I tried the game House of the Dying Sun last night. It's a rapid fire space shooter from 2016 with stylized low poly graphics that you can play in VR. Here's some thoughts on it.
First of all, this game finally hits a niche that I've been searching for. Back in the late 90s and early 00s, the Wing Commander and Xwing/Tie Fighter series had some amazing gameplay. Other franchises attempted to replicate it, but for whatever reason, they never felt quite right to me. This game *does*
After playing this game, I realized that what was missing was the tactical aspect of those games. Back in Tie Fighter, you would often have to struggle to figure out the right order of operations you had to do to beat the mission. "Attack the space fighters first, THEN do a series of bombing runs on the capital ship THEN scan the cargo container"
You also had to carefully manage your wingmen to do the same kinds of things. Most games dropped those complexities in favor of more fast paced action
The fast paced action with clear goals was certainly enjoyable, but it often felt more like a simple shooter. You just flew around, locked the enemy in your sights, and fired. It lost its magic. That's why the Star Wars Squadrons game didn't feel like much to me. It *looks* right and all, but the gameplay didn't feel nearly as interesting and tactical as I was hoping for.
This game finally rekindles that, while actually making the missions even *faster* than most of these other games.
In House of the Dying sun, you control your whole squadron, with tactical views ala Homeworld. You can give orders, instructions, etc. But then you drop into your ship and start fighting. Each mission lasts only a few minutes before the enemy super-ship flies in and overpowers you, so you have to play it almost like a speed run. Find precisely the right order of actions to complete the mission and get out before the time runs out.
It manages to have *both* the interesting tactical juicyness I missed from Tie Fighter, while also having very tight and fast missions that you don't spend dozens of minutes on. An incredible feat.
The space combat itself feels great. It's nothing special, but it works perfectly fine for this game.
The graphics are whatever. Very simplistic, like Homeworld or something. But I actually like the stylization.
The storyline is... well, it leans into that "Evil Empire" thing a bit and uhhhhh
uspol
In the late 90s it was fun to pretend to be the evil empire. To pretend to be a ruthless space fascist crushing the populace beneath your iron fist. It was fun because it was a comic book. It wasn't real.
Today, that feels *quite* a bit different. Maybe if I had played this in a world where Trump never came to power in the USA, I would have felt differently, but sitting here now, 8 years after his election... pretending to be a space fascist just doesn't make me feel good anymore.
uspol
@pandora_parrot - I had a moment like this with Monopoly of all things. My mother and I were massive monopoly players. She still plays a video game version every night. But at one point, there's came a lightbulb realization of "Oh, wait, the cutthorat rent collection and bankruptcies...THAT'S ACTUALLY HAPPENING." And it really hit home after it started happening to me.
Can't play the game anymore - it's too dark for a family home fun game.
