HotDS such an awesome game yet 2 hour long campaign is just criminal. It's 6 hours for 3 walkthroughs and another hour to figure out survival build to autowin all stages. In the end it's just made me sad that other games somehow unable to provide as enjoyable space fighter experience as this game. Just give us longer Diaspora campaign with HotDS flight model...
Thank you for the list! One comment regarding Spacebourne : I bounced off of this, due to the voice acting. I don't mind a couple of rough edges here and there, but AI voices for some reason are a no-go for me.
The comment that Elite is miles wide and inches deep is from the first years of the game. 10 years in, there is so much to do and try. The upcoming update overhauls a few mechanics and introduces something new (most likely base-building) ❤
How to know you're an addict: 1) find a great new game to try from a youtube video 2) log in to steam to purchase game because it sounds awesome 3) Game is already in your library...
LOL yea, I did the same. paused every now and then looked it up on steam, WHAT. I already have it... really why haven't I played it. some even under 2hrs. Arrhhh Mind boggles.
The X series is so underrated. They're basically what would happen if you took Elite Dangerous and EVE Online and smashed them together into a single-player sandbox.
Yeah I recently discovered x4 and true to what everyone said, I’ve loved it more the longer I’ve played. There’s nothing quite like starting out as a miner, gunfighter, etc and growing into an entire galactic empire with multiple facets of income. 100.% recommend jumping in. The learning curve is steep but surprisingly not overwhelming if you just hop in and play. Everything falls into place
@@zman_o7 I would have to ask if you accidentally hit a brick wall with your face. X4 is far simpler and easier to understand that both ED and EVE Online combined. Both on how to fight and how to build an empire.
I have about 480 hours in Empyrion, it's pretty good. It is similar to space engineers, but with more surivival/rpg stuff. Avorion also has eaten about 420 hours, the building is a bit different in the game, but intuitive and fun. I've got about 1200 in X4, and just restarted a playthrough for 7.0. I've tried to get into NMS a few times, it just never held me.
Spacebourne 2 is an absolute hidden gem, but if you're only getting one of these, X4 is criminally underrated, it is the single, best space sim and empire management game on the market not named EVE (and does some things better).
Space engineers is a joke, years of being cuckolded and trickle fed content by devs while the game was kept alive solely by player driven mod life support, and now that the dews started releasing a lot of content, its mostly paid DLC
Between X: Gold, X2, X3:R and X3:TC, I must have put 1000+ hours into the series. I don't think I'll ever recover from setting up the 100 Microchip factories for the X3 Hub quest though.
Give it some love with additional mods and it's pretty much surpassing X3 (trilogy). One of my all time favorites. Does a lot right and some wrong, but no one game grants you hundreds or even thousands of gameplay hours. That is, if you can stomache that steep learning curve and hours of doing not much except exploration and waiting for something to finish. A self-sufficient station for instance may take several realtime hours to be constructed. A self-sufficient wharf takes even longer. It's one of the few games where every single of your actions matter and have actual influence on the game, yet nearly none of the actions have an impact the second you do it, but several hours later. For instance: don't simply build a station in a random sector. At first it might be a good idea because there are tons of asteroids, high valuable ore and easy access to most of the local market. A couple of hours later you might face several Xenon battlecruisers pounding your poor little base to dust - not because they hate you. They're machines and they hate nobody. It's their faulty AI that causes this and you simply happen to be in their way. Game is at its best when you got your own economy running so you start building own ships and wage war against whomever you don't seem to like. Or you turn into the galaxy's savior. It's up to you.
"If you haven't played Elite before"... way to make me feel old, I played Elite on the BBC Micro in the mid-80s. Hmm, right, it isn't you that makes me feel old ...
Same here - But I admit I really AM old (69). For me the X series (with X4: Foundations as the latest entry) is the real successor to the Elite I played on the BBC-B (and later on the Acorn Archimedes and RiscPC). I got that feeling right at the moment I played the demo of X - Beyond The Frontier that was included with a PC magazine. I remember that after playing that demo I sought several stores to finally get my hands on it. I still have the original CD by the way. Of course X4 is not the only space game I play. I like NMS for instance. Most games I play these days are JRPG's (Nihom Falcom's Trails series is my most loved one), but I still have a sweet spot for that old Elite (and X4 of course).
I love seeing Starbourne and Evochron Legacy on the list! Both of these are little games that I love seeing pop up in lists; they need so much more love! Great list and thanks for digging these up!
I love seeing any small team games pop up and those hit that mark from what I hear. I've played other Evochron games, but not legacy, and currently the original Starbourne is game #2 I'm playing right now. lol In a different genre is Kenshi, originally a one man team, and got larger as more people bought it before full release. I think I bought it for family and friends about 10 times. lol It's currently on sale, and it should be a definite buy for any sandbox lover. Tons of mods as well.
@@wargrunt2002I loved Elite and pretty much played it daily until a friend told me about Star Citizen. I’ve put Elite down and never returned. No matter the game I try to play for a space sim nothing tops what I’ve experienced in Star Citizen. The best is still yet to come.
@@tj7094 When it comes to Star Citizen, it really is a true masterpiece in game construction, except when it comes down to all of the shady activities of the company developing it. That being said, I cannot hold the guys down in the trenches actually making it what it is today. The talent creating it is truly superb. You really don’t get that level of detail in even the smallest things, by having garbage artists and coders. I really believe it would be one of, if not the, best games ever made if it just had more financial transparency with backers money and at least the slightest estimate towards completion. The company has just lost all credibility with its financial backers. I, as well as others have been waiting for the single player campaign for years, but there’s (like everything else) still no official timeline for its completion. Sorry for the massive speech here lol. 🚀👨🚀☄️
love seeing X4 at the final top in thye list. thats also would be my top choice. for those who are in your twenties, if you think X4 is a "dad game" (those complicated things that requires commitment to play it) be warned though, if you try the game, you might become a "dad" too.
Evochron? Damn! That's one to blow the dust off! I ADORE the X- series, and really enjoyed X4 right up until the first major update ( not DLC). Suddenly the lag and stuttering became crippling, from a seriously smooth experience before.
once you figure out empyrion there are some phenomenal player created campaigns. The biggest is probably reforged eden its like an entire new game. The developers of reforged eden are working on reforged eden 2, and that completly remakes the game again. They are very challenging campaigns but worth it once your done playing with vanilla empyrion.
X4 foundations. is def overlooked. the title imo does it dirty. makes it sound like turn based galactic sim rip off imo. that said the game is so much more than you mentioned. u can literaly do ANYTHING u want almost..... it is the true RPG space sim imo. without the boring life bs, eating, sleeping. if u wanna be 1 man wreking machine u can. if u want to rule an empire u can be space miner and or miner empire trader stations? build ur own ships? sell all that stuff to whomever? mine the main traffic routes and setup ambushes? do u want to do all this and more in the same SAVE? u can........ sesriously do it all and i still missing things like being able to hack statiions. steal tech, items. imo the main issue for the game is the broken missions. i call them broken, i had hard time following them, knowing what to do many times. def something they could work on to streamline what they are actually asking of the player to do.
