For context, House of the Dying Sun was pretty much a one man show developed by Mike Tipul with music by Olivier Zuccaro. Tipul was the developer responsible for the space combat segment of Halo: Reach.
I'm amazed the flyer level was so well done just for the one level. That could've been a standalone game, the proof of concept was very convincing. And I bet they spent way too much money on it with the game being a first person shooter. That kind of work isn't cheap.
Sadly only one game was able to give me that feeling of space exploration and that is Heat Signature. What an amazing little game. Imagine if someone were to make a game like that in 3D!
@@lopsidedpolygon Good idea. Is there a way to contact these guys? Probably to be ignored but it is worth a try! Look, we love your game, let us immortalize it.
@@Schopenhauer667 No, it was made by a single guy who used it as a carrer stepping stone in order to get hired by a larger company. It's pretty much abandonware.
One of very few games I've 100% in my life (close to 90 hours on Steam). Played in on a flatscreen with TrackIR, played in VR, played on a Steam Deck. It really scratches that itch of drifting around Destroyers with a shotgun while avoiding OHK railguns. Would glass a planet for a sequel...
if you haven't played it, freespace 2 (gog not steam) with the graphics mods is excellent. I still think it's the best space battle game in how it makes you feel like one tiny ship in a huge epic battle between capitals, there really is nothing else like it to this day.
@@moonasha I have and precisely what you're describing is my favorite thing about it. It's not your typical power fantasy of single-handedly taking down big bad ships, but rather being assigned to a very specific task and relying on the rest of your forces to take down the big bad ship. The battlespace isn't fake and tailored strictly around the player.
House of the Dying Sun is a masterclass in so many design areas. You also need to check out Starsector since you're designing for a top-down perspective.
Oh man, I wish Starsector would get more coverage and love from the RUclips gaming channels. But then again, the game has been in basically early access for what, 6 years now? I don't think the game will ever hit a 1.0 release lol but man it's an awesome indie game.
@@rymosrac I know, I bought my copy in 2011 actually. I just couldn't be bothered to look at my email receipt at 3 in the morning to be fair lol plus it's been like, 18 months since I last played a build - I couldn't remember the name of the studio making the game for the life of me :D
@@LordLOC On the bright side you can turn it into a mecha anime or Ace Combat in Space with a few mods and a little basic fiddling with ship data. Got the Arma Armatura mod, and modified all the pilotable mechs to make them slightly faster. Now I can have high-speed minigun sword duels with enemy mechs before sending a Reaper or nine at their big ships (I only modified the speed, the mechs are still made of paper if you get overconfident).
I followed the developer of this game from when he announced it as Enemy Starfighter. It was originally supposed to be a roguelike! The more constrained scope really works well for it, and I'm happy with how it turned out. But I do feel like a sequel really could blow the competition out of the water, especially if it stays true to constraining its scope and avoiding bloat.
I think Scott Manley got to play with the rogue-like systems incorporated. I found the reduction in scope weird in that they were actually implemented, I guess not to Mike Tipul's standards. It works fine in its constrained release version, but that initial pitch was so good! The fleet command interface is very smooth. I don't know what problems it had that the change had to be made, but what's there is so good it really let's the imagination run wild with what could have been.
@@Jerkzilla Yeah, I never quite bought the reasoning for giving up on the procedurally generated missions in favour of hand authored scenarios. The developer said that the reason for the change was that the 'combat didn't really sing' in the procedural missions, but I feel like combat either works or it doesn't, how the missions are built shouldn't impact it that much. And sacrificing replayability to that degree feels like a mistake.
Loved it so much - open world enough to explore, but linear enough to just push you forwards. Loved it loved it loved it. The combat was brilliant and you felt so good teleporting jinking around like you're in BSG. Was simply awesome.
@@JezzaL So true, and aside some dificulty spikes here and there, the game was pretty much flawless. I hope we get mote dofighting arcade space sims in the near future. The genre has way too many overblown titles, and these more bitesized experiences are excelent for those that crave gameplay that allows us to shoot and teleport around planets and star systems.
@@MrSteve0311 Didn't know that they went bust. Anything to do with their Outlaw prequel or their Epic Store only release for that game? Or was it some other company gobbling them up? I know I didn't buy it because I do not buy on Epic, only GoG or Steam and most of my friends who like the original are the same. Someone gave me a key for Outlaw a while ago when it finally got released on Steam but have yet to try it, been too busy and Everspace 2 and Starfield have my attention atm.
I remember falling in love with this game during my first play through. The feel of the ship and the weighty nature of the mission lore, everything about the game just felt so good. I hope this video gives this game the recognition it deserves.
yeah i feel that, its a shame you dont see more games putting work into those small details. from time to time i go and rewatch that 'operation vengeful baron' video for the starfighter asmr aspect when i cant be bothered to redownload the game.
So glad someone is putting a spotlight on this game! I really wished they made a sequel or DLC, the small fleet command with simulation combined are perfectly balanced and done right.
It‘s an absolute masterpiece in so many ways. Design, artwork, sound, VR… And indeed, StarWars Squadrons is also a gem. There should be more games like these.
Playtested this game for the developer which was pretty much just one guy. He outsourced somethings like music and art/marketing. I remember originally you can muster up a big fleet and made the game too easy haha. thanks for featuring it, it's way underrated.
You definitely need to try Freespace & Freespace 2, that way you can suffer with the rest of us that played them, were fully expecting a sequel, and have not gotten one for nearly 25 years now. The Wing Commander series & Freelance gets a lot of attention, as does the X-Wing series since it has the weight of the Star Wars license, but for me Freespace 2 was and is the best space game that there has been at this point.
The amount of bass in the ion cannon piercing through a dying Deimos corvette. The slamming explosions of flak as you weave your bomber between the 1km-long ships duking it out with giant death beams and plasma cannon broadsides, desperate to launch your torpedoes… but that lock tone never seems to come… Star Citizen during Xenothreat fleet battle event is the only thing that has come close.
Even though I'm a die hard fan of X-Wing, Wing Commander and particularly Tie Fighter, I agree that Freespace 2 is probably the best space piloting game ever
@@Titere05 Wing Commander 2 was my first Sci-fi game experience, at like 6 years old watching my dad play it and then I got into my own campaign when I was a little older. Freespace 2 felt like the worthy spriritual successor to that, and Star Citizen the next generational step in the legacy of incredibly immersive space combat experiences. I've got mine set up with OpenTrack IR (I also modded head-tracking and HOSAS support into Freespace 2, recently) and it rocks. Elite Dangerous is pretty great in VR, too, especially when your sticks and pedals and body postioning reflect those in the cockpit, but kinda feels like a single-player sandbox devoid of a real soul.
