Reviews

• Anaryl

  Jan 31, 2023

  I must confess, this game intimidates me. It's like a Faberge egg or a Rembrandt, it's far too delicate a masterwork to touch. What's stunning is that this single dev made a game that's bigger than Star Citizen, and crammed it down into under 1gb. And it has VR support. That's not a game, that's a Hendrix solo.
• gamedeal user

  Jan 19, 2016

  Amazing! Everything I love about Evochron Mercenary and more. You'll feel right at home when you start playing. By far the best space sim I've played and I've played many. So much to explore and lots of hidden items. Multiplayer is awesome and the universe feels alive and not dull. Many improvements on EM, such as the map system and graphics. Also modding is REALLY simple in this game, as was the games before it. Everything, including a demo is on the website, so check it out. You can easily mod everything if you want. Look for a lot of cool mods/additions and 3rd party tools to be released. The community is great. Mechs, I forgot to mention the terrain walkers. Lots of information at the official site including a modding guide, don't like the tractor beam sound? Simply create/download a new one and drop into the specified directory. Want to remove mods? Just delete the directories. Stay tuned, people will create amazing cockpits and hi-res textures for everything. The trade system is really viable now, and prices fluctuate based on actions from players. There is fighting over territory, economy and technology levels. Crafting in the engineering lab. If you want a hardcore space-sim with a great community, strategic attacks and a single-player game that plays just like multiplayer then this is your game. If you want a pretty grindfest with no substance then you know where to play. Don't like the graphics, add your own. Add your own models, textures, cockpits, HUDS, anything you want, make a total conversion and release it to the community. There is a demo, you don't even need to worry about a refund. Also, check out http://www.starwraith.com/evochronlegacy/development.htm if you have any doubts about what's changed.
• gamedeal user

  Jan 19, 2016

  If you like Elite Dangerous but wish you could explore some true unmapped stuff, build your own starbase, or screw around with a dynamic economy that actually responds to your actions, this is a game you need. Also, private coop with a buddy, run your own server for friends, this is your sandbox right here. It's a one man indie project that has been going on since the DOS days. This latest version makes massive changes in how things work. You can put bookmarks on the star map, see prices in other regions, have player factions that control systems... A bunch of stuff you can't do in those AAA space games. Plus the flight model with flight assist off is honest Newtonian. Oh, and no maximum top speed either. Are you onboard yet?
• gamedeal user

  Jan 19, 2016

  I have been playing Evochron Mercenary and this, this is EM on steroids... Everything is better, planets have a weather, there is so much improvements in graphics, dynamic economy and territory changes due to the war, this is the true simulator. I own Elite Dangerous and comparing to this one, its just empty, boring shell - even with recent updates... Here you have everything, huge universe, planet landings (You can land everywhere - on every planet), base building - unlimited space ship design (many parts so the look will always be different)... Seriously if you are into space sims - buy it, You will not regret - This man deserves all the money :D. There will be some learning to do (space sim stuff - it has newtonian physics implemented), but after u will get it it will suck u into its world. Just to mention - previous game was around for few years and people were still discovering interesting things - new planets, systems etc - if this guy will keep adding stuff, improving the game more, maybe some dlc - this game will eat and spit ED and SC.
• gamedeal user

