Rebel Galaxy impression notes
Space. The final frontier, or in the case for Rebel Galaxy the wild frontier. This past weekend at the very first PAX South I had the chance to try out Rebel Galaxy from Double Damage for myself. At first I thought it was going to be some type of Star Citizen clone but was really surprised that this isn’t the case and that there is more to Rebel Galaxy. I had a few concerns about the game such as content, size of the solar system/galaxy, being too similar to other space games, gameplay and customization. Thankfully each of these were addressed and explained by the devs. Let’s start with the story.
Now with most space games that I have played, the story would always had a militaristic feel/motif. Usually you are either a captain, or a fighter pilot enlisted in an empire/federation’s military or a rebel fighting against said empire/military. Sounds like the start of most space stories since Star Wars am I right? Rebel Galaxy takes a different twist to its story. As I mentioned that space is the final frontier and when I think frontier I think of the Wild West. It seems that the developers think so as well. In Rebel Galaxy you take on the role of a wandering trader who happens to recieve a message from your aunt. You travel to the location that she sent the message from and find out that she has gone missing. But before she left she left you some credits and her old transport ship. Now its up to you to figure out where she’s disappeared to, why did she leave a ship to you and most of all why are you just now finding out that your aunt used to be one of the most successful traders in the quadrant.
As for the gameplay, the developers wanted to give players the sense of piloting a massive powerful ship through the vastness of space without feeling to realistic. So they took some inspiration from Assassin’s Creed 4 sailing sections for their ships. Controls are pretty simple, left stick is used to steer the ship while right stick is used to aim gun turrets and the direction of fire for the broadside cannons. Pressing the trigger buttons fires off the canons/turrets and just in case you need assistance, you are about to set the turrets to auto fire if you are controlling broadside cannons. To make travel easier in the vast space, the devs added in a warp speed function. This can be activated at any time when the player shifts into the fourth speed. As I said, controlling the ship pretty simple, and to back that up here is some B-roll that Double Damaged provided showing off the game in motion:
As you see, unlike most space games where its mostly dark and the only lights you can see are the stars, Rebel Galaxy is very colorful. The devs really wanted to show that space isn’t just pitch black and vast but also beautiful and wanted to give a sense of awe when exploring uncharted sections of space during your travels.
It’s kind of hard to believe that the game demo I played at PAX South was in its alpha state. I’m really impress with how the game is turning out. As for multiplayer, there are for plans for it, just they can’t really say anything at the moment. Rebel Galaxy has not set release date other than 2015 and will release on PC, MAC, Xbox One and PS4. I highly recommend keeping an eye on this game if you are wanting something more to your typical space game.
