Summary
Science Fictionis one of the biggest genres in popular culture, especially in video games, thanks to its abundance of exciting tropes; spaceship battles,exploring new planets, philosophical themes, and the possibility of alien races allow designers more creative freedom than they would otherwise have.
Space combat is one of the most visited tropes among game designers for Sci-Fi, and for good reason; space combat can be visceral, thematic, and extremely exciting when done right. Space simulators in particular combine science fiction with flight simulators to create simulated space battles, while some games simply use spaceships as a vessel for unique gameplay mechanics. Over the years, many gamessuch asStarfieldhave attempted to streamline and dumb down the often complicated mechanics involved in space combat games, but these games manage to stay challenging regardless of their complexity.
As Bethesda’s first original IP in twenty-five years, there was a lot of hype surrounding its release, which has been somewhat tumultuous. Despite some players having mixed feelings aboutStarfield, others have found its space combat to be quite difficult and engaging at times.
Starfield’sship design and progressioncan be rewarding and intuitive to interact with, which is good because many of the decisions made when designing ships and taking perks affect a player’s prowess in space combat a lot more than player skill. While this does encourage players to upgrade their ship and grind out the game’s content, it’s a shame that a lot ofStarfield’sdifficulty comes from grinding out the right perks.
Although space combat inStar Traders: Frontiersis optional most of the time, getting into a space battle can be a challenging and extremely dangerous encounter that can often lead to disaster if taken by surprise.
Star Traders: Frontiersfeatures aturn-based combatsystem in which the player can make orders relating to weapons and the talents of their ship, then move around the order in which these actions are played out during the battle; it’s a simple system with a lot of depth in which even the smallest mistakes can have devastating effects.
Developed by Subset Games (developers ofInto The Breach),FTLis a science fiction rogue-like game that features real-time-with-pause space combat. The game features a variety of weapons and room types for each ship that, when combined with the game’s crew management, make for hectic combat encounters that favor talented multitaskers.
FTL’scombat can be both harsh and unforgiving, as players must worry about what parts of their ship to assign power to (life support, shields, weapons) and what parts of the enemy’s ship to target, as well as protecting themselves from potential boarders. The game’s pause option helps players to stop and think about their next move, but players will often find themselves in desperate situations from which there is sometimes just no way out.
Set during the First Cylon War in theBattlestar Galacticauniverse,Battlestar Galactica Deadlockis a space combat game that features a strategic resource management element that helps add depth to the overall experience.
InBattlestar Galactica Deadlock, players take turns simultaneously with their opponent, planning out each and every maneuver of their fleet before watching the cinematic action play out in real-time. The game’s combat is all about planning ahead and preparing for the worst, focusing more on overall strategy than skill-based action. Overall,Deadlockis a polished, challenging experience that’s great for fans of theBattlestar Galacticauniverse.
Freespace 2was developed by Volition (the studio behindSaints RowandRed Faction) as a sequel to the wildly popular spaceflight simulatorDescent. UnlikeDescent,Freespace 2has players flying around in open space, fighting high-octane chaotic space battles in a flight-sim that is part simulation and part arcade game.
Freespace 2is more accessible than most space-sims of its time, but its hectic combat, complex controls, and abundance of things to worry about while in the midst of a dogfight make it an often challenging experience, especially on some of the game’s harder difficulties.
With ship designs and combat encounters that look like they were pulled straight out of an episode ofThe Expanse,NEBULOUS: Fleet Commandis one of the most challenging and complex space-simulation games on Steam.
NEBULOUSfeatures advanced movement controls that allow players to make complex maneuvers in real-time, evading missiles through careful movements. On top of commanding fleets of ships,NEBULOUSgives players intelligence tools and realistic radars that help them plan their actions around the battlefield, adding further depth to the experience. Furthermore,NEBULOUSallows players to design and customizetheir fleet, and each ship contains simulated subsystems, all of which can be individually damaged and repaired in combat.
This sequel to the groundbreakingretro RTS game,Homeworld, took the gameplay of the original and streamlined it, making the experience more initially accessible and injecting some much-needed mission variety into the game.
However,Homeworld 2is notoriously difficult thanks to its often large-scale battles that can leave players with a decimated fleet in dire need of repair, giving them no time between missions to do so and making every mistake in the micromanagement-heavy RTS especially costly.Homeworld 2also fails to give players any difficulty options, meaning players are forced to master the game’s combat to progress.
AlthoughElite Dangerouscan be a bit of a grind, and players often go long stretches of time without much activity, the game’s flight-simulation mechanics remain some of the most complex and tactile in the space-sim genre, immersing players in the cockpit of their ship.
Due to its simulation-heavy nature, the combat ofElite Dangerousis harsh and unforgiving; players have to worry about ammo (provided they’re not using laser weapons, which use heat instead), ship defenses, upgrades, and power distribution.
For fans of theKerbal Space Programandother simulation-heavy gamesthat aim to follow the rules of real-world physics,Children Of A Dead Earthis worth a look.Despite its low-budget3D visuals,Children Of A Dead Earthaims to portray what space combat would actually be like, and as a result, it is extremely difficult to get to grips with.
Before players can even enter combat inChildren Of A Dead Earth, they have to worry about intercepting their opponents. After intercepting, the player enters a slow-burning combat encounter; during combat, players have to worry about range, weapon management, and target priority.