  Jan 20, 2016

  EDIT #1000: I feel like I have to put this here at the start, because this is the ultimate reason I stopped playing. The community surrounding this game is honestly impossible to describe. The fanboy obsession with this game and the religious cult-like fervor surroung the one-man-dev-god-SpaceJesus is just... WOW. It sounds funny, maybe even a little cool, until you jump on a player server and get completely shit on by 5-6 year players for asking a question like "is there a bounty system or kill rewards" or something as simple as "can someone give me some pointers on a good trade route?" I was told vehemently that if I asked any more questions I would be banned for "spamming" and "being annoying / a dumbass". These topics are barely if at all covered in the tutorial, which I was told to play (I went through some parts twice). I asked each question individual, receiving a simple "no" for the first question and a "are you really just going to spam chat all day" for the second. Not to mention (look at the comments here, pretty much explains it all. The community is either incredibly awesome and chill, or the fedora of all fedora's. Just some food for thought, I had a bad experience trying multiplayer. Actual game review: This game is not for everyone. If you like hardcore space-sims with realistic and frustrating flight controls, this is probably for you. If you enjoy the simulation aspect of Elite Dangerous... Well, this is a poor mans elite dangerous. I know I will get flamed for this because the community love for this game is so powerful, but I feel obligated anyways, since the tutorial itself takes long enough to get you past refund territory. Pretty much all of my questions about the game to other people have resulted in "dude, you must be bad" responses. I have over 100 hours in ED and feel comfortable with space sim flight. The main TL;DR point being: This is not worth $25 I understand this was made and developed by a single guy. That's impressive and a fact to be celebrated. I'll keep it down to concise-ish points: If you're looking for a game like X3, that allows building and empire management, this is not the game for you. You can build stations but the function is essentially worthless as far as I've been able to deduce, it just gives you another place to stock up / refuel. The fleet system doesn't fix this either. Planets and being able to fly around them seemed to be one of the strongest features advertised in the game material. But there is literally zero point in visiting a planet. They offer nothing and are relatively difficult to access especially in relation to just docking at a normal space station. The game seems to pride itself on a lack of story or overarching theme. In my opinion this is not a feature, and leaves a massive hole in my gameplay experience / makes most things pointless. The game consists of flying around (very slowly), dealing with realistic physics, etc. By comparison, Elite Dangerous' flight performance is much more fun, and I'm not even a huge fan of Elite Dangerous to begin with. You cannot ascend past a "fighter" class of ships, everything is built modularly on a fighter chassis and you can't progress past that. There are no larger ships that you yourself can fly, or own. Which kind of renders the "trading" feature moot because cargo ships aren't even really cargo ships. To top it all off, fighters feel extremely sluggish and clunky, I understand it's a space simulation but effective dogfighting really just boils down to "strafing" in circles around and enemy. This results in shallow progression at best. You will die in seconds to just about any enemy. I have 2mil credits and the best ship that my amount of money could buy, a decent mid-range ship following common-sense as well as old Mercenary ship guides. I get my ass handed to me by the first enemy that targets me. This has pretty much pinholed my gameplay into hours of hiding behind allied AI ships and hoping I don't get targetted by the enemy AI. So I'm essentially driving a Ferrari and getting outpaced by 1987 Honda Civic's in a race that pays me $40,000. Half of that will go to refueling and repairing. The Shipyard system is unique, but I find it unintuitive. It's very confusing, but even after understanding it I still don't like it. Equipment modules lack diversity. You can use lasers and missile, that's it. After a few hours you've officially seen the full range of diversity offered by Evochron Legacy. Missiles sounds like fun? Too bad, you have to reload and rearm your missiles after every mission, they are a one shot deal. Which sure, it's realistic, but is it fun? Not really. I'd at least prefer a number of charges per missile rack installed. Even 5 would be cool, because currently I shoot 4 missiles and that's that, no more for the entire fight. Last but not least, this game suffers from a very empty universe. This is a common theme in a lot of Space Sims, but this seems to be one of the worst. I brought this up on the Evochron forums, and was essentially called an idiot, because "there's plenty of stuff out there". Except you get nothing for discovering it. I'm sure at very special coordinates XXXX YYYYY ZZZZZ you'll find a anatomically correct floating rock chiseled into the shape of Gabe Newell's nut-sack, that's awesome man. Enjoy flying for hours and not getting anything out of it. That's really it, unfortunately I cannot refund the game. I feel like, point blank, the advertisement and text about the game is misleading. Take that how you want.
• gamedeal user

