a good space western rpg; im talking firefly with the space combat of starpoint gemini warlords or x:rebirth (not the skunk, but the capital ships with good ai: they had a good sense of scale!) and a simple but well made out of ship exploration and 3rd person combat system a la gears of war or mass effect.
and of course it's gotta have slammin' music, like what rebel galaxy has.
the plot seems like a simple revenge plot but quickly turns into space game of thrones/house of cards cuz that low-down varmint you were hunting has important friends and was actually working for the bosshoss (word up) and you can't just off the milksop with a showdown.
its got a base building mechanic, and a minor empire building one; but you're building an underground criminal empire. (or a bounty hunters guild for you white hats)
and it wont water down all that darkness of the underground space crime: we're dealing with inter-species relationships, discrimination, rape, slave trading (you can buy one, up to you whether you treat'em right, abuse em or free them), drugs and all that other shit.
also, you don't start as the premeditated hero of destiny, you're a speck in the cosmos and you earn being badass
double whammy hardmode: it's also......
set in w40k and you're a new rogue trader on the fringes of the imperium where they all speak "southern" and talk about militias and calling eldar and tau "boys".
"fetch me a mint julep there, boy" you
"fuck you monkegh i lived millennia bef-" eldar slave
"a millennia and you don't even know how to make a decent mint julep, them years were wasted."