Fun fact, I've actually been modding this game for a bit and have been trying to get others in on it. I managed to get custom missions working, and even found some unused mission types. I own a modding discord where we've even somewhat discussed a potential community-led expansion of the campaign.
I think its less "space nerd design syndrome" and more that spacesims are in fact simulator games meaning they want to build a user experience that is deeper more complex and maybe isn't realistic perse but feels quite grounded in a well established universe. If anything id say the idealized final product of star citizen is the most simulator like of all modern space sims since its trying to give all professions as well as ship building a lot of depth that is grounded in consistent rules about how this fictional universe works. This complexity however means designing an onboarding process is very difficult as the player has to be introduced to a lot of new information without it overwhelming while also counterbalancing that with the fact that much of the core space sim fan base enjoys the process of discovering how things work on their own.
Looking at the other kinds of games that easily fall into the "space sim" genre, it's definitely "space nerd design syndrome" going on with those other games LC hinted at. There are lots of games in the Space Sim genre that aren't "simulators".
Duuuude, i've actually been replaying this recently as i was craving some good space dogfights in a fluid lagless environment and cool art and ambience, and this game came back to mind. it even allows you to play it fully as a pausable RTS which is supercool honestly. and sound design is on point, so immersive and satisfying
This is the game that got me in to VR back in the day, I wish it had more, not that it's lacking; but that it's so fun and leaves me wanting more. 10/10 game
I'm getting this. I like games that deliver on fun & gameplay more than half-baked complexities hiding under a candy skin. The dev's reputation is also top notch!
Ah, Starlancer, Freespace 2 and Freelancer. Good games. Though I wish Freelancer was just a little more fleshed out in the ship choice department during the campaign. X 3 Terran Conflict was/is my jam, focusing more on exploration, basebuilding and actually, management. Clunky, crazy steep learning curve, and old, but I haven’t found any game like it, other than the sequels.
I've played a handful of space games, but strangely strike suit zero is my favorite. It's short and simple, but it's easy to get into and never gets boring
One thing I don't like in certain space combat sims is energy management for weapons, shields and engines. That should be an automatic process which frees the pilot to concentrate on the actual flying and combat. And turret guns should be able to target and attack incoming threats such as missiles and enemy craft automatically but could be also manually controlled.
My favorite 3 space sims - Hard War (A Must Play if you haven't and most folks never even heard of it), Tachyon The Fringe and Freespace 1 and 2 - You can still find all of these for free online and they hold up as well as any game today.
Another great thing about this game is that the lore for it, while sparse, is still incredibly gripping. Your character and its (whatever you used to be, I feel like you aren't human anymore) mission culminates in one of the most incredible yet horrifying final missions I've seen in a game.
I'm still waiting for any space game to even come close to the first "I-WAR" (1997) which was absolutely freaking amazing. Somehow they managed to make it more sim than sims but still more arcade than most arcade titles. To my knowledge also the only game that had physics with inertia at least somewhat realistic
Great review , Descent Freespace and Freesoace 2 from Volition had that WW2 sky combat , camera shakes , intense dialog , great bosses. The feel you get in Star Wars movies. I’m downloading this one !
I'm a DCS player (hardcore modern flight simulator) and let me tell you: Star citizen did a big mistake into putting realistic distances and "lore friendly" realistic travels (10-15 minutes quantum travel to move to another planet). Don't get me wrong, it's cool as heck to see. The problem is, while physics are satisfying and very fun, the avionics and systems are very simplified. Obviously, otherwise less players would want to play due to having to study for weeks a single aircraft like in DCS. It is fully understandable. However, that realistic avionics of DCS give you *something* to do while doing your 30-40 minutes travel to objective. Program weapons, set up alternatives, activate and align combat systems, discuss strategies and communications with another wingman player, monitor possible threats around you. In SC, there's none of that. It's just traveling in a straight line for minutes with barely anything to do, as it's simplified. In terms of boredom due to lack of things to do, it's much worse than a hardcore simulator with realistic traveling distances. Elite dangerous had the same issue. What's the fun into staring into the void for 20 minutes to reach a star too far away to reach in decent time, but too close to perform a hyperjump? Eurotruck simulator at least lets you drive. But in space games? You just move in a straight line. Honestly the best approach to me remains X4, with portals bringing you immediately into the point of interest of a solar system, rather than making you travel endlessly with nothing else to do. I'm glad this game considers the fact players don't exactly want to deal with the emptyness of space too much.
This game was what I was dreaming about playing back when I was playing Homeworld as a kid. It's one of my all time favorites. For about a year I used to try to top the leaderboard on the challange mode every day.
Tarr Chronicles was one of those space games I played that was a gem, and when I mention it no one seems to ever have heard of it. I loved it. What you describe in House of the Dying Sun is how similarly I felt playing Tarr Chronicles.
Loved this game. I played it back in 2017 I believe, and I too was left wanting more. I played it without VR, and never felt the experience suffered for it. Though as someone with a lot of VR experience now, I can absolutely say that playing this in VR is definitely going to be a superior experience.
the sound design is what is amazing in this game. I wish more would follow this where only the cockput vibrations sounds is what you hear and radio chatter.
Chorus was pretty outstanding if you aren't familiar with it. The original Freelancer is still unbeaten for best space sim. The amount you can do in that game, the various ships and weapons and the combat hasn't been topped.
I wish i could play Freelancer again but after moving with a moving company i cant find the CD (or was it already DvD?) and there is no legal way to get it digital -.-
@@Spikebhaal It's officially abandoned so can just grab it from the abandon ware repository, just search for freelancer game on google and it should be in top search results
Honestly what I want in a space game is a sequel to Rebel Galaxy, not the dumpster fire that was Rebel Galaxy: Outlaw. Rebel Galaxy is my favorite space game that I've played to date because it's unique in the genre with it being limited to a 2D plane with broadsides, but in space. The ships were cool, the combat got crazy at times, the soundtrack was amazing, and the freedom to go off and do whatever was really fun. You could get in some truly epic battles in that game and nothing else has come close to scratching that itch. Every other game is the kind of game where it's an economy simulator and you build trading empires and fleets and I'm not interested in that. I just want to fly around and blow stuff up in my ship but I don't want a dogfighter either, and I hate strategy games which is what a lot of the other bulk of space games ends up being.
