Kat Bailey of US Gamer published a new preview of Double Damage Games new Space shooter RPG game Rebel Galaxy, and  calls it a pleasant surprise.

What stuck out to me the most when see Rebel Galaxy, though, was how nonchalant Baldree and Schaefer were about their ambitions. Make a full-blown open-world space game using the Torchlight tools? Sure, why not. Sell it for $20? We'll be just fine. I guess I'm not surprised, though. After all, Schaefer is one of the team of three who founded Blizzard North, and he and Baldree were part of the small team that started Runic Games. In many ways, this is old hat for them. 

I half-joking told them that I was glad that they were making their dream game rather than going to the dark side and reaping the benefits of working in mobile. When veteran developers like Schaefer and Baldree apply their expertise to a project as enticing as Rebel Galaxy, we're all winners. And though I've only seen maybe a tenth of what Rebel Galaxy has to offer, I'm quite confident that they'll be able to make good on their ambitions. 

Rebel Galaxy is a pleasant surprise, and along with Elite: Dangerous and Star Citizen, I'm sure it will do its part to contribute to the ongoing space combat renaissance. I can't wait to play it.

Erich Shaefer of Double Damage Games was interviewed this week on a blog called Zoot Plays to talk about his latest Space shooter RPG game Rebel Galaxy.

Zoot: In your opinion, is there a noticeable phobia amongst the gaming community that your team must overcome about what an indie title can and should be? And what steps are your team taking to correct (if applicable) these stereotypical views?

Erich Shaefer: I don’t think the gaming community is prejudiced against indie titles. Many do quite well with Minecraft being an obvious example, as well as our own Torchlight stuff. The challenge is getting noticed at all, especially with a game like Rebel Galaxy which has no obvious popular titles to compare it to. Our gameplay is unique and not easy to explain in a paragraph or two, but it is easy to show, so we are hoping streamers will take an interest and spread the word.

Zoot: Rebel Galaxy feels like a refreshing mix between Wild West and Pirate themes, and pure space adventuring; especially the battles reflecting that of Assassin’s Creed Black Flag and the pirate ships at war on the sea. So what were some major influences in creating this game?

Erich Shaefer: With Rebel Galaxy, we raided a diverse library of games we’ve loved playing in the past, both space-oriented and sometimes not. The list is long, but space-game-wise, I like to point to Wing Commander: Privateer and Freelancer for the open-world, ship-upgrading elements and Star Control 2 for the alien faction systems and exploration. But equally important are Sid Meier’s Pirates, Black Flag naval combat, and a ton of movies, books and TV.

James Billcliffe of OnlySP interviewed Double Damage Games about Rebel Galaxy.

“The environments and the solar systems that you’re playing in are all randomly generated, so every time you play, they’re different,” says Erich Schaefer, president of Double Damage. “The storyline is not so randomly generated, that will just flow, mostly linearly. But you’re free to branch off, maybe you have to become a little stronger before you can get back into the storyline, you can just do that the way you want to do.

“In the end there will be a grand finale,” he adds.

Travis Baldree, CEO of Double Damage continues: “It’s kind of like a Fallout 3 or Oblivion. There’s a main storyline, but most kinds of people drift off and do other stuff and dip back in,” he says.

“We’ve been doing random games for a long time. I think this one’s easier, because the scope of the content that we have to balance is smaller. I mean, we’ve been making action RPGs forever, and they all have 10,000 different swords that have to level gracefully across the whole game, and all these different weapon types.  All those have had a narrative as well, that has to sit within a randomly generated world. But honestly, dungeons are a lot harder than space; you don’t have to worry about the walls intersecting the wrong way.”

Rebel Galaxy, the Torchlight veterans Travis Baldree and Erich Schaefer’s first game with their new two-man studio Double Damage Games, focuses on something a little different. We’ll certainly get our fill of wonder at the expansiveness of space and satisfaction from a unique combat system, one which actually borrows some tricks from Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag’s naval combat, but there’s a different association that comes to mind first when thinking of the space adventure game: Mos Eisley and its cantina filled with bounty hunters, merchants, and scruffy-looking nerf herders.

We recently got a chance to sit down with Double Damage Games Co-Founder Erich Schaefer, and he talked a little about what we can expect from being an outlaw in the cosmos of Rebel Galaxy.

The Gaming Buddha published a new preview of Rebel Galaxy from Pax South.

