This is a good game. It's fun, and development is seemingly still very active as of now (july 2024). There's definitely work that needs to be done on the game, but it's playable and fun in it's current state. The mods are good too. The dozens of hours you can put into this game won't be wasted.

The enemy detection system is one part i don't like, and that should get overhauled. It's currently simply a larger radius where enemies show up as red dots, and a smaller radius with full visibility of all ships (including their internal modules) and other things such as the sparse asteroids. Both of those radii can be enlarged with a radar. This is too simple of a system, since there's absolutely no options for stealth by reducing radar cross-section (That could be implemented with raytraced radar waves, for example. I'm sure the devs are more knowledgeable, and can come up with an even better system.), but the simplicity is expected from an early-access game, and it's understandable that the devs would rather work on more important things first, than put so much time into making a complex radar system.

The guns are to be expected. The damage system is simplistic (no advanced simulations), but sufficient and on-par with other games. Spinal-mount cannons would be cool, but that role is largely filled by the railgun. Melee weapons would be cool too, but that's on the development roadmap, so it's already planned.

The movement is sufficient, but nothing to specifically enjoy. The thrusters are simple, and there's that game trope of having air resistance or whatever else unexplained friction in space. Movement isn't very important to combat, except for the rare times you can fully counter an enemy's weapons by staying out of range.

Moving blocks, like hinges and servomotors and expanding pistons would be cool. (Especially with that aforementioned radar system. Pls consider that system. Very cool way of doing radar.) That could for example be used to close blast-doors while missiles are reloading, and open the doors for them to fire.

There are very many NPC ships in the game, which gives nice variety. The NPC ships are also well designed and aesthetically fitting to their respective factions.

The building system is intuitive and fast, but nothing special.

Armor is to be expected, and shields are relatively balanced. The few armor options (armor block, armor wedge, small shield, large shield) are understandable from an early-access game, but might be boring for those wanting to design realistic armor with slanted armors and such.

Overall, Cosmoteer is good enough to justify the price. It's getting better with each update, and the updates are common enough that i trust that the devs are still actively doing stuff.

Better than Starfield

Awesome ship architect game