You know. Many sites today are doing a SOPA blackout.
Considering that you already stated your opposition would it of been that hard to delay this new until tomorrow and posted a anti-SOPA message today?

Not the best space game but certainly not the worst either fun in small amounts although voice acting annoys me.

I'm usually all over the gem promos, but not today. May have something to do with the fantastic sales to be had a comixology during the last week...

i fail to see what a Polish digital games distributor shutting down business for a day could possibly accomplish against proposed US-American legislation...?

GoG has already stated its position towards SOPA. further action against what is essentially an American issue would be uncalled for, IMO. yes, i know SOPA would have global consequences. but whether or not it passes is an entirely American decision. we (various European nations) would not appreciate American involvement in our domestic political decisions, would we?

OK, this may not be the best game ever, but c'mon, it IS worth $4. I, personally, have played this game through, and I've enjoyed it; its worst aspect is probably its genericness and that systems are mostly cardboard copies of eacht other. Other than that, I think it's a good game.

@GOG How did you manage to re-name poor Kayron to Keyton? And will you please fix this? :-)

Depends. The game does have some sound core mechanics, flying the space ship is fun, in an arcadey kind of way. But it also does not offer a whole lot of variety until late game, so the early-mid game can get very repetitive. Upgrading the ship is fun early on, but every upgrade is handled the very same way: You fly to a couple of sectors to pick up a specific item, kill the enemies that will spawn once you enter the sector, and then you pick it up. The game has randomly generated quests, that will give you some money, but you never really have a good reason to do them, you will get enough money by just following the main storyline, and none of the randomly generated quests are fun. The main story is not all that good, but some of the later space battles are interesting. Had the game been shorter, I think it would have been better, but as it stands, it is an alright game, but nothing to write home about.

DrIstvaan and AFnord have the right of it - it's not the greatest ever, but it has good, fun space combat, looks very nice, and controls well. It uses reticle-following steering, so mouse+keyboard works quite well (and even has some advantages over joystick). Definitely worth $4 for fans of space sims.

The small GOG screenshots don't show it very well, so here's a link to two DS1 screenshot contests with some gorgeous shots:
http://www.gog.com/en/forum/general/contests_for_the_weekend_promo/post79
http://www.gog.com/en/forum/general/darkstar_one_spaceship_show_off_contest/post4

You can not do wrong to buy this game for such a low price, there is some fun in this game.

When it was released originally it did not live up the expectations bcs it not really gives the Space-Sim fan what they want and is not shooter enough to catch the FPS/Action-Gamer.
Ascaron did not make much money with it and especially the first version had also many technical glitches and needed some Patches.
Eventually the game becomes a bit boring from some repetitions and a few weak story moments.
But it will entertain you probably much longer than a TV-Movie or an 8h-playtime-shooter.

Grab it if you like Spacegames!

I got this recently and was surprised to find it's a great take on "Elite". It blends a sandbox and mission campaign nicely. The graphics are absolutely beautiful with swirling nebulae, spinning asteroids, corona flare, detailed animations and sweet looking ships. Missions are the usual assortment of escort runs, dogfights, courier, mining, dogfights, trading, dogfights, rescue and dogfights.. did i mention dogfights? there's a lot of combat. So it's definitely a Good Old Game.