Evochron Mercenary

Evochron Mercenary
70
Metacritic
76
Steam
72.987
xDR
Our rating is calculated based on the reviews and popularity of the game.
Price
$11.99
Release date
16 January 2012
Steam reviews score
Total
76 (395 votes)

The life of an independent mercenary is rarely without excitement. Your spacecraft awaits and your adventure begins in the Sapphire star system.

Show detailed description

Evochron Mercenary system requirements

  • OS: Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8.1
        
  • Processor: 2.0 GHz AMD/Intel
        
  • Memory: 1.5 GB RAM
        
  • Hard Disk Space: 750 MB
         
  • Video Card: 128 MB DirectX Compatible
         
  • DirectX®: 9.0c

Recommended:

Recommended requirements are not yet specified.
Updated
App type
Steam APP ID
71000
Platforms
Windows PC
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OmniFusion1
OmniFusion1

Learning curve looks more like a straight line from my viewpoint. If you like space exploration and no hand holding (and lots and lots and lots of research in the forums or wherever) then you might like this. There seems like a lot of potential here but this game requires so much external refrence required to even play this game I have to give it a thumbs down.

I long for the feeling of a game like this that allowes us to explore, gather resources, trade routes, etc, but with a reasonable learning curve for those of us who cannot spend all day reading forums. I like the idea that this game gives us so many options for modifying our ship, but we have so little info at the start of the game I don't know if I should upgrade and if I do upgrade what do I upgrade to?

There are so many options and commands in this game it is utterly confusing. I have forced my self to play this game because it is so much work. I'm sure it is great once somebody knows what they are doing. I do like complexity, but after two weeks reading the forums and playing, I still don't know what the hell this game is about. I just don't have the time to spend.

Although if you have time and you like games like this, there appears to be plenty of people who like the game. I bought it because I saw potential. Although if you just want to buy a space game that you can jump into and just play casually I say this may not be the game for you.

Knights-Templar
Knights-Templar

8/10
i found this hard to get to grips with at first as all is not clear
but when you start working out how to do all the things and making some cash things getting better new big ships is nice shows your getting some where a fun game time flys by on this one

Colonel Shaeffer
Colonel Shaeffer

this is a standout game in the space flight sim genre and the exploration here is second to none. it could be argued theat elite dangerous has better combat and is bigger, but this game is soooooo massive you would be hard pressed to actually be able to tell that it is smaller and the combat is still top notch. in my opinion the only way elite dangerous tops this game is that docking is not so simple and the graphics are better. but in evochron there are more hidden systems, wormholes, jumpgates, secret technologies, and even wormholes hidden at the core of black holes (good luck getting to those intrepid explorers!). the game has a vibrant online community and is definitley worth checking out. I reccomend buying this game EVEN if you already have elite dangerous.

Hade
Hade

Not much to do in this game. Mine, fight, race, or do missions. Missions are always the same, clean, race, mine, pick up, drop off.

You mine a lot. I tend to put something heavy on the b key (mining laser) and go do something else. And the best place to mine is in the starter areain the asteroids. So why go anywhere else?

Fight when you get bored of mining. Then it comes down to the unlimited ai missles vs your 4. You can't even tell if your counter measures are working or not. You might actualy stand a chance should you live to get close enough with your main weapons and stay behind them.

Cargo bay maxes out at 5 cargo bays, and you can get that at the beginning of the game. So any ship you upgrade to can only have 5 cargo bays period, which to me is stupid. You finally got that large ship, only to find out it's limited to what your small ship could carry. WTF!

You can customize you ship, but I really didn't see much difference in it. And any equipment you buy is just an upgrade of what you start out with. Class 2 shields, class 3 shields, blah blah blah.

System travel is painfully slow, so you're constantly jumping everywhere and saving the game all the time (no auto-save). Although I don't see the point in visiting other systems or planets. There's nothing new or to do but the same old thing.

Game does have multiplayer, though the only difference I see is that to do the main story missions, except for the first mission, you have to do them in single player mode. I've never gotten past the 2nd one, just can't win that race no matter what. And supposedly the ship you're racing is a clone of yours.

After you get over the newness of the game, you'll come to find out it's just very repetative.

BubbleBot
BubbleBot

Remember that time when Notch was making a scifi game? And how he was like "it's all gonna be hard scifi"? This game is what the result would have been: clunky controls, too many buttons needed to be pressed just to get your ship moving without exploding, empty space, complicated combat, immense learning curve, no backstory to what you're actually doing, and an unrealistic price for how old this game actually is. If you want a space adventure without getting lost in details, don't buy this. Save your money and get Elite: Dangerous or something similar.

Rudacc
Rudacc

Incidentally launched my missiles to random ship when I was inside the station, the ship turned angry and shot me back, the army shot him into pieces.
10/10 best prank ever

Found a black hole. Got sucked in, I thought I would die. Nope. It just slingshotted me.
10/10 feels like badass pilot.

This game knows too well what I want to be in space.

Mu
Mu

Amazing game. I don't know why it it took me so long to find it.
Several hour of gameplay and still have lots to learn and discover.

+Legion+
+Legion+

Way to soon to write a review (15hrs) gameplay ....But anyways i did spend a fair few hours on the training in the free demo then i bought the game.

So far its bloody fantastic ! I am really enjoying this i came across this game after looking at SC ...but it seems that could still be a long way off.

The guy who made this game Vice has done a epic job and tbh i dare say this guy could blast the latest games and those still to come right out of the solar system.

Should you buy it ? ofc you should just be patient if you are new to this type of game...like me 10 / 10 would buy again.

Zaria
Zaria

This is a wonderful space sim, emphasis on the sim part. If you are looking for a sci fi story game, this isn't for you. This game is amazing for space flight and combat, and also has planetary descents.

Sleepy
Sleepy

Ok i bought this game during the summer sale and so far I like it!

The Good!
Open world.. You can do what you want to do if you have some imagination!

A large mapped out universe with safe systems.. Not so safe systems.. And just down right Angry systems!

Even more systems that arn't mapped out... Not sure how many so far, I have only found a few of them and their hard to find which is a good thing! Remember Space is a big place so it shouldn't be to easy to find everything!

