instead of insanely meticulous and granular ship customization.

Or to say it in a different, snarky way the absolute complete opposite of Elite Dangerous.

Rinkles posted:

How was Freelancer in that regard?

John Murdoch posted:

Something full 3D with action and open world elements (or really just any kind of tangible exploration, doesn't have to be a full blown Ubisoft iconfest), but without relying on the same repeated sandbox formula where you toil away space trucking between generic space stations so you can afford to make numbers go up a tiny bit and exploration takes the form of "sometimes you see a pretty skybox". Like I want to zip my little ship inbetween the wreckage of some huge gently caress-off dreadnought to retrieve some cool bespoke weapon, then when pirates inevitably ambush me I can use the terrain to my advantage. It's probably going to sound dumb as hell, but basically the same kind of well-rounded experience as something like the Arkham games or Tomb Raider or something but you just happen to be in a spaceship. Explore/sneak/fight, find collectibles or upgrades, mild RPG elements instead of insanely meticulous and granular ship customization.

Or to say it in a different, snarky way the absolute complete opposite of Elite Dangerous.

John Murdoch posted:

Something full 3D with action and open world elements (or really just any kind of tangible exploration, doesn't have to be a full blown Ubisoft iconfest), but without relying on the same repeated sandbox formula where you toil away space trucking between generic space stations so you can afford to make numbers go up a tiny bit and exploration takes the form of "sometimes you see a pretty skybox". Like I want to zip my little ship inbetween the wreckage of some huge gently caress-off dreadnought to retrieve some cool bespoke weapon, then when pirates inevitably ambush me I can use the terrain to my advantage. It's probably going to sound dumb as hell, but basically the same kind of well-rounded experience as something like the Arkham games or Tomb Raider or something but you just happen to be in a spaceship. Explore/sneak/fight, find collectibles or upgrades, mild RPG elements instead of insanely meticulous and granular ship customization.

Or to say it in a different, snarky way the absolute complete opposite of Elite Dangerous.

zoux posted:

Wildlands is a really fun shooter where you can set up all kinds of fun ambushes and action set pieces and 100 kill stealth ops. The squad mechanics are great, the map is huge, the weapons are essentially aesthetic so it’s about maneuver and finesse. Breakpoint is a loving disaster of a game where they took what was a cult favorite and tried to turn it into a looter shooter and ended having to retroactively invent something resembling the mechanics of the first one but didn’t quite get there. Not to mention bullet sponge drones loving everywhere and changing the player character from a nameless cypher into a somehow even broodier Marcus Fenix. They laid out a lot of cash to get John Berenthal to mocap the villain so every cutscene is these two dudes growling and grimacing at each other.

Then a year ago they announce GR: Frontline and now it’s a multiplayer battle royale and the fan base went into a berserker rage and the backlash was so vitriolic they had to apologize, announce they were rethinking the direction of the game, and they ended up canceling the game six months later.

John Murdoch posted:

Something full 3D with action and open world elements (or really just any kind of tangible exploration, doesn't have to be a full blown Ubisoft iconfest), but without relying on the same repeated sandbox formula where you toil away space trucking between generic space stations so you can afford to make numbers go up a tiny bit and exploration takes the form of "sometimes you see a pretty skybox". Like I want to zip my little ship inbetween the wreckage of some huge gently caress-off dreadnought to retrieve some cool bespoke weapon, then when pirates inevitably ambush me I can use the terrain to my advantage. It's probably going to sound dumb as hell, but basically the same kind of well-rounded experience as something like the Arkham games or Tomb Raider or something but you just happen to be in a spaceship. Explore/sneak/fight, find collectibles or upgrades, mild RPG elements instead of insanely meticulous and granular ship customization.

Or to say it in a different, snarky way the absolute complete opposite of Elite Dangerous.

