Each station is essentially a gussied-up 3D interface that you use to access the various functions of a station. These are where you'll base most of your operations, regardless of whether you decide to dedicate yourself to business and commerce, or the more mercenary aspects of interstellar trade. Each system is its own mini space zone, replete with various points of interest - most notably, research and trade stations. The game starts out pretty small, giving you access to only a handful of systems, but it quickly opens up as you start to acquire 'gate keys' that allow you to travel via hyperspace to far-away worlds. Dozens of individual items will be available. The various systems for tweaking at your disposal include various weapon types, from bow weapons to turrets to ordinance, to the ship's shields, computers, and propulsion systems. Ditto if you want something zippier, with more offensive capabilities, or anything in between. If you want a hulking tank of a ship, you can tweak it for those purposes. You're ultimately able to decide what sort of ship Darkstar One evolves into. The game's RPG-style mechanics focus on the ship you can purchase upgrades for its myriad systems, or find ancient artifacts from the legendary culture that designed the ship. You play the role of Kayron, a talented yet wet-behind-the-ears space pilot who's just been bequeathed the inheritance of his life - the undisputed star of the game, Darkstar One, a super-powerful space fighter decked out with ancient alien technology.

From our time playtesting a preview build, the game sits squarely on the Wing Commander side of the spectrum: The core gameplay is action-oriented, though it bears no shortage of the abovementioned elements. Not surprisingly, the Ascaron-developed Darkstar One incorporates many of these elements, to good effect. A few of these things: the intricate modeling of interstellar politics and economies expansive star charts, seemingly designed to cause you to lose large chunks of time exploring them and an open-ended gameplay structure that encourages you to play on either side of the law. There are a few things that we've come to expect from 'space games,' regardless of whether they rest on the Wing Commander or Master of Orion side of the spectrum.

Darkstar one pc gameplay