You can Generate space stations in locations you chose that arn't to close to other stations.. Gives you a tactical advantige or a trading benifit, howerver you wish to use it! Thats kinda up to you to figure out!

You can Mine, Trade, Do Missions from a mission board, or just Pirate cargo from NPC ships to make credit's

Guessing 30 plus spacecraft frames to chose from..Or upgrade to with in game credits if you can find a station that has them!

Upgradeable engins, cargo bays, wings, fuel tanks and Sheilds if you can afford them!

A really Neat wepons lab where you can craft your own version of the perfect Beam or Partical wepons!

A hanger in most stations where you can store a frame for later use..... For a price of course!

Good flight model with inerta or thrust driven modes and even an in atmosphere mode.

Custimazable enough controlls without being just way to much and confusing!

Can land on planets and planet base Locations.

Can fly inside some very large astroids and find some lootable stuff!

Can get a Mech Walker and walk planetside or even fight planetside if you can find something to fight!

Good bit of tech to buy in the stations and with limited space it make's you think and make desisions on how you want your ship to performe, Not enough room for everything so you have to decide whats important for the way you want to play.. The largest ships in the game cant carry everything even! and thats a good thing, makes you think!

I have read some reviews about a hard learning curve.... This is my first space sim since Tie Fighter and it took a while to learn but it wasn't bad and that was part of the fun in my opinion!

Theirs more good stuff but just cant remember it all!

The Bad!
Making credits is to easy once you figure out where to buy low and sell high... Some players think you have to find the lost city but you can make credits really easy just paying attition to prices... On my second Pilot I made 50 Million in just a few hours of game play because I had figured it out on my first pilot.. Needs to be a bit harder to make credits so you can't just get the best gear so quick!

TO HARD TO FIND OTHER REAL PLAYERS TO PLAY WITH.... I have managed to log onto a multiplayer server but I was the only player on it :( Would be nice if you could find others to play with! Seems like not to many people play multiplayer sadly..It might be fun!

Not enough Places to store loot in the hangers...Yes you can use multiable hangers in multible Space Ports but Dang their expensive and a pain being so spread out... Would like to see them let you chose a hanger locaion or build a Space Port to use as your home base and let you store multable ships and alot of looted and Pillaged goodies!

Can't figure out how to create my own Guild? Would be neat if you could start your own guild then search out an uncharted galaxy... then build it up with Ports and stuff and have your own guild Galaxy, If you could name it that would be even cooler but some peeps would do some real silly names I relize sadly!

If you lack Imagination... You will probably get bored after a while... Persionally I keep trying to find new stuff and tinkering around to see what i can do.... I'm still learning the deepth of the game!

Anyway all in all it has been fun even if I havent got to play multiplayer yet! But maybe someone will see this review and we can find a server and start building a universe!

Sleepy

Stargatemunky
Stargatemunky

Currently creates a very impressive procedurally generated world with what appears to look very impressive with clear roles and mission objective mixed with open world exploration.

Currently crashes constantly on a very good system for some reason so do some research on the issues before deciding to pay for this game.

It's very well laid out but clearly still too rough around the edges to consider as a full release yet.

Might actually give elite a run for it's money if No man's Sky doesn't come out soon.

Kenny Kravits
Kenny Kravits

This game is visually amazing and will have you spend hours exploring the universe and landing on planets. BE AWARE THIS GAME REQUIRES TONS OF STUDYING TUTORIALS. This game took me 2 weeks to a month to learn how to play and I'm still learning. However visually stunning! I'm blown away the enitre game was created by one person. Amazing game! Also I had to do some customization to the controls to work right. Even though you have to invest learning time in this game...it's so worth it!!!

Sesshu
Sesshu

302 reviews. Clearly the game doesn't sell a lot.

It "is" complicated and there's a very steep learning curve. I'm guessing about a month before you figure most of it out.

Complicating this is that there isn't much information if you Google for it because there weren't enough players for it. There "is" some useful info, there are some good Youtube vids, but not enough for you to learn what many other things do.

Very poor ship customization. Cargo bays are limited to 5, although with the Oasis to Pearl run (semi-cheat) that's really all you need to make all the money you need. And then what?

I still have a long way to go so I gave the game a thumbs up but I don't know what else I'll find. I've easily spent 10x the amount of time I've played watching vids and searching Google for info. I have about 100,000,000 credits from that trade run between Oasis station in Pearl and Pearl's hidden planet (location easily Googled).

The Nav map is so hard to read with all the letters cluttered. Surely this can be fixed.

Game is about 4 years old and no signs of fixing/adding small conveniences.

Way too expensive for a game no one plays anymore.

Auto docking would make this game much more tolerable, and a lower price (say $7 to attract more players).

The game "is" fun, but you really have to work for that fun.

Again, still too early for me to tell how tolerable the game really is.

Robin of Spiritwood
Robin of Spiritwood

Fantastic Game!!

Rock steady on my system. Zero crashes.
Visually amazing, though ships look low-rez. Environment is beautiful.

Steep learning curve but lots of tutorials and online video to help.

Customize your own ship appearance and equipment. Trade and mine to get wealthy, and then go to war or just explore.

mr polomar
mr polomar

This is the first time I've ever bothered to write a review on Steam. Long story short - EM has really struck a chord with me and I'd happily reccommend to others hungry for some immersive, expansive, open-universe space fun.

I'm only just getting started into this game; only 50-odd hours so far - but already I am REALLY liking the experience, and can envision this consuming MANY hours in the future. This game seems to give me what I've been looking for in a space sim game for a long time. The atmosphere, the feel, the freedom and sense of scale - really succeeds in giving the feel of a lone wolf mercenary with the vastness of space just outside his cockpit.

I started slow; some mining, some trading, some exploring, some simple contracts - and have only in the last session or two had a taste of combat. That's part of what's great about this game: you do what you want to do. And even after just scratching the surface I can see there is a LOT to do in this big chunk of space. Love the mood (or moods) of the game; relaxing one moment frantic the next depending on what you want; where you go, what you do.

I'll admit to being personally shallow enough that I needed to get a cockpit and UI mod before really being able to get immersed - made a huge difference and there's tons to choose from. Don't let the first few seconds of the game throw you. There is a LOT of beauty in this game (I've taken a ton of screenshots already), and the feel is top notch.