It's been a while since I played, but I remember the lore being pretty interesting. You're not some underdog rebel fighting the evil empire, but instead some elite hunter-killer brought out of stasis to hunt down traitors to your empire and destroy them.
Took you long enough. :P Been singing this games praises for years. House of the Dying Sun is just such a tight experience. its what it needs to be and nothing more. the minimal look also means it runs great in vr too,
Its a game that harkens back to the simpler times of games like Darklight Conflight, Freespace , XWing, TieFighter, or Free/Starlancer, Wing Commander. Back when the goal was making the game fun and somewhat cinematic. Somewhere along the way we started to priority making everything "realistic" instead of space opera and well... the "fun space shooter" genre kinda dried up. One thing that I REALLY miss from Wing Commander is that the campaign was dynamic. You could LOSE a mission and it would have consequences. Today's games are "win or retry again", whereas with WC - if you failed certain missions you wouldn't have access to things, planets would be lost and you could find yourself losing the campaign all the way to trying to defend Earth in some last stand instead of crushing the enemy. Some missions were so pivotal that if you didn't destroy enemy carriers you might have just doomed humanity. That was fun... that was GOOD... that doesn't really exist anymore.
HOTDS is probably the best modern space game. While I did not expect any game in the genre to set the world on fire in terms of sales and attention, I am surprised that it just slipped under the radar entirely.
Completely agree with that intro statement, the complexity has always thrown me off trying MOST space games because I have no idea what is being talked about and I'd have to go on a hunt to gather information. This looks like a gem and I'm definitely going to look into it.
What I mean is I don't mind complexity, i even enjoy it, it's just that games don't do well to introduce those systems in a decent fashion, or giving you an overload of information.
This was the first game I ever purchased on steam. The music, sound design and graphics are SUPERB. Completely fulfilled my BSG VIPER pilot fantasy. 👍👍👍👍 if I had enough cash for a VR headset and a rig to run it...my head would explode.
Great video and also thank you to all commenting here mentioning hardly known space-dogfighting games. The video unblocked the core memory in me (well, actually I used to think about the game recently, but had no idea how to search for it): I played through a nice little game from 2004 that here in Poland goes under title "Starmageddon 2", but now I just learnt that it even is on Steam, but under title "Project Freedom". It was my very first encounter to the genre and I loved this game, altough I only played it in its entirety once, because it is stream-lined campaign game. Wanted to go back to it after years, but I have it only on CD back from the times when Steam wasnt around and couldn't really find it under the name I have known it. I cant really say that it is a great game, as I only have an early teenage sugarcoated memory of it, but it certainly was working well for what it was. You can check it out, it's basically pennies on Steam.
I like the space nerd kinda games, I love complexity because it makes it so rewarding once you master it and it keeps you engaged. But I also absolutely love games that do the exact opposite and let you just relax and have some fun and this game does that so well. I rly wanna come back to it once I get a VR set cause it's an absolute blast.
Yeah, I find the title of this video really funny given what he says. House of the Dying Sun is a great game but it 100% is not a space sim, and based on what he says I'd say LevelCapGaming just doesn't like space sims at all. That's totally fine, just wish he hadn't mis-titled the video!
flight sims are the best VR experiences in my opinion they feel very natural, VTOL VR is another amazing VR game to try also Star Wars: Squadrons is a lot of fun in VR.
Yeah, I loved that game! Simple but engaging. Did you play the mods that extend the universe extensively? Me and my friends made some epic trips to the vastness of space. Good times!
I remember the first time I booted up freelancer I didn't step away from it for like 7 or 8 hours straight, I don't think I've ever dived into a game that hard ever since
What I really love about house of the dying sun is the story. There isn't much but the fact that your H.U.D displays in red signifying your the bad guy in this story is great.
Completely agree on all fronts. I still play this (many years after first purchasing it) in VR with my Thrustmaster T-Flight. It is so much fun, just like X-wing, Wing Commander (combat feel, story not so much since it is very light), and Freespace; used to feel. After playing through the campaign mode on increasing levels of difficulty (which surprisingly do not feel monotonous at all), I then switched to playing challenge mode where you fight to survive through as many waves of varying fleets as you can and then are ranked on a scoreboard against other players. The combat is far better than Star Wars Squadrons too. This game provides precisely what Star Citizen is increasingly moving away from. Above all else, space combat should be intuitive and fun. The last time I tried Star Citizen, I got in my ship and started flying only to be alerted that my character needed food/water, so I spent an hour trying to find a planet/station that had food/water that I could actually purchase, then I died while trying to eat/drink as my character kept dropping the food which then clipped through the floor, how is this fun? I want to fly and have space battles, not figure out how to do space taxes and other monotonous tasks. /rant This game is incredible space combat fun still in 2024! Buy this game and play in VR if you have it. If you are Mike Tipul, thank you, I will buy anything you make. Cheers.
Everspace is good don't get me wrong, but house of the dying sun has a much better feel. The ships are just weighty enough without being annoying, and my God, the sounds combined with the hud makes it one of the most satisfying space games I've ever played. The hum of the targetting reticle is just *chefs kiss*
Really great with a flight stick and VR. The action is hot and the sound especially is SO GOOD. Like you said, it's so refreshing to run short intense missions instead of long plodding 2 hours play sessions just to do ANYTHING. I'm looking at you Elite Dangerous. And Star Citizen. And No Man's Sky. Actually, Elite Dangerous Arena was pretty dang good in VR. You just jump right in and blast. I'm not sure if that's even playable anymore. It's funny, people dismissed House of the DS when it came out due to it being "short". But now that's exactly why it's valued. At least by OP, and myself.
Does anyone remember a game about 10 years ago called Jumpgate and the sequel that was in development called Jumpgate Evolution? For some reason it got canned in dev but the demo gameplay looked amazing. This game reminds me of that.