Cowcaster posted:

it's straight up not what you're looking for, but i'd stick it on your wishlist for a steam sale someplace: ace combat 7 is like starfox with a bit of a progression mechanic over a campaign and it's something that really hit me good and you might like it

edit: sorry, i posted that weird, as someone who didn't like mission based campaign dogfighters up until that point, ace combat 7 hit me just right, is where that's coming from. but yeah, wait for a deep steam sale before you give it a shot

Rinkles posted:

How was Freelancer in that regard?

The Joe Man posted:

You've played Descent Freespace 1 & 2, right? If not, that's what you want.

EDIT: Actually if you're not deadset on full 3D, Space Rangers HD is incredible. For something older that's more adventure/RPG focused, Planet's Edge (get it on GOG though).

RandomBlue posted:

Everspace 2 is a lot like this IMO.

John Murdoch posted:

John Murdoch posted:

Something full 3D with action and open world elements (or really just any kind of tangible exploration, doesn't have to be a full blown Ubisoft iconfest), but without relying on the same repeated sandbox formula where you toil away space trucking between generic space stations so you can afford to make numbers go up a tiny bit and exploration takes the form of "sometimes you see a pretty skybox". Like I want to zip my little ship inbetween the wreckage of some huge gently caress-off dreadnought to retrieve some cool bespoke weapon, then when pirates inevitably ambush me I can use the terrain to my advantage. It's probably going to sound dumb as hell, but basically the same kind of well-rounded experience as something like the Arkham games or Tomb Raider or something but you just happen to be in a spaceship. Explore/sneak/fight, find collectibles or upgrades, mild RPG elements instead of insanely meticulous and granular ship customization.

Or to say it in a different, snarky way the absolute complete opposite of Elite Dangerous.

Runa posted:

I wish Rebel Galaxy hadn't branched off into the Freelancer direction and just made another game like the first but even more like Sid Meier's Pirates! in Space. Instead of swordfights its barroom brawls, instead of ballroom dancing it's karaoke night

Eason the Fifth posted:

I really liked frostpunk and while I'm waiting for the sequel I would like to play another survival rts. I've narrowed it down to Ixion, They Are Billions, or Against the Storm. Which of these three is the best?

Eason the Fifth posted:

I really liked frostpunk and while I'm waiting for the sequel I would like to play another survival rts. I've narrowed it down to Ixion, They Are Billions, or Against the Storm. Which of these three is the best?

TheDiceMustRoll posted:

im just gonna say it. It's 2D, but have you played The Ur-Quan Masters(Star Control II)? The free HD version holds up insanely well by today's standards, and involves a good story, fun gameplay, and spess gaem fun

TheDiceMustRoll posted:

im just gonna say it. It's 2D, but have you played The Ur-Quan Masters(Star Control II)? The free HD version holds up insanely well by today's standards, and involves a good story, fun gameplay, and spess gaem fun

The Joe Man posted:

Here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/32760/Tachyon_The_Fringe/

TheDiceMustRoll posted:

im just gonna say it. It's 2D, but have you played The Ur-Quan Masters(Star Control II)? The free HD version holds up insanely well by today's standards, and involves a good story, fun gameplay, and spess gaem fun

John Murdoch posted:

This game seems to use a very loose definition of "exploration" best I can tell.

John Murdoch posted:

Except the "where" in "anywhere" seems to be pretty space backgrounds and isolated space stations and nothing else.

I mean, I said upfront that there's a dearth of games out there that fit my criteria. I don't think I've overlooked very many, I think they just flatout do not exist and that's my whole complaint.

The Joe Man posted:

I've finished it. You can go anywhere you want. It's the closest you're going to get.

K8.0 posted:

There are a ton of games that are what you want. They just aren't space games because space is a lovely setting with too little to restrict movement. Movement and overcoming the restriction of it is what defines exploration. When there's no restriction, it's all samey and boring.

Sure, you could make a space exploration game where the player is exclusively flying through space-Kowloon and similar restrictive settings and maybe that's something someone should do (maybe they could call it Descent), but it'd be a ton of work to make it not just a worse version of the same concept but not able to just fly anywhere you like.

If you want exploration in space go play Outer Wilds. It's about as good as it's ever going to be possible to make something revolve around exploration in space.