I've only played singleplayer so far, but the multiplayer sounds great - enough to convince a die-hard singleplayer to be very tempted to dip in.. soon. The community seems active and friendly, and the dev (yes, a single individual is behind this!) deeply involved and interested and responsive. And it would seem he is currently working hard on the next iteration - which seems like it will only make this very good thing even better, much better. Can't wait.. but in the meantime I've a huge chunk of space to explore, so back to it..!

** EDIT: Surprise! Evochron Legacy has now been released on Steam! Saw it - bought it - downloaded it - now it's play time! **

Leafygoodnis
Leafygoodnis

This game is one of the fantastic breed of games where you'll spend hours playing only to realize that you've done basically nothing.
I know there's a main storyline somewhere in the universe, but I've never started it (and now I can't even find it). I know there are tons of planets/distress calls/etc. to explore, but I've never been able to reach many. I know I can build space stations, pilot mechs, create squads and have a crew, but so far all I've done is fly around, make money and upgrade my piddly little one-man starship.
I love this game to bits. 10/10.

BlackKnifeOps
BlackKnifeOps

Very good but shame the customisations have been limited, main guns are very limited on shooting even when 'leveling-up' more. Having said this, it is a visually stunning game and their is plenty to explore. I would buy again from this series.

Harold
Harold

How can I sum this game up?

This is regurgitated garbage, that has been thrown away, taken back out, repackaged under a new name, thrown away, taken out, repackaged as the same original garbage it was from the start. And let me tel lyou the long history this game has had so you can discover for yourselves where this game originated from...

I bought a game by the company 3000ad, which is now a dirty word in my language, never to be trusted again, who released a game called Battlecruiser ???? (some number), the game, while it may have had good intentions, was utterly flawed, and buggy, and options had to be selected with particular care, when setting up at the start of a game, if you inadvertently, selected the incompatible options, it would crash to desktop, but there was no error checking routines in place to say if you chose this option and have that option selected, will cause problems, instead, it gave you the freedom to choose whatever options you want regardless of outcome.

The documentation included an instruction manual for the game that would put our Defense Department's aircraft manual's to shame. After installing the game, nearly 70 additional "how to" files will be spammed into your start menu, and if not handled properly during installation may even spam your entire desktop.

I don't care about the cheesy graphic's as I'd rather have a low end game that works, than a high end game full of bugs, but even so, despite the cartoony graphic's, was full of bugs and crash to desktops, with an eternity worth of documentation you'll never keep in your head, let alone remember when it comes time to actually play the game.

Later on, they released a sequel called Battlecruiser Millenium, which was the same game, same bugs, no noticable difference, other than the fact that they got another paycheck at our expense, for a flashier intro screen.

Following their failure with that sequel, was about the same time Microsoft released their best functional game called Microsoft Freelancer, which was an incredible game that I adored, and wish they would have made a sequel to, but never did. 3000ad felt they had to collect on some of that fan base $$$, so they repackaged their garbage to compete with Freelancer, and they called that same garbage Universal Combat... Same game as Battlecruiser, different title, different box, same garbage game, full of bugs and crash to desktops.

Now they've repackaged the game AGAIN, under a new name called Evochron Mercenary, same game as their original garbage Battlecruiser, with same crash to desktops... The only reason I bought the game was because the box reminded me of Freelancer, and I didn't notice in very small print 3000ad, had I seen their company's logo, I would have not wasted my money on it. So I got ripped off 4 times by that company, like buying the same game 4 times, only thing different was the names.

This game doesn't even have a rating, its THAT low!

theroniac
theroniac

I used to play Elite when it was a commodore 64 game, and it was one of my all time favorites. It seems like the developer of this game felt the same way. The evochron tribute fan site has a lot of great content as well.

Jarl Thidrandi
Jarl Thidrandi

I bought this game years ago and was overwhelmed by its depth. So it sat in my library until I forgot about it. Recently I got Elite Dangerous and had alot of fun for aobut a day, then started to feel like every planet, mission and contract was the same. Elite is basically 4 stations with a handful of lame ships, and some generic random objectives inside a smaller version of space simulator. Now it had its fun moments and looks great. That said it gets old quick. Then the devs at elite decided to make a feature that was promised before the game came out, into dlc. Not just dc but a "season" of dlc, which is a practice I find despicable. To make things worse, that season costs more than the original game, and if youre a newcomer you can buy that and get base elite dangerous for free.

Outrages, I uninstalled the game. Then I started playing this, and within 6 hours got 100x more quality experience from this game. I built a ship with total freedom, meaning I was able to decide what parts went where, how big they were and the style of my ship, so the starter ship in the game could look millions of ways, depending on how you configure it. Theres a main story, an economy, Factions fighting for control of sectors. Its got everything Elite claims to have, and more. Theres crafting, base building, i can even land on any planet, something the devs at Elite feel is worth $60.

The only thing elite does better than this game is graphics, which odsent matter a whole lot when you're in space. Doesnt require a great engine to show black with white dots. And to top it off this game still gets updates, and I bought it over 4 years ago. Made by one guy....

So DO NOT BUY ELITE DO NOT BUY ELITE, save your money and buy this game, or play eve online if you want to constantly spend money on your game.

Milarky
Milarky

This game is really cool! Unfortunately, it's nigh unplayable. After poking around for a bit, doing some mining and contracts, I've realized that I really don't want to play, any more. Flying around an open world universe in your own pile of space scrap is a good feeling, one that deserves an interface worthy of its task. Unfortunately, it's just abysmal. Your starting ship starts out with one cargo hold. Sounds ok, right? You can only put one type of item in each hold, even though it'll hold 25 of that item. When mining, each asteroid gives three ore, which means you're missing out on two-thirds of the ore, since they're not compatible with each other.

Ok, you can upgrade your ship to five cargo holds. Fine, but the miner stacks to the lowest cargo hold that isn't full, so if you have 1 platinum ore each in holds 2 through 5, it'll still put any new platinum in hold 1, meaning that if you actually wanted to get some diamond ore from the same asteroid, you'll have to trash one of the platinums to make room for it, instead of (logically) moving it to one of the holds that already has that same item in it.