Rebel Galaxy is a testament to the Indie movement, not only because it’s the byproduct of just two individuals, but because it’s a passion project that shines thanks to the team behind it finally making a game they want to make, and not a mega-franchise that the corporate suits want to shove down their throats. Visually it’s stunning, both in its environments and its NPCs. The gameplay is simple to master and encourages exploration and mission finding, and with the factions and dialogue choices each player can craft a tale specific to their play style and attitude. The game is set to release sometime in 2015 for PC, Mac, Xbox One, and the PS4, so keep your finger on the pulse of Rebel Galaxy because it’s an Indie title you don’t want to miss.

Well I found another small gaming blog by the name of The Gaming Buddha. The site has a short preview of Double Damage Games Rebel Galaxy from PAX South.

Now at first glance some people (especially those who are super into space games) might compare the game to Star Citizen. And to be honest, I kind of thought that too, but its not the developers’ fault. Most, if not all games that take place in outer space all share the same influences and tropes, so it’s kind of hard not seem similar to other games. However just from this announcement trailer alone there is enough for it to stand out. For example, most space games will give off a militaristic vibe to to them. Rebel Galaxy’s trailer however, was giving off more of a western/wild west vibe. That is something I can dig. Does “See You Space Cowboy” ring a bell to anyone? Regardless on how pretty it looks, and it looks really really pretty, there will be several key factors that need to be addressed, such as gameplay, size of solar system and customization. Hopefully the devs will be able to give more insight to the game when I go hands on this coming Friday.

Double Damage Games announced their Space RPG game Rebel Galaxy will also be released for Mac players, and if your a console player the Xbox One.

Here are the details.

GameInformer posted a new preview for Double Damage Games Space RPG game Rebel Galaxy. Here is a small sample to get everyone started.

The game is fully built on player choice, allowing players to pave their own way through the universe, which is gigantic."The solar system we are in is randomly generated. You can zoom all the way in or out to see what is going on at any given point. There are thousands of ships out there going about their business. The main story missions are kept the same, but where they are isn't necessarily the same, or the circumstances around them. The game is different for everyone who plays." While it sounds a little bit like No Man's Sky, the player won't be able to explore planet surfaces. All of the action takes place in space.

The player has complete control of their ship, and can hit the thrusters for shorter travel means, or kick in the warp drive to travel a great distance faster. Bigger drives are needed to warp to bounce between solar systems. The battles are reminiscent in look to Star Trek fights, in which a sizable vessel unloads a variety of attacks at swarming fighters or another large spacecraft. The gameplay is similar to Assassin's Creed: Black Flag's naval combat, allowing the player to navigate the ship while also guiding turret and missile fire from the sides of the it. The player can also take direct control of the turrets to handle fighter assaults. If a ship has 17 guns on it, control can be switched to any one of them.

GamerHubTV had the chance to interview Double Damage Games developer Travis Baldree to talk about his Space RPG game Rebel Galaxy. and get an early preview also.

Double Damage Games developer Travis Baldree previews the open world space combat game, Rebel Galaxy, in this exclusive interview from PlayStation Experience (PSX) in Las Vegas.

Erich Schaefer & Travis Baldree of Double Damage Games did a new podcast interview on Space Game Junkie to talk about their new game Rebel Galaxy.

Welcome to this episode of the Space Game Junkie Podcast! In this episode, Jim and I sit down with gaming legends Erich Schaefer and Travis Baldree — who worked on awesome games such as Diablo and Diablo 2, Fate and Torchlight — of Double Damage Games about their upcoming space action adventure combat capital ship masterpiece, Rebel Galaxy. I say “masterpiece” because GOD DAMN, even at this early stage, this game is just fantastic, and you can hear us gushing about the graphics, the usability, the combat and so much more.

Erich Schaefer & Travis Baldree of Double Damage Games answered a few questions on GamingNexus about their new Space opera RPG game Rebel Galaxy.

Where did the idea from Rebel Galaxy come from? How long has the idea for the game been trundling around in your heads?

The idea started while we were both working at Runic Games. In fact we had actually started development on it for a short period, though it petered out without a lot of team enthusiasm and Runic moved on to their next great title. But Rebel Galaxy remained in both of our heads and I think benefitted by us taking a break from it for a while. We simplified the design to make it doable for a smaller team, which made it a stronger, more focused game.

The space sim category is filling out with high-profile titles. Where does Rebel Galaxy fit in (or carve its own space) with titles like Star Citizen, Elite Dangerous, No Man's Sky, or Dreadnought?

Rebel Galaxy is a whole different animal from these games. We are making a capital ship combat RPG, where you command gigantic star destroyers and battleships, bristling with banks of proton cannons, and multiple independent rocket and laser turrets, battling dozens of other ships in epic, fantasy, naval-style battles. Most of these other games are more realistic cockpit, dogfight-y simulations. Dreadnought is closer in combat style, but we’re a single-player, sandbox RPG.