Didn't do a write up for this one yet, but about a month ago I played an older space game for the first time, Rebel Galaxy. Had this one on my Steam wishlist for SEVERAL years before I finally pulled the trigger at a ridiculously low price. Apparently GoG gave it away for free like in 2021, I missed that though. I ended up spending about 15 hours playing through the campaign. It could have been longer, but my time was a bit limited as the kids' sports were taking up a lot of my time. About halfway through the game I ended up skipping some of the random mission grind by hacking some cash to my character so I could purchase ships and parts sooner.
The game is an arcade style space shooter, but you can also do mining and trading. It's not a super in depth space sim, and I typically prefer space sims I can utilize a joystick, but it wasn't a bad little game. The game was first released a decade ago and the reviews are still Very Positive all these years later. Even though it's a bit dated the graphics are still beautiful, there's lots of options for customizing your ships, and the combat is generally fun. It's a bit different from some arcade style shooters as it employs a more nautical approach to combat. You don't fire from the front of your ship like in a Star Wars game or other space sims, it acts like an old school battleship where turrets fire from the port or starboard sides of your ship. It makes combat somewhat more interesting, although I find I'm constantly turning the camera a bit to get a better look at who I'm attacking. There are forward firing missiles, mines, and other configurations but your port and starboard turrets are your main form of attack.
So the combat is decent for a little arcade shooter. There's a bit of a storyline, but it's not amazing. It's decent for a smaller Indy dev. There's plenty to do in the game aside from bounties, trading, mining, and pirating. You can also salvage lost tech that can be used on your ship. You can join factions and unlock new items. There's a lot of different systems to travel to. More than anything I love a space game where I can outfit a ship and tweak it thousands of ways. I'm always looking for better setups, weapons, configurations that are more efficient.
The one hidden gem in this game is the music. The soundtrack is a ton of blues rock and indie rock, some of the tracks are actually really great. It gives you a bit of a space cowboy feel as you're blasting targets into smithereens. I'd give the game a B just on it's own given it's well made for a small developer, but I'd give the soundtrack an A easy.