One time, I got a contract to mine 25 platinum. As it works out, I ended up with about 32. Unfortunately, about half was in hold 2, and the other half was in hold 3. When I got back to the station, it said "contract failed". O.o My best guess is that the game is too dumb to figure out that 16 + 16 = 32, which is more than enough for the contract. Another mining contract flew me right into a planet as soon as I jumped to the waypoint it gave me. Yet another didn't give me a waypoint at all, so I flew to an asteroid field and saw, yet again, "contract failed". I failed a mining contract by flying to an asteroid field?!?

Ok, that's most of my experience. I also happened to run into a hostile ship. He decided to engage me, and I gladly took the challenge. Unfortunately, the starter ship couldn't even dent his shields... Guess I won't be roaming around, looking for fights to get into. There are a lot of other problems, mostly with the interface. Variety is also sorely lacking. Sure, there's a few ships you can buy, but no one ship or weapon is particularly different from any other. Their stats aren't all that different, either.

Meh, 4/10. A great idea, implemented very badly.

russianrov
russianrov

If you like long, boring, overly realistic space travel with little to no action, this is probably the game for you. Also, what is wrong with you and is it contagious?

Minecfart
Minecfart

I drew a starmap by hand so that I could be a more cost effective space taxi-cab.

QUACHIMBA
QUACHIMBA

Unbelievable.... This game is perfect its so well balanced so well done so well everything its just outdone every oter space sim ive ever played it was so cheap on steam too and its one guy behind this... this guy should be a billionaire i think deserves every bit f it. again if you are wondering if you should buy this game please don't think anymore it is hands down the best space sim out there and worth 3 times as much in terms of payment in my opinion

dessnr
dessnr

Great game and now I hear that the lone creator of this work is creating another masterpiece. Can't wait to meet it!

Holmestyle
Holmestyle

There's alot of space exploration games out there. I've tried alot of really good ones, but most only have 1 or 2 highlights about them while the rest of the game is lacking. Evochron Mercenary has satisfied my search with a "HUGE" open universe to explore and tons of content!. While waiting for No Man's Sky, I'll be playing this game trying to discover the darkest regiens of the universe.

Keitarooo
Keitarooo

How is it possible I didn't saw this game be released back in 2012 ? This gem....

Forget about empty premium AAA over-priced hype ELITE:DANGEROUS.

EVOCHRON MERCENARY is a game made by one man, alone, and he puts so much love into it, you feel it when you play !

There are a tons of things to do in this game ! You won't be bored anytime soon. Cargo, mining, spying, killing, exploring, trading, ....

Multiplayer is fun also (and single player and multi player progression is syncced too).

You can even test the game before you buy, there is a demo ! Yeah !

Try it, if spaces sims is your thing, you won't regret it !

LordBeDe
LordBeDe

Most likely this type of game is just not for me. It all feels really tedious and busy work like.

Also, auto-pilot-jumped to a distress call location, got loads of $$$, auto-pilot-jumped back, jumped into planet, no savegame.

Kramit The Frog
Kramit The Frog

It's Mount & Blade: Warband in space with actual Newtonian physics. Love it! I think my only complaint is the colour contrast of light sources mixed with the HUD and the target boxes really wears on my eyes after a while. But overall an excellent game from such a small team (is it really only one dude?).

Shootin_Putin
Shootin_Putin

Don't pay attention to the old fart fan boy reviews.

Save your money.

Jugulador
Jugulador

The game has a lot of potential, but this dogfights are lame. Run, run, run, shoot, shoot, shoot... everybody has to much shield (including you) and it became very tedious... wish the guns are more lethal, so the combats end more quick or, at least, require more tactics and skills than bloodly shield and weapons management... this could be fun in a capital ship simulation, but not in a fighter.

My recomendation: Instal Freelancer and its best open space mods.

FistfulOfZen
FistfulOfZen

I bought this game, because I wanted to customize my ship and then have a "sandbox" environment to kick around in. After half an hour of playing, I realized I'd bitten off way more than I'd ever wanted to chew, so I put the game away for months. I came back at it with the intent of finally mastering the thing. After spending an hour and a half beating my head against the control options, I finally learned how to toggle inertial flying and began to work my way through the first few frankly boring missions and got to the race against the AI ship. After half a dozen frustrating goes of bouncing helplessly around and then out of the course "rings", I had my fill of the Evo after 4 hours of playing.

I really wanted to give this game a positive recommendation, I really did, but it all comes down to the game trying too hard to be too much. Yes, the hardcore space simulator enthusiast looking for perfect immersion will LOVINGLY CARESS this game all night long (so if that's you, I TOTALLY recommend this game), but if you are a more casual gamer looking for a fun sandbox space combat game you can jump into and start kicking around in immediately? This is the exact opposite of that.

The controls are designed for a high level of investment in both time and energy in learning how to play. Ultimately, to get the best experience, a full function joystick and throttle are NOT OPTIONAL. Don't even buy the game unless you have a very robust controller. You'll have to devote yourself to memorizing dozens of key commands and unfortunately the opposite of intuitive control options, which is the only serious knock I have against the game from a critical standpoint. The control options desperately need better laying out (IE: movement controls need to be separate from head swivel controls need to be separate from combat controls, etc.)

Compared to other space themed games (ie: Wing Commander, X-Wing, Freelancer, Colony Wars, etc.), Evo is orders of magnitude more difficult to play, being marketted as a "game" (which it is technically), but it's more accurate to call it a space simulator with game elements bootstrapped on. So I simply can't recommend this game to anyone that isn't a hardcore space simulator enthusiast.

Unfortunately, my search for a nice middle ground space combat sim continues.

Big Teddy Kurita
Big Teddy Kurita

This game is much better than Elite: Dangerous, and you can quote me on that.

Jerkov One
Jerkov One

Very disappointed!! Nothing works! Nada! Not one key is doing what it is supposed to do (except F12 for screenshots). The cockpit is only visible while chatting (shift+tab, steam chat). Engine sound is broken. turn = roll, roll = turn and and and... buck off.

ah yes... it's ugly! upscaled and pixelized grafics. I thought i wouldn't care about that, because it seemed to be a good game at first, but nothing works!! who ever "designed" this crap, obviously did not give a ****!

