Star Nomad 2 Reviews

I enjoyed my time with Star Nomad 2, but it got old really fast. As a long-time fan of this genre, this game checks all the boxes, but none of the systems have much depth. Star Nomad 2 isn't a bad game, it's just shallow compared to others in this genre. I would recommend this game if you're into these types of games and can purchase this on a steep discount. For all others, give it a pass. There are better alternatives out there such as Space Pirates and Zombies, Starsector and Endless Sky.

This game is bad. It is clearly trying to copy Star Sector and has obviuosly failed. UI is bad and unclear. While this game has factions, it is unclear on how to increase favor with different factions. And since there is no clear indication on how to increase favor , there is no way to buy better ships/weapon/equipments Since they all require certain amount of favor to buy it. Pic,ing up stuff is a pain, why do I have to stop and click ? This is especially annoy with mining. And stuff you mined if not picked up quickly will disappear.. Seriously...don't waste money on this game...buy Star Sector insetead...maybe Star Sector is still in development, but is already way better than this...game...

If you're like me and enjoy dogfights in space, smuggling pirated wares or just transporting trade goods to make the most profit available, this game is for you. This top-down space combat/trade scenario gives you everything it promises. It's a similar feel to an old favorite of mine, Freelancer. While (obviously) the game play is different given the 2d environment the combat is no less engaging, exciting and challenging. Star Nomad 2 has a fairly robust trading system that keeps you interested throughout. This game is definately worth the price of admission. edit: How could I forget?! The music is great!

This is actually a pretty nice game. It's got a classic arcade feel to it; add to that a ton of variety in ships, systems, wares and guns, and it's also seriously replayable. I like the way you can just *exit* and come back to it later; no messing around with save game files and churning through menu screen after menu screen to actually get into the game or exit it. There are one or two minor things I'd love to see changed/added, but it was definitely worth buying. Things I'd like to see: 1. When docking, changing the tick and cross icons to have an opaque background. Certain planets make it difficult to see the small tick box due to their textures and palette. 2. Some customisation of ship colour schemes; a simple *two colour* thing would do, like Homeworld. 3. Greater variety of additional ship systems; the pool seems to be somewhat small compared to the weapon pool. 4. Greater variety of weapons, especially missiles. What abour rockets? Something that trades guidance for extra damage? Anyway, still worth it.

Extremely unbalanced game. - Pirates literally in every sector you go - Most pirates are too OP to fight - Cannot dock while in combat even though I'm not actually fighting anyone - Certain ships require ores to buy

I'm not a masochist, but I think being whipped for hours while strapped on a cross will be funnier than playing this game. You start as a nobody with a crappy ship while everyone else will outclass you massively. It wouldn't be a problem if you were able to level up by trading, mining, exploring or doing quest like every kind of similar game. But here the only way to gain xp is by fighting. Which you can't do from the start because of how powerfull everything else is. The only way to gain xp early on ( and in most of the game it seems ) is to give the killing blow to a ship attacked by another NPC. No matter how hard you hit the ship before, only the killing blow will give you xp. BUT NPC will become pissy at you if you steal their kill. Do it one time too much and they will attack you, funny ... Another thing, there is no gun safety, so you need to fire carefully, because if you hit someone you will damage them. And usually a second hit will take a huge chunk of reputation from you and turn them hostile. A third hit? The whole faction is at war against you. And gaining reputation is SLOW. And mostly combat based. Oh and NPC can fire at you by mistake and you just have to shut up, doesn't work both way. Ah a last thing, avoiding friendly fire while dealing the killing blow is really hard when most battles are done by mutliples ships at once, with beams and missiles flying everywhere right from the start of the game. Can't really comment about customizing ships and items, because I was unable to level up and I think most items are hiddens behind a level requisite. And a faction reputation requisite. It's the only explanation I have as to why every station is empty of items and why capital planet only got base weapons and items to sell. But it wouldn't really matter because you also need rare material to BUY weapons and items. Yes, you need to provide money AND materials to buy more stuff. Because you have to provide bricks, cement and money to have workers build your house I suppose. It's another ridiculous mechanic here to gate and slow your progress because these materials are priceys OR mostly mined in system full of pirates. The game isn't fun at all because the only way to progress is to hide far away from the action then have to be lucky enough to find a mostly dead ship you can blow from afar. It's really not my conception of fun at all but it's the main mechanic of this game, you suck and need to kill-steal to progress.

I've played all the space action rpgs out there and each one has it's own flavor and feel. This one seems a lot closer to the "choose your own story" kind instead of the "hold your hand until you're op and you save the universe". Fun game, takes a bit of time to get into and has a few minor annoyances, but the dev is super responsive (literally took him 4 minutes to respond to and give me a fix for a bug) My first hour in the game was basically spent dieing as a hunter. I did the trading thing for a while, and once I got the merchant guild access it got a lot easier... but I wanted to be a hunter. So in learning the combat system I spend a lot of time running around dieing, until I get the feel for the combat system. Now that I'm able to hit ships without the auto aim my dps has risen and I'm starting to pull in cash. Hopefully now I can start exploring and finding out new things about the game. A minor gripe is that the starter hunter ship has shotgun weapons... but not enough speed to keep close to pirate ships who have long range weapons. This means you have to do some fancy flying to keep pace.

