I want to love this game so much.
Its main selling point is done very well: making the galaxy feel big and immersive: You really appreciate its sheer scale and cosmic beauty. Every constellation in our real night sky, every funny little shape, you can yourself fly to and experience in their stunning in-house engine. I often found myself just jumping to nebulae or landing on planets for fun because of how genuinely surreal it is. You truly feel like a tiny speck, but you don't feel useless because:
The galaxy feels alive with realistic concentrations of people and faction interactions. It tows the line perfectly between a realistic simulation and arcade game so it doesn't overwhelm you once you get past the initial learning curve. You truly feel like a contributor to this massive society with a plethora of careers to choose from (I was too scared of combat so I spent most of my time hauling cargo or passengers and exploring, the latter of which was the highlight of my entire time playing the game)
I say "initial learning curve"... and by that I mean you need to learn about all four wiki/Inara tabs you'll be keeping open on a second monitor when playing this game. Some people like this, others don't, and that's understandable.
Ship controls are satisfying, what little combat I did do seemed fun, and any career you choose will most likely be fulfilling.
Almost everything about the game mechanically is flawless in my books.
However, this truly unique experience seems to be brought crashing down by its management.
The more aware I became of Frontier's handling of the game, the more I questioned whether I should continue playing. Including but not limited to:
-Ship interiors, which were promised since 2012, have made painfully little progress.
-Many of the galaxy's most breathtaking and popular nebuale, such as the Pillars of Creation, have not been sufficiently implemented or correctly positioned in the game.
But okay, those aren't dealbreakers. However:
-First there was the ARX-first ship releases
-Then I found out about the substantial powercreep they fell for when inaugurating the previous mentioned system.
-And finally, the reason I am writing this review, the Lynx Highliner.
I have put over 60 hours (not counting leaving the launcher open) into progressing in this game, but upon finding out I could have skipped ALL of that and just gotten one of the best ships in the game for free, a fact that is not made obvious anywhere in the game unless you go rummaging around in the premium currency store ON THEIR WEBSITE, I now feel like every second I have put into this game has been wasted. And if I HAD known about it when starting, a lot of important (and fun) early game progression would have been skipped.
I think it's meant to act as an apology for delaying the newest update for months but... it is so destructive to new players that I cannot fathom why they thought handling it this way was a good idea.
Until the management cleans up its act, I cannot recommend this game.
