Discussion Space Sims: the glorious (and seemingly forgotten) genre that changed everything

DesolationStone

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Hello everyone, I subscribed to this forum in 2020 during the pandemic, but didn't post much at the time due to my terrible English. In the last three years I've learnt a bit more, traveled to London and now I'm even studying languages here at university, but that's not the main topic of this thread.

In those three years I've also fallen in love with space sims, especially the combat-oriented ones. Here's a list of some of the ones I've played or plan to play

Wing Commander


The legendary saga created by Origin in the early 90's, Wing Commander was one of the most influential series in the videogame industry, with WC1 and WC3 widely defined as the first truly AAA of all time.

They are available through GOG and most run on Dosbox. Someday someone will make a remastered/remaked collection of them all.


Wing Commander can still be enjoyed today for its epic and complex plot, with one of the first live action performances (terribly interpreted, but hey, it was the 90s!).

Although I have completed the entire main saga (my favourite being the colossal WC4), I still have to find the time to finish Privateer, which seems to be the most popular among fans of the series.

Independence War


Independence War (in North America: I-War), it's still, after over 25 years, one of the most complex and well-developed combat space sims of all time, with true Newtonian physics simulation and a setting that emphasizes realism and tactics over epic.

In I-War you don't control a small spaceship, but a corvette with subsystems, multi-propulsors, radars, repair units and communications. It's a very, very difficult game, to the point where the developer suggests you use cheats to win some missions. Speaking of missions, they are incredible, with lots of twists and gameplay mechanics. In fact, it's the first and only space sim I've played that has puzzles!

Unfortunately, it requires a lot of tweaking to run smoothly on modern machines, and the sequel, Edge of Chaos, is even worse, with some bugs only now being fixed thanks to the work of the community.

As for Edge of Chaos: I'm playing it and it's different from its predecessor, with open and wide maps and some sort of progression system (for someone it's one of the best space sims ever made).
The use of joystick + throttle, although not 100% compatible, is IMHO obligatory for both games.


Rebel Galaxy Outlaw



One of the nicest surprises of my steam library, Rebel Galaxy Outlaw is a modern "remake" of Wing Commander Prophecy, with some of the funniest combat mechanics I've ever seen. There are some problems, but this is a product made with real, real love that deserves more respect and fame. To play it, more than a joystick, it's highly recommended to use a gamepad.


Freespace 2


When they ask me, "Why do you prefer playing on the PC to playing on consoles?" I answer "because you can't find Freespace 2 on consoles".

The best space sim ever made, Freespace 2 would be nothing without the incredible support and dedication of its community, which, after 20 years, is still developing mods for the game, improving its graphics and releasing new standalone games based on its open source (but not FOSS) engine.

Still unbeaten, Freespace 2 has probably the biggest space battle of any computer game, with ships hundreds of metres long and dozens of small spaceships dogfighting or bombing each other, with lots of tactics and plot twists. A must for everyone


House of the Dying Sun


I have yet to play it, but it seems interesting! (VR and Joysticks support, but very limited)
 

C-Dub

Makoto Niijima Fan Club President
Dec 23, 2018
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I remember my brother picked up Edge of Chaos on a whim and I found myself completely hooked. I was totally shit at the game, but I loved every second of it.

I haven’t played a space sim in years. I’m keeping my eyes peeled for a VR one that catches my interest.
 
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DesolationStone

DesolationStone

Junior Member
Sep 17, 2020
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I remember my brother picked up Edge of Chaos on a whim and I found myself completely hooked. I was totally shit at the game, but I loved every second of it.
I'm actually surprised that a lot of people who have played Edge of Chaos haven't played I-War 1, it feels like a completely forgotten game (for example, the first complete play through of the game was only done a few weeks ago).
By the way, I have to play I-War 2 as soon as I finish my university work.
 

Dandy

Bad at Games.
Apr 17, 2019
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I have very vivid memories of the first 2 Wing Commanders + Privateer. When we were kids, my older brother was obsessed with flight sims of all types, but I really only played the space ones.
 
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Durante

I <3 Pixels
Oct 21, 2018
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I love the idea of space sims deeply, but the only one I ever got into really playing heavily was Freelancer. I absolutely loved that game.
 

kio

MetaMember
Apr 19, 2019
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Freelancer was a great game at the time but it's 20 years old now. The last time I played it was over a decade ago so I don't really know how much of it still holds up. The concept of that game, on the other hand, is timeless and to me a perfect mix of simulation and arcade.

We're getting a new space sim next week, although it's hard to gauge how deep the sim aspects will actually be at this point.
 

Alextended

Segata's Disciple
Jan 28, 2019
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Tachyon: The Fringe is a pretty good not-so-famous, not-so-oldie, that's kind of a mix between sandbox and (mostly) story/mission based with fun action based on an inertia shift button to allow for strafe runs etc. even though it's otherwise not using super realistic physics like Elite II. Also Bruce Campbell is the protag.

Starlancer was more like Wing Commander than Freelancer and employed simy space combat instead of the mouse driven point & click & win interface of the latter, it also has a pretty decent Dreamcast port that may be easier to emulate than hunt for the superior PC game, patch it up, figure out the controls, etc.

Rogue Squadron 3D is still great even if the console sequels were way bigger. It's of course far simpler than most PC space combat sims but is still damn fun.

You might want to look into dgVoodoo2, you'll get a lot of mileage out of it for old Windows PC titles to run flawlessly in modern OS and resolutions with many options. I really want to play the likes of X-Wing and TIE Fighter as something akin to Rogue Squadron but with the PC Space combat game depth but they're too old in their best iteration (DOS). For a while the XWVM remake project looked promising but it's been so long I dunno any more. Fingers crossed.

X-Wing Alliance is Windows though, even if it's not as renowned as the previous games. There's also a mod community for it though not as big as for Freespace 2 obviously, I believe there are visual overhauls and even VR support mods for it. The classic look is still fine for me though.
 
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Alexandros

Every game should be turn based
Nov 4, 2018
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Awesome idea for a thread, subscribed! Other than the games already mentioned, I have this on my wishlist:


I also think that the first Rebel Galaxy, the first Everspace and Galaxy on Fire 2 HD are all worth a playthrough. All of them are on Steam.
 
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