Although if you want to be a space fighter pilot, some passive income really REALLY helps, but you can use mining for that, and use remote commands to do that, up to 3 ish miners, look up MORT with X3, you can do pretty much the same thing, all you need is enough seed capital to buy one miner, and when it says "completed orders" you have already probably uncovered several stations that buy that resource, and even better places to mine for it.
Empyrion is one of the most underrated games on steam. Yes it's like a cross between space engineers and no mans sky but with what feels like more content than both combined. There's just something special about travelling the galaxy in my supremacy class star destroyer. Taking a shuttle down to a planet to make contact with a new faction and inadvertently set off a massive new quest line. Then as I'm leaving discovering an abandoned military bunker infested with monstrosities and puzzles before heading back to the star destroyer to try and fend off an incoming Zirax Fleet. They've recently added a new boarding feature where if enemies get your shield down they'll board your ship. I've not experienced it yet but looking forward to trying it out
You included Children of a Dead Earth! It is my favorite space game despite the fact I play it the least, why? Because it is one big slapstick about the absurdity of literally every single aspect of sci-fi ever. It and furiously reading projectrho and its linked sources for several years combined together to make me realize that sci-fi is an oxymoron, that no matter how hard you make it, its fantasy, nothing but fantasy in space.
I just wish they'd add proper AI. I mean there are NPCs everywhere, you get attacked by drones and hostile NPCs - but you can't even have a single AI friend in your base. You can build kilometer long starships, but never hire a proper crew beyond expensive props. In that regard, Avorion does a better job, 'though you don't even have faces, but abstract numbers. Yet you know, your massive starship is crewed by 200 people, there are 30 gunners, 40 mechanics, 20 engineers, a captain with a name and if you don't watch out, you suddenly are in command of a large fleet by your own. Imagination beats display, always, but Empyrion really lacks friendly NPCs for your ships.
I have played most of these games and I have to say the only game I have spent more than 1000 hours in is Empyrion, I absolutely love this game but can no longer play it due to motion sickness. I've had to give up quite a few games that have 1st person view because of it and I really miss playing Empyrion..
@tazman8487 I'm sorry to hear that... that really sucks... if I couldn't play empyrion anymore, I'd probably lose my sanity. It's where I find freedom.
Glad ya highlighted Void Destroyer 2, really underrated gem by a solo dev :) Also, will point to Rebel Galaxy: Outlaw for six bucks. It's basically a modernization of the classic Wing Commander Privateer, so good!
Other older titles offered by Egosoft is well worth a look, i own most of the X series titles and highly recommend them if you are into the space saga, also recommend, Mass Effect Legendary Edition, normally $60 us dollars, now $6 dollars.
Liberation gives me hardcore Elite vibes....the original one. I played it to death on my C64 and then my Amiga 500. Amazing game that actually looked remarkably like Liberation. I take it as an excellent homage to that OG King of games.....Braben was a real genius. (the C64 version had a 64k executable....and it was a ridiculously massive, complex game with real space physics etc etc. All in 64kilobytes. That's serious talent that is lost today with the endless resource creep....there is no incentive to streamline any software today.... that's why we have endless bloat without any noticeable increase in...well....anything really. Any speed or memory increase is instantly soaked up by pointless and endless updates. Products are never 'complete'....all to keep a room of programmers busy, so they're already there for your next product. Its just easier than rebuilding a new team for each project. Its the same now for many industries. And the consumer is the one that loses. My laptop is way faster and bigger than it was 15 years ago....but nothing has really changed. They still seem to have about the same level of productivity and are just as frustrating and bloated with updates as ever!) /endrant lol
x4 foundations has proved to be a really fun one for me. My only complaint is that the ai pilots you hire on get themselves killed too easily. You really have to pay close attention to them when engaging enemies.
Can't recommend X4: Foundations enough! But don't just grab the base game for this dirty cheap price, also grab at least the Cradle of Humanity DLC! You gonna have a blast once you learn the game, and it's not that hard to be honest. It's part of the fun of the game!
To be honest, I am flirting with buying this game for quite some time now, but what I read about the learning curve has discouraged me so far. I even have a HOTAS, so that would be not problem, but when I read the reviews, see all those DLC and read reviews saying the game looks great but they don't even know where to start, I feel kind of disencouraged.
@@Furzkampfbomber Yep - The learning curve is steep, but there are tutorials in the game, and once you get used to it, it becomes almost a second nature to fly around and do stuff with your ship. You know what they say. You can't make a omelette without breaking a few eggs. In other words, you have to put in some effort, but there is a nice reward in the end...
@@Furzkampfbomber Don't believe the dis-hype! The X games are complex beasts UI wise, but that is because you aren't forbidden by the UI not containing a thing that you can do, but the UI "declutter" makes forbidding to access. So play the base game as just a single lone pilot. The map is therefore only to find where to go next, and very little of the UI is needed. And then try playing with orders so that a miner can mine a rich area and then you get pinged with "completed orders", and you send that, via map commands, to a place that buys that resource, and the UI is cluttered with things you never use, but are completely ignorable because you don't need it. Then sort out more miners (or traders) with commands to auto mine or auto trade or scouts to auto map for you. You will learn that the UI makes a lot of things available, but it is only a steep learning curve if you "want to" remote order, set up patrols, start wars, be a pilot, empire commander etc all on the first possible day. It isn't necessary for you to do it all right now, and those complaints of "steep learning curve!!!" are people who got used to being able to do everything possible in the first week on other games. And importantly, like the card game Solitaire or similar, you may get a set up that is doomed from the get-go, that no matter what you do, the universe will, before you can afford to "save the day" Dudley Do-Right style, fall apart and be explodified or limited well before you discover what you CAN do, but you will not be able to find out in 20 hours. That many games 20 hours is well on through what you can do is why people often give up and never come back to X4. The expectation is different from what the game allows and/or engineers to happen. Heck after 100 hours you will still be a n00b at it, but you will know how the game works, basically, yet still come across new things or methods you didn't know before. This is why, IMO, if you aren't sure, and you don't have it, get the base game first. Put at least your first game in it as just faffing about and learning the game. If you can't put 20-30 hours in (in however many restarts that takes) to just throw away, this almost definitely isn't the game for you, not because it is bad, but because, like DOTA or WoW et al, this can see you lose thousands of literal hours of your life playing, and you cannot afford that time in just one game. But be ready to throw those invested hours away, entirely, and restart yet again. If you find you like its way of being played worthwhile, get any DLCs you like to extend the game further, Egosoft intended each DLC you buy to be a restart, and whether it is on sale or not is almost irrelevant, in "dollars per hour" a DLC that costs 15 dollars but gets 200+ hours is still entirely worth it. And if you find the game isn't worth the time it requires to "get good", you're only out a small amount, the cost of the base only game on sale, and that cost is what you pay for any other game and risk not liking. If you already have it, just play it knowing IT DOESN'T MATTER that you throw away 20 hours, it doesn't "waste" anything, and if you still don't understand 90% of the UI when you restart after finding out the game is going to fail any day now, it still doesn't matter: you learned 10% of the UI, and the next play you know that and can build up and learn 20%. Etc. It isn't necessary to learn 100% of the UI, but it is necessary that the UI contain 100% of what you can do. That difference is why the complaining about "UI bad" is heard all round the place (noise, however, doesn't indicate numbers, just how loud someone can be). Just don't demand you must learn all the UI and eventually you find it is logical, just not a logic you might find in a Windows UI or a Playstation UI, etc, both of which you had to learn before you set your default ui expectation to that UI's methodology. X4's UI is meant to make what X4 can do available, and tries to be logical in presenting that, not aping Windows. As an aside, that is often what GNU Image Processing is complained at: it isn't Adobe's UI, so it MUST be bad. However, if you learned Photoshop later, although having learned GIMPs UI first, means Photoshop's UI is easier, the obverse isn't true, because Photoshop's UI is aping Windows Way, not Image Processing ways of doing things. Same for UNIX vs Windows. There's a difference in how things work, and if you learn THAT way of doing things (Multiple Document Single Interface) then Windows (Single Document Single Interface) is simpler but less logical (the old Mac way was MDSI too, the app added/changed the bar available, the document was in its own window. that is a UNIX way of doing a GUI).
