Best of the best other indie Space Games while we wait

[zabbo2]

Like many of you I can't wait until the game gets released (especially us who kickstart'ed but didn't dish for the beta, doh!)

Because of my jonsing, I've checked out a few other indie space games recently, and revisited an old favourite. These will help pass the time until release! Feel free to add your own recommendations of course, but I think I may have hit all the best.. !

Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space: Excellent super-enjoyable game that is probably the closest thing going to the spirit of FTL. The main difference is in space combat. In W.W space combat is hands-on arcadey dog-fight style (like Star Control for all you old timers out there) instead of more pause'n'strategic like fTL. There are a lot of surprises and good ship goodies to get when you explore 20 minute galaxies and I can't recommend this game enough. I think the first game of the two game series might be a free download as well. If anyone can beat my highscore I'll give you a billion dollars. http://www.shrapnelgames.com/Digital_Ee ... _page.html

Starfarer: Indie in beta right now, $10. This game has the gameplay style of Mount and Blade (if you played that awesome game) but set in space. Currently, the space combat part of the game is well developed by the RPG/meta-strategy part has not been completed. Space combat is hands-on, somewhat like W.W above, but you can control entire fleets (you have hands-on control of your designated flagship, and the rest you give orders to)...it looks great and has depth. This game is shaping up really well, and the combat is enjoyable. I think the full vision of this game won't be realized for another 1 year or so though...once it is complete and the mods come out it's going to be awesome. Anyways great deal for $10. http://fractalsoftworks.com/

Transcendence: Excellent space game, directly influenced by rogue-likes. Second in similarity to FTL behind W.W above. You control a single ship that goes through randomly generated star systems. Game has a lot of depth and secrets to it. I don't think the combat is fantastic because of the limited amount of turn radii you can make, but it is still really good. Recommended to check out. You can tell by a few screenshots whether this is a game for you or not. http://neurohack.com/transcendence/

Drox Operative: If you combine Master of Orion 1/2 [anyone who mentions MOO 3 will be shot by me btw] with Transcendence above, and add a Blizzard/Diablo/WoW loot style spice into the mix, you have this game. It is also in development, but pretty far along and close to release. If you haven't played the above games, well, it's like you are a sole space ship agent in a galaxy of inter-galactic war. The game has some strengths and weaknesses but it is definitely unique. I certainly got my $15 worth but would not recommend it to everyone. http://www.soldak.com/Drox-Operative/Overview.html

Hmm I think there was one more awesome recommendation but it escapes me right now. Between these games I'm sure waiting for FTL won't be so bad anymore

[icepick]

Starcon2/Ur-Quan Masters is awesome. Not much like FTL, though.

http://sc2.sourceforge.net/

[ThePsuedoMonkey]

Star Ruler: a huge 4x RTS, which I swiped from an indie pack during the steam summer sale. It lets you build (and save) your own ships from scratch, so you can tune them to a specific task (e.g. my meter-long scout, my kilometer-long trade ship, or my 1000km-long flagship). There is also a mod ("GalacticArmory") that doubles the already expansive content of the game. The only drawback is that the customization is so good and the galaxies are so big that the learning curve is a little rough.

[CaptainQuirk]

Transcendence: Excellent space game, directly influenced by rogue-likes. Second in similarity to FTL behind W.W above. You control a single ship that goes through randomly generated star systems. Game has a lot of depth and secrets to it. I don't think the combat is fantastic because of the limited amount of turn radii you can make, but it is still really good. Recommended to check out. You can tell by a few screenshots whether this is a game for you or not. http://neurohack.com/transcendence/

I found this game the other day while searching for something to slake my lust for a Sci Fi game until FTL came out.

I can definitely vouch for this game. It is excellent and very fun to play. The combat is a bit hard to get used to at first as it's all real time, almost like the game Asteroids but once you figure it out it's great fun. Huge amount of items, weapons, ship mods etc.

Lots and lots and lots of potential in this game and there is also a huge active modding community.

The only thing I'd like to see more of is more quests, more random events and better rewards as sometimes it can be hard to find enough stuff to sell to upgrade your ship.