a me piace molto gioco spaziale old style ma profondo e divertente
uno dei migliori giochi di sempre!!!

PROS:
• interesting graphics and art style – screenshots really don't do this game justice
  
• really good music - don't be surprised if the "Lone Ranger Theme" song pops in your head at some point :D
  
• fluid and intuitive gameplay
  
• light, witty banter
  
• an AI despot to thoughtfully guide you in tearing an extra orifice in most of the life-forms you encounter
  
• good variety of ships and enemy encounters
  
• unique and interesting ship customisation allowing scores of outfitting options
  
• rogue-like
  
• the feeling of skilfully progressing as a player
  
• huge re-playability
  
• gamepad support - though I highly recommend mouse, mouse/ keyboard
  
• level editor
  
  CONS:
  
• no Steam achievements

If you like FTL, SPAZ or just arcade space games in general, this game will hook you. Each level has forward-moving, branching pathways for you to choose. Guided by Control, your AI helper/ dictator, you'll encounter Nemesis (your enemy), ships in distress that will become fighting companions to an extent should they survive the skirmish (some of them offering some kind of beneficial boost), cryopods to be rescued (the number of those rescued goes toward unlocking many upgrades and ships), armaments, cash-flow, and space anomalies, rocks and intriguing organisms. The story is simplistic, but thought-provoking and hinting at something sinister afoot.

At first glance, the encounters seem similar, until you realise there are various kinds of space rocks that react differently when fired upon; anomalies that affect your ship in a variety of ways and anomalies that can appear owing to results from specific recipes of mayhem; and organisms that may or may not be eye candy or passive-aggressive. A boss fight awaits you at the end of each level, and your ship and its armaments do matter. And speaking of ships, the outfitting is really fun and different, requiring thought and puzzle piece-placement with some restrictions - it's very creative and it really just adds to the game in a great way.

Despite being rogue-like, you do feel a progression in your skills as a player. Your deaths, and there will be many, do not feel out of your control. To the contrary, if you do die, it is solely your fault, and not some random roll of an ether-die. Like me, you may approach this game in a casual mood but it always turns into determination, bursts of triumph and ending with NOOOooooooo defeats. Upon defeat, you may choose to continue for cost, and you will if it's an encounter you just need to get out of your system; but mostly you will Abort because in doing so, the game is at its most rogue-ish (as well as the money you make stockpiling toward unlocking ships and upgrades eventually).

There are so many fun mechanics going on here, reminding you of this or that game; but honestly, Starship Rubicon is a game in its own right. I would be floored if it doesn't become a cult classic. The developer is friendly and involved, proud of his work, and he should be. I look forward to what he may develop in the future and wish him and Starship Rubicon great success.

9.5 space popsicles out of 10 …. I'll add the .5 in exchange for Steam achievements ;)

I saw a video of this game an added it immediately to my Wishlist.

This game is great. I know I don’t have a large amount of time invested in it yet but I still think it is great. I enjoy the customization you can do on the ships. What an interesting way to do it too. (Tetris block style) The controls do take a little getting adjusted to but it does bring in the retro feel as arcade classic Asteroids

I am currently horrible at the game but I am hoping with practice I survive a bit longer.

I won this game on a Steam Gift giveaway.

So, I havent had all that much time with this game just yet, but... even after just 90 minutes, I can honestly say, I think this game is brilliant. It's good enough that it leaves this impression on me that quickly... for me, this is very rare.

Starship Rubicon is an interesting beast.... it uses a whole pile of different elements that were inspired by many seperate games. But the thing that makes it so good is that it takes all of these disparate elements, smashes them together... and they WORK together. They dont conflict with each other at any point.

At it's base, this game uses Asteroids-style gameplay and controls. You have a "thrust" button to move your ship forwards, and then other buttons to turn it left or right; you also have a "boost" function that you can use. There are even actual asteroids floating around in many areas, which work pretty much as you'd expect, and generally making your life that much tougher. From there though, the game goes in it's own seperate directions. Your ship is not static, but is instead made of various "parts" that you can equip, that give abilities or change stats, or things like that. This includes changing both your basic weapon (and you can have more than one) or your special weapon, an activated ability that has a cooldown and also knocks out your shields for a bit upon use. You cant just equip everything though; each piece of equipment has a shape to it, sort of like blocks in Tetris. You have to fit these blocks inside the ship properly, or they cannot be used. What's more, some items are meant to modify others, and will only work if linked to the system they're modifying, which means you have to place it adjacent to that system for it to function whatsoever. So this can create some interesting decisioni-making when you're changing your equipment.

