Endless Sky: A free, simple, 2D space trading and combat game that is surprisingly entertaining!
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I wouldn’t be surprised if I were the last here to discover this, but I’d like to share it anyway:
It’s not a replacement for Freelancer, but this game captures the same spirit as the aspect of Freelancer that I like most — which is mapping systems, trading cargo, and learning more about the universe I’m traveling through.
There are also occasional quest-type missions and of course fighting (and this can be quite relentless in the sense that there is no level matching with the NPCs).
Btw control-wise it is more like a telephone or browser game, maybe even a mid 80s home computer type of game. It doesn’t primarily feel like a retro experience though.
Nice feature: you can have more than one (I don’t think there’s even a limit to this) ship! I don’t think the additional ships do much (if any) fighting, but they do carry passengers and/or cargo.
The game is also open source and quite easy to moderate! That is also the case for the save file.
I have gone through more complex, more expansive games that were way less entertaining than this sweet little game.
