Destination Sol
Version: 2.0 Web: https://github.com/ Movingblocks/destinationsol
Destination Sol is a marvellous and very playable title originally discovered as ‘a great free game on Steam’, but later made open source. Although you can still find and play it on Steam, it’s not necessary any more since the Github version is perhaps even easier to get up and running. Just run
$ ./gradlew run in the game’s root directory.
Your goal is to fly around the universe in a space fighter and shoot enemy ships, which all have an orange accent. Destroyed enemies leave money and energy items that you can pick up. The game lets you earn money in different ways, not just by killing bad space guys. At the start it makes sense to fly around the friendly docking station (the blue one) and shoot asteroids in order to kick some money out of them. Having collected more cash, fly back to the dock and use the game’s menu (hit ‘T’) to buy and sell stuff.
Destination Sol has a solid number of weapons, ship enhancements and various aids such as repair kits that you can buy and carry with you. The universe is large, with many objects and planets around. Entering a planet is usually a risky business since there are many towers and powerful defending ships that can kill you. That’s why it’s better to first get some experience in the outer space, collect money and use them to buy a better spacecraft capable of carrying missiles and bombs.
Once you feel confident confronting harder enemies, you can travel inside planets. Your initial docking station is not the only place where you can get new stuff. Some planets, like Ceres, have their own trading points and should accept your ship.
Overall, the game is captivating and very stunning. Surfing the solar system and exploring new places has been done just right in Destination Sol!