Freelancer was nice space arcade with relatively good story and space combat which was surprisingly complex (ships kept their inertia for example if you pressed Z which allowed you to fly backwards and shoot or turn super quickly) if you wanted to or a total all gas no brakes arcade airplanes in space if you didn't want to bother with it. Of course if you took the time to master flying with Newtonian physics you became much more efficient in fighting but it wasn't required in single player. In multiplayer though.... jousting aces would smoke you without you even knowing what happened because tight turning = more shots per second :)
I played the game mostly in the strategic mode, I'm not really a big fan of dog fighting in space, but I loved the game hands down. I was rather disappointed by the short campaign, but the story was actually really good, and the short campaign even made sense in the context. I'd love to see more games like this one, especially with that capacity to switch between playing strategic or in first person. Also having both support for VR and support for normal players is amazing. I also think this game does one thing right, that most games just don't nowadays. Simplicity. There is always this strive to make things unique, and I get that. However, sometimes they just take it to far, and we end up with overly complex mess. Just look at helldivers 2, it's success is in it's simplicity, as much as it is in its focus to create an enjoyable game play loop.
This looks fun! Also I'm now really excited about your game: I was a huge fan of Escape Velocity (and it's sequels), and would love to play a modernized version of it. :)
I want a space game that plays like the expanse, where most of the fighting isn't actually fighting but maneuvering for Hours/Days/Weeks before the actual encounter- of course you'd speed up time to skip through most of that stuff, then slow down for adjustments and changes to the battle plan. Then the actual engagements would only usually last for a Minute or two. More time would be spent leading up to the fight. The Expanse was originally suppose to be a Game. Don't remember how it ended up as a Book Series and TV show, there's a Story there though.
One of the better space games I've played in recent years is Avorion. It's got a build system that lets you make practically anything and kind of turns into a RTS late game because you can have multiple ships/types and control them via the map. It's got a surprising amount of depth!
'Elite'. Played the original in the early 80's and now the modern iteration. The hours lost into the small hours as a teen until my father would barge through the bedroom door and tell me to switch it off because I had school in a couple of hours. 😏
So I would recommend looking into Delta V: Rings of Saturn and Nebulous: Fleet Command as both offer really good perspectives in the space sim genre. The former will offer a grounded look at space mining and the latter will give an amazing perspective to combat for space and the complexity that is there. I know you make a valid point about the overly complex but I still think these games are worth look at. I think someone below mentioned SpaceBourne 1 & 2 which is also worth checking out. Also you talked about the VR space not having much back then, and I agree, but now we have things like Battle Group VR which is a unique look at fleet mechanics and controls in VR setting. Last but not least there is always Starsector.
Please also try the Battlestar Galactica mod for Freespace 2 “Diaspora: Shattered Armistice”. It’s some of the most fun and immersive space combat I’ve tried to date. Also incredibly well made. I’m also very curious what some of those space games are that’re “too complex”. I find it very hard to find space games in general, let alone complex and realistic ones.
To this day I have not played a space combat sim with mechanics and atmosphere quite as satisfying as Freespace1/2, the GOAT for me. But this seems pretty good, will check it out!
For context, House of the Dying Sun was pretty much a one man show developed by Mike Tipul with music by Olivier Zuccaro. Tipul was the developer responsible for the space combat segment of Halo: Reach.
-devolper
-halo:reach
aaannnd wishlisted.
I'm amazed the flyer level was so well done just for the one level. That could've been a standalone game, the proof of concept was very convincing.
And I bet they spent way too much money on it with the game being a first person shooter. That kind of work isn't cheap.
They worked on the last good Halo game. Time to crack open the wallet.
Are people really saying the space level was good in Reach nowadays?
@@sonwig5186 Yes. As a standalone mission segment it did what it attempted to do in a polished fashion.
This masterpiece needs a sequel.
I enjoyed it so much.
Space feels truly vacuum like in no other game. Sound is a 10.
sound AND music! battlestar galactica vibes. this game is pure gem! those muffled shots and weapon swaps ...
Sadly only one game was able to give me that feeling of space exploration and that is Heat Signature. What an amazing little game. Imagine if someone were to make a game like that in 3D!
What it needs is a map maker and modding tools. The community will all lift together, but we need a frikkin' lever and a place to stand.
@@lopsidedpolygon Good idea. Is there a way to contact these guys? Probably to be ignored but it is worth a try!
Look, we love your game, let us immortalize it.
@@Schopenhauer667 No, it was made by a single guy who used it as a carrer stepping stone in order to get hired by a larger company. It's pretty much abandonware.
One of very few games I've 100% in my life (close to 90 hours on Steam). Played in on a flatscreen with TrackIR, played in VR, played on a Steam Deck. It really scratches that itch of drifting around Destroyers with a shotgun while avoiding OHK railguns. Would glass a planet for a sequel...
if you haven't played it, freespace 2 (gog not steam) with the graphics mods is excellent. I still think it's the best space battle game in how it makes you feel like one tiny ship in a huge epic battle between capitals, there really is nothing else like it to this day.
@@moonasha I have and precisely what you're describing is my favorite thing about it. It's not your typical power fantasy of single-handedly taking down big bad ships, but rather being assigned to a very specific task and relying on the rest of your forces to take down the big bad ship. The battlespace isn't fake and tailored strictly around the player.
You're Badass. Tried it too and the fighter only challenge with the extra bounties ended me.
House of the Dying Sun is a masterclass in so many design areas. You also need to check out Starsector since you're designing for a top-down perspective.
Oh man, I wish Starsector would get more coverage and love from the RUclips gaming channels. But then again, the game has been in basically early access for what, 6 years now? I don't think the game will ever hit a 1.0 release lol but man it's an awesome indie game.
@@LordLOC 6 years? Might want to double that, I bought my copy January 2012.
@@rymosrac I know, I bought my copy in 2011 actually. I just couldn't be bothered to look at my email receipt at 3 in the morning to be fair lol plus it's been like, 18 months since I last played a build - I couldn't remember the name of the studio making the game for the life of me :D
@@LordLOC On the bright side you can turn it into a mecha anime or Ace Combat in Space with a few mods and a little basic fiddling with ship data.
Got the Arma Armatura mod, and modified all the pilotable mechs to make them slightly faster. Now I can have high-speed minigun sword duels with enemy mechs before sending a Reaper or nine at their big ships (I only modified the speed, the mechs are still made of paper if you get overconfident).
Lately starsectors been popping off check out ironcladlion
I followed the developer of this game from when he announced it as Enemy Starfighter. It was originally supposed to be a roguelike! The more constrained scope really works well for it, and I'm happy with how it turned out. But I do feel like a sequel really could blow the competition out of the water, especially if it stays true to constraining its scope and avoiding bloat.
