Freelancer was a seminal game, one that managed to pull Microsoft Game Studios’ reputation out of the gutter and set the bar for any space based game that would follow it. However instead of a glut of similar titles following it, like what seems to happen to any mildly successful idea these days, there was nothing. The decade that followed was devoid of any titles that could hold a candle to Freelancer, both in raw gameplay terms and story. DarkStar One and Evochron Mercenary came close to replicating the feel but, in this humble reviewer’s opinion, were easily forgotten titles that lacked the staying power that kept Freelancer relevant for so long. Rebel Galaxy then is another attempt to rekindle the magic that once was and, whilst it does a fairly good job at that, it falls short on some key aspects which stop it from achieving the same greatness.
It all starts with a panicked message from your aunt. You need to come meet with her she says, sending you the coordinates of a ship you can use and the place you should head to. You’ve always known that your aunt was some kind of big trader but this is out of character for her. Begrudgingly you climb aboard the relic she’s left you and make your way to the destination. However upon arriving you find she’s not there although there is someone who can help you locate her. So begins your journey in the wild side of this galaxy where you’ll deal with all manner of aliens, scum and villainy in order to track down your aunt.
On first blush you’d be forgiven for thinking that Rebel Galaxy was another Unity as it’s actually powered by a heavily modified version of the OGRE engine, made famous by the Torchlight series. It may seem like an odd choice however Double Damage Games is the brain child of the co-founders of Runic Games who were the developers of that series. In that regard it’s easy to see the visual similarities with bright lighting and visual effects abounding. It’s not going to bring a bleeding edge gaming beast to its knees, nor will it win any awards for being the most pretty game, but it does feel fitting for the type of game that Rebel Galaxy is.
Rebel Galaxy is a space trader and combat sim, drawing influence from all the obvious places. Whilst there’s a campaign to play through, and something that you should probably do on your first time around, you’re basically left to your own devices when it comes to choosing your path. Want to play the spreadsheet game? There’s a full economy simulator in there allowing you to buy and sell your way to riches. That a little dull for you? There’s a whole host of different types of combat missions available for you to pursue. All of these help further the aim of upgrading your ship with better weapons and gear so you can take on ever bigger contracts to make even more money. How the game unfolds is completely up to you, allowing you to become the space cowboy you’ve long dreamed of.
Combat is halfway between Freelancer’s full 3D, 6 DOF style space dogfighting and EVE-Online’s point your ship and things and shoot them on timers style combat. Everything takes place in the same plane (with a couple of exceptions) and you’re likely going to be spending most of your time aiming your broadside canons. You’ll be facing up against enemies ranging from small fighters all the way to large capital ships with devastating arrays of weaponry. For the most part it’s serviceable, even fun when you start to outrank your current enemies firepower, however it falls short of being really satisfying for a couple reasons.
The everything in one plane constraint seems fine at first until you start meeting enemies that are allowed to violate that constraint with reckless abandon. I understand why this choice was made, smaller fighters would just get one shot otherwise, however later on when those fighters start getting capital class items and weapons it feels more like tedium than challenge. Additionally the broadsides are rather finicky about when they’ll switch into precise aiming mode, forcing you to wrangle the camera and fire randomly in an effort to get them to lock on. I can deal with pretty much everything else easily (like making sure you’ve got weaponry to deal with numerous situations) but these two issues took the combat down from “great” to just good.
Trading seems like it can be a worthwhile endeavour according to what many of the users on /r/rebelgalaxy are reporting. There’s a complex event system which drives prices on certain commodities in certain directions so, if you know what does what, there’s potential profits to be made all the time. Trading in single player games has always felt like a waste of time to me however so I really didn’t bother getting into it too much. Still if hauling cargo is your thing then Rebel Galaxy has a complex enough economy system that I’m sure there’s more than enough for you to enjoy here.
Like many open world games whilst there’s lots to do a lot of it becomes very same-y after a short while. Bounties, blockades and all other types of combat missions are largely the same in the way they play out usually requiring you to knock out all the small fighters before taking out the capitals one by one. The smuggling/trading runs are profitable however you should make no attempt to fight as you’ll likely lose due to the insane number of ships they throw at you. Escort missions are like any other escort mission, mostly boring but interspersed with a few moments of combat action. There’s a lot of exploring you can do but, again, the lack of variety makes that a dull prospect. All in all, whilst I can appreciate that this is the kind of thing some people thrive on, I just get bored after a while, preferring to pursue the campaign.
Unfortunately in that regard Rebel Galaxy isn’t anything to write home about, the story feeling really rudimentary and failing to grab me at any point. Whilst everyone is projecting their Firefly ambitions onto the character (spurred on only by the developer’s choice in music, which I did like) the story of your actual character couldn’t be any further from it. Indeed your sudden escalation from nobody to swashbuckler is so fast that it borders on ridiculous, breaking any idea of relatability that your or any other character might have had. If you ignore it to find your own path in the game then all the more power to you but for me, someone who enjoys a well crafted story, I found little to praise in Rebel Galaxy’s story.
Rebel Galaxy is the space sim that many have been waiting for, allowing them to live out their Firefly fantasies out on the edge galaxies. In that regard it delivers much of what is expected of it having all the trimmings that is expected from a game in this genre. The combat is unique however it suffers from a few key problems which quickly turn the challenge into tedium. Its open world nature is likely to appeal to many however the lacklustre campaign left this reviewer wanting. All in all Rebel Galaxy is a solid game, one that’s sure to delight both Freelancer and Firefly fans alike, however it’s not a great game like the ones it seeks to imitate.
Rating: 7.5/10
Rebel Galaxy is available on PC right now for $19.99. Total play time was approximately 8 hours with 14% of the achievements unlocked.
