If you’ve ever wanted to play the role of an elite mercenary operative in a dynamic, evolving galaxy, a game for you may have just arrived.
Today, Drox Operative has entered its beta pre-purchase stage. Drox Operative is the 4th title released by Soldak Entertainment, and their first title that has left the fantasy realms and entered deep space. During this limited time, beta pre-purchase stage, the game can be purchased for 25% off, bringing the price down to $14.99 from $19.99.
The game can be purchased directly from their website, and does not require Steam or any third-party service to play. It is also worth mentioning that Soldak is offering a 30 day money back guarantee on your purchase.
Drox Operative is not a traditional 4x or space combat RTS game. Drox Operative plays in real-time and offers an interesting blend of mechanics taken from both ARPGs and 4x space games. As the major races of the galaxy compete in the 4x race, each attempting to become the master of the stars, your job is to step in and assist at least one of them in their quest. Or, perhaps you’d rather stab them in the back and help someone else instead.
The choice is yours, as you are not the governor or leader of any of these empires, but you are instead a member of the prestigious Drox Operative, a guild of elite operative mercenaries. As you complete missions, you will level up your ship and crew, earn rewards, obtain new hulls and outfit them with new equipment, create friends and enemies, and hopefully lead one side to victory in the end. You must be careful though, as making too many enemies can lead to having no friends, and one lone starship can not take the galaxy alone.
Also, in Drox Operative, it is very important to pay attention to the galaxy around you. Issues in distant star systems will progress with or without you, and you may end up wondering what to do when what seemed like a small threat has quickly grown out of hand.
We will have a full preview of the beta once we’ve had a bit of time to dive in and experience what it has to offer. If you have any specific questions you’d like to have answered, please leave a comment and we will do our best to respond.
Keith Turner, also known as aReclusiveMind here on SpaceSector, has been an avid gamer ever since he first laid his hands on a Commodore 128 in the mid 1980s. He enjoys multiple computer game genres, but his primary interests are in deep strategy games, 4x games, rpgs, and action rpgs. He enjoys writing and hopes to contribute with additional reviews, previews, and informative AARs to the community. See all Keith’s posts here.
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Now this looks interesting…
Anyone here have experience with this game yet?
I’m playing it now and finding it very fun early on. It is an action oriented game with a fair amount of RPG elements, but it also includes options for trade, treaties, propaganda, espionage, rumors, etc. It is not a simple ARPG in the vein of Diablo for instance. There is much more going on here.
As you complete quests and negotiate deals with the galaxy’s races, you will be gaining levels and hopefully fortune. In addition, the race will start to like you more and start sending you gifts and additional quests to pursue. The basic gameplay consists of flying around, leveling, upgrading your ship and your stats, finding new components to install (which requires balancing, as you have limited slots and require the proper level, stats, and power to be able to use them), scanning planets, anomalies, and other debris, destroying ships, at least in the early stages. I’ve only encountered one alien race so far.
I hope to have a full preview for you guys next week once I’ve had enough time in the game. For now, I’m headed back to play!
I think I might give this a go while waiting for Endless Space.
How similar is it to Soldak’s previous games such as Depths of Peril & Din’s Curse?
In the way of dynamic elements it is quite similar to Din’s Curse. The faction system is an improved version of the system used in Depths of Peril. Gameplay is in some ways familiar but in other ways quite a bit different. Combat in space has a whole different feel then it does in a dungeon.
I bought it and gave it 30 minutes this morning. It’s pretty good, I’ll definitely return to it. I can’t get out of the first system though, even though I’m getting text alerts that other systems are being colonized. There’s nothing that shows up on my galaxy map when I get to the first jump gate.
Anyway, the game has a lot of potential. It’s obviously a work in progress. I think the area that needs the most improvement is the inventory / store UI. Happy to support these guys in their work.
Jump Gates are slightly misleading. They are basically teleporters that will allow you to instantly connect to any other jump gates that you have already discovered. Usually, there is also a fee involved for using it. You can also trade for access to jump gates other races have access to, but this requires a very good relationship and usually some additional bargaining as well.
That said, the typical way to leave a system is by star lane or wormhole. There are located around the perimeter of each system, so flying around in a circle along the outside of the system is the easiest way to find your way out as of now.
I was going to work on a preview this coming week, but after spending numerous hours playing it since release, I feel like it needs some patching before I do so. There are several mechanics that need significant tweaking that are hurting the fun factor of the game.
The good news is they already released their first patch today. It has corrected a few things, but there is still a ways to go. Looking at their past games, Soldak is dedicated to patching their games up, so I feel like giving them some time in the best thing to do right now.
I am loving it….