Stinky Meatbag
Stinky Meatbag

Amazing, a triumph of game development. The fact this is created by a single person just makes it even that more impressive. Well worth $20 or even more.

Ophite
Ophite

Suprisingly fun game. The videos and pics don't do it justice. It makes the game look empty and boring.

I don't want to compare it to the X series of games, but it has the same feel. And just like the X series, the game is only as fun as you make it. Anyone that has played and liked the X games knows what I mean.

A really, really solid indie game. Kudos.

zufilico
zufilico

Promise to be a good game but is a shame, Not full controller support problem, for a 2015 game.

Crayons_Only
Crayons_Only

I will buy anything made this Developer.

I was introduced to PC when I was working for an injured vet in the PH. I was a console player my whole life and this game and Freelancer where my first, tentative, steps into PC. I had a pirated version for about five months in the PH and it was missing a lot of the gameplay.

When I got back stateside I bought it and haven't looked back. It is a wonderful game. Worth the dollars spent. The forums are active. The Developer is active and the modding is good too.

Nothing can be more fun, in short bursts, than flying around with nuetonian physics killing Cylons. (Mod by CaptCaveman)

Bobby Bodega
Bobby Bodega

Amazing game that a 1 man team has created. If you feel cheated by Elite Dangerous like I did then you should check this out. Yeah sure it's not as "pretty" as ED but it has way more features and you won't pay $60 for another season of updates. Great game from a great company.

AoH  Sgt. Uzi
AoH Sgt. Uzi

lots to do, medium learning curve,

S00P
S00P

To SOME people I would recommend it. It's not an "arcade" space game. Distances are great and controls are detailed ... also very little storyline. I'm not sure if I'm the guy to ask about this game, but I can tell you what I know/ how aI play.

I find this game is very relaxing. Poor myself a glass of whisky, get some snacks and put on my own music. A new player will have to take a crash course in controls and such, so be in the mood for some learning the first time.

Once you know the buttons, it's time to head out into space and get a job. Because if you want to travel faster and further you need better parts for your ship.
At first, the jobs are cleaning and pick-up/delivery. Once you think you're good enough you can race and fight other AI ships. I never got good enough to stand a chance, though.

So, I just fly around in space, check out planets, pick up some things here and there to sell and chill. It's like Train Simulator in space.
Landing on/ taking off from planets and docking (>ᴗ< Pfft) at space stations is really cool as you can be all finicky about maneuvering and speed.

Word of advice: don't run out of gas...! Though it was excellent when I went Online, sent out a S.O.S. and a friendly stranger came to my coordinates to lend me some. The few that still play, are very friendly.

Atech66
Atech66

Me being too dumb to play it was the only issue lol
It has a steep learning curve and the community offers plenty of help and guides
That being said after 14 hours I was lost out of fuel and couldn't find my way back to save my life.
Its a game I wanted to love because it was so pretty to look at and seemed fun.. if i could make a career of cleaning the same solor panel over and over.
I sucked the game was great

Daszman
Daszman

BLOWS takes 10 min to dock on a planet. Mission Waypoints blow. this game sucks!!!!!!!

elseer
elseer

I foudn the controls so compeldx that I just could not get into the game. perhaps one of thease days Ill pickup a joystick and throttle and revist the game. it looks so cool but its just way too complex to learn.

Mindcrime
Mindcrime

I hate to review this game cuz I respect the hell out of the creator. If u are looking for action this isn't the right game for u. If u want complex controls and a loooooot of setup time go for it. I can't lie and say i got far cuz i got frustrated after about 5 hrs I think and stopped playing. Great idea but much like elite dangerous this just needs for fun factor to really call it a "game". Keep it up though creator. Add some more fun in the next game and I will fully support u.

Sniper-Squirrel
Sniper-Squirrel

Realy high quality work for a small team. I've enjoyed this little gem of a game for a while. The downside is that the soundtrack can be a little too relaxing to listen to. I've used the sights and sounds of this game to put some of my kids to sleep. It is a realy beutiful yet relaxing game to play. You've been warned.

Fitzeroy McCandless
Fitzeroy McCandless

First, this is not a casual game by any means so if can't handle much beyond point and shoot then leave now or you'll be sent home crying over you're twenty bucks (just read the negative reviews). This game is something I've been looking for ever since I played a little indy flash game somewhere on the internet when I was 14. It had interesting lore, trading and combat in unique space mercenary environment made by someone who had a great idea and new how to code. This game is like the grown up, college educated, athletic, beautiful version of that game. It is so complex you WILL need to get a key binding sheet but everything you can do actually has a purpose. It feels like you are in Star Trek at times when you have to boost forward shields, deactivate the inertial dampening system, all power to canons and deploy counter measures! (I've done this, it's the coolest feeling when you pull it off in combat). The map is massive but divided into indivdual systems to make it easier to handle, each system tracks your reputation and has every odd job to military contract you could want. You can customize your ship and change out and upgrade equipment to tailor your ship to the jobs you want to have. The game is meduim paced from starting out, I upgraded my ship's size about 5 hours in for the first time. I've barely scratched the surface of this game but I have played plenty to give it a good recomendation; that being said I recomend getting a key mapping chart due to the complexity. It is a game that makes you think and feel like you are immersed in this world, added with a backdrop of stunning nebulae and planets with a swelling orchestral sci-fi soundtrack.

Im Salt
Im Salt

This game is too complicated for my impatient mind. I feel intimidated by it's complexity and have not invested the time necessary to understand the mechanics and I don't think I care as there are countless other games that are better in almost every way, better graphics and simpler design with better story too. Don't waste your time with a game as unnecessary as this when there are better games to play.

Theknightwhosaysni
Theknightwhosaysni

( 11 Pm) 1 hour into the game = This game looks amazing!

(12 Pm) another one hour later = So that is how you mine asteroids.....

(7 Am) 7 hours later = What the fuck it's seven am already

SInce this review got a bit popular, i'm doing a full review.

Tl:dr: at the end of the review.

