Ok i bought this game during the summer sale and so far I like it!

The Good!
Open world.. You can do what you want to do if you have some imagination!

A large mapped out universe with safe systems.. Not so safe systems.. And just down right Angry systems!

Even more systems that arn't mapped out... Not sure how many so far, I have only found a few of them and their hard to find which is a good thing! Remember Space is a big place so it shouldn't be to easy to find everything!

You can Generate space stations in locations you chose that arn't to close to other stations.. Gives you a tactical advantige or a trading benifit, howerver you wish to use it! Thats kinda up to you to figure out!

You can Mine, Trade, Do Missions from a mission board, or just Pirate cargo from NPC ships to make credit's

Guessing 30 plus spacecraft frames to chose from..Or upgrade to with in game credits if you can find a station that has them!

Upgradeable engins, cargo bays, wings, fuel tanks and Sheilds if you can afford them!

A really Neat wepons lab where you can craft your own version of the perfect Beam or Partical wepons!

A hanger in most stations where you can store a frame for later use..... For a price of course!

Good flight model with inerta or thrust driven modes and even an in atmosphere mode.

Custimazable enough controlls without being just way to much and confusing!

Can land on planets and planet base Locations.

Can fly inside some very large astroids and find some lootable stuff!

Can get a Mech Walker and walk planetside or even fight planetside if you can find something to fight!

Good bit of tech to buy in the stations and with limited space it make's you think and make desisions on how you want your ship to performe, Not enough room for everything so you have to decide whats important for the way you want to play.. The largest ships in the game cant carry everything even! and thats a good thing, makes you think!

I have read some reviews about a hard learning curve.... This is my first space sim since Tie Fighter and it took a while to learn but it wasn't bad and that was part of the fun in my opinion!

Theirs more good stuff but just cant remember it all!

The Bad!
Making credits is to easy once you figure out where to buy low and sell high... Some players think you have to find the lost city but you can make credits really easy just paying attition to prices... On my second Pilot I made 50 Million in just a few hours of game play because I had figured it out on my first pilot.. Needs to be a bit harder to make credits so you can't just get the best gear so quick!

TO HARD TO FIND OTHER REAL PLAYERS TO PLAY WITH.... I have managed to log onto a multiplayer server but I was the only player on it :( Would be nice if you could find others to play with! Seems like not to many people play multiplayer sadly..It might be fun!

Not enough Places to store loot in the hangers...Yes you can use multiable hangers in multible Space Ports but Dang their expensive and a pain being so spread out... Would like to see them let you chose a hanger locaion or build a Space Port to use as your home base and let you store multable ships and alot of looted and Pillaged goodies!

Can't figure out how to create my own Guild? Would be neat if you could start your own guild then search out an uncharted galaxy... then build it up with Ports and stuff and have your own guild Galaxy, If you could name it that would be even cooler but some peeps would do some real silly names I relize sadly!

If you lack Imagination... You will probably get bored after a while... Persionally I keep trying to find new stuff and tinkering around to see what i can do.... I'm still learning the deepth of the game!

Anyway all in all it has been fun even if I havent got to play multiplayer yet! But maybe someone will see this review and we can find a server and start building a universe!

Sleepy

Really fun. Great graphics (especially with the mods, which are worth looking into) and sound. Singleplayer and Multiplayer (basically the Singleplayer world but with other players on servers).

No real loading screens except for like, 20 seconds when you first start playing. The game install itself is less than 200 MBs or so but if you don't like even the starting loading screen, setting the 'Procedural' generation to 'Pre-Generated' adds 2+ GBs and makes it so it doesn't have to reload everything every time. Very useful.

You can go from space right into planets and land on a major trade city or maybe walk around the surface in a terrain walker mech (but don't go too fast in atmo unless you want to burn up), manage your fuel levels, take some contracts or follow the storyline (not necessary unless you want to follow it) or be even more enterprising and find a way to maximize profit by buying low, selling high, mining hydrogen or water or metals and turning that into something which you might turn into a warp drive that you can sell for much more.

Hire crewmembers to make your ship perform better (but keep paying so that they don't jump ship next time you dock).

The combat has a learning curve (the game has proper Newtonian physics but also a setting that uses your engines to try to keep your ship still for the most part when you throttle down) but once you get into it, it's very exciting and strategic.

The universe is massive and you can pretty much fly in any direction and you'll find unmapped sectors with planets. Or you might have a run-in with pirates or the mysterious Vonari alien race. The playerbase is still finding new things in the universe regularly.

The game really understands space travel. Not everything is on the same x-axis or y-axis and you might warp somewhere to find out that the station is actually above you a ways. Little touches like that add to the whole feel of actually being in space.

You wanna build a station for repairing your ship or constructing things and hide it out in the unmapped sectors of space? Go do that.

I'd suggest the game to people that enjoy open sandbox games, space as a setting, sci-fi, and games like Elite. The game doesn't care if you're a miner, a racer (yeah, there are space races, which are very interesting with the newtonian physics), a fighter pilot, a bandit that uses a cargo scanner to pick targets and blast 'em, a trader that's playing the markets, or maybe you just want to shuttle people from one station to another. It's all up to you and this game really excels at that.