  Jan 20, 2016

  This will be a fairly long review. I find a couple of line reviews to be of not much use for potential buyers. First off, lets get this out of the way. If you like Elite Dangerous you are going to either love this game or hate it. That is because the Elite Dangerous community is torn between the arcade crowd and the sim crowd. There are the old guard who believe the ED devs can do no wrong and the other camp which will quite loudly point out the worts. ED is trying to cater to too many gamer types in my opinion and in the end causing a huge divide amongst it's player base. Also the peer to peer instancing, ability to move from single player to multiplayer at a whim. Did I mention all the instancing? Everything is instanced. If you love the "Oohh and Aahh" of flying into huge stations spinning in space, you will be disappointed in Evochron. If you LIKE having things you explore for or targets to shoot magically appear in front of you, then this is not the game for you. If you have to have cutting edge graphics in your game or total 1to1 universe, this is probably not the game for you. If you like arcade flight models, magical space brakes and no realistic newtonian physics in outer space, this is probably not the game for you. If you like having to leave the game to watch videos of how to play the game because the game doesn't give proper instructions (in-game) then this is probably not the game for you. If you like to have a magical galaxy map with every star system in the galaxy shown to you and all you have to do is take the time to jump to them, this is probably not the game for you. If exploration simply means jumping from system to system to see what variations of colored balls there are or where the next cool screen shot can be taken, this is probably not the game for you. I think you get the point. If on the other hand, you love feeling like you are in a sim with complex mechanics while flying through space. You will love this game. If you want a smaller map of the galaxy mapped out for you and you have to find all the rest, this is the game for you. If you like playing co-op or multiplayer with the ability to host a server, or solo offline with no downtime from server maintenance, this is the game for you. If exploration means searching for system or items as opposed to having them magically be mapped or appear, you are in the right place. I could go on and on but here is the simple breakdown: Cons: 1. No big spinning space stations to land in. 2. Graphics are not as cutting edge as ED. (Mods will fix this in the near future for high end systems) 3. Galaxy is not billions of stars or true 1to1 Pros: 1. Flight model is incredible and takes time to learn. You will not be blasting enemies out of the sky your first time out. You will have to learn how to fight with flight assist off and you will have to learn how to manage thrusters and heat. There is no arcade mode here. There is MUCH more to keep tabs on in this game. You have a proper "Heads up Display" with lots of info to track. 2. You can fly through space until you die. Hit the afterburners and turn off flight assist and you will continue at that speed forever. No instances. You will move from sector to sector without ever seeing a loading screen and you never have to jump if you don't want to. You can land on both atmospheric planets and not atmospheric planets. There are weather effects and wildlife. The progression from space to planet is SEAMLESS with no jarring transitions from one flight mode to another or transition screens. Don't expect to fly from space to the planet surface in a matter of seconds, and you better manage your speed or you will burn up! 3. Space is very atmospheric. I will not spoil it for you but travelling from system to system or even within one system will change what is arround you. All of the dangers out there are not just enemy pilots. You can find things on planets, in space, in asteroid rings etc. Space is there for you to discover! You find it, it doesn't find you. 4. You can build space stations and planet stations. You can build your own ship anyway you like. You can customize everything on your ship. 5. The economy is dynamic. You can trade at stations, with NPC ships and even between players. You can even give other real players contracts to do for you. 6. NPC wing mates. Yes, you can have wings of NPC's. Yes I said wings. Up to 8 I believe. That is 8 sets of wings. 7. Planets are big, beautiful and nicely detailed. 8. The game plays incredibly smooth. No stutters or bad load in of graphics. 9. Missions are fun! Have you ever shot meteors hurtling towards a planet in a mission to save a planetary base? 10. Space chatter. It's nice to hear some voices out there. 11. Ability to scan asteroids for their materials before you mine them. 12. Travel on the planet surface in a Mech. 13. Fly through and explore ancient tunnels within huge asteroids. 14. Most importantly - an amazing Dev. He will update his games for years and has a true moral compass. He is extremely active with the community and will help you personally if you run into an issue. This guy deserves all the success that could possibly come to him. His games sell themselves on word of mouth. VERY loyal community and the official forums on the main site are free of negativity. Helpful dev and helpful community. I could go on but truly, if you love this genre, you will love this game. There will always be differences between space games and that's ok. What appeals to some does not appeal to others. If you are truly on the fence go to the main site and download the free demo with 90 minutes of play time. I suggest using all of the demo time on the in-game tutorial. Why? It's the best way to find out just how deep this game is. You can always remove the demo and re-download it and your 90 minutes will start again. Now you can play around and test things out. No need to worry about steam refunds. Devs who are confident in their products have DEMOS. Enjoy!
• gamedeal user

