I stumbled upon a game called Helium Rain on GOG. (It seems to also be available on Steam)
Judging by some of the reviews it might had had a price of 20$ or something at some point but it seems to be free now.
I'm still on the tutorial, which does feel like it's dragging way too long and the whole UI is somewhat messy, probably intended for consoles.
You start with a small spaceship which you pilot directly (1st person, cockpit view) hauling people and cargo between space stations orbiting some planet in some system. It's a bit similar to Endless Sky's gameplay loop, but in 3D and it focuses more on how you fly.
The controls are a bit iffy at first, but once you get used to them, the ship will prove to be surprisingly agile. Some people have expressed some grief about the whole docking process but I found it to be quite easy once I understood what I had to do*. The tutorial does make a poor job explaining it though.
Eventually it seems like you can grow into having multiple ships/fleets, perhaps some space stations, which you can then use to establish trade routes/supply lines etc. You "command" the other fleets indirectly from some map menu, giving generic orders for what to do (buy x amount of Y etc). There's supposed to also be combat in the game but I haven't reached that part yet.
The visuals are quite beautiful (even with my low end pc), the music is quite nice and I find flying a ship from station to station to be extremely relaxing. I'm not sure how far I'll go with it, it seems like it can become too much like a clunky spreadsheet simulator if you grow too big but for the price of "free" I'd recommend it even if for just the space trucker part.
*Docking procedure:
Once you are close enough, two circles (with vertical lines) will pop up above the dock's port. Think of them like the two bases a cylinder
You just have to point at them and align their vertical lines ( frontal circle downwards, back circle upwards). If the two vertical lines form a single one, you are doing very well but it's not necessary to keep them as such. There is some allowance to deviate from that.
Finally you have to match your speed so you don't crush on the station.
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Topic: Free Game List (Read 643246 times)