"I saw a distant planet with rings like saturn, as i flew closer i could see the rings were made of tiny particles of water as i drifted through them in my starship" - 8.5/10

EM is a sandbox space pilot simulator. It provides you with all the tools you need to live the life of an intrepid space explorer as you blast around an (almost) infinite galaxy filled with collossal space stations, glittering nebula, astroid belts, and planets.

How you choose to use this sandbox is very much up to you. Want to be a fighter pilot? No problem. Want to mine and trade precious minerals? You got it. Feel the need to build a fleet and have your own armada? Ok. Wanna explore the farthest reaches of the universe either by jumpgate or just pointing your ships nose at a distant star and pushing on the throttle? Oh yes! Fancy visiting the surface of that giant blue planet over there? Yep. Maybe cruise across mountains and dock at the local trade city for repairs and fuel? Sure.

Whatever you want to do EM has you covered.

However, despite the fact that it is probably obvious by now that I am impressed with this game it is only fair that I point out a few low points and ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥.

Firstly, the graphics. They are pretty dated. Still, what is here is all done pretty well. Distant stars flare light across your cockpit, nebula and gas clouds sparkle and shimmer as electrical storms rage, and giant space transporters lumber across the sky. On the downside the textures are all pretty bland up close. This is not so bad in space but it is on the planet surfaces that this really lowers the immersion. The actual concept of being able to fly from outer space, into the planet's atmosphere, and right down to the tree line is brilliant and the mechanics of it work really well. Unfortunately when you get there you see that the surface is just barren and featureless. A few sparodic trees and one or two cities is not enough to save this part of the game. A real shame as the actual descending to, and launching back up from, the planets is a lovely experience. Its just annoying that there is nothing to do when you get there.

Secondly, this is no hand holder. You will need to use the forums and wiki's to get to grips with this game. My six and a half hours playtime probably equates to about half of that as actual 'game' time. Still, nothing worth having is easy and i found the learning quite fun.

Lastly, the quests are pretty generic. You will make more money in ten mins of mining than by doing a dozen starter quests. Also there is a very limited amount of detail at times as so far as the living, breathing galaxy goes. There are lots of other ships, constant radio chatter, and dozens of busy space ports, but i'm yet to see anything along the lines of real faction interactions. Still, not been playing long so we'll see

Don't let these points put you off, there are a few mods available for graphical tweaks and the community is still pretty active and helpful for the learning side of things.

EM is a wonderful opportunity to just grab a spaceship and jet off to the stars. You'll be glad that you did.

I would have preferred a better reviewing system that would allow me to moderate my point, but this will have to do. If I had to give an honest opinion of whether or not you should get the game, I would say that it depends of what you're looking for, as well as how patient you are. This game actually came pretty close to a good recommendation for me : you're relatively free to do what you want, you can customize your ship on several aspects, you have multiplayer, if you're into that stuff... It doesn't look half bad either, the menus are clear and precise, the gameplay is pretty good, and the combat in particular is quite involving.

The game does suffer from a few flaws, though, one of them being fatal in my eyes. The first one is that even though you can customize you ship, the different modules you get are nothing more than upgraded versions of what you already have. What I mean is that you don't have the choice between a shield that's very strong and one that's less strong, but recharges quickly, that sort of thing. You just have "small shield that's not great but will fit on small frames", and it gets bigger from that.

Another flaw, this one more important : ennemies aren't all that smart, and seem to have access to an unlimited supply of missiles, or at least that's the impression I get. Combat isn't bad in itself, but make one mistake and you're likely to get blown up, so it encourages a sort of "jousting" pattern that can get repetitive. Your fights will be pretty much the same every time.

Last problem I have with this game, and this one is what made me give it a negative recommendation : the reputation system is absolute garbage. So, you have several factions in this game, and doing contracts for them or destroying their ships will impact it. Okay. But your reputation in a sector won't carry over to another, it's just for THAT sector. That means that you can (WILL, if you're following the plot) stumble on sectors where the Navy don't like you. At all. They don't know you, they don't know where you're from, or what you want, but boy do they know they want you dead. And we're not talking about pirates, we're talking about the NAVY. So pretty much every ship you'll come across here are hostiles. You'll want to bribe them, but they won't answer your trade requests. And here comes the REALLY dumb part : you'll want to do a few contracts for them, but for that, you'll have to dock in the station while everyone is trying to kill you, then pay a fee to even be able to bring up the contracts menu, then leave the station without getting shot down on the way out, then reach the mission waypoint. And do you think they'll stop shooting you just because you accepted to do their work ? ♥♥♥♥ no, don't be insane. Good luck trying to do your mission while having to fend off unlimited waves of hostiles and their flood of missiles. And good luck trying to get a good rep with those guys if you have to blow their ships up while doing THEIR job that THEY gave you. Not that you really CAN, since you won't last long against 15 bad guys and their unlimited reinforcements...