Equipment can be either found in battlefields, or bought in stores. Stores are easily the most frequent way to get equipment. The rate of equipment actually being FOUND is very low... a bit TOO low in my opinion. You end up not getting all that much total, which is a shame, because it reduces the amount of interesting decisions that you'd need to make. There's no need to decide between two items after all if both of them easily fit onto the ship. If you're not getting enough items, you wont be filling it. So there's a bit of RNG issues here with this system, but it's not enough of an issue at all to detract from how well it works. There are many different weapons and things to find, so look for them, and try them out, and see what kinds of builds you can make for yourself. Most of these different items and such are also just plain fun to use.... that's ALWAYS a plus.

Between missions, you're sent to sort of an overall sector map. It's very similar to the map that FTL uses, in that you move forward from one node to the next, with each individual node having specific links to other nodes to choose from. Around each node, you can see icons representing the different enemy types that are going to appear in that area, so it's important to learn these and have a look as you make decisions. Other things will appear here too, such as hazards, or the existence of items or "money asteroids" or shops or various other things. You can also find other ships to rescue, and if you are successful in saving them, they will join you on your quest. Each one provides a unique ability that becomes active whenever they participate in a battle with you, and you choose when to bring them in by clicking them on the sector map. They have a cooldown time afterwards, and can also be knocked out by enemies during battle... so take care of them, when you bring them with you. The one big problem with them though is that they just arent very bright. Asteroids in particular will give your AI allies alot of trouble as they repeatedly crash into them. By the late game, these guys arent as useful, simply due to the fact that they'll be knocked out of the fight too quickly to help much.

And on the note of the enemies you face, each type is different from the last, and you quickly learn to recognize each by it's appearance, which is very important. There are different approaches that you should take depending on just what you're fighting, and what weapon you're using, and there can be many enemies at once. Some enemies may have beam weapons, or maybe homing missiles, or shields, or even the ability to shield other enemies. And of course, it wouldnt be a shmup of any sort if there werent gigantic bosses to fight at the end of each sector.

All in all, there's alot going on for this game, and I think there's plenty of replay value; naturally, everything is procedural when it comes to the maps and sectors and such, so each game will be different. The campaign is short, but that's typical for this genre, and probably for the best.

Is it worth your money? If you like shmups at all.... I'd definitely say yes. It easily lives up to it's asking price and more, I think. I can definitely recommend this one!

Clearly inspired by the best elements of the genre (arcade gaming, FTL, Starfox) with tons of nice throwbacks. Exciting gameplay with an adventurous streak is enhanced by some seriously delightful sci-fi music and sound design.

Starship Rubicon also features surprisingly creative writing, a fun equipment allocation system (symmetry rules!) and even more customization. Memorable and easy to get into, the game is a good introduction to the indie scene. Easily one of my favorites.

I'm terrible at this kind of game, but at least with Starship Rubicon it's fun while I'm repeatedly dying. The difficulty curve ramps up nicely, and the controls are stellar. It's got a bit of everything; the classic space shooter mechanics you'd expect, with semi-FTL-style upgrades, ship unlocks, etc.

It's a roguelike-like, so you're expected to die and start over, and it doesn't hurt to do so, death just makes you want to get further next time.

It has gamepad support if you need that, but I find I prefer the mouse controls, which is a first for this kind of game.

The graphics and soundtrack are top-notch, and really help set the mood. You have a funny AI companion through the whole thing as well, adding more charm. As someone in another review said, the screenshots don't do it justice.

The Windows, Mac, and Linux versions look and feel identical, I had no issues running either version.

Highly recommended to anyone who loves space shooters, or those who have been frustrated with space shooters in the past, and think they would love them with the right controls.

My hours on record for this game are low because I played the game mostly before its Steam release.

I've played this game for 3 hours, unlocked a few new ships, beat the game and yet there's still so much to do.
It's great little game with fun and easy to understand mechanics, and you can play it for however long you want to whether that be 10 minutes or several hours but as soon as you start playing you'll be hooked and you'll just keep coming back to it. And with all the ships and their differing playstyles and editors there's a huge amount of varity for such a small game, was the most fun I've had in one of these types of games in a looong time, well worth buying.
10/10 Would grand gate parade again

Having helped kickstart this game and following it through its various iterations, it kept on getting better and better.
It's a fun little game blending asteroids with rogueish elements, with a neat ship customisation mechanic and great retro graphics and music.

It's a cute, entertaining Asteroids-style Newtonian space shooter with some Roguelike elements, a bit of humor, a nice spacey and retro vibe, and an easy to understand but actually rather interesting ship customization system.

And, thankfully, no sideways thrusters, which are just silly in games like this.

A small, but cute and fun space indie game with a twist. Features an atmospheric adventure, a pleasant, lively soundtrack and an arcade gameplay with elements of building and modifying your ship components. It reminded me of Rymdresa, Out There and FTL. If you don't mind short gaming experiences, this one's unique and worth your time.