Gotta say. Where's space engineers? This is a great list and you've given me games to check out. Legit bought a few of these games cuz of your list. But i can't believe space engineers didn't make the list. At first i thought you accidentally cut off part the name when i saw in the list "space engine" lol. Perhaps it's because it's not on sale (don't actually know because i already own the game) but it's a great space sim that is soon to see an update to expand pve elements. Believe that also entails survival aspects and solo play in general expanded upon. They are also adding new buildable blocks and has full mod support for all platforms (console rules permitting of course) as well as shareable builds like space ships and base builds. The game has constant dev support and they are always looking to evolve the game. Really should check it out.
I bounced off X4 quite a few times since it came out, but it finally stuck with the 7.0 update. It sounds weird but the actual usable third person camera is what did it for me.
Often what does it is the UI is complicated because it has to show 100% of what you CAN do, but you can ignore 90% of its options, you "just have to" learn the logic to discover where the 10% you need is hidden in. X4s UI IS logical, but it isn't a logic you learned using Windows and ITS UI, a UI you still had to learn ITS logic, before you could use it. But since you learned Windows UI, "you" want X4 to use that logic too, because that saves learning its UI.
@@LTGamingUA-cam Aye, just not a logic that people have found before, necessarily, and so since it isn't what they are used to, claim the UI CANNOT be logical, at all, because they can't be wrong or anything, so it MUST be the UI is bad!!!! If you've had to use Maya, or a Lighttable app to deal with photo retouching, or similar, you'd know the UI has to be learned for any application. It is just that it isn't "pick up and play" like, say, Doom, and it isn't a problem either with the UI or the person playing.
@@markhackett2302 exactly this and for me when a game has new systems I just enjoy it even more. Why I enjoy a lot of Japanese strategy games. They break my conceptions of UI totally 😂
Empyrion is so much greater than I expected, I've got hundreds of hours in just make sure you check out reforged Eden 2 mod for a more complete storyline/progression
Stationeers is also 33% off. Stationeers puts you in control of the construction and management of a space station to run by yourself or online with your friends. Complex atmospheric, electrical, manufacturing, agriculture, and gravitational systems require your thought and management at all times!
Thank you for covering Children of a Dead Earth, that game is absolutely awesome and I always love to see it get some appreciation! Subbed because of your hard work pronouncing "Magnetoplasmadynamic thrusters" correctly. ;)
I hate gamers for the X4 score. Despite some of its shortcomings and clunkyness it's without the shadow of a doubt one of the best space games ever made.
X4 foundation= eve offline, just as vast more ship details, the most amazing deep space sim, buy all dlc it's insanely vast, and has a steeeeep learning curve. Don't give up
empyrion is absolutely a great game. i would highly recommend it. the best part is when you are finished with the base game and are looking for a challenge there are many custom scenarios on the workshop. star salvage and reforged eden both the first and the second which is currently in beta are absolute gems. in my mind all three are better than the base game.
I have played X4 Foundations since 2018 with thousands hours. I played every big version. Egosoft is doing well. They keep update the game all the time without break;
I can recommend rings of Saturn if you can handle the strange steering. Avorion is fun to play for me and got excellent control and the game has similar block building features to Space Engineers but less complicated and more freedom on design.
I only discovered X4 some days ago and my only regret is to not have know it's existence sooner. It reminds me Eve online but with more interactions, it's hard to get in it but when it's done you don't play to anything else.
I literally have almost 300 games on steam and I got almost all of these space sim still I’m restless eveonline was my heart but after 12 years I’m bored and the only game that comes close is the X series but it’s to dam huge and I feel too aloe in that vast universe 😢
Underspace looks awesome! And a title I haven't heard of until now. Might pick up DeltaV Rings of Saturn too, just because I specifically look for asteroid mining in space games and it seems to hit the specific way of space mining I'm looking for. Picked up X3 War Pack in the sale. Surprised I hadn't heard of the X series before with how elaborate and expansive it is.
DeltaV is worth it. The dev is incredibly active and it keeps getting more stuff added. You could play, put it down for a bit then come back to a bunch more.
Avorion is a good buy its a mix of X3/x4 and minecraft where you build (or download through the workshop) all of your ships factories and your turrets as well.
How would Empyrion NOT be a space sim? I don't think there is another game where you have so much you can do, especially when you use the Steam workshop and get the Reforged Eden scenario or the new improved Reforged Eden 2. One of my favorite games.
People get weird ideas about Space Sims and then write comments. I think the key is to be flexible and not get to uptight about it. For me it has many aspects agreed!
@@LTGamingUA-cam Give me some spaceships and/or an interesting sci-fi/space themed world and generally, I am happy. As an older gamer I still miss games like the Wing Commander series or the I-War games though. Learning to control your ship in I-War, with all the newtonian physics, took some time, but felt so incredibly satisfying once you got the hang of it. The ship really felt _massive_ and flying all kinds of crazy maneuvers in later missions never gets old. (And yes, I am still _peeved_ about that cliffhanger at the end of 'Prophecy'. Thanks €A for gutting another game studio and killing off another beloved game series for just a bit more short-term profit...) Both game series are not on Steam, but can be found dirt cheap on GoG. Especially when you want something more realistic, I can't praise I-War high enough.
