Spaceport Trading Company

This is the type of game that I would really like a neutral review option for. It isn't great, it isn't terrible, it is just okay but marred by clunky controls and and kind of dull gameplay. I've given it a few tries over the while that I've had it through various updates and it has just never quite scratched the itch for a trading sim, despite coming so close. The good: -It is easy to see what to trade where. Generally as long as you buy goods when they are near or under average price and take them somewhere where they are in demand (which each item will tell you) then you are going to make a profit. You can make more money by paying attention to which places are paying even more or selling for even less but it isn't strictly necessary. -The music while simple and limited is pretty decent. Maybe it could grow dull after a long play period but I've never played that long. -Some of the gameplay options are interesting. I really enjoy the actually orbiting planets, it creates unique opportunities for trade when two planets get near each other to quickly hop back and forth between the two. Though it feels strange that your ship cannot auto update its navigation so you constantly…

Old school space trading game with lots of ships to choose from. Different factions you can earn rep with by completing missions. Initially a sublight game limited to a single star system, once you have earned enough $$ to buy a warp capable ship you can access the galaxy map and jump between systems. So yes, it's 2D Elite and very easy to pick up and put down. 9/10

Do you like "Star Traders Frontiers"? Do you like pixel games? How would you like to play a game that is essentially ST but in pixel format? That is what Spaceport Trading Company plays most similarly to at this time. It has 3 factions, its a trading game, and its in space! Now, Spaceport Trading Co definitely doesn't have as many nuanced aspects as ST while it remains in early access and there is (as far as I've seen) no combat. There are a couple (easy) areas of expansion I hope to see in the future: more ships and more galaxies (and therefore more planets). A bit more lore and differentiation about the factions to read somewhere. But, as one who enjoys trading games this is a nice, if simple, one to buy. Hopefully, after another year there will be all the improvements needed to flesh this out into a full-fledged game that stands entirely on its own merits. For now I am tentatively rating positively (I encountered no bugs).

I'm giving this a positive review because there's promise here. But if you're the sort of person who reads reviews, take the time to see what sort of development has happened since I've left this one. Because today, right now, this game has a lot of ground to make up. At surface level, it's a really fun space trader game, at least for a few hours anyway. You have extremely simplistic missions you can accept on each planet or star colony—deliver these goods, scan or patrol that planet, find me this resource. You can general buy low and sell high between various planets. Grind your face off through the first star system, and eventually you can buy a ship capable of taking you to a different system where ... well ... you continue grinding your face off. Combat? Nope. Crew? I can't figure out how to hire them. Mission diversity? It gets bland pretty quickly, at least for me. And you'll definitely encounter some bugs. For instance, if you have a mission to scan a planet three times, you'll need to exit the scanner and bring it back up again to scan it a third time. Hardly game-breaking, but it does get a little frustrating when you're scanning your 19th planet. That all said, there i…

[after playing the 'classic' mode, half of the huge issues I had with the game are not there any more. there is at least a possibility that the dev accidentally had some ultra buggy alpha version enabled for testing or whatever in the 'career mode' - whose only difference, by description, should be that the galaxy is randomized... but there were *so many* things that are completely different and work actally, like a static solar system, no click issues, better RPG-esque mechanics, and a few minor things that soured me on what I thought was 'the game' when it was really just a broken career mode. -- so read the next part knowing that is does not wholly reflect on the classic mode. the criticism about the style vs. substance, way way too few goods/materials and so on stands though: after leaving the first solar system, arriving at "the galaxy" and finding out it's just the same goods (with 2 things extra) was so demotivating, I stopped playing the classic mode too. I love this genre, but a game like that needs details and depth, not "cozy" pixel art normie bait trash.] review from a few days ago: ------------------------------- I had rated this as a strong positive, but after play…

This game has a good play loop and is worth playing for a bit. The developer is actively working on developing it. I had an issue with cargo disappearing and being changed on me but it seems like this bug has been fixed. It still has a way to go but is still fun. Looking forward to future updates.