Enemy Starfighter was the original name! He posted a lot at Shacknews during development.
You're right! Fixed.@@Wadmaasi
It's such a perfect name too, because in the narrative you really *are* the Enemy Starfighter lol
I think Scott Manley got to play with the rogue-like systems incorporated. I found the reduction in scope weird in that they were actually implemented, I guess not to Mike Tipul's standards.
It works fine in its constrained release version, but that initial pitch was so good! The fleet command interface is very smooth. I don't know what problems it had that the change had to be made, but what's there is so good it really let's the imagination run wild with what could have been.
@@Jerkzilla Yeah, I never quite bought the reasoning for giving up on the procedurally generated missions in favour of hand authored scenarios. The developer said that the reason for the change was that the 'combat didn't really sing' in the procedural missions, but I feel like combat either works or it doesn't, how the missions are built shouldn't impact it that much. And sacrificing replayability to that degree feels like a mistake.
For the same reasons, I absolutely loved "Chorus". Story is up to personal taste, but the space combat just felt SO satisfying.
@@RicochetForce I'm so glad I see more people recommending Chorus, I loved that game! GET IT, THOSE WHO HAVEN'T ALREDAY!
YES!!
Loved it so much - open world enough to explore, but linear enough to just push you forwards. Loved it loved it loved it. The combat was brilliant and you felt so good teleporting jinking around like you're in BSG. Was simply awesome.
@@JezzaL So true, and aside some dificulty spikes here and there, the game was pretty much flawless.
I hope we get mote dofighting arcade space sims in the near future.
The genre has way too many overblown titles, and these more bitesized experiences are excelent for those that crave gameplay that allows us to shoot and teleport around planets and star systems.
I didn't like the I win abilities that game had otherwise it's pretty good.
The first Rebel Galaxy is still one of my fav space game. Also X4 and Empyrion and Astroneer and Starbound.
First Rebel Galaxy is so enjoyable. Very unique. Simply fun.
I absolutely loved that game. I'd kill for a proper sequel but that studio went bust.
@@MrSteve0311 Didn't know that they went bust. Anything to do with their Outlaw prequel or their Epic Store only release for that game? Or was it some other company gobbling them up?
I know I didn't buy it because I do not buy on Epic, only GoG or Steam and most of my friends who like the original are the same. Someone gave me a key for Outlaw a while ago when it finally got released on Steam but have yet to try it, been too busy and Everspace 2 and Starfield have my attention atm.
@@MrSteve0311 I bought the second Rebel Galaxy on Epic game store at release but haven't played it yet.
I'm personally still waiting for Freelancer 2 ...
I remember falling in love with this game during my first play through. The feel of the ship and the weighty nature of the mission lore, everything about the game just felt so good. I hope this video gives this game the recognition it deserves.
What makes HotDS side from the quality of life additions is the sound scape. The muted external sounds and crackly radio bind you to the reality
yeah i feel that, its a shame you dont see more games putting work into those small details.
from time to time i go and rewatch that 'operation vengeful baron' video for the starfighter asmr aspect when i cant be bothered to redownload the game.
So glad someone is putting a spotlight on this game! I really wished they made a sequel or DLC, the small fleet command with simulation combined are perfectly balanced and done right.
It‘s an absolute masterpiece in so many ways. Design, artwork, sound, VR… And indeed, StarWars Squadrons is also a gem. There should be more games like these.
This game is an absolute gem. Its a pity the dev decided to end the project, it is so damn good
Playtested this game for the developer which was pretty much just one guy. He outsourced somethings like music and art/marketing. I remember originally you can muster up a big fleet and made the game too easy haha. thanks for featuring it, it's way underrated.
What's even better is you can play it in VR and it is just AMAZINGLY immersive.
It's my favorite vr game
You definitely need to try Freespace & Freespace 2, that way you can suffer with the rest of us that played them, were fully expecting a sequel, and have not gotten one for nearly 25 years now. The Wing Commander series & Freelance gets a lot of attention, as does the X-Wing series since it has the weight of the Star Wars license, but for me Freespace 2 was and is the best space game that there has been at this point.
I remember Freespace 2. I really enjoyed it. It's a shame they never made another one.
The amount of bass in the ion cannon piercing through a dying Deimos corvette. The slamming explosions of flak as you weave your bomber between the 1km-long ships duking it out with giant death beams and plasma cannon broadsides, desperate to launch your torpedoes… but that lock tone never seems to come… Star Citizen during Xenothreat fleet battle event is the only thing that has come close.
Even though I'm a die hard fan of X-Wing, Wing Commander and particularly Tie Fighter, I agree that Freespace 2 is probably the best space piloting game ever
@@Titere05 Wing Commander 2 was my first Sci-fi game experience, at like 6 years old watching my dad play it and then I got into my own campaign when I was a little older. Freespace 2 felt like the worthy spriritual successor to that, and Star Citizen the next generational step in the legacy of incredibly immersive space combat experiences. I've got mine set up with OpenTrack IR (I also modded head-tracking and HOSAS support into Freespace 2, recently) and it rocks. Elite Dangerous is pretty great in VR, too, especially when your sticks and pedals and body postioning reflect those in the cockpit, but kinda feels like a single-player sandbox devoid of a real soul.
good taste sir good taste, as i was scrolling dowwnw you nailed my 2 games as well haha
Game was great in VR. Joystick in my lap, leaning back in standard gaming chair with legs against desk or wall. Felt so good
Fun fact, I've actually been modding this game for a bit and have been trying to get others in on it. I managed to get custom missions working, and even found some unused mission types. I own a modding discord where we've even somewhat discussed a potential community-led expansion of the campaign.
I got this old game back when I started in VR (2019). Very good, simple to play and right to the point.
I think its less "space nerd design syndrome" and more that spacesims are in fact simulator games meaning they want to build a user experience that is deeper more complex and maybe isn't realistic perse but feels quite grounded in a well established universe. If anything id say the idealized final product of star citizen is the most simulator like of all modern space sims since its trying to give all professions as well as ship building a lot of depth that is grounded in consistent rules about how this fictional universe works.
This complexity however means designing an onboarding process is very difficult as the player has to be introduced to a lot of new information without it overwhelming while also counterbalancing that with the fact that much of the core space sim fan base enjoys the process of discovering how things work on their own.