No mans sky.. hard to say 30 dollars isnt good deal for what it offers. i dont own it. but i mean solo or multiplayer. there something for everyone it seems. hard not to get 30 dollars of enjoyment out of the game from what i seen. i just have so many games already.
Yea, I do appreciate that NMS is a vast game at this point and certainly worth the money if it's your jam. I tried it during a free weekend recently and it didn't hook me unfortunately. X4 Foundations, on the other hand, IS my jam. So looking forward to get back into it.
I'm a big fan of the X Series as well and it does a lot of things outstanding or just enough put the difference or what I should say what needs to happen is Planetside missions weather at settlements combat diplomacy whatever that would really round out this game to a whole new levels . That's why I think space born is looking good to a lot of people these days
All planetside would do is change your skybox, under X, same as Star Citizen or Elite Dangerous does. SC's USP is "you can walk around a "real ship"". ED's USP is its VR abilities. X has neither the scope nor the people to chase either place, it would need 100s of millions of dollars and 200+ people working on it to compete.
Empyrion does have quite a steep learning curve, especially when learning to design and build ships but I do keep coming back to it. Currently have 980 hours played in it. Second only to Conan Exiles at... several times that time...
Empyrion is straight up a Space Engineers copy, without most of the interesting parts. I would never ever suggest buying that game instead of Space Engineers.
All games in the current list are great games, not saying that the ones you mentioned are bad, but frankly, they can't compeate with games like ED, X4, NMS...
@@efxnews4776 oh I never would compare these games. You cannot because every game is so different from each other. But that's exactly my point, don't compare it - just play them all 😁
Empyrion is my favorite space-themed game! Is it space-sim though? I don't think so, it's a survival crafting and block building game set in space. To me, a space-sim is a game more like Evochron or Elite Dangerous
30 euros expensive side for NMS? Are you serious? With the extreme amount of content.. this is a bargain. And on X4.. You are showing prerendered promotional renders.. The game doesn't look even 1/10th this good with it lackluster omission of DLSS/FSR2+ or any of the technological advances of the last 10 years. I would go so far as these trailers as misleading the customer and should be prohibited. This game has so many bugs and having 600 hours into it hoping it won't be so bad.. in the end the 5fps midgame+ is a big turnoff. There are so many bugs, unclear tutorial missions, broken DLC missions. Broken physics, broken Ai... Egosoft refuses to address any of these issues and instead releases an extremely underwhelming DLC that nobody wants, and that has nothing to do with X4 sandbox.
@@JPEaglesandKatz you went off the deep end a bit 😂😆 like I said relax and enjoy 🚀 Critical is fine and I was also critical of the new DLC....but it took you 600 hours to get to this? 😐
Thanks for including us, guys! Much appreciated. /greg
We really enjoy X4 Foundations! :)
X4 is an auto include.
Your game is awesome!
Yea i don't even have time for any other game due to X4. 😅
I've heard its not great on the Steam Deck, gets quite chuggy and can't cope with everything going on in the background?
Love X4 !!
House of the Dying Sun and Evochron are absolutely top-tier and severely underrated. Go check them out!
HotDS such an awesome game yet 2 hour long campaign is just criminal.
It's 6 hours for 3 walkthroughs and another hour to figure out survival build to autowin all stages.
In the end it's just made me sad that other games somehow unable to provide as enjoyable space fighter experience as this game.
Just give us longer Diaspora campaign with HotDS flight model...
Starsector is a good 2D Space Sim, but since it's not on Steam, not a lot know about it.
Thank you for the list! One comment regarding Spacebourne : I bounced off of this, due to the voice acting. I don't mind a couple of rough edges here and there, but AI voices for some reason are a no-go for me.
It Is a consideration for sure!
The comment that Elite is miles wide and inches deep is from the first years of the game. 10 years in, there is so much to do and try.
The upcoming update overhauls a few mechanics and introduces something new (most likely base-building) ❤
How to know you're an addict:
1) find a great new game to try from a youtube video
2) log in to steam to purchase game because it sounds awesome
3) Game is already in your library...
haha I appreciated this! :)
LOL yea, I did the same. paused every now and then looked it up on steam, WHAT. I already have it... really why haven't I played it. some even under 2hrs. Arrhhh Mind boggles.
haha same!
The X series is so underrated. They're basically what would happen if you took Elite Dangerous and EVE Online and smashed them together into a single-player sandbox.
it is a dumpster fire with a learning curve far worse than either ED or EVE.
Yeah I recently discovered x4 and true to what everyone said, I’ve loved it more the longer I’ve played. There’s nothing quite like starting out as a miner, gunfighter, etc and growing into an entire galactic empire with multiple facets of income. 100.% recommend jumping in. The learning curve is steep but surprisingly not overwhelming if you just hop in and play. Everything falls into place
That's the problem.
ED sucks and Eve online is obsolete and boring.
If they combined Star Citizen, No Man's sky and Starfield it would be great.
@@zman_o7 I would have to ask if you accidentally hit a brick wall with your face. X4 is far simpler and easier to understand that both ED and EVE Online combined. Both on how to fight and how to build an empire.
I described X4 as "I wanna play Elite: Dangerous and Stellaris at the exact same time because I just can't be bothered to choose between them." lol
Thanks for mentioning Avorion! I play it every day just to relax and bringing my spaceship ideas to life.
I have about 480 hours in Empyrion, it's pretty good. It is similar to space engineers, but with more surivival/rpg stuff.
Avorion also has eaten about 420 hours, the building is a bit different in the game, but intuitive and fun.
I've got about 1200 in X4, and just restarted a playthrough for 7.0.
I've tried to get into NMS a few times, it just never held me.
Spacebourne 2 is an absolute hidden gem, but if you're only getting one of these, X4 is criminally underrated, it is the single, best space sim and empire management game on the market not named EVE (and does some things better).
another victim of the "absolute" mind virus.
Starsector and Space Engineers are also good space sim games. Space engineers will get more sim/sandbox content in the next update.
Space Engineers is one of my favorites!
Starsector is an all-time favorite for sure
Starsector isn't on Steam, though, and would be a bit out of place in a video about good deals in this year's summer sale.
Space engineers is a joke, years of being cuckolded and trickle fed content by devs while the game was kept alive solely by player driven mod life support, and now that the dews started releasing a lot of content, its mostly paid DLC
List seems to be missing Everspace 2 - 50% off currently, and is a superb take on the space genre. Full HOTAS support.
its not a simulation, more like acrade
@@irassss1-- Space Engine is hardly more than a walking sim, yet it's on the list.
If you include Empyrion as Space Sim it certainly is missing Space Engineers.
Empyrion but not Space Engineers?? I play both and they are such good sandboxs to play in. :)
Starship Evo...
X4 is EXTREMELY underrated. It's an amazing game, that you can just keep playing. It is a must have for anyone interested in space.
@@Muldaak very well said and currently amazing value!
