First, this game is STUNNINGLY beautiful. Even down on the surface of planets, it's very pretty (though we need proper 3D vegetation, lakes and oceans, and even cities, maybe, if the world registers as inhabited by advanced multicellular life--which could very well mean sentient life). The planets from orbit are spectacular, as are the stars and moons. Very, very pretty game overall.

I usually play in VR through Airlink and Oculus Quest 2 and the level of detail and sheer SCALE of everything when experiencing the game through virtual reality just blows me away. I hope procedurally-generated forests, water, and even signs of civilizations appear at some point, as that would be simply amazing in VR. Standing on the surface of an alien planet is utterly mesmerizing -- that would make it so much better.

Anyway, the exploration of the vastness of space in this game can bring great joy--and also moments of sheer terror. Case in point: black holes are unnerving in this game, to the point of being scary. The first time I encountered one, I was zooming toward what was innocently labeled as just an ordinary star...only to suddenly find myself at the massive gaping maw of a black void, right in front of my face. After nearly tripping over my feet in panic, I reversed quite a bit to view it from a safer distance. It *was* quite pretty, in a way, but I didn't want to go close to it. I quickly left the area and went back to a nice, safe planet.

I'd really, really love it if these were no longer labeled as simply stars. Just calling it "BH 3883SX7" would be fine. Yes, a black hole is a collapsed star, I know, but seriously, that was terrifying. I usually have my eyes squinted as I'm heading toward an unknown star now, just in case it turns out to be something worse.