Wednesday, May 15, 2019

Rebel Galaxy Outlaw

You saw the screenshots yesterday, and I'm sure your first thought was, "No way the game can be as amazing as the screenshots."

Well, good news: it's absolutely just as amazing as the screenshots.

This is Travis Baldree's new game. He's been one of my favorite developers for more than a decade. His games are imaginative, well-paced, and always fun.

And they work. He releases fully-featured, fully-working games.

All right, enough intro. This game reminds me of two others: Super Wing Commander (3DO version) and Wing Commander: Privateer. The battles remind me of SWC. The ability to role-play reminds me of Privateer. 

There's a significant difference between RG:O and those two iconic games, though. RG:O is being released by arguably a better developer (Travis's track record is impeccable), and those games were both released at least a quarter of a century ago.

With the benefit of those twenty-five years, this game takes place in an incredibly dynamic world, and much of it is streamlined (if you so choose). Boring bits removed, exciting bits increased. It sounds simple, but no one else has been able to do it, at least not like this.

It's also huge. I've played for 30+ hours and only been in four planetary systems. Four! And there are thirty-nine in the game.

Wait, I should probably add a qualifier to that. I'm not following the story. I've been role-playing as a mercenary, just exploring on my own, and if you play this way, it's easily a 200+ hour game, or even longer.

Plus, this game is eccentric, and I mean that as a huge compliment. There's a very full-featured pool simulation, and almost every station has an opponent available who will play you for money. Slots. Video games. Dice poker.

There's no necessary reason for all that to be in the game, but it is, and it's all fun.

My thoughts appear to be genuinely disordered at this point, so let me pause until tomorrow and I'll try to organize my notes (which are fairly extensive) into something coherent.

I'll end on this, though. This game is going to be big. Very, very big.

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