Between X: Gold, X2, X3:R and X3:TC, I must have put 1000+ hours into the series. I don't think I'll ever recover from setting up the 100 Microchip factories for the X3 Hub quest though.
Give it some love with additional mods and it's pretty much surpassing X3 (trilogy). One of my all time favorites.
Does a lot right and some wrong, but no one game grants you hundreds or even thousands of gameplay hours.
That is, if you can stomache that steep learning curve and hours of doing not much except exploration and waiting for something to finish. A self-sufficient station for instance may take several realtime hours to be constructed. A self-sufficient wharf takes even longer. It's one of the few games where every single of your actions matter and have actual influence on the game, yet nearly none of the actions have an impact the second you do it, but several hours later. For instance: don't simply build a station in a random sector. At first it might be a good idea because there are tons of asteroids, high valuable ore and easy access to most of the local market. A couple of hours later you might face several Xenon battlecruisers pounding your poor little base to dust - not because they hate you. They're machines and they hate nobody. It's their faulty AI that causes this and you simply happen to be in their way.
Game is at its best when you got your own economy running so you start building own ships and wage war against whomever you don't seem to like. Or you turn into the galaxy's savior. It's up to you.
No FPS combat being included in it should be criminal.
@@Ricolaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa agreed
"If you haven't played Elite before"... way to make me feel old, I played Elite on the BBC Micro in the mid-80s. Hmm, right, it isn't you that makes me feel old ...
Same here.
It's because you are old. I have T-shirts who are older then some co workers. It's a fact.
@@3komma141592653hi gramps
Same here - But I admit I really AM old (69). For me the X series (with X4: Foundations as the latest entry) is the real successor to the Elite I played on the BBC-B (and later on the Acorn Archimedes and RiscPC). I got that feeling right at the moment I played the demo of X - Beyond The Frontier that was included with a PC magazine. I remember that after playing that demo I sought several stores to finally get my hands on it. I still have the original CD by the way.
Of course X4 is not the only space game I play. I like NMS for instance. Most games I play these days are JRPG's (Nihom Falcom's Trails series is my most loved one), but I still have a sweet spot for that old Elite (and X4 of course).
I still have the OG manual for Elite on the Speccy.... In fact that manual is right behind me now.
Glad to see Delta-V getting the recognition it deserves. Amazing and unique title.
Agreed, "ΔV: Rings of Saturn" is a great game, do recommend it. 👍
I love seeing Starbourne and Evochron Legacy on the list! Both of these are little games that I love seeing pop up in lists; they need so much more love!
Great list and thanks for digging these up!
Evochron Legacy is an awesome game. It just takes some time to learn. Well I guess any Space Sim takes a lot of time haha!
I love seeing any small team games pop up and those hit that mark from what I hear. I've played other Evochron games, but not legacy, and currently the original Starbourne is game #2 I'm playing right now. lol
In a different genre is Kenshi, originally a one man team, and got larger as more people bought it before full release. I think I bought it for family and friends about 10 times. lol It's currently on sale, and it should be a definite buy for any sandbox lover. Tons of mods as well.
@@Qikdraw Kenshi is so good! It's so unique and one of those cult hits that doesn't get talked about enough!
Which of those is the more relaxing and chilled out ?
Elite and X4 for such a low price is amazing. In Elite just landing on a distant moon and driving around in a srv is worth that price.
Both are a great title, played a lot of them both. Elite for its ship gameplay and sound and played x4 for its simulation and huge space fleet battle.
@@VonEldrich I could not agree with both of you more. I absolutely love X4, and the detail in Elite is pretty great. 🚀
@@wargrunt2002I loved Elite and pretty much played it daily until a friend told me about Star Citizen. I’ve put Elite down and never returned. No matter the game I try to play for a space sim nothing tops what I’ve experienced in Star Citizen. The best is still yet to come.
@@tj7094 When it comes to Star Citizen, it really is a true masterpiece in game construction, except when it comes down to all of the shady activities of the company developing it. That being said, I cannot hold the guys down in the trenches actually making it what it is today. The talent creating it is truly superb. You really don’t get that level of detail in even the smallest things, by having garbage artists and coders. I really believe it would be one of, if not the, best games ever made if it just had more financial transparency with backers money and at least the slightest estimate towards completion. The company has just lost all credibility with its financial backers. I, as well as others have been waiting for the single player campaign for years, but there’s (like everything else) still no official timeline for its completion. Sorry for the massive speech here lol. 🚀👨🚀☄️
love seeing X4 at the final top in thye list. thats also would be my top choice. for those who are in your twenties, if you think X4 is a "dad game" (those complicated things that requires commitment to play it) be warned though, if you try the game, you might become a "dad" too.
Evochron? Damn! That's one to blow the dust off!
I ADORE the X- series, and really enjoyed X4 right up until the first major update ( not DLC).
Suddenly the lag and stuttering became crippling, from a seriously smooth experience before.
once you figure out empyrion there are some phenomenal player created campaigns. The biggest is probably reforged eden its like an entire new game. The developers of reforged eden are working on reforged eden 2, and that completly remakes the game again. They are very challenging campaigns but worth it once your done playing with vanilla empyrion.
X4 foundations. is def overlooked. the title imo does it dirty. makes it sound like turn based galactic sim rip off imo.
that said the game is so much more than you mentioned. u can literaly do ANYTHING u want almost..... it is the true RPG space sim imo. without the boring life bs, eating, sleeping.
if u wanna be 1 man wreking machine u can.
if u want to rule an empire u can
be space miner and or miner empire
trader
stations? build ur own ships?
sell all that stuff to whomever?
mine the main traffic routes and setup ambushes?
do u want to do all this and more in the same SAVE?
u can........ sesriously do it all and i still missing things like being able to hack statiions. steal tech, items.
imo the main issue for the game is the broken missions. i call them broken, i had hard time following them, knowing what to do many times. def something they could work on to streamline what they are actually asking of the player to do.
Although if you want to be a space fighter pilot, some passive income really REALLY helps, but you can use mining for that, and use remote commands to do that, up to 3 ish miners, look up MORT with X3, you can do pretty much the same thing, all you need is enough seed capital to buy one miner, and when it says "completed orders" you have already probably uncovered several stations that buy that resource, and even better places to mine for it.
Thanks for including Liberation! It's made a big difference to our little game and the LT Gaming community have been really friendly
Well it's certainly here on merit and a great game. So glad we could have an impact!
Thanks for mentioning Void Destroyer 2 :)
Best of luck with the channel!