So, to start with, i have only played 16 hours in the game, and yet i have done so much, there's still so much more to do. If you're not a shooter fag, this game has great potential, so much to do! The game is a space exploration, trading, combat and mining game. Sadly you can't leave your spaceship, yet you can still go the the planet's surface, but you must remain at a distance, else the planet will eat you. The game is like no man's sky, with more physics elements, re entry feels like re entry on a real ship. Many people play legacy, but meh, legacy has better graphics and stuff. This game has a lot of potential, yet the people at starwraith have done a great job executing it.

At the start of the game, you are greeted by a screen that asks you your class. The game has four classes, mercenary, combat pilot, miner and the last one which i don't seem to remember for some reason. All classes are different, mercenary is the best though, but if you want to be a mercenary, you won't get military type hull classes. so, when you chose your class, you have to choose your callsign. After that, you are greeted by the beautiful main menu. You can either 'launch' or do the 'training'. I started by launching, and oh, the game was so beautiful, so much to do. So many nebulae, so my ship was drifting towards the space station called evochron, referring to the name of the game of course. There i took my first mission to descend on the planet in the sapphire solar system. 11 hours later, i ha 26 million credits, the fastest ship in the galaxy, the best hyperdrive and an entire solar empire. I don't have words to describe this beautiful game, just get it.

Tl;dr: Please do me a favour and buy this game.

merlin83uk
merlin83uk

Whilst desperately searching for something similiar to No Mans Sky I came across this game and figured I'd give it a shot. I really wish I hadn't bothered. From the moment the game loaded the dev graphic I could already tell that this wasn't the crisp looking game it appears to be in the screenshots. The somewhat pixellated graphic being reminiscent of something I'd expect to see on a Megadrive era game. I figured I'd let it slide, maybe it was meant to look like for some sort of retro feel or maybe th graphics options needed setting up properly? Then the UI loaded and boy was I instantly disappointed. I was confronted with an almost unreadable message in a blocky squished font, which would be bad enough if it weren't for the fact that some genius decided to go with a light blue text on a dark blue background. Still not deterred I figured I'd try to fix this issue searching through the graphics options, I checked the resolution was OK but it made no difference. Eventually I managed to decipher an option that might help, it was to do with text at least. I selected it and ... it made it worse! The text was less blocky but was instead smaller and more squashed in? So I went back to the default bad option and decided to just try and get into the game. I loaded the tutorial and tried to get started. After 10 minutes of tedious instruction I'd managed to move pretty much nowhere and if I had there was no way of being sure. Despite the tutorial narrators constant droning on in the background I was non the wiser as to how to do the very basic thing of actually moving. Now I could of stepped away for a moment, spent the next couple of hours hunting down and reading through guides and explanations but quite frankly I wanted to play a game now. I don't feel like I should be expected to research the basics just to get started. Some people may be able to find something here, it certainly seems to have plenty of positive responses from others but for me there was too much wrong in too short a period of time and for that reason I decided to get my money back and leave it.

Lloyd
Lloyd

Loved the game right up till I figured out that once you upgrade your starting ship to five cargo bays it has the same cargo capacity as any ship you can ever buy in the game. What??? Anyway that was my quit and uninstall moment.

I guess if you want to do combat or exploration that isn't a big deal but I always mine or trade.

Does anyone know if Evochron Legacy has the same limitations?

Virtue
Virtue

What little I can play in this game without forgetting to quicksave and then blowing up, I can honestly say it's been fun.

However, there's been that issue of blowing up. A lot. Near planets, on planets, into asteroids...there's a lot of blowing up in this game if you're not careful about your actions.

I can understand that these are somewhat expected of games like this, but at the same time, they're somewhat off-putting. And I say this having owned Evochron Mercenary before Elite: Dangerous was a thing. This game is insanely strict about certain things and you will blow up with the slightest provocation when starting out. And you will lose progress many times if you're used to games made in the last decade and a half using autosaves.

That said, it's probably one of the biggest spaceflight sims I've played, with the widest range of options in terms of gameplay. It doesn't ever really shift out of space, either, into transitions or loading screens or anything. It's just space, end of story. And that's nice, because it's rare that you can literally fly, freestyle, between sectors. I don't know why you would, because they're huge, but this is one of the rare places where this is actually possible, and I feel like that's worth merit in itself. The world never limits your ability to travel within it, and you can seamlessly exit a station, pop over to a planet, fly around in the atmosphere, and then be back out in space and out to an asteroid belt without a single moment of pause.

So while the game is hilariously heavy-handed with its smackdown if you make even a small mistake, it makes up for it by having a huge world that seems to go on forever, and without a single loading screen or transition...except for the one between the game and the menu. That one, however, we can ignore. I'll take one loading screen to a series of "jump gates" any day.

IdiotKnight
IdiotKnight

Great Game, especially when you realize it is basically just the work of one dude.

Guppys
Guppys

Great game although you should go get Evochron Legacy set 100 years after Mercenary. Everythings better in the future.

stanmorris
stanmorris

I hate this game. It was awful. I want a refund. 14 minutes and I was ready to either stop existing or stop playing it. boredom

Masta Butcher
Masta Butcher

more elite than elite, old school...

octaviuskane25
octaviuskane25

Love it, played No Man's Sky on PS4 and the flight dynamics are about as complicated as a paper bag compared to this game. 10/10 I've been waiting for a game like this my entire life...

Dark
Dark

Well, the game has a really nice feel and also looks good. I did not go far in it for the simple reason it looks more like a flight simulator than a game. If you want a game in which you can get into real quick, this one is not for you. I was expecting it to be a little bit more complicated than Freelancer but seriously the controls are for gamers who enjoyed teh Flight Simulator serie. This was my 2nd attempt to get into this game, i'll probably give it a 3rd try, eventually.

ozzsabat67
ozzsabat67

So I have been looking for a good space flight sim for a while now and keep getting disappointed, BUT this time NO dissappointment this game is great, just what I have been looking for and here it was all along.

&lt; NEW PLAYER &gt;
&lt; NEW PLAYER &gt;

Cheaper then Elite Dangerous and a lot easier to play, fun, lacks content but great game for the money. Has a medium learning curve, just do the tutorial.

7/10

buffjape
buffjape

The closest fans of the original Elite will get to a remake.

Perhaps a little too difficult to make progress, but that was true in Elite as well.
Runs perfectly on Windows 10, supports widescreen and looks great.

Satisfying explosions, missiles, good dogfights, missions and solid-gold asteroids for mining.

