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[bender]

I loved the challenge of the ground attack point missions, but I agree they're generally the toughest missions in the game. I found certain combinations of loudouts made all the difference on those maps. For example, one of the Russian fighters has a Gauss Cannon optional secondary fire that can be unlocked and equipped, it's an unguided single shot but it will sink just about any naval ship in the game with one or two shots and works wonders for any ground attack mission at sea.

I think it's more about those missions being timed. They are a major wall for me. I passed the first one and then gave up after the second. The mission where you needed to stay underneath a certain elevation also annoyed me for some reason but it has been so long that I don't remember why.

 

[TheDreadBaron]

House of the Dying Sun was very good, (I think some ex-Bungie people worked on this).



Starfighter Arduxim is also a basic/nice Wing Commander throw back, it doesn't require a VR headset on Steam.



Warhammer 40,000: Dakka Squadron, not best game ever but fun enough for W40K nonsense.


There is a lot of indie stuff on steam but of average quality.

Can't believe I forgot about house of the dying sun, great game! Love the unlock progression and the frantic mission based structure, especially love how you warp into the hot zone and it's immediately go time. There's a layer of strategy in some missions too, very unique little space game.

 

[Spukc]

Star citizen

 

[Drizzlehell]

There's so few of them these days that you could probably count all of them on both hands. Star Wars Squadrons and Ace Combat 7 are probably the only ones that balance out arcade gameplay with triple-A presentation, and the rest of them are either low-budget jank, or hardcore simulations with impenetrable gameplay for turbo-nerds.

And I do enjoy all kinds of flight/space combat games but with slim pickings like that you might as well just go through the whole list.

 

[mitchman]

There's so few of them these days that you could probably count all of them on both hands. Star Wars Squadrons and Ace Combat 7 are probably the only ones that balance out arcade gameplay with triple-A presentation, and the rest of them are either low-budget jank, or hardcore simulations with impenetrable gameplay for turbo-nerds.

And I do enjoy all kinds of flight/space combat games but with slim pickings like that you might as well just go through the whole list.

No Man's Sky is one space game that is not hardcore, although it focuses more on planet exploration and such and not necessary being in space all the time. Elite: Dangerous doesn't need to be hard core, really depends on how you like to play. As for flight sims, DCS reigns supreme and it also does have a "beginner" mode with everything simplified, but I don't think it's getting much use as the audience like more realism. That said, it does have decent tutorials and training missions, and doesn't have to be hard to get into at all.

 

[pochepiller2]

Tiny Combat Arena ?

 

[Drizzlehell]

No Man's Sky is one space game that is not hardcore, although it focuses more on planet exploration and such and not necessary being in space all the time. Elite: Dangerous doesn't need to be hard core, really depends on how you like to play. As for flight sims, DCS reigns supreme and it also does have a "beginner" mode with everything simplified, but I don't think it's getting much use as the audience like more realism. That said, it does have decent tutorials and training missions, and doesn't have to be hard to get into at all.

DCS does seem to be geared specifically towards an enthusiast crowd, though. You can kinda see it when you look at the ridiculous prices for individual planes. It just spells out "dad game" for me, like those train simulators and stuff. I don't think it has like a single player campaign mode either. You know, something that would appeal to normies.

I played a fair bit of No Man's Sky but it's kinda hard to put it on the same list as games such as Elite or Star Citizen because, as you mentioned, you do spend a fair bit of time just exploring and I would also add to that by saying that it's more like one of those survival/crafting games that just happens to feature space flight as a method of traversal between planets.

Also agreed that Elite can be simplified enough to be comfortably played with a controller like an arcade game, but it's still very slow paced and feels like it would primarily appeal to players who are looking for a sandbox simulation type of experience than fast paced arcade action. Regardless, I think this one is probably my favorite space game of those released in the past decade or so. I definitely spent the most time playing it. However, if OP is looking for a more arcade'y and fast paced game then I would probably recommend Star Wars Squadrons.

 

[OceanicWaterHorse]

VR changes everything.

 

[mitchman]

DCS does seem to be geared specifically towards an enthusiast crowd, though. You can kinda see it when you look at the ridiculous prices for individual planes. It just spells out "dad game" for me, like those train simulators and stuff. I don't think it has like a single player campaign mode either. You know, something that would appeal to normies.

DCS does come with 2 free planes, the Su-25 and the P-51 trainer, so it should be enough to get a taste of two eras of flight. I started with those two in VR and was sold. It does have single player campains/mission arcs, and you can buy additional campains for cheap tailored for specific air planes.

I played a fair bit of No Man's Sky but it's kinda hard to put it on the same list as games such as Elite or Star Citizen because, as you mentioned, you do spend a fair bit of time just exploring and I would also add to that by saying that it's more like one of those survival/crafting games that just happens to feature space flight as a method of traversal between planets.

Also agreed that Elite can be simplified enough to be comfortably played with a controller like an arcade game, but it's still very slow paced and feels like it would primarily appeal to players who are looking for a sandbox simulation type of experience than fast paced arcade action. Regardless, I think this one is probably my favorite space game of those released in the past decade or so. I definitely spent the most time playing it. However, if OP is looking for a more arcade'y and fast paced game then I would probably recommend Star Wars Squadrons.

I kinda fell out of playing Elite at some point in 2016 or so, but been thinking of getting back in as it's so great, particularly in VR.

 

[Drizzlehell]

DCS does come with 2 free planes, the Su-25 and the P-51 trainer, so it should be enough to get a taste of two eras of flight. I started with those two in VR and was sold. It does have single player campains/mission arcs, and you can buy additional campains for cheap tailored for specific air planes.


I kinda fell out of playing Elite at some point in 2016 or so, but been thinking of getting back in as it's so great, particularly in VR.

Yeah, I'll admit, my knowledge about DCS only comes from some basic research that I did about it because I only tried playing it once in VR and didn't even manage to close the canopy because the VR controls were so shit lol. Interesting that it does have some campaigns to play around with. Maybe I'll give it a shot one day.

Elite in VR, on the other hand, was a bit of a letdown for me because it was one of the main reasons why I got my Quest 2 in the first place, but then it turned out that it's literally the only game that gives me extreme motion sickness. To the point where I nearly barfed within 30 seconds of trying to pilot my ship. Regardless, if 2016 was the last time you played this game, then I would highly recommend jumping back in with Horizons expansion since they they added quite a number of cool things to it and significantly reduced the grind so you can earn way more money and more quickly. I only haven't tried the Odyssey expansion, which finally added on-foot gameplay with guns and shit, but it's been getting such horrible reviews upon release that I didn't even bother checking it out.

 

[Utherellus]

Nothing comes close.
Space combat. Atmospheric combat. You name it.

Immersion. Sound. Controls. Pacing.

It's fucking delicious.