Empyrion is one of the most underrated games on steam. Yes it's like a cross between space engineers and no mans sky but with what feels like more content than both combined. There's just something special about travelling the galaxy in my supremacy class star destroyer. Taking a shuttle down to a planet to make contact with a new faction and inadvertently set off a massive new quest line. Then as I'm leaving discovering an abandoned military bunker infested with monstrosities and puzzles before heading back to the star destroyer to try and fend off an incoming Zirax Fleet. They've recently added a new boarding feature where if enemies get your shield down they'll board your ship. I've not experienced it yet but looking forward to trying it out
You included Children of a Dead Earth! It is my favorite space game despite the fact I play it the least, why? Because it is one big slapstick about the absurdity of literally every single aspect of sci-fi ever. It and furiously reading projectrho and its linked sources for several years combined together to make me realize that sci-fi is an oxymoron, that no matter how hard you make it, its fantasy, nothing but fantasy in space.
I'm talking my friend into another campaign of Empyrion, such a good game and definitely under rated for the amount of stuff you can do in it :)
Yeah something I'd like to do also 🚀
I just wish they'd add proper AI.
I mean there are NPCs everywhere, you get attacked by drones and hostile NPCs - but you can't even have a single AI friend in your base. You can build kilometer long starships, but never hire a proper crew beyond expensive props. In that regard, Avorion does a better job, 'though you don't even have faces, but abstract numbers. Yet you know, your massive starship is crewed by 200 people, there are 30 gunners, 40 mechanics, 20 engineers, a captain with a name and if you don't watch out, you suddenly are in command of a large fleet by your own.
Imagination beats display, always, but Empyrion really lacks friendly NPCs for your ships.
Everybody always forget about SPACE ENGINEERS !
Too complicated
I mean. This list includes CoaDE, so I don't think complexity is an issue... 😆
@@viktoriaalden3452 *Exactly*
Because its not worth mentioning
What about KSP
X4 is an absolute jewel!
I've got 3000 hours on Empyrion. Absolutely awesome and massive universe.
I have played most of these games and I have to say the only game I have spent more than 1000 hours in is Empyrion, I absolutely love this game but can no longer play it due to motion sickness. I've had to give up quite a few games that have 1st person view because of it and I really miss playing Empyrion..
@tazman8487 I'm sorry to hear that... that really sucks... if I couldn't play empyrion anymore, I'd probably lose my sanity. It's where I find freedom.
Glad ya highlighted Void Destroyer 2, really underrated gem by a solo dev :) Also, will point to Rebel Galaxy: Outlaw for six bucks. It's basically a modernization of the classic Wing Commander Privateer, so good!
What I want is for Freelancer to be remade.
X4, Emyprion, nms and Avorion are my fav games.
But ones not on your list that are fun is Space Haven and Stardeus.
Other older titles offered by Egosoft is well worth a look, i own most of the X series titles and highly recommend them if you are into the space saga, also recommend, Mass Effect Legendary Edition, normally $60 us dollars, now $6 dollars.
Awesome suggestions!
Liberation gives me hardcore Elite vibes....the original one. I played it to death on my C64 and then my Amiga 500. Amazing game that actually looked remarkably like Liberation. I take it as an excellent homage to that OG King of games.....Braben was a real genius.
(the C64 version had a 64k executable....and it was a ridiculously massive, complex game with real space physics etc etc. All in 64kilobytes. That's serious talent that is lost today with the endless resource creep....there is no incentive to streamline any software today.... that's why we have endless bloat without any noticeable increase in...well....anything really. Any speed or memory increase is instantly soaked up by pointless and endless updates. Products are never 'complete'....all to keep a room of programmers busy, so they're already there for your next product. Its just easier than rebuilding a new team for each project. Its the same now for many industries. And the consumer is the one that loses. My laptop is way faster and bigger than it was 15 years ago....but nothing has really changed. They still seem to have about the same level of productivity and are just as frustrating and bloated with updates as ever!)
/endrant lol
I love the original Elite... always wished I could land on the planets though!
x4 foundations has proved to be a really fun one for me. My only complaint is that the ai pilots you hire on get themselves killed too easily. You really have to pay close attention to them when engaging enemies.
Can't recommend X4: Foundations enough! But don't just grab the base game for this dirty cheap price, also grab at least the Cradle of Humanity DLC! You gonna have a blast once you learn the game, and it's not that hard to be honest. It's part of the fun of the game!
LT Gaming approves of this comment! haha
To be honest, I am flirting with buying this game for quite some time now, but what I read about the learning curve has discouraged me so far. I even have a HOTAS, so that would be not problem, but when I read the reviews, see all those DLC and read reviews saying the game looks great but they don't even know where to start, I feel kind of disencouraged.
@@Furzkampfbomber Yep - The learning curve is steep, but there are tutorials in the game, and once you get used to it, it becomes almost a second nature to fly around and do stuff with your ship.
You know what they say. You can't make a omelette without breaking a few eggs. In other words, you have to put in some effort, but there is a nice reward in the end...
@@Furzkampfbomber Don't believe the dis-hype! The X games are complex beasts UI wise, but that is because you aren't forbidden by the UI not containing a thing that you can do, but the UI "declutter" makes forbidding to access. So play the base game as just a single lone pilot. The map is therefore only to find where to go next, and very little of the UI is needed. And then try playing with orders so that a miner can mine a rich area and then you get pinged with "completed orders", and you send that, via map commands, to a place that buys that resource, and the UI is cluttered with things you never use, but are completely ignorable because you don't need it. Then sort out more miners (or traders) with commands to auto mine or auto trade or scouts to auto map for you.
You will learn that the UI makes a lot of things available, but it is only a steep learning curve if you "want to" remote order, set up patrols, start wars, be a pilot, empire commander etc all on the first possible day. It isn't necessary for you to do it all right now, and those complaints of "steep learning curve!!!" are people who got used to being able to do everything possible in the first week on other games.
And importantly, like the card game Solitaire or similar, you may get a set up that is doomed from the get-go, that no matter what you do, the universe will, before you can afford to "save the day" Dudley Do-Right style, fall apart and be explodified or limited well before you discover what you CAN do, but you will not be able to find out in 20 hours. That many games 20 hours is well on through what you can do is why people often give up and never come back to X4. The expectation is different from what the game allows and/or engineers to happen. Heck after 100 hours you will still be a n00b at it, but you will know how the game works, basically, yet still come across new things or methods you didn't know before.
This is why, IMO, if you aren't sure, and you don't have it, get the base game first. Put at least your first game in it as just faffing about and learning the game. If you can't put 20-30 hours in (in however many restarts that takes) to just throw away, this almost definitely isn't the game for you, not because it is bad, but because, like DOTA or WoW et al, this can see you lose thousands of literal hours of your life playing, and you cannot afford that time in just one game. But be ready to throw those invested hours away, entirely, and restart yet again. If you find you like its way of being played worthwhile, get any DLCs you like to extend the game further, Egosoft intended each DLC you buy to be a restart, and whether it is on sale or not is almost irrelevant, in "dollars per hour" a DLC that costs 15 dollars but gets 200+ hours is still entirely worth it. And if you find the game isn't worth the time it requires to "get good", you're only out a small amount, the cost of the base only game on sale, and that cost is what you pay for any other game and risk not liking.
