The universe is ours, and also yours — Star Control: Origins E3 2018 hands-on

The universe is big. There are millions upon millions of possible life forms out there. Stardock has created a new way to experience the possibilities of space by bringing back an old experience with a twist. During E3 I was given the opportunity to check out Star Control: Origins, a reboot of the early 90’s strategy game series

During the demo, I was shown a glimpse at how the main game begins. I was a member of Star Control, and we had just begun our journey to explore the stars when an alien crash lands on a nearby planet and needs our help. From here, I could fly around our solar system and land on planets or moons to collect resources, or search for this alien’s missing ship parts.

After the “brief” mission in our solar system, the rest of the universe opens up. The whole thing feels alive, with aliens on the other side of the universe moving around while you’re doing your own thing alone. Each alien race has their own quirks along with with surprisingly decent voice-acting and plenty of humor.

Star Control: Origins has a story, but players don’t have to follow that. Even after the Scryve have been dealt with, the universe is still waiting for the player to explore each corner. The longevity of the game, however, is the crafting aspect, which can expand the universe to near-infinite possibilities.

The crafting system in the game is incredibly in-depth. Players can design their own ships, races, planets, or even scenarios piece by piece. This opens up the game to almost endless possibilities. Each ship can be customized with a multitude of weapons ranging from weak lasers to massive black hole generators.

These ships came into play in fleet battles. When an alien wanted to take me on, I could fight them in a one on one battle, choosing someone from my fleet, or using my flagship, which is powerful, but risky, because losing that ship means game over.

Stardock has also separated fleet battles into their own mode. Before the battle begins, both players have the opportunity to choose their fleet. Each fleet has its own set of points with stronger ships taking more points and weakers ships costing less. This means you can either have a small fleet with a few strong ships, or a fleet with many weaker ships. The player can balance their ships to their own strategic playstyle.

The actual fighting is interesting. Using controls similar to the old arcade game “Asteroids,” players fly around the map, avoiding space junk and firing at their opponent. Each battle is a 1v1 showdown, and each ship has their own arsenal of attacks. Most of the ships have a basic shot, but some will shoot seeking missiles or even mini black holes. Most ships have secondary attacks as well. One of the smaller, weaker ships can use this attack as a self-destruct, taking out any ship caught in the explosion.

Star Control: Origins has an incredibly high amount of potential. The “full” game will be released on September 20th, 2018, but crafting possibilities will make it endless. We’re still not done with our coverage of E3, so stay tuned to Gaming Trend for more information on these titles and more.

See below for our list of partners and affiliates: