Ever since its announcement final week, Rebel Galaxy Outlaw has been considered one of my most needed games, lifeless or alive. Prequel to the grungy space-trucker sim Rebel Galaxy, Outlaw is extra about fighter-scale dogfights, piracy and cockpits stuffed with glowing lights and buttons. After watching an hour of it performed and defined by Double Damage dev Travis Baldree I’m much more excited. Pull up a chair, pour your self a pair fingers and see why I reckon that is the second coming of Wing Commander: Privateer.
Set 35 years earlier than the unique Rebel Galaxy, this prequel has gamers controlling the roguish aunt of the primary game’s anonymous, faceless protagonist. While Baldree says there’ll be loads of story missions to observe within the full game, this walkthrough is targeted on its programs. Also, I can’t assist however discover that Travis’s oh-so-smooth voice makes him a formidable streamer – not shocking that he additionally does audiobook readings on the facet. He was additionally lead developer on dungeon crawlers Fate and Torchlight.
There’s so many scrumptious little particulars to pick of that video – right here’s a few of my favourites:
The protagonist – Juno Markev- is a nice change of tempo. Not many gruff, hard-looking girls of their forties get to play lead roles in games. She additionally sounds fittingly gravelly.
The soundtrack – some rock, metallic, nation and classical – all unfold throughout a set of radio stations befitting a area of house referred to as Dodge. There are advertisements between tracks, however in the event you swap station to keep away from the looming spectre of capitalism, you’ll hear Juno grumbling together with you as she fiddles with the radio. Double Damage say there’s over 21 hours of music.
Fights can get massive and messy. There’s some fights proven involving massive swarms of pirates, escort fighters and transports bristling with turrets. There’s loads occurring, and a number of issues that aren’t you being shot at. Of course, there’s the choice to shoot the turrets off of bigger ships – not shocking however good to see confirmed.
The minigames appear properly fleshed out. Bet some cash for the prospect to win ship components in a game of 8-ball? Very cool. Slot machines and cube poker are choices too. What actually piqued my curiosity was an Asteroids-inspired arcade game. Not wonderful in itself, however based on Baldree getting a excessive rating right here unlocks a Last Starfighter-inspired mission chain.
It may be very unrealistic, in a really Wing Commander manner. Police ships have sirens that you could hear as they fly previous, lasers are massive and zappy, and fight takes place at visually clear ranges. Mid-distance journey works precisely because it did in Wing Commander too, displaying you a fast third-person flyby earlier than snapping you again into the cockpit to evaluate the state of affairs you simply landed in.
Auto-pursuit is a incredible function. At 20 minutes in, you’ll be able to see it in motion. Hold a single button and your ship will routinely flip to face and match velocity together with your present goal, though it received’t deal with aiming. For those that get misplaced enjoying house shooters, it handles the boring/messy half (discovering the goal) for you, letting you do the cool bit (aiming and taking pictures) for your self.
Cockpits really feel stable, and Juno appears like she’s truly a part of the bodily house. She’ll press buttons, gesture (often rudely) at different ships, and in the event you take hull injury and the glass begins to crack, she’ll convey her arms as much as defend her/your face for a second earlier than calming down. You may beautify your cockpit with photos, toys and different goodies.
Exclusive to the PC model, you’ll have the ability to paint your individual ship nevertheless you want. Decals, colors, crudely spray-painted profanity may be doodled throughout it. There’s even the choice to output the complete texture and wireframe and work externally, in the event you’re extra used to skilled artwork instruments.
Rebel Galaxy Outlaw is definitely impressed by DOS-era traditional Wing Commander: Privateer (confirmed by the developers here), and that’s simply what I’m in search of. Popular as Freelancer was, it by no means actually did it for me. There’s no launch date but for Rebel Galaxy Outlaw, however we do realize it’s coming in early 2019, and can value $30.
