

Like in Wing Commander, I understand the player has a role in shaping the outcome of that conflict, with reconciliation being at least one of the options.
#Endless sky ships free#
There's no major galactic conflict like the Terran-Kilrathi War going on, but the biggest - and so far, only - story campaign seems to be a civil war between the Free Worlds and Human Republic, similar to the Border Worlds crisis of WC4. And of course, there's the ubiquitous threat of pirate attack. The Human Republic is analogous to the Terran Confederation and the self-declared Free Worlds are analogous to the Border Worlds, but there is also the self-governing Syndicate corporation that runs a number of systems in association with but separate from the Republic. I believe there are more alien territories (multiple races/factions) with at least some locked behind story walls (I haven't ventured out that far yet). There are various factions - to begin with the player is pretty much limited to mostly human space although there is limited alien contact at the boundaries of human territory. It might be pretty hard to organise and run a fleet in 3D, although I suppose escort ships could just be programmed as allies that fly with you (with formations like in Freelancer). One aspect where 2D simplicity helps is with the player being able to capture and fly a whole fleet of ships rather than just an individual craft as with Privateers 1 and 2. While I think this kind of thing might be fantastic to play in 3D, the simplicity of the mechanics also means it's relatively easy to develop and expand (I believe it started as a one-man project). The immediate and most obvious difference is that it's 'only' a 2D game.
#Endless sky ships series#
It bills itself as inspired by the Escape Velocity series (which I'm not familiar with), but as with any space exploration and trading game it's easy to draw comparisons with our beloved Privateer.


It's available directly from GitHub, Steam, and also commonly included in Linux distributions (albeit perhaps not kept up-to-date). A search through the forums didn't seem to show anyone else has mentioned it before, so I'm making a note of it here. It's a cross-platform FOSS game that apparently has been around since late 2015, so I wish I had found it sooner. Over time, the game universe will expand as contributors add new missions, story lines, alien species, places to explore, sound effects, and artwork.Over the last week and a half I've been having a lot of fun playing Endless Sky. A plugin system allows anyone with a text editor and a paint program to create new ships, weapons, or missions, and the galaxy editor can be used to add new star systems and planets.Įndless Sky is free, open source, and cross platform (Windows, Mac, and Linux). You can choose between more than fifty ships and several hundred ship upgrades. The galaxy contains hundreds of star systems and planets, and several alien species with their own unique technologies. The main story line takes about 8-16 hours to play through. Take sides in a civil war, or ignore the story line and just enjoy exploring the galaxy and blasting pirates. Earn money by carrying passengers or cargo, escorting convoys, bounty hunting, or plundering and capturing enemy ships. Work your way up from a relatively wimpy shuttle, cargo ship, or fighter, to a highly upgraded and customized flagship or to a massive fleet of warships or freighters. Endless Sky is a 2D space exploration, trading and combat game inspired by the classic Escape Velocity series.