  Jan 23, 2016

  Great Space Sim and as someone who has been hurt by Elite (not just in the wallet but in the heart) its good to see someone make something very special and a sim ive been wishing for my whole PC gaming life! Pros: -Offline Mode with A.I and the universe sandbox - newtonian physics - planets (with gravitational pull effected by size etc) and atmospheres - city docking and small wildlife and water - new ship designs which look gorgous - customizable ships (you can move parts resize parts upgrade parts and change the colours) - mining trading combat missions (and much more to discover) - optimization is good overal - beautiful music - Great indepth voiced tutorial Cons: - No Direct X 11 or 12 just Direct X 9 - Only a 32bit application - a steep learning curve if like me your new to the series, so lots of reading 1st then play All in all this is the best Space sim out there for the price and content imho
• gamedeal user

  Jan 24, 2016

  Worst game ever - No overpriced DLC - No micropayments (like who can't have those?!) - Good Price - Tons of in-game things to do - No Day One game breaking bugs - Delivers on promises - Dedicated - Listens to community - Supports mods - Actually gives a fuck about how fun the game is - Isn't a sell out *REAL GAME REVIEW BELOW* Wanna play ED, but you don't want to pay $100? Get this, you can do everything in ED and more for the low low price of 24.99. Well worth your time, this developer has never failed to let me down. The Dev has also restored my faith in indie devs, and has gotten me more interested in playing indie games. Look at it like this: Indie game developers make games to allow other to have fun. AAA game companies make games to make money. Notice the lack of micropayments? The lack of over priced DLC? That's the sign of game dev who cares.
• gamedeal user

  Jan 26, 2016

  I had never, ever, heard of any of the past Evorchron titles before. This game just appeared on the Steam homepage one day in late January 2016, on it's launch day, seemingly out of nowhere, and boy am I grateful it did. It has since sort of disappeared from Steam's homepage, in one short week, and that is kind of tragic. Not for me, no, but for the people who will love this game to bits and pieces, but never hear about it potentially. $25 get's me virtually everything I've ever wanted out of a sand-box space sim within Evochron Legacy's mere 350MB contents. This is a fully fleshed out and finished space sim. Fully.... It kind of boggles my mind, how this game isn't WAY more popular than it currently is, and how the general public hasn't seen it coming. I'm sort of dumbfounded. Forget about the shameful fleecing and unfinished game that Elite Dangerous is, or the Alpha tech demo arena that Star Citizen is. At best, neither of those games will be realized as something resembling a finished game for years. $25 bucks, right now, will grant you access to the fully fleshed out sandbox space sim that is Evochron Legacy. This is not a comprehensive list, just something off of the top of my head as a newbie, and in no particular order: - Mine, trade, explore, mercenary, straight up combat roles to tackle. - Seamless planetary decent, into an actual dynamic atmosphere, planetary landings, and planetary exploration. - Ship construction, space station construction, terrestrial city construction... It's a virtual mini "city builder" game mechanic just waiting for you in game. - Terrestrial life forms. - An on-going war, bringing hostile zones to avoid or engage in whilst you choose your adventure in this HUGE sandbox. - True single player and multi-player options, dynamic affected economy and prices to keep track of and master in either flavor. - Customize specialized ships for the tasks and/or missions you wish to tackle, store said ships in hangers. - Newtonian physics styled flight in a space vacuum, which is great fun to learn, that changes when entering different atmospheres and gravitational pull. -The "simulation" aspect of this game is incredibly deep, and if you just want to fly around ala "EuroTruck Simulator in space," the price is worth that experience ALONE. I've spent mad hours just getting a handle of navigation and flying, and I'm probably not even half way there in utilizing all the in flight data and options to the best degree put before me. - BOOKMARK the map, and jump to said bookmarks. Use bookmarks to make notes. (whooooaaaaa) lol - Huge Universe! Is it "1:1 Milkey Way" huge? Nope. But for a sandbox I reckon I'd be lucky to explore half of it in under 1,000 hours of game time just dedicated to exploring, let alone the hours and hours of activities and on going war to participate in whilst trying to explore. - The community is small, but seemingly everyone in it is there out of a real love for this game, and to help. - It's basically developed by ONE person, and he is full time is dedicated to listening and helping sort things out. - It's only $25 bucks, and it's an ACTUAL FINISHED GAME. That's all you pay. No surprises in the pipeline, just fixes and updates. Buy it, and get ready to sink crazy hours into what the Evochron Universe has laid out for the nerd in you to do. Some minor cons to take into consideration: - It's not as pretty as the two "AAA" unfinished space sims out there graphically, BUT it is reported to be EXTREMELY mod friendly. And mind you, it's ALL here right now to enjoy. - Xbox Controller support (Xbox controller, NOT ANY FLIGHT STICK), hasn't exactly been perfected, nor will it likely be. There seems to be just too many controls needed to be mapped, making it rather pointless. Like I said, the "flight simulation" aspect of this game is really, really deep. You can't "drop and pickup" your Xbox controller like GTA V or the like, there's just too much going on in the flight simulation. That being said, mouse+keyboard works very, very well. - If you are looking for a dumbed down AAA title that you've learned all the mechanics within 30 minutes, and are rocking into the half-way point 8 hours into it, you're going to be disappointed. This is a pretty hardcore sandbox simulation. You're going to spend the first 8 hours grasping the mechanics of it all, even more so like myself as a newbie, before even really starting to engage in the Universe. I quite simply cannot recommend Evochron Legacy enough if you are looking for a straight up sandbox space sim, with tons and tons of things to do in it. Even if you just want to try a space sim, this is the one to try due to it's incredibly fair price, history of support, and the fact that it is so mouse+keyboard friendly at it's core for gameplay. It's abundantly apparent that the person who developed this game has a clear and concise passion for it, and this game deserves to be enjoyed and discovered by many more than are currently playing it. You simply cannot say that about many games, but I can confidently say this about Evochron Legacy. Cheers people, see ya in space.
• gamedeal user

