I want to start by saying my review is purely for Star Control II, I have not played the first *yet*.
(I will update this review once I have played more, but I found out about this game from watching The Yogscast play it back in 2012, and thought it looked magical. More experience from watching someone else play it, but I only recently thought about it and found out what it was called after all these years.) Helpful tip if you get stuck below marked by an *.
It is amazing how much depth this game has for something that came out in the DOS days in the early 90s, and I recommend anyone playing it that is a fan of the space genre, especially if you are a fan of No Man's Sky, as the developer credited this game with being a major inspiration, and it shows! I can imagine playing this in the 90's would have felt like entering a portal into the future, truly amazing how this game captures a sense of awe and being a tiny speck in a huge galaxy!
There are thousands of unique planets to explore, and the galaxy is vast, and it is chock full of different species and encounters to be had. The game is very dialogue rich, and just in the first hour or so I feel like I have learned a lot about the game's universe and lore. It truly gives a sense of wonder and mystery, as there is so much out there to discover, which is a little daunting but in a good way.
If you are on the fence about it because you don't think a game with such minimalist graphics can be immersive, please, give it a chance, you won't regret it! I did experience a glitch when I went to the Moon (early game, no spoilers) that would not allow me to continue the dialogue, but I suspect this was due to it running in a DOSBox environment, because I simply had to relaunch the game and the Enter key worked.
*(sidenote, the menu on the right of the screen is always active, enter will do the action you have highlighted, which by default is the top option, the Starmap, if you want to go back to the previous menu, you press Spacebar, and the arrow keys navigate. Took me an embarrassingly long time to figure out, hopefully I will save someone some time. )
I would recommend doing some reading on the Wiki to get the hang of the basics, as it gives you very little in the way of direction, which is kind of refreshing honestly coming from today's modern, extremely hand-holdy titles. I will actually be taking notes throughout my playthrough, as there is no quest book or "Discoveries" page to help you keep track of things you learn about in the game, so you do have to do some thinking. Also, would recommend keeping multiple saves going, and saving prior to any major encounters, SEPARATELY so that if you screw anything up that you might not find out about the implications of until much later, you can return to the point that you messed up.
Also, interesting point to note is this game is played entirely with the keyboard.
Don't be fooled by the incredibly small install size and basic graphics, this game is totally a hidden gem and worth checking out, I already can feel this is going to be something I come back to time and time again! Only 2 hours into the game and have more than had 3 dollars worth of fun with it!
SERIOUSLY, why are you still reading this, BUY IT!!!!! ;) :D
Also, there is an updated version called UQM HD (Ur-Quan Masters HD) which you can find on SourceForge that looks more modern, which I will play eventually, but it is worthwhile to give the original a chance, as it has a certain magic to it that I can't really put into words, but if the idea appeals to you and you just can't stand the graphics, check that out, it is free.
