Video games are great at transporting us to different worlds, but none capture that feeling quite so perfectly as intergalactic space games - and 2023 looks set to be one of the biggest years for space games yet, with the launch of Starfield, Homeworld 3 and more all on the horizon. But what games have gone before them and staked their claim already on the dusty planet surface known as 'Best Space Games'? We reveal all below, with our carefully curated list of all the best space games you can play on PC right now. Whether you're a budding space cruiser captain, a wannabe space conqueror or an intrepid space-faring explorer, there's a space game for you.
]]>Freespace 2 remains one of the best space combat sims around thanks to its dedicated modding scene, mostly centred around the Hard Light Productions forums. Fans have been polishing up and fine-tuning Volition's old workhorse for nearly two decades, and have been exceptionally organised about it. Your one-stop shop for space dogfights is now Knossos, a fan-made launcher app just for Freespace 2 mods and free standalone fan-games. Here's some the best that you can play today, plus a quick guide on where to start for absolute rookies and old aces alike.
]]>It's the day for gaming comebacks! Just so long as they're gaming comebacks in which it's difficult to ascertain whether anyone meaningfully involved in the original thing is on board. Interplay's latest attempt to re-enter our affections isn't quite as suspicion-clouded as West Games' second dodgy-lookin' gesture towards a spiritual STALKER sequel, but it's fair to say that whoever wears the Interplay skinsuit are not Interplay's original founders. They have, however, managed to recruit Chris Taylor, one of the Fallout's designers, and it's he who's made an "officially-licensed" boardgame adaptation of Interplay's space combat sim Freespace. Wot no Clayfighter 4?
]]>Remember the days before Volition exclusively made (admittedly marvelous) games about superpowered crimelords/US Presidents dubstep gunning virtual reality aliens? Those were very different times. For one, we didn't have smartphones or Facebook or music players we have to actively worry about ingesting or anything like that, but mainly that era saw the Saints Row's developer craft some of the finest space combat sims in all the 'verse. Unfortunately, Freespace and Freespace 2 couldn't out-dogfight the then-mighty retail mothership, and the Interplay-published series crashed and burned. But here's the fun part: Via Volition, Freespace ended up at THQ, who's now sold it back to... Interplay.
]]>This "Macintosh Personal Computer" thing is never going to catch on, but folks like Valve and now GOG insist on humoring owners of these unnaturally pristine elf machines, so here we are. During its much-ballyhooed news-a-thon, GOG drew back the curtain on a new version of its service tailored to Macs, which brings with it 50 games (eight of which you receive free just for signing up) and some rather tempting deals. Speaking of, there's this insane 32-game pay-what-you-want Interplay special leading the charge in celebration of GOG's fourth anniversary. The tearful sort-of-family reunion would not, however, be complete without Geralt's permafrost tundra of a glare brightening up the room, so CD Projekt Red took the stage to demonstrate its Witcher 2 mod toolset. I'd say "imagine the possibilities," but imaginations are for people who don't have extremely impressive time-lapse videos. Check it out after the break.
]]>There's something beautiful about the sheer dedication that this has required: after four years of meticulous development, the Freespace 2 mod turned freeware game, Disapora: Shattered Armistice, has been released. It's a space dogfighting game based on the recent TV series. The Freespace 2 code is now open to all, and that means that there could well be much continued development and modding of this mod. For now, though, take a look at the trailer below and head here for the downloads on Windows, OSX, and Linux.
]]>Wing Commander Saga isn't the long-awaited big budget continuation of Chris Roberts' epic space combat series, but on the plus side, it's not some Facebook bastardisation of it either. No, it's a huge, spectacularly ambitious fan-sequel that's been in development for the last ten years, which combines burning love for the franchise with the Freespace 2 engine to create a brand new, old-school instalment. But can it live up to its name? We jumped in to find out.
]]>Battlestar Galactica (the new version, clearly) remains something of a magnet for game projects, and there's good reason for that: its depiction of space battles remains a masterpiece in scale, affecting minimalism and sinister awe. Mighty fine-lookin' standalone Freespace 2 mod Diaspora does, it appears, absolutely nail all of that. If the finished project can even slightly live up to the apparently in-game footage below, we're in for a frakking amazing time.
]]>I half worry that my 1999 self would be disappointed. We're living in the last of the great sci-fi-sounding years, and he'd have been hoping I'd be playing some kind of ludicrously intricate immersive-sim derivative. But if he asked, I'd be forced to confess that I'm playing Starcraft and Freespace. He'd have been disappointed. But fuck him. He always was a snot. I'm back with two of the best games of the late 90s. And what interests me is that in two games that were relatively contemporary with one another can walk such radically opposing paths and still end up in the same place...
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