Karl Drogo
Karl Drogo

Hey Jimmy stop reading recommendations

Aussiedroid
Aussiedroid

Nominated for The “Labor of Love” Award in Autumn 2017 Steam Awards!

This game has been out for a while. The team is well past the first unveiling of their creative baby, but being the good parents they are, these devs continue to nurture and support their creation. This game, to this day, is still getting new content after all these years.

Congratulations!

Ravage
Ravage

Get the legacy version. this version is no longer supported/updated. for some reason both games are virtually the same price.

mitchellmckain
mitchellmckain

This is my favorite type of game. It is beautiful and a good competetor for X3. If you want one with more challenging combat and planets you can land on then this is the game for you.

It comes in second to X3 with regard to quest and trading gameplay. And although like X3 there is no design and building of ships from scratch there is more flexibility in the design of your spaceship than X3. The crew features are unique and contribute some intriguing (though difficult) challenges with regards to exploration and discovery.

Mhuur
Mhuur

Outdated compared to the likes of Elite Dangerous. Evochron Mercenary gets one thing right, how lonely space is. If you aren't actively seeking cooperative play, you're pretty much flying solo, unless you take on an escort, bounty or defense mission.

Luirio le dragon
Luirio le dragon

Wasted 22 bucks on this game. I thought i would go into missions and stuff like this but instead, i got bored.

lambawamba
lambawamba

I bought this game a few years ago. Started it up, couldn't stand the tutorial, decided to dive into multiplayer, and gave up. I don't know what has sparked my interest in it again but I downloaded it and finally paid attention. But this time I went for a gamepad+keyboard+mouse setup instead of my initial keyboard+mouse setup. Yeah, that made a heck of a difference for me. Having a gamepad+keyboard+mouse setup sets the mouse as a cursor reducing the need to hold alt to select additional tabs. The gamepad controls my directional controls and I love it. I was mining and earning a LOT of credits in no time. I can honestly say I feel bad for taking so long to get into this game but I will definitely be playing it a lot more now.

If controls are an issue, look into a gamepad. It changed my perspective and made flying more natural.

Off to mine!

UZii
UZii

so what is the difference between this old and the new one - probably the sales strategy. So the new one will also get canned after a few years - clever puppy....

QueenlyVenomous
QueenlyVenomous

almost 45 minutes just on the tutorial alone, yes its boring but impressive that such an immersive tutorial that most games neglect. The price is right at about $19.99 for this and its VERY immersive. So far I have to recommend.

Skull Punch
Skull Punch

Some great things going on with Evochron Mercenary. A learning curve but well worth it.

edog086
edog086

great game, vary complicated but worth it

Next Of Kin
Next Of Kin

I have had this game since before it was on steam it has came a long way and still by far one of the best Space games there is, Maybe in the future we will see Evochron 2 with better graphics and ability to walk around as the pilot in stations large ships or planitary as well as online gameplay...

power2022
power2022

I'm leaving a neg review as per 2018.
You are better off spending your $$ on the LATEST installment. Seriously. Buying this is basically a waste of time, the new game has similar features and left almost nothing out.
This game is no longer really being updated nor supported. The GUI is basically Microsoft Excel.
There is an expansion called Evochron LEGACY which I highly recommend which IS supported. GUIs are still pretty "excel" like, but it is a lot better in terms of user friendliness.
This game was fantastic when the "space" themed games were a niche market, but since being flooded in 16-18 it doesn't stand up to the test of time.

I'd get this if you are only interested in running it on older hardware. The first time I played it it was marvelous, my mind was blown as Id never played anything like it.
Not to mention MULTIPLAYER was very active and made the game an entirely different beast.....the playerbase online is now very dead.
Those days are kinda long gone (2012ish)

Mandrid
Mandrid

As much as I wanted to like this game, it fell very flat. The framework for this game is horribly dated.

BlackFox
BlackFox

I have known this game since the release and has been a favorite in our library for both my wife and myself. Coming from the DOS and BBS era, EM reminded us of Tradewars with the mechanics and such. The design and gameplay is both relaxing and exhilarating at times. So much to do and even more so when you team up in multiplayer. A real gem to have.

Groo the Wanderer
Groo the Wanderer

Originally liked it. 9 fucking months later I get punished for being offline. Fuck you!

Libra
Libra

Can't recommend this. Overall it was boring. Below are some thoughts.

Being in space is great. Seeing planets, rings, etc. all look great. Good experience to just see the space visuals.

However, the menu screens were not good. They seemed crowded and not well designed. The screens are clunky.

Mining is boring. Multiple times I set my ship to mine an asteroid and I just got up an left my computer for a while. not very engaging. If mining went fast, that would be an improvement.

There are different factions and a reputation level. Also, each star system is different, so you can be liked in one place and hated in another. This is a good idea, but there is a huge flaw. Trying to change your standing with the factions and your reputation takes far too long. It got so boring, after a long time making little progress, I gave up and went to another start system.

The space physics is good. I like that inertia is a real thing. Sliding sideways, backwards, etc. More space flight games should work like this instead of acting like constant forward propulsion in necessary.

I like that you can visit the planets you see.

Overall, I spent too much time waiting to do something instead of actually being engaged with the game.

Uriel
Uriel

Re-installed that game recently and gave it a new try. Still unimpressed.

The inertia flight is good, and I mean, really good. THIS is exactly how flying a spacecraft should feel, not like in so many games where it feels exactly like you're flying a plane.

Aside from that ? Nothing to see. The interface is basically a spreadsheet, except that in a spreadsheet software I can rearrange columns and lines, move things around to compare them, filter things out, and enlarge the cells if I don't have enough room to spell a whole word. In this game, I'm harvesting "watr" and "metl" because apparently things can't be named with more than 4 characters.

About harvesting, I hope you like it, because at first that's all you're going to do, and it... is... so... very... slow.

The interface is a chore by itself. Even X3 seems user-friendly compared to this. It has all the functions you might want, and more that you need but didn't even know you needed... So that's good... But every single function requires you to memorise a key on your keyboard, and almost all keys are used. Which wouldn't be so bad if you could rebind them at will. Well, you CAN rebind them, but if you use anything but a qwerty keyboard, good luck. Whether you rebind it manually or keep the default setting, it doesn't matter, it will always display the key that is in that place on a qwerty layout. As I use a non-qwerty keyboard, I litteraly had to play with a picture of an english-language keyboard to which I could alt-tab when I was checking my key bindings.