Looking at the other kinds of games that easily fall into the "space sim" genre, it's definitely "space nerd design syndrome" going on with those other games LC hinted at. There are lots of games in the Space Sim genre that aren't "simulators".
As a space nerd, I would be very disappointed if a space sim was just a glorified shooter.
Duuuude, i've actually been replaying this recently as i was craving some good space dogfights in a fluid lagless environment and cool art and ambience, and this game came back to mind. it even allows you to play it fully as a pausable RTS which is supercool honestly. and sound design is on point, so immersive and satisfying
I'm so glad to see HotDS being continually rediscovered and enjoyed. The game itself is fun, but the style and music move it up to an experience.
Nice to see HOTDS be rediscovered, it was really ahead of its time
This is the game that got me in to VR back in the day, I wish it had more, not that it's lacking; but that it's so fun and leaves me wanting more. 10/10 game
I'm getting this. I like games that deliver on fun & gameplay more than half-baked complexities hiding under a candy skin. The dev's reputation is also top notch!
The very best is still STARLANCER. Can't beat that. Look it up. Old but gold.
All I ever wanted from Squadron 42 is for it to be a next gen version of Starlancer. Hopefully, it won't disappoint...
For me that place belongs to freelancer
Meh, I played it when it released, it wasn't as good as Freelancer or Freespace.
Ah, Starlancer, Freespace 2 and Freelancer. Good games. Though I wish Freelancer was just a little more fleshed out in the ship choice department during the campaign.
X 3 Terran Conflict was/is my jam, focusing more on exploration, basebuilding and actually, management. Clunky, crazy steep learning curve, and old, but I haven’t found any game like it, other than the sequels.
Glad someone found this game. Its sooo much fun in VR
Oh, that's definetely put it on my wishlist. I got a Quest 3 for christmas and I love space games.
I've played a handful of space games, but strangely strike suit zero is my favorite. It's short and simple, but it's easy to get into and never gets boring
Dude, you gotta try Freespace 2 and mods for it.
if you can get it running go check out Starlancer the prequel to Freelancer
One thing I don't like in certain space combat sims is energy management for weapons, shields and engines. That should be an automatic process which frees the pilot to concentrate on the actual flying and combat. And turret guns should be able to target and attack incoming threats such as missiles and enemy craft automatically but could be also manually controlled.
My favorite 3 space sims - Hard War (A Must Play if you haven't and most folks never even heard of it), Tachyon The Fringe and Freespace 1 and 2 - You can still find all of these for free online and they hold up as well as any game today.
Another great thing about this game is that the lore for it, while sparse, is still incredibly gripping. Your character and its (whatever you used to be, I feel like you aren't human anymore) mission culminates in one of the most incredible yet horrifying final missions I've seen in a game.
I'm still waiting for any space game to even come close to the first "I-WAR" (1997) which was absolutely freaking amazing. Somehow they managed to make it more sim than sims but still more arcade than most arcade titles. To my knowledge also the only game that had physics with inertia at least somewhat realistic
How in the hell have I not heard of this?! I thought I had played every space game out there. This looks incredible!
HotDS was one of my first VR game purchases. I love just sitting on the main menu and watching the battle play out in VR. Truly a great game!
Great review , Descent Freespace and Freesoace 2 from Volition had that WW2 sky combat , camera shakes , intense dialog , great bosses. The feel you get in Star Wars movies.
I’m downloading this one !
HotDS is a fantastic game that has graced my vr library for years. I'm glad more people are getting introduced to it!
The space combat and atmosphere here give me No Man's Sky vibes, but NMS from the pre-release trailers. I dig it!
When you play House of the Dying Sun on VR, your soul ascends to a whole new plane. It's amazing.
Man this looks great! You can clearly tell the creator is a fan of freespace which is the GOAT of space sims imo.
I'm a DCS player (hardcore modern flight simulator) and let me tell you: Star citizen did a big mistake into putting realistic distances and "lore friendly" realistic travels (10-15 minutes quantum travel to move to another planet). Don't get me wrong, it's cool as heck to see. The problem is, while physics are satisfying and very fun, the avionics and systems are very simplified. Obviously, otherwise less players would want to play due to having to study for weeks a single aircraft like in DCS. It is fully understandable.
However, that realistic avionics of DCS give you *something* to do while doing your 30-40 minutes travel to objective. Program weapons, set up alternatives, activate and align combat systems, discuss strategies and communications with another wingman player, monitor possible threats around you. In SC, there's none of that. It's just traveling in a straight line for minutes with barely anything to do, as it's simplified. In terms of boredom due to lack of things to do, it's much worse than a hardcore simulator with realistic traveling distances.
Elite dangerous had the same issue. What's the fun into staring into the void for 20 minutes to reach a star too far away to reach in decent time, but too close to perform a hyperjump? Eurotruck simulator at least lets you drive. But in space games? You just move in a straight line.
Honestly the best approach to me remains X4, with portals bringing you immediately into the point of interest of a solar system, rather than making you travel endlessly with nothing else to do.
I'm glad this game considers the fact players don't exactly want to deal with the emptyness of space too much.
Im glad you highlighted this game. Incredibly moody and well worth the praise it gets.
This game was what I was dreaming about playing back when I was playing Homeworld as a kid. It's one of my all time favorites. For about a year I used to try to top the leaderboard on the challange mode every day.
House of the Dying Sun gave me some great memories. The developer actually knows how to make games fun.
Tarr Chronicles was one of those space games I played that was a gem, and when I mention it no one seems to ever have heard of it. I loved it. What you describe in House of the Dying Sun is how similarly I felt playing Tarr Chronicles.
found this game on twitter a few weeks ago and instantly bought it bc of the vr support, it's super fun
Loved this game. I played it back in 2017 I believe, and I too was left wanting more. I played it without VR, and never felt the experience suffered for it. Though as someone with a lot of VR experience now, I can absolutely say that playing this in VR is definitely going to be a superior experience.
the sound design is what is amazing in this game. I wish more would follow this where only the cockput vibrations sounds is what you hear and radio chatter.
Chorus was pretty outstanding if you aren't familiar with it. The original Freelancer is still unbeaten for best space sim. The amount you can do in that game, the various ships and weapons and the combat hasn't been topped.
Freelancer has always been my goat. I wish there was a new one.
