Space Trader: Merchant Marine

Make no mistake. Space Trader is shovelware. It came out at a time when many small companies made shooters that were mediocre at best and near unplayable at worse. But this one had ideas, there was clearly some love put into it. This is a more interesting and far less frustrating game than something like Chaser or Iron Storm. It looks a lot nicer than most of it's kind. The gameplay movement is surprisingly tight and mobile. While most shovelware titles where slow and plodding, this has a little bit of Quake 3 in it's DNA. The weapons aren't impressive, but they work. And the music is fine. Despite the fact objectively it's not great (Really, I'm rounding up with the four stars. It's a three at most) I'm glad it's available here. The idea is you are a young and up-and-coming Space trader. You collect things to trade in hubs (Which are literally just lying around.) Then you trade them to make money. What little shooting there is is often simple bountyhunting missions, which are totally optional. Then you go somewhere else and trade. It's very easy to get the hang of. The writing has a lot of charm. It's not clever, but it has good sense of humour. It's probably the strongest part of the game. The is no game quite like it because of it. What will make most people put this game down it is constant loop that never changes. If you don't like farming or grinding. Don't even bother, it'll just annoy you. But as for me. I have good memories of just chilling with this game. Taking in the atmosphere and having fun running around, maybe with a podcast on in the background. Need a time killer with bobby first person combat and a relaxing space vibe? Well. Here you go!

This is a weird little game; I played it long ago, elsewhere. It's a very bare-bones space trading sim, and a very, very easy one at that (eg there's no cost penalty for buyback/sellback of goods, and there're random goods lying around the starports you explore). It is, weirdly, entirely on foot (no space sim stuff at all- you essentially teleport between ports), and the game features regular FPS levels, where you're basically clearing out a deathmatch arena filled with simple bots. It feels like- and I think it may have been- a student project, originally. It's like a proof of concept for a space trading game. Everything feels kind of half-implemented, and there's a goofy sense of self-deprecating humor throughout. The game doesn't really end so much as it stops going. It's weird that it is still being sold for money.

There is key binding, but no reset of this.

Are you serious GOG? This game is at the very bottom of the games you could bring in. But now, you have "curation". You are more and more of a joke.