If you already have it, just play it knowing IT DOESN'T MATTER that you throw away 20 hours, it doesn't "waste" anything, and if you still don't understand 90% of the UI when you restart after finding out the game is going to fail any day now, it still doesn't matter: you learned 10% of the UI, and the next play you know that and can build up and learn 20%. Etc. It isn't necessary to learn 100% of the UI, but it is necessary that the UI contain 100% of what you can do. That difference is why the complaining about "UI bad" is heard all round the place (noise, however, doesn't indicate numbers, just how loud someone can be). Just don't demand you must learn all the UI and eventually you find it is logical, just not a logic you might find in a Windows UI or a Playstation UI, etc, both of which you had to learn before you set your default ui expectation to that UI's methodology. X4's UI is meant to make what X4 can do available, and tries to be logical in presenting that, not aping Windows.
As an aside, that is often what GNU Image Processing is complained at: it isn't Adobe's UI, so it MUST be bad. However, if you learned Photoshop later, although having learned GIMPs UI first, means Photoshop's UI is easier, the obverse isn't true, because Photoshop's UI is aping Windows Way, not Image Processing ways of doing things. Same for UNIX vs Windows. There's a difference in how things work, and if you learn THAT way of doing things (Multiple Document Single Interface) then Windows (Single Document Single Interface) is simpler but less logical (the old Mac way was MDSI too, the app added/changed the bar available, the document was in its own window. that is a UNIX way of doing a GUI).
Gotta say. Where's space engineers? This is a great list and you've given me games to check out. Legit bought a few of these games cuz of your list. But i can't believe space engineers didn't make the list. At first i thought you accidentally cut off part the name when i saw in the list "space engine" lol. Perhaps it's because it's not on sale (don't actually know because i already own the game) but it's a great space sim that is soon to see an update to expand pve elements. Believe that also entails survival aspects and solo play in general expanded upon. They are also adding new buildable blocks and has full mod support for all platforms (console rules permitting of course) as well as shareable builds like space ships and base builds. The game has constant dev support and they are always looking to evolve the game. Really should check it out.
Is it because Space Engineers wasn't on Steam sale? There are a few good space games that were not on Steam sale.
Thanks for the list! I finally bought X4 after seeing here it is discounted :)
Good profits , pilot
I bounced off X4 quite a few times since it came out, but it finally stuck with the 7.0 update. It sounds weird but the actual usable third person camera is what did it for me.
First person is the main reason I play but hey! 😂
Often what does it is the UI is complicated because it has to show 100% of what you CAN do, but you can ignore 90% of its options, you "just have to" learn the logic to discover where the 10% you need is hidden in. X4s UI IS logical, but it isn't a logic you learned using Windows and ITS UI, a UI you still had to learn ITS logic, before you could use it. But since you learned Windows UI, "you" want X4 to use that logic too, because that saves learning its UI.
@@markhackett2302 well said. Tbh the alien UI is always part of the joy for me. And overall the X4 UI is logical to me!
@@LTGamingUA-cam Aye, just not a logic that people have found before, necessarily, and so since it isn't what they are used to, claim the UI CANNOT be logical, at all, because they can't be wrong or anything, so it MUST be the UI is bad!!!!
If you've had to use Maya, or a Lighttable app to deal with photo retouching, or similar, you'd know the UI has to be learned for any application. It is just that it isn't "pick up and play" like, say, Doom, and it isn't a problem either with the UI or the person playing.
@@markhackett2302 exactly this and for me when a game has new systems I just enjoy it even more. Why I enjoy a lot of Japanese strategy games. They break my conceptions of UI totally 😂
@LTGAming - No love for Space Engineers? Have you played it? I know it is a sandbox game, but so are several you included here.
Yes been suggested a lot here. I haven't played it enough to include!
Empyrion is so much greater than I expected, I've got hundreds of hours in just make sure you check out reforged Eden 2 mod for a more complete storyline/progression
Stationeers is also 33% off. Stationeers puts you in control of the construction and management of a space station to run by yourself or online with your friends. Complex atmospheric, electrical, manufacturing, agriculture, and gravitational systems require your thought and management at all times!
Best space Sim there is imo. I've sunk 2500 hours into that one.
My most favorite game of all time.
I'm so glad ΔV: Rings of Saturn is getting attention here, and also Children of A Dead Earth
@@munsterlandr1644 great games 🚀
Thank you for covering Children of a Dead Earth, that game is absolutely awesome and I always love to see it get some appreciation!
Subbed because of your hard work pronouncing "Magnetoplasmadynamic thrusters" correctly. ;)
I hate gamers for the X4 score. Despite some of its shortcomings and clunkyness it's without the shadow of a doubt one of the best space games ever made.
Its a big title
Thanks for the video recommendations! I'll skip the pure combat games, but there's a lot of RPG/exploration games here that pique my interest!
Empyrion all the way!! Honorable mentions to Spacebourne 2, Elite, Space Engineers and Avorion
X4 foundation= eve offline, just as vast more ship details, the most amazing deep space sim, buy all dlc it's insanely vast, and has a steeeeep learning curve. Don't give up
empyrion is absolutely a great game. i would highly recommend it. the best part is when you are finished with the base game and are looking for a challenge there are many custom scenarios on the workshop. star salvage and reforged eden both the first and the second which is currently in beta are absolute gems. in my mind all three are better than the base game.
I have played X4 Foundations since 2018 with thousands hours. I played every big version. Egosoft is doing well. They keep update the game all the time without break;
I can recommend rings of Saturn if you can handle the strange steering.
Avorion is fun to play for me and got excellent control and the game has similar block building features to Space Engineers but less complicated and more freedom on design.
X4 Foundations is the Ultimate Sand Box.
I only discovered X4 some days ago and my only regret is to not have know it's existence sooner. It reminds me Eve online but with more interactions, it's hard to get in it but when it's done you don't play to anything else.
I literally have almost 300 games on steam and I got almost all of these space sim still I’m restless eveonline was my heart but after 12 years I’m bored and the only game that comes close is the X series but it’s to dam huge and I feel too aloe in that vast universe 😢
Got my copy of X4 and I can't wait until I have time to play 😁
@@Drax658 now I wanna play lol
Underspace looks awesome! And a title I haven't heard of until now. Might pick up DeltaV Rings of Saturn too, just because I specifically look for asteroid mining in space games and it seems to hit the specific way of space mining I'm looking for.
Picked up X3 War Pack in the sale. Surprised I hadn't heard of the X series before with how elaborate and expansive it is.
DeltaV is worth it. The dev is incredibly active and it keeps getting more stuff added. You could play, put it down for a bit then come back to a bunch more.
I recommend to check Starpoint Gemini 2 and Starpoint Gemini Warlords. You can fly huge capital ships there.
I really just want EVE Online, offline. Astrox just didn't do it for me. :|
i saw the other comments, space engineers is a sandbox only if you play on creative it has survival
X4 is the GOAT \o/
I have over 2000 hours on Empyrion 😅
I really hate that I discovred X4. Its all I want to play anymore. Its completely taken over my life.