And even that wasn't always enough. I once accidentally target a nearby ship, and the game kept pointing my view in its direction, to the point it would mask the HUD entirely at some point because I wasn't looking at the front of my ship, which I simply couldn't avoid. I have tried to find a way to un-target a ship, but... There seems to be none. You have FOUR keys for different tagetting options, but none for "stop targetting". I tried porting half a sector away, and even then I'd still track the ship. The only way I found was alt+F4. Figures.

Aside from that, the game is somewhat ugly, which is to be expected considering when it came out, and I'm still a bit salty that the devs decided to make a new game instead of expanding on this one, effectively making it an abandonware.

If you'd like a game with a proper inertial piloting of a spaceship and don't mind an extremely tedious interface, go for the new game in the series instead, at least it's still supported.

Cowboy Bebop
Cowboy Bebop

Nope, sorry, couldnt get into it...

bourland
bourland

This game is for beginners that would like the basics to a space sim. It is protected in some parts and others not so much. Great game play for a space sim.

Flutter &lt;3
Flutter &lt;3

Just bought this game and already im overwhelmed and my brain feels like mush. too much! too much information in the tutorial. I couldnt comprehend half of it! cause it was too fast and too much information at once. i would love this game. but im not going to play it. cause i cant even get passed the tutorial, my brain has trouble comprehending when information is thrown at me at that speed and rate.

Badass Rockets
Badass Rockets

I just remember having a repair bill so big that I could make money at all.

So I uninstalled.

R. Daneel Olivaw
R. Daneel Olivaw

It took a long time for me to get into this game. By the time I did, I found out that I could play it on an old laptop with no frills. You don't need a gaming rig for this one.
It's a very steep learning curve for someone like me though, who's never played a 'space sim' before, but give it some time, and keep the 'readme file' open, so you can alt/tab back and forth between game and guide, and it fits the bill perfectly, Once you're absorbed in the game, the superior graphics of other games don't matter anymore. And it's as exciting as you want to make it. Or as calm.
It's the pleasure of playing the game that matters, and if you're prepared to learn, this game has it in spades.
Very highly recommended.

Obey the Fist!
Obey the Fist!

This is a pretty good 3D cockpit based open world/sandpit space combat sim with a mission based story threaded through it.

Unfortunately the developers superseded this game with Evochron: Legacy which is about the same price, so it's impossible to recommend this over the newer game.

Shadhahvar
Shadhahvar

You probably want Evochron Legacy now that it is out (E.L. is made by the same guy, but is a game like this on steroids). Still, there's really nothing else quite like this that can also be done either just Single player or just multi player. The fact that there are no loading screens as you travel from place to place is just amazing.

theshockcabletv
theshockcabletv

I can not recommend this game,
due to that soon as this one was out.
The development abandoned it for the successor:
Evochron Legacy

Pros:
nice concept

cons:
abandonware at the early stages of life

OVERALL:
5/10

Blade Hunter
Blade Hunter

Blast off into infinite space. Land on planets. I am talking about real descents on planets, no game controlled sequence. Thrust your way through planetary rings and look, at the millions of little specks of dust that the rings consist of. Be amazed by the beauty. Be amazed by the amount of detail put into the simulator elements, such as the exact amount of speed needed to break into the atmosphere of a planet. Enjoy a fantastic tutorial that blends the intricate controls of the game with easy to understand steps. This is the game, that I as a 11 year old boy playing Frontier (Elite 2) on Amiga would'nt believe I would be playing 28 years later.

crashdumi5
crashdumi5

I really love what this game is about but I have to admit that it is hostile to the player and requires multiple google searches to understand the basic things of this game. For example, I still don't know how to save my progress. I thought I was saving, I was clicking save, I clicked a save slot, then when I reload, it didn't save and I'm back several hours of progress (turns out you can't save during a mission, makes sense, but not clear). Another example, I get a distress call, says it is at a particular coordinates. I type those into my nav console, hit autopilot and the ship just keeps jumping and jumping into nowhere land, is there someone out here? I waited about 15 jumps before I think maybe not? WTF is going on? I'll revise this comment if I change my mind, but the curve here is beyond punishing.

Profile
Profile

Good stuff for an old school space fans.
There's a newer Evochron Legacy SE on Steam, with updated graphics engine and other stuff, so be sure to check it out too. Ships are very different in both versions in Evochrons though.

Jammin'
Jammin'

A cool little game! I heard that this game was made by one person AND THATS EPIC! Its fun traversing even back and forth between places! the game makes time fly too. i didnt even know a played for 3 hours! customising your ship is also fun. my only complaint is that you cant save during contracts. which is kinda annoying. but still, 8/10!

killagamer001
killagamer001

its a simple but complex space sim made by one guy his made even more games that look even better

Tingalls
Tingalls

Evochron Mercenary is a great space game - locating minerals and doing special missions is a great way to build up your reputation and upgrade your ship. From racing to space dog-fights it is all fun. I'd recommend this game to anyone interested in space games. It's a must have collection.

jrl9203
jrl9203

The last time I played this was in 2014. Then I had serious family issues and had to stop playing all games. Now I am retires and have time to go back over several games I played or started to play back then. So far it looks pretty straight forwar. I only played the training section so far. As soon as I get to the rest I will put my two sense in here. Bye for now. Catch you on the rebound soon.

Goddness-Bell Dandy
Goddness-Bell Dandy

Not a bad game but it takes time to get the hang of how to play great graphics and a good sound track well worth the money.

Electronic
Electronic

I wanted to like this game more, but the complexity and the number of commands and settings and gizmos and bells and whistles you have to manage to simply fly from A to B was too overwhelming for me.
I like simpler star ship simulations, like Darkstar One, Galaxy on Fire 2, Starpoint Gemini 3 and Rebel Galaxy Outlaw, so I guess it´s just a matter of taste.
If you want an Elite Dangerous alternative, this might fit the bill. The graphics are pleasant, and there´s some background music going, which is always welcome.