More games like this?

[Maniak 2000]

By that I mean space exploration games with simple (arcade-y) controls and more focused on exploration \ discovery \ story, rather then combat \ customization.

[vxt22]

Check out The Ur-quan Masters.

[apricot]

2D:

Endless Sky
Flatspace
Star Control: Origins
Space Pirates & Zombies 1

3D:

Darkstar One
Freelancer
Rebel Galaxy 1
Starpoint Gemini 1/2

[Henry]

It's hard to suggest games based on your "restictions". I suggest to have a look at all of them (fe Let's play). Some fit the bill better than others. I marked special recommendations with a (*). Good luck.

3030 Deathwar Redux (*)
Astrox Hostile Space Excavation
Cosmonautica
Drox Operative 1 + 2 (EA)
Everspace 1 + 2
Gaia Beyond (most similar IMO)(*)
Independence War 2: Edge of Chaos
Infinite Space 3 - Sea of Stars (+ Weird Worlds = part 2)
Interstellar Rogue
Landinar: Into the Void
Naev (*)
Nexus: The Jupiter Incident
Out There: Omega Edition
Rebel Galaxy
Rymd Resa (especially for exploration)
Savage Vessels
Shortest Trip To Earth
Space Empires: Starfury (a bit dated but I liked it back then)
Space Rangers HD
Star Traders: Frontiers (difficult + complex IMO)
Star Valor (*)
Star Wolves 1 - 3
Starscape (*)
SuperCluster: Void
Transcendence (good one) (*)
VoidExpanse (I like that) (*)
Voidship: The Long Journey
X series
XO (more tactics)
deltaV: Rings of Saturn (havent played it)

[mike]

I'll 2nd these:

Space Pirates & Zombies
Darkstar One (old but good)
Freelancer
Rebel Galaxy 1 (The music is really good too.)
Starpoint Gemini 1/2
Shortest Trip To Earth

Faster than light (predates Shortest Trip)

Abandon Ship is very similar but on the ocean.

Starpoint Gemini 3 is a totally different game. More like Elite.

[Plastik20xx]

StarSector!

[easytarget]

Now there's a brilliant suggestion.

[Qwerty Drive]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/788630/Gaia_Beyond/

[Imo]

the classic "Starflight" game for the ATARI ST, Amiga and PC! :-)

[Evil_Doc]

Originally posted by Albatross:

StarSector!

"Mount & Blade in space"

[Evil_Doc]

Since no one had mentioned it yet: Rodina!

It's pretty simple, and has ship building and exploration. I haven't played it recently tho, so not sure how far the story has come, or if they ever introduced one.

[cvandem]

Evochron Legacy SE on Steam: incredible 3D contiguous star systems to explore. You can really feel the loneliness of space and the excitement of picking something new up on sensors You can ignore combat and follow the quests or simply explore to the farthest reaches your jump drive can take you.

[Chris]

It's downright criminal that Starsector continuously fails to make these lists, only b/c it isn't on steam. It's easily the best in the genre.

[Arkaido]

Originally posted by Lenney:

It's downright criminal that Starsector continuously fails to make these lists, only b/c it isn't on steam. It's easily the best in the genre.

I just bought starsector a few hours ago thanks to this list :D
planning on buying evochron legacy SE eventually too.

[Chris]

Originally posted by Arkaido:

Originally posted by Lenney:

It's downright criminal that Starsector continuously fails to make these lists, only b/c it isn't on steam. It's easily the best in the genre.

I just bought starsector a few hours ago thanks to this list :D
planning on buying evochron legacy SE eventually too.

Nice! Be prepared for it to suck your life away.. It's so good. lol

[Sloul Des Tucs]

Starsector