John Murdoch posted:

Something full 3D with action and open world elements (or really just any kind of tangible exploration, doesn't have to be a full blown Ubisoft iconfest), but without relying on the same repeated sandbox formula where you toil away space trucking between generic space stations so you can afford to make numbers go up a tiny bit and exploration takes the form of "sometimes you see a pretty skybox". Like I want to zip my little ship inbetween the wreckage of some huge gently caress-off dreadnought to retrieve some cool bespoke weapon, then when pirates inevitably ambush me I can use the terrain to my advantage. It's probably going to sound dumb as hell, but basically the same kind of well-rounded experience as something like the Arkham games or Tomb Raider or something but you just happen to be in a spaceship. Explore/sneak/fight, find collectibles or upgrades, mild RPG elements instead of insanely meticulous and granular ship customization.

Or to say it in a different, snarky way the absolute complete opposite of Elite Dangerous.

Triarii posted:

It could be cool if there was, like, an open-world take on Descent. Fly around a galaxy Freelancer-style looking for contracts, but then all the nitty gritty of combat and discovery happens when you enter a derelict space station or planetary ruin and everything's much closer quarters.

K8.0 posted:

There are a ton of games that are what you want. They just aren't space games because space is a lovely setting with too little to restrict movement. Movement and overcoming the restriction of it is what defines exploration. When there's no restriction, it's all samey and boring.

Sure, you could make a space exploration game where the player is exclusively flying through space-Kowloon and similar restrictive settings and maybe that's something someone should do (maybe they could call it Descent), but it'd be a ton of work to make it not just a worse version of the same concept but not able to just fly anywhere you like.

If you want exploration in space go play Outer Wilds. It's about as good as it's ever going to be possible to make something revolve around exploration in space.

victrix posted:

oh I get the spirit of what they're asking for, it's just that they're still at the bargaining stage of grief

space games and 4x games are two genres that took me a long, long time to realize that what I was looking for didn't (and maybe couldn't) exist. arpgs are getting close.

SirSamVimes posted:

If you want the sense of discovery and wonder in space distilled to its purest form (but limited to a single solar system and with no combat) I cannot recommend Outer Wilds enough.

Triarii posted:

It could be cool if there was, like, an open-world take on Descent. Fly around a galaxy Freelancer-style looking for contracts, but then all the nitty gritty of combat and discovery happens when you enter a derelict space station or planetary ruin and everything's much closer quarters.

John Murdoch posted:

I have a brain disease that makes me consistently forget Outer Wilds exists, but yes that definitely goes on the short list of games that are in the right ballpark.

John Murdoch posted:

Something full 3D with action and open world elements (or really just any kind of tangible exploration, doesn't have to be a full blown Ubisoft iconfest), but without relying on the same repeated sandbox formula where you toil away space trucking between generic space stations so you can afford to make numbers go up a tiny bit and exploration takes the form of "sometimes you see a pretty skybox". Like I want to zip my little ship inbetween the wreckage of some huge gently caress-off dreadnought to retrieve some cool bespoke weapon, then when pirates inevitably ambush me I can use the terrain to my advantage. It's probably going to sound dumb as hell, but basically the same kind of well-rounded experience as something like the Arkham games or Tomb Raider or something but you just happen to be in a spaceship. Explore/sneak/fight, find collectibles or upgrades, mild RPG elements instead of insanely meticulous and granular ship customization.

Or to say it in a different, snarky way the absolute complete opposite of Elite Dangerous.

Triarii posted:

It could be cool if there was, like, an open-world take on Descent. Fly around a galaxy Freelancer-style looking for contracts, but then all the nitty gritty of combat and discovery happens when you enter a derelict space station or planetary ruin and everything's much closer quarters.

SirSamVimes posted:

Can you share it? I would like to completely forget my experience with Outer Wilds and play it again.

habituallyred posted:

Have you played Ring Runner: something or other of the Sages? Or is that why you specified 2d? It has a lot of close range brawls and using short range tractor beams to throw asteroids into ships and vice versa.