AAAH THANK YOU - was trying to remember the name of "Void Destroyer 2" and couldn't ever find the video I saw it in...
Empyrion is one of my favorite games. Although, I would describe it as more of a Minecraft in space, with ships.
Yes a very fair description! We stay relaxed on genre :)
I vote X Foundations.
Avorion is a good buy its a mix of X3/x4 and minecraft where you build (or download through the workshop) all of your ships factories and your turrets as well.
How would Empyrion NOT be a space sim? I don't think there is another game where you have so much you can do, especially when you use the Steam workshop and get the Reforged Eden scenario or the new improved Reforged Eden 2. One of my favorite games.
People get weird ideas about Space Sims and then write comments. I think the key is to be flexible and not get to uptight about it. For me it has many aspects agreed!
@@LTGamingUA-cam Give me some spaceships and/or an interesting sci-fi/space themed world and generally, I am happy. As an older gamer I still miss games like the Wing Commander series or the I-War games though. Learning to control your ship in I-War, with all the newtonian physics, took some time, but felt so incredibly satisfying once you got the hang of it. The ship really felt _massive_ and flying all kinds of crazy maneuvers in later missions never gets old. (And yes, I am still _peeved_ about that cliffhanger at the end of 'Prophecy'. Thanks €A for gutting another game studio and killing off another beloved game series for just a bit more short-term profit...)
Both game series are not on Steam, but can be found dirt cheap on GoG. Especially when you want something more realistic, I can't praise I-War high enough.
@@Furzkampfbomber totally agree dude! Thanks for the insightful comment 🚀
@@Furzkampfbomber Let's not forget Freespace 2. It's one of the first space games I really started modding with... Good times.
Thanks very much for the really tight chapters and info. liked.
No mention of Space Engineers?
No mans sky.. hard to say 30 dollars isnt good deal for what it offers.
i dont own it. but i mean solo or multiplayer. there something for everyone it seems. hard not to get 30 dollars of enjoyment out of the game from what i seen. i just have so many games already.
Yeah just more expensive on the list compared to say X4!
Yea, I do appreciate that NMS is a vast game at this point and certainly worth the money if it's your jam. I tried it during a free weekend recently and it didn't hook me unfortunately.
X4 Foundations, on the other hand, IS my jam. So looking forward to get back into it.
I'm a big fan of the X Series as well and it does a lot of things outstanding or just enough put the difference or what I should say what needs to happen is Planetside missions weather at settlements combat diplomacy whatever that would really round out this game to a whole new levels . That's why I think space born is looking good to a lot of people these days
All planetside would do is change your skybox, under X, same as Star Citizen or Elite Dangerous does. SC's USP is "you can walk around a "real ship"". ED's USP is its VR abilities. X has neither the scope nor the people to chase either place, it would need 100s of millions of dollars and 200+ people working on it to compete.
I wish some of the Novalogic games could get a modernized face-lift; Tachyon: The Fringe is a real gem.
Yes I bought that on GOG!
Empyrion does have quite a steep learning curve, especially when learning to design and build ships but I do keep coming back to it. Currently have 980 hours played in it. Second only to Conan Exiles at... several times that time...
Empyrion is straight up a Space Engineers copy, without most of the interesting parts. I would never ever suggest buying that game instead of Space Engineers.
@@Hurkas Empyrion is more of an RPG tbh
X4 Foundation ❤❤
I spent 670h on it and im' still enjoying it!
Over 13k hours on Empyrion now. One of the little known gems of this genre. 👍🏻
X4 with VRO + tons of other mods is the ultimate Space game to dive into in 2024. Nothing really compares on the same level.
X4 is awesome!
Still very curious why Space Engineers continually doesn't make the list
This is a great vid... For a smaller channel.
Definitely punching above your weight mate... I'm sure this will get LOTS of views
We are growing quick! Thankyou :)
- EVE Online
- Space Engineers
- Space Haven
- Outer Wilds
- Hardspace Shipbreaker
Great list....Star Valor as well
All games in the current list are great games, not saying that the ones you mentioned are bad, but frankly, they can't compeate with games like ED, X4, NMS...
@@efxnews4776 oh I never would compare these games. You cannot because every game is so different from each other. But that's exactly my point, don't compare it - just play them all 😁
Play X3 Albion Prelude!
Way better than X4!
First should of been "Parkan 2 " old game but looks amazing and i must say for less than $2 aud it is a steel. this game has more than X4
My Fav Indies Included +1 Like from me.
It takes a bit to GET to the space sim part, but Terra Invicta has a pretty cool space combat model for fleet combat alongside the 4x gameplay.
@@jiiaga5017 great suggestion!
delta v didnt do themselves any favours with that name.
Nice list. 07
nice video, decent list and it feels honest, since also some (slightly) negative aspects of each game are mentioned as well.
Kinda surprised that space engineers was not mentioned
should check out Nebulous: Fleet Command
Whelp, that's 2 I don't have. Time to get busy. Good vid!
what about KSP? Nice list otherwise
Empyrion is my favorite space-themed game! Is it space-sim though? I don't think so, it's a survival crafting and block building game set in space. To me, a space-sim is a game more like Evochron or Elite Dangerous
Timelines is underrated. As soon you start to uncover the secrets you get it. I honestly wish there would be many more missions like that.
I been playing infinity battlescape and having so much fun even tho it’s mostly pve
Same here! Even with the small player base 🚀
30 euros expensive side for NMS? Are you serious? With the extreme amount of content.. this is a bargain. And on X4.. You are showing prerendered promotional renders.. The game doesn't look even 1/10th this good with it lackluster omission of DLSS/FSR2+ or any of the technological advances of the last 10 years. I would go so far as these trailers as misleading the customer and should be prohibited. This game has so many bugs and having 600 hours into it hoping it won't be so bad.. in the end the 5fps midgame+ is a big turnoff. There are so many bugs, unclear tutorial missions, broken DLC missions. Broken physics, broken Ai... Egosoft refuses to address any of these issues and instead releases an extremely underwhelming DLC that nobody wants, and that has nothing to do with X4 sandbox.
I said its one of the more expensive titles on the list. Fact. Otherwise....relax and try enjoy your games. How do people like you game 😆😂
@@LTGamingUA-cam How do people like you game? What's that supose to mean.. Being critical of things is not allowed?
@@JPEaglesandKatz you went off the deep end a bit 😂😆 like I said relax and enjoy 🚀 Critical is fine and I was also critical of the new DLC....but it took you 600 hours to get to this? 😐
'delta V' is kind of hard to type when my keyboard has no triangle key.
Link included! Just go for the Rings of Saturn part 🚀
EMPYRION is on humble choice for June and would be worth while if people were interested in that game and 1 other in the bundle.
Empyrion is good game.