  Feb 28, 2016

  I highly recommend this game, with a few caveats. If you: - have ever learned, played, and enjoyed a flight simulator. - like sandbox and space games in general. - have ever a played a game like SWG:JTL, where you liked it so much that you mastered all three pilot trees several times over, became a master shipwright, didn't too much mind mining in space for resources, and was proud of having squeezed 64.78 units of mass into a 65 mass ship frame. - have ever played a game like Elite Dangerous and found yourself absolutely detesting sitting around waiting, or other arbitrary time sinks that have little to no gameplay value whatsoever. - would prioritize depth of gameplay over graphical appearance if forced to make a choice between the two. Then, Evochron Legacy is for you. Unfortunately I find it nearly impossible to review this game without comparing it to Elite Dangerous, so by way of comparison to E:D Pros: - More advanced avionics , flight model, and better cockpit controls. - True singleplayer game. No internet connection required. Multiplayer? Theres small servers you can join, or run your own server. - Persistant world, even in singleplayer. Your actions directly effect territory control or local market conditions. - You can mod Evocrhon Legacy. I'm currenly running MasterEffect Reborn to spruce up the graphics, and some texture and HUD mods. - No innane and arbitrary timesinks. In otherwords, you don't have to spend 15 minutes traveling to a space station after entering a system. Hyperspace will bring you right to it. - More freedom. Example, your top speed is not limited. You can for instance, keep boosting yourself to ludicrus speeds, turn off flight assist, and just coast doing 5 digits in speed, and you'll keep that way until you decide to slow down (which will cost you fuel), or you collide into something. - You can construct items, and buildings. Want to build a base on a planet or a space station? You can do that. - You can travel to and fly around in every planets atmosphere in the game. No extra DLC fee required. Cons: - Graphics look dated. I wouldn't say they are absolutely terrible, but if your wanting bleeding cutting edge graphics with all the bells and whistles, your in for a mild amount of disappointment. - Game has a steep learning curve. But then so does Elite Dangerous. It's this learning curve that will be your biggest hurdle to overcome to get the most out of this game.