I've played about 40 hours in 4 days... yeah the game is that good and that much fun. What you should know... - The game is seriously fun and engaging. Active control use and not a casual point and click type of game. - There are several creative twists and new mechanics to the game that stands it out from predecesors like SPAZ, SR2 and EV. BTW they are really well done and good changes. - It's done by 1 independent dev, so doesn't have the big company polish of voice over by actors or a thousand micro options. - The dev is highly engaging and proven he's willing to take community input by putting out around 6 patch and updates all community driven. - serious RPG elements with 36 skill, multistacked. You need 119 skill points to master the whole tree and you only get 1 skill point per level. The tree goes through some level unlocks but by level 18 EVERY skill is open for you to pick and choose without restriction. No word on a level cap. So pretty expansive. -There's also a galaxy map for conquest, 3 major factions, 4 minor factions and 1 ultimate kill everything alien faction. -LOTS of potential and future plans. This is a game that in it's current state has replay value but with the future planned features will definitely me back for sure. Worth the buy in spades.

If you want a nice 2d space sim where your can spend the odd hour shooting up pirates, this is a fine game. I actually like the combat, it reminds me of Beat Hazard. The problem comes when you hit late game. I'm 45 hours into a playthrough, level 55 of 60, and NOTHING I DO MATTERS! This game is so well balanced that winning is all but impossible. Conquest is carried out one system at a time, in fleet battles. When you fight in a fleet battle, you're allies have a handicap because you showed up. Instead of your elite squad tipping the scales and sweeping through your enemies, your allies are turned to cannon fodder while you desperately try to wittle down the enemy to a managable size before you and your squad are the last ones on the map. Even this would be tolerable if the game would let you defend a system that way, BUT NO if your allies all die, the system is lost, YOU DON'T COUNT! And suppose you do manage to defend a system? Say hello a second enemy fleet before you can even reload your missle bays. So the solution is to stay on the offensive, right? WRONG, your allies are too busy to reinforce you when you assult a system. Oh, sometimes they show up, but don't count on it. If you've reduced an enemy to only a couple systems, THEY GET A BONUS! And yes, they will manage to push you back time and time again. This game is so balanced that the player is reduced to an ineffectual cog, at the mercy of the RNG. As powerful as you are, your enemy will be just as powerful. As much as you help your allies, the two front wars will screw you over every time. You don't have the information or the tools to turn the tide, and while you may get your money's worth of enjoyment, a fun beginning will lead to a frustrated end.

[b] As an indie gamer and fan of space games, this title delivers! [/b] There are many aspects you will find familiar from titles like Space Rangers 2, Gratuitous Space Battles, and SPAZ, but it brings its own unique take on space and combat to classify it as a game of its own. I’ll break down this review into two categories to fit the meta. [b] WHY YOU WILL PURCHASE THIS GAME: [/b] [b] The combat is extremely satisfying! This alone makes this title worth playing. [/b] Ship control doesn't feel like you are skating on ice, and you have the option to have your weapons auto target, or manual fire for reduced energy consumption. You can find NPCs on various planets to join you, and the AI and control options are simple and effective. Getting credit for kills means getting the last hit, which gives a sense of accomplishment for good timing. The game is designed to be simple, so it isn’t overwhelming to get started, but there is enough depth in character development, knowledge of enemies, and ship design to keep it from getting stale. There are three sizes of ships, with a fair many hull choices to suit different play styles including faction specific ships. Weapon selection is medium, but each weapon type has its own damage, range, rate of fire, shot speed, etc to differentiate it from the other types. There are slots for engine, shield, armor, and other mods on ships that further develop how well it performs. Ship progression happens fairly fast but leaves plenty of room for late game speccing. Trade is as simple as buy and sell based on prices in different sectors, and delivering goods that are scarce to regions in need. How well a faction is doing is directly related to trade and piracy, so you can affect your allies and enemies by making the right deals. [b] The Game Developer is super active [/b] in patching bugs, fixing game data, and updating with new and improved content. This is a great thing because while this game is good as is, it will be AMAZING with more work. [b] WHAT IS BEING WORKED ON/COULD USE IMPROVEMENT: [/b] Of the three character starts, being a pirate isn’t really a viable option. Pirates aren’t a true faction currently and I can’t see how they fit into the game from a progress standpoint. They are mostly just there to mess with factions and block trade/military. Combat is what it’s all about. Being a trader and mining are great things to do, but ultimately lead to a life of killing. [b] The greatest untapped resource in this game is the RPG element [/b] through quests that begin on planets. The only quests I have encountered are through or related to the NPCs you can get in your squad. I would love to see a robust level of chat dialogue, quests, and other happenings that would add immersion to this universe. Cut scenes, NPCs, unique bosses, and challenges outside of the typical skirmishes. No planet should be a boring port with little more than a few generic commodities to trade for. Give me enemies and allies that I can love or hate. At the moment picking a faction is just a choice and I don’t feel the struggle between them. Like the pirate faction, the Zerker faction needs developed. They don’t own any space, and while I love how they behave in combat, they are just a bit too mysterious and lack any influence on the map. Star Systems are all the same layout. I would love to see varied sized systems, with multiple planets and varied locations for planets on the map. That’s my $0.02 on this title. Come for the combat, stay for the continual development.