Rebel Galaxy - Space In My Heart?

In "Will There Ever Be A Space Game I Want to Play?", RPS's John Walker starts out cynical about Rebel Galaxy, then changes his tune.

I think this process has helped me better analyse what it is I do want from a space game. It sure as hell isn’t shopping and spreadsheets. I think what I want is the basics here, minus the trading, and with one hell of a dose of story. The narrative in Rebel Galaxy is some absolute dross about a missing aunt, a mysterious object containing an AI who’s lost her memory (FFS), and it pretends that your replies make a difference. The idea of having something like a Mass Effect plot, but where my primary roll isn’t trotting about on the ground and hiding behind waist-high walls, but flying about in my Firefly-class ship, blowing up baddies (or goodies) and looting the crap out of the universe. But with some motivation! Some reason for doing it, beyond a feeble nothingness like here, or the “freeform, open world” excuse used by so many other space shopping games.

And without a single fucking spreadsheet, thankyouverymuch. I’m putting off doing my real life taxes just fine on my own.

As for Rebel Galaxy, well, you’d do well to read Brendy’s review of it from a couple of months back, and I largely agree with his complaints (other than the music, the darned fool). Although I think the game he’d prefer would be wildly different than the one I’m after. I’m in no way interested in the ludicrous complexity and anonymity of Elite. Perhaps, maybe, one day someone will create a story-driven space game with fighty-fighty ships. But I fear if they do, they’ll fill it full of spreadsheets, because bloody hell, they always do.

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