In The Black

Short version: very good look and feel, but a bit shallow on content. Review written after Update #1 Pro's: Newtonian physics better than anything else I've played. Ship designs are actually practical spacecraft but still feel good. Interplay between the different ships is very unique and cool. Different matchups require different strategies to win. Group fights require tactics or at least some sense of BLOB to win. Flies great with only mouse and keyboard. Could make an E-sport I would actually find interesting. Con's Only five different hulls of ship currently available, with three variants each for a total of fifteen options. Progression feels slow to me given the amount of content available. It's in that mercurial "wow this could be REALLY cool!" phase where hopefully it catches on a bit more among simmers and maybe some shooter fans. Watching teams compete in this would be sick, especially if they could get the playercount up higher and we could see whole squadrons fighting. Side note: I do love that the Shrike is a nimble little sniper pod built around a railgun and not a space knife-fighter. I caught a target lacking attention at 19.8km and it felt reeeealllll good…

First off -- Play The Demo!! Before you buy, play the demo to see if you like it. This is a well-executed game for an under-served niche, but not everybody enjoys this niche! In this game, momentum matters, consideration of your thrust vectors matters, all three spatial dimensions matter! I enjoy arcade sims and dogfight games like Squadrons, but sometimes I want to scratch the same itch that the space battles in The Expanse scratch. Mindfulness and planning are as important as speed and distance. (This is especially true during the missions that take place inside large interior spaces -- momentum matters, and that wall will not jump out of your way!) I highly recommend space and flight enthusiasts check out this game, it's a version of flight and combat that you don't see very often. The game is early access so it's still in development (don't expect it to be a finished product yet), but it has a good level of polish already. But please, for everyone's sake, try the demo before buying to see if you actually like it.

I think they have the underlying tech for a good game working, but its not fun. The fact that its only only and I've not seen another player in 18 hours of gameplay is concerning enough, but the grindy progression is a bigger issue. This is an early access game. I'm assuming the devs want people to be able to play around with all the ships, make tons of loadouts, experiment around and find bugs and flaws. But the amount of time you need to sink into *severely* repetitive SP and MP matches to buy anything is absurd. Why would I sink 100+ hours into a shallow early access tech demo just to try the bigger ships? Its not worth your time.

strong atmosphere, strong presentation, a fun experience

Its not terrible for early access but it has a lot of potential. The biggest issue with it right now is the hella grindy progression but again, early access.

fun! simple interface and straightforward game. controls seem complex at first but after playing for a couple of hours you get the hang of it. love the ship customization and want to unlock all of them; they have sick designs! a lot of potential in this and i'm excited to see where this goes.