I wish i could play Freelancer again but after moving with a moving company i cant find the CD (or was it already DvD?) and there is no legal way to get it digital -.-
@@Spikebhaal It's officially abandoned so can just grab it from the abandon ware repository, just search for freelancer game on google and it should be in top search results
First time I heard of this game. Marketing matters! Thanks for bringing this to my attention, I'll check it out.
a true one man project, the endless challenge mode is really a lot of fun
*Starlink: Battle For Atlas is the best outer space game I've ever played and its not even close* 👌
I come back to House of the Dying Sun every two years because nothing else scratches the itch.
This game is fantastic. VR is incredibly immersive.
House of the Dying Sun is the Virtual Reality game I had the most fun with. Just really fun, and perfectly timed for the comfort of the VR headset.
Honestly what I want in a space game is a sequel to Rebel Galaxy, not the dumpster fire that was Rebel Galaxy: Outlaw. Rebel Galaxy is my favorite space game that I've played to date because it's unique in the genre with it being limited to a 2D plane with broadsides, but in space. The ships were cool, the combat got crazy at times, the soundtrack was amazing, and the freedom to go off and do whatever was really fun. You could get in some truly epic battles in that game and nothing else has come close to scratching that itch. Every other game is the kind of game where it's an economy simulator and you build trading empires and fleets and I'm not interested in that. I just want to fly around and blow stuff up in my ship but I don't want a dogfighter either, and I hate strategy games which is what a lot of the other bulk of space games ends up being.
It's been a while since I played, but I remember the lore being pretty interesting. You're not some underdog rebel fighting the evil empire, but instead some elite hunter-killer brought out of stasis to hunt down traitors to your empire and destroy them.
This was one of the best games I played early on when I got my HP WMR in 2017 - nice to see it getting some recognition.
Took you long enough. :P Been singing this games praises for years. House of the Dying Sun is just such a tight experience. its what it needs to be and nothing more. the minimal look also means it runs great in vr too,
House of the dying sun is seriously a gem. I want more
Props to Mike for listening to every bit of input he got. Probably a bit too much, since the scope of the game was drastically reduced.
This is the game that sold VR to me. You can play it without of course, but it surprisingly a great VR experience.
Its a game that harkens back to the simpler times of games like Darklight Conflight, Freespace , XWing, TieFighter, or Free/Starlancer, Wing Commander. Back when the goal was making the game fun and somewhat cinematic. Somewhere along the way we started to priority making everything "realistic" instead of space opera and well... the "fun space shooter" genre kinda dried up.
One thing that I REALLY miss from Wing Commander is that the campaign was dynamic. You could LOSE a mission and it would have consequences. Today's games are "win or retry again", whereas with WC - if you failed certain missions you wouldn't have access to things, planets would be lost and you could find yourself losing the campaign all the way to trying to defend Earth in some last stand instead of crushing the enemy. Some missions were so pivotal that if you didn't destroy enemy carriers you might have just doomed humanity. That was fun... that was GOOD... that doesn't really exist anymore.
HOTDS is probably the best modern space game. While I did not expect any game in the genre to set the world on fire in terms of sales and attention, I am surprised that it just slipped under the radar entirely.
I remember when this game was still called Enemy Starfighter. Was following news of this game until release. Man I loved it. Wish it was longer.
Cosmoteer is another fun little game you could check for inspiration, especially for crew stuff on ships.
Completely agree with that intro statement, the complexity has always thrown me off trying MOST space games because I have no idea what is being talked about and I'd have to go on a hunt to gather information. This looks like a gem and I'm definitely going to look into it.
Guess each to their own, im hte opposite, if a game is dumbed down (bare minimum complexity or lack there off) then i get bored within minutes.
What I mean is I don't mind complexity, i even enjoy it, it's just that games don't do well to introduce those systems in a decent fashion, or giving you an overload of information.
Good to know about this. Everspace 2 by Rockfish is also a very good space/fighter game from a small studio. Not a space sim, but fun.
The dog fighting in this reminded me of my old Wing Commander days. Why isn't anyone trying to bring that back to life?
This was the first game I ever purchased on steam. The music, sound design and graphics are SUPERB. Completely fulfilled my BSG VIPER pilot fantasy. 👍👍👍👍 if I had enough cash for a VR headset and a rig to run it...my head would explode.
Great video and also thank you to all commenting here mentioning hardly known space-dogfighting games. The video unblocked the core memory in me (well, actually I used to think about the game recently, but had no idea how to search for it): I played through a nice little game from 2004 that here in Poland goes under title "Starmageddon 2", but now I just learnt that it even is on Steam, but under title "Project Freedom". It was my very first encounter to the genre and I loved this game, altough I only played it in its entirety once, because it is stream-lined campaign game. Wanted to go back to it after years, but I have it only on CD back from the times when Steam wasnt around and couldn't really find it under the name I have known it. I cant really say that it is a great game, as I only have an early teenage sugarcoated memory of it, but it certainly was working well for what it was. You can check it out, it's basically pennies on Steam.
Glad to see HoTDS finally get its deserved recognition. One of the few games I've 100%'ed.
I like the space nerd kinda games, I love complexity because it makes it so rewarding once you master it and it keeps you engaged. But I also absolutely love games that do the exact opposite and let you just relax and have some fun and this game does that so well. I rly wanna come back to it once I get a VR set cause it's an absolute blast.
Yeah, I find the title of this video really funny given what he says. House of the Dying Sun is a great game but it 100% is not a space sim, and based on what he says I'd say LevelCapGaming just doesn't like space sims at all. That's totally fine, just wish he hadn't mis-titled the video!
@@shivorathIt is 100% a space sim.
@@Razumen In what way? I don’t see anything about it that really tries to be a simulator in any way. A fun arcade game sure, but not a simulator.
flight sims are the best VR experiences in my opinion they feel very natural, VTOL VR is another amazing VR game to try also Star Wars: Squadrons is a lot of fun in VR.
All i warnt ist a Remaster of Freelancer 😢
Yeah, I loved that game! Simple but engaging. Did you play the mods that extend the universe extensively? Me and my friends made some epic trips to the vastness of space. Good times!
I remember the first time I booted up freelancer I didn't step away from it for like 7 or 8 hours straight, I don't think I've ever dived into a game that hard ever since
@@battleoid2411 yeah, I know! This game with all its shortcomings had a special kind of magic. It kept me engaged for possibly hundreds of hours.
you have to build it.