I really wanted to like that game, it had so much potential... But as you can see, despite the apparent choice you have to decide what you'll want to be, you'll get shoehorned into investing in weapons and strong shields to even have a chance. That, or ignore the sectors where everyone and their mother will try to kill you for no reason, but that's just really, really dumb...

If you're a fan of space-flight sims, this one is pretty interesting. It's mostly a sandbox that gives you an option to follow a storyline of missions that will lead you in the general direction of a reward. The learning curve isn't too steep and you'll likely learn something new about the game throughout the time you play it.

The closest to a "ground game" you can get is to buy a terrestrial walker so you can walk around on the surface of planets after seamlessly entering the atmosphere from space and descending down to the surface, of course. Aside from that, you can't actually leave your ship. Better hope your cockpit doubles as a restroom!

I've played now during a while (+500h) and i'm still not bored and apparently it's not going to finish :)

Well I won't repeat what you can do in this game because all is pretty much describe in the page ahah.

I will just say the game is still living with a nice communauty who like help new people.
The game is still uptaded regulary and improved.

I need say it was created and still updated by only one man..... When you see the result final this man is close to be a genius!

Many mod was created by players so you could customize a lot of things into the game as you wish.
Event are regulary organise to creat activity into the game.
Various clan into the mp are still available. PVP are respectfull. Players ask 98% of the time to another player if they want have a fight. Exeption of course clan against clan wich is logic. So it's pretty safe.
A couple of team speak 3 are proposed by players for talk easier.
Exept the trade station you build, Sp and mp are link. Everything you do in one are do in the otherone. So if nice to see some player online. It's not only fight.

I will just say it's the best game I ever played of my life.
(add me on steam for more information or question I will be happy answer your question or help new players)
I can speak english or french as you prefer.

This is the first time I've ever bothered to write a review on Steam. Long story short - EM has really struck a chord with me and I'd happily reccommend to others hungry for some immersive, expansive, open-universe space fun.

I'm only just getting started into this game; only 50-odd hours so far - but already I am REALLY liking the experience, and can envision this consuming MANY hours in the future. This game seems to give me what I've been looking for in a space sim game for a long time. The atmosphere, the feel, the freedom and sense of scale - really succeeds in giving the feel of a lone wolf mercenary with the vastness of space just outside his cockpit.

I started slow; some mining, some trading, some exploring, some simple contracts - and have only in the last session or two had a taste of combat. That's part of what's great about this game: you do what you want to do. And even after just scratching the surface I can see there is a LOT to do in this big chunk of space. Love the mood (or moods) of the game; relaxing one moment frantic the next depending on what you want; where you go, what you do.

I'll admit to being personally shallow enough that I needed to get a cockpit and UI mod before really being able to get immersed - made a huge difference and there's tons to choose from. Don't let the first few seconds of the game throw you. There is a LOT of beauty in this game (I've taken a ton of screenshots already), and the feel is top notch.

I've only played singleplayer so far, but the multiplayer sounds great - enough to convince a die-hard singleplayer to be very tempted to dip in.. soon. The community seems active and friendly, and the dev (yes, a single individual is behind this!) deeply involved and interested and responsive. And it would seem he is currently working hard on the next iteration - which seems like it will only make this very good thing even better, much better. Can't wait.. but in the meantime I've a huge chunk of space to explore, so back to it..!

** EDIT: Surprise! Evochron Legacy has now been released on Steam! Saw it - bought it - downloaded it - now it's play time! **

This game is worth getting for the incredible space-flight simulation. But like the ground-breaking "flight sims" of the 1990's anything past that in this game earns a resounding "eh".

Cleaning solar pannels is a pain as you have to get 100% instead of 90%, so you end up re-cleaning cells you could have sworn you cleaned previously. Harvesting asteroids is such a snore I played another game on my cell WHILE playing this one and harvesting. But the combat is indeed enjoyable and the truly zero-gravity flight is well worth the experience.

Playing Evochron has a feeling that I haven't found in any other modern space game yet. The tension of descending to the atmosphere of a planet and waiting for the computer to switch to avionics mode, the docking to a starbase, the realistic newtonian space battles are just some of the features that make me return to the game again and again.

Amazing, the only thing more amazing is the optimization and performance. Runs great on my old XP machine, and doesn't need a ton of Ram or Hard Drive space.

It is also supremely cool to be able to go from space to planet surfaces seamlessly. Even planetary rings become space dust when you fly into them.

There IS a learning curve with the complex controls, (most of the keyboard is bound to something lol) but eventually you learn which controls are important and which are just there for extra fine control. I found transposing the arrow key binds with the WASD ones really helped, and there is a training mode to help you get accustomed to the controls and general gameplay. You can map most of the important controls onto a standard USB PS1 controller.

I'll also mention that space station contracts are where the meat of single player objectives are, and space gates allows travel to different galaxies.


Combat feels like a refined version of Wing Commander, and there are times I feel like I'm playing a sandboxed version of that, which is a good thing IMO.


Get this game if you like space. It has definitely earned it's Very Positive rating. I'm thoroughly impressed.