I really wanted to like this game. The core of the game is fun, but there are serious issues it needs to address.

Variety: There NEEDS to be more variety in order to really embrace the rouge-like aspect that makes it interesting. There should be more options for weapons, more abilities, more unique relics that change how the ship works. There aren't enough interesting options for each class to feel unique and really shine.

Loot boxes: As nice as it is to be able to customize your character, no one wants loot boxes for cosmetics. An in-game currency that you collect by completing missions, and can spend in a store at the hub would have been a better fit.

Skill trees: It's nice having levels where you can feel some progression but without real build variety I'm not sure of the point. And even when you do fully complete a skill tree, a lot of the progress feels wasted.

Dead game time: There's always dead time for at least one player (and usually more) on the ship. If you pick the "engineer" skill tree you spend time repairing the ship when its damaged, but doing the small repairs on the ship gets tedious and there's no tangible reward. Fixing internal malfunctions doesn't heal the ship or improve ship abilities like damage/attack speed/shield recovery > if you want to heal the ship you have to attach hull repair plates outside of the ship but while it's moving you just get launched around space. So instead, you have to stand around, wait for the thrusters to cool down, and do a helldivers-esque arrow mini game. Way too much time just waiting around, making your "class" feel pointless.

Bugs: There are so so many game breaking and frustrating bugs. Some examples of known issues:
When warping, the life support breaks and your ship will constantly overheat and kill your whole crew unless you build extra life support (if you're lucky enough to have enough space and supplies).
Enemies shoot through objects/walls regularly but there are some enemies (electromorphs) that continuously do damage and drain the ship of power. Occasionally after you kill the electromorph their weapons don't despawn and they continue to shoot and drain your power. There's nothing you can do about it because the enemy is dead but their lasers follow the ship.

It just feels like this is still in early beta and it's incredibly frustrating spending 1-2 hours on a run only to lose to something not your fault.

152 Hours In: Definitely Recommend

After sinking 152 hours into the game and unlocking all the achievements, I can confidently say it’s worth recommending. The game runs smoothly, with only a few minor bugs (nothing game-breaking or too annoying). One thing worth noting is that the game ran perfectly fine on my gaming laptop, which is over a decade old. I didn’t have to drop all the settings to the lowest levels, which was a pleasant surprise.

I’ve primarily played with anywhere from 1 to 5 friends, but I’ve also had a few solo sessions. The gameplay is straightforward once you grasp the mechanics, yet it remains fun and, depending on your role, challenging for the group. Everyone tends to have a preferred role, but we make an effort to cycle through them so everyone gets a chance to experience different playstyles.

I’m hoping the developers add more missions, boss types, additional ship variants, weapon options, ship mods, and so on, to boost replayability and depth. As it stands, the Pilot role is by far the most crucial (and, ironically, the least popular among my friends), followed by the Engineer. A good Gunner can make a huge difference, but isn’t essential, and the Scavenger role is more of a situational need.

Once you’ve taken down the bosses and faced a few interdictions, the difficulty ramps up dramatically. Even the smallest enemy fighters will strip 10 points of hull with a single hit, leading to moments where bad luck can cost you your ship. Our best run so far is around 30 consecutive missions before our fully maxed-out ship became a “wet tissue” after an unfortunate malfunction surge stalled us, turning our ship into space junk.

All in all, if you’re looking for a co-op game to enjoy with a decent-sized group of friends—where players can join or leave mid-mission at their leisure—this game is a solid pick. The price point is very reasonable compared to most games, and if more content is added, it will definitely be a steal.

I wanted my money back within an hour of buying the game but since all my friends seemed to be having fun I decided to suck it up and keep playing it. We only played for a few hours though and we haven't played for weeks, so I guess now's as good a time as any to write a review.

Objectively: there is not enough for any one person to do. It's about 1-2 person's worth of gameplay split up between 5-6 people.

Subjectively: They don't seem to know what they want their world-feel and atmosphere to be? It's sort of half-hearted marvel/gearbox snark, weirdly interspersed with WAY TOO INTENSE sci-fi jargon that kinda clashes with the overarching attitude of goofy "Hey Guys We're Having a Meme Time" 'face customization' and in-world voice lines.


Finally: I know they said using genAI was an 'artistic decision' but it absolutely was NOT. It doesn't sound bad enough to be quirky/retro or good enough to be convincingly futuristic (They would've had to hire a voice actor for that.) It sounds like just a stock "phone tech support" voice clone that they used without almost any post-processing, all because they didn't want to pay a real actor. It really does not feel any more artistic than, for example, a Starbucks latte.