Finally someone said it !
What I really love about house of the dying sun is the story. There isn't much but the fact that your H.U.D displays in red signifying your the bad guy in this story is great.
Completely agree on all fronts. I still play this (many years after first purchasing it) in VR with my Thrustmaster T-Flight. It is so much fun, just like X-wing, Wing Commander (combat feel, story not so much since it is very light), and Freespace; used to feel. After playing through the campaign mode on increasing levels of difficulty (which surprisingly do not feel monotonous at all), I then switched to playing challenge mode where you fight to survive through as many waves of varying fleets as you can and then are ranked on a scoreboard against other players. The combat is far better than Star Wars Squadrons too.
This game provides precisely what Star Citizen is increasingly moving away from. Above all else, space combat should be intuitive and fun. The last time I tried Star Citizen, I got in my ship and started flying only to be alerted that my character needed food/water, so I spent an hour trying to find a planet/station that had food/water that I could actually purchase, then I died while trying to eat/drink as my character kept dropping the food which then clipped through the floor, how is this fun? I want to fly and have space battles, not figure out how to do space taxes and other monotonous tasks. /rant
This game is incredible space combat fun still in 2024! Buy this game and play in VR if you have it.
If you are Mike Tipul, thank you, I will buy anything you make. Cheers.
Everspace is the most fun space sim I've ever played. I wish all space sims had the same control system that it uses!
Everspace is good don't get me wrong, but house of the dying sun has a much better feel. The ships are just weighty enough without being annoying, and my God, the sounds combined with the hud makes it one of the most satisfying space games I've ever played. The hum of the targetting reticle is just *chefs kiss*
Really great with a flight stick and VR. The action is hot and the sound especially is SO GOOD.
Like you said, it's so refreshing to run short intense missions instead of long plodding 2 hours play sessions just to do ANYTHING. I'm looking at you Elite Dangerous. And Star Citizen. And No Man's Sky.
Actually, Elite Dangerous Arena was pretty dang good in VR. You just jump right in and blast. I'm not sure if that's even playable anymore.
It's funny, people dismissed House of the DS when it came out due to it being "short". But now that's exactly why it's valued. At least by OP, and myself.
periodically revisit this game, I completely love the gameplay and ship looks. Was always sad that it never took off as it really deserved to
Got this way back in the day.... as a VR title, loved it. Still good to this day.
Does anyone remember a game about 10 years ago called Jumpgate and the sequel that was in development called Jumpgate Evolution? For some reason it got canned in dev but the demo gameplay looked amazing. This game reminds me of that.
Freelancer was nice space arcade with relatively good story and space combat which was surprisingly complex (ships kept their inertia for example if you pressed Z which allowed you to fly backwards and shoot or turn super quickly) if you wanted to or a total all gas no brakes arcade airplanes in space if you didn't want to bother with it. Of course if you took the time to master flying with Newtonian physics you became much more efficient in fighting but it wasn't required in single player. In multiplayer though.... jousting aces would smoke you without you even knowing what happened because tight turning = more shots per second :)
I played the game mostly in the strategic mode, I'm not really a big fan of dog fighting in space, but I loved the game hands down. I was rather disappointed by the short campaign, but the story was actually really good, and the short campaign even made sense in the context.
I'd love to see more games like this one, especially with that capacity to switch between playing strategic or in first person. Also having both support for VR and support for normal players is amazing.
I also think this game does one thing right, that most games just don't nowadays. Simplicity. There is always this strive to make things unique, and I get that. However, sometimes they just take it to far, and we end up with overly complex mess. Just look at helldivers 2, it's success is in it's simplicity, as much as it is in its focus to create an enjoyable game play loop.
This looks fun! Also I'm now really excited about your game: I was a huge fan of Escape Velocity (and it's sequels), and would love to play a modernized version of it. :)
I want a space game that plays like the expanse, where most of the fighting isn't actually fighting but maneuvering for Hours/Days/Weeks before the actual encounter- of course you'd speed up time to skip through most of that stuff, then slow down for adjustments and changes to the battle plan. Then the actual engagements would only usually last for a Minute or two. More time would be spent leading up to the fight.
The Expanse was originally suppose to be a Game. Don't remember how it ended up as a Book Series and TV show, there's a Story there though.
This is one of my favorite space games of all time.
I love this game so much, I desperately want more of it
This game with a hotas stick and VR was really something special
One of the better space games I've played in recent years is Avorion. It's got a build system that lets you make practically anything and kind of turns into a RTS late game because you can have multiple ships/types and control them via the map. It's got a surprising amount of depth!
'Elite'. Played the original in the early 80's and now the modern iteration. The hours lost into the small hours as a teen until my father would barge through the bedroom door and tell me to switch it off because I had school in a couple of hours. 😏
This game is really good in VR. Best game shooter anywhere. I'm going to revisit it once I get my Beyond VR headset.
So I would recommend looking into Delta V: Rings of Saturn and Nebulous: Fleet Command as both offer really good perspectives in the space sim genre. The former will offer a grounded look at space mining and the latter will give an amazing perspective to combat for space and the complexity that is there. I know you make a valid point about the overly complex but I still think these games are worth look at. I think someone below mentioned SpaceBourne 1 & 2 which is also worth checking out. Also you talked about the VR space not having much back then, and I agree, but now we have things like Battle Group VR which is a unique look at fleet mechanics and controls in VR setting. Last but not least there is always Starsector.
Please also try the Battlestar Galactica mod for Freespace 2 “Diaspora: Shattered Armistice”.
It’s some of the most fun and immersive space combat I’ve tried to date. Also incredibly well made.
I’m also very curious what some of those space games are that’re “too complex”. I find it very hard to find space games in general, let alone complex and realistic ones.
This is just such an elegant game, I wish someone picked it up for further development.
freespace 2 was my favorite, now i play elite dangerous.
What a great set of games was the Freespace Saga. My favorites with Wing Commander! (I know that I am giving away my age 😁😁😁😁)
Colony Wars and House of the Dying Sun are my favorite starfighter games
just commenting to say I played this game when it came out in VR so I'm happy to see someone talk about it. that is all.
To this day I have not played a space combat sim with mechanics and atmosphere quite as satisfying as Freespace1/2, the GOAT for me. But this seems pretty good, will check it out!