Rebel Galaxy is the debut game from Double Damage Games. I Have been following development of this game since I first saw it announced for PS4 on the PlayStation Blog back in Oct 2014. I was able to attend PAX South 2015 and got a lengthy hands on with an early build of Rebel Galaxy (plus an awesome Shirt) and was immediately hooked.
After many months of waiting, Double Damage announced the console release date and was kind enough to email us at Late Night Gamers a review code for PS4. As a note the game is also now available on Xbox one & PC via Steam for $20.00.
The setting is in a far off Galaxy on the edge of the universe where piracy, trading, mining & bounty hunting is your source of income. You start off with your Aunt disappearing & leaving you with her old ship, a mysterious relic & a breadcrumb trail to find her. You soon find out your aunt was a well known smuggler & the mysterious relic is a potentially dangerous alien tech. The story itself is a good story with some twists and turns but where the game truly shines is in its game play and side activities.
The Combat System in Rebel Galaxy is complex but simplified for even the most wet behind the ears space pilots. Your ships primary weapons are its broadside cannons but it also has a secondary fire option and numerous amount of turrets to use depending on what ship you are using. There are many variation of each weapon type that all have their pros & cons. You also have hull, shield, deflector, cargo, booster, etc to all upgrade as well on your ship of choice. There are numerous ships you can buy and unlock by ranking up the factions in the Galaxy.
There are many side activities available to you in the form of normal missions that have various objectives like Escorts, Shipping/Deliveries, Kill X person or ships, Dead Drops, Etc really all your standard open world side activities. All used to earn credits and upgrade your ship to become a feared space pilot in this open world, Space Piracy, Naval Combat, Space Opera. (thats a mouth full)
I ran into only 2 real issues while playing rebel Galaxy and both issues I brought to Double Damage’s attention via Twitter and they have been great with responding and keeping in touch with me on the status of these issues and if i was still experiencing them. In my opinion this is great to see from a developer. Most of the time you get generic responses like it will be passed along and that is the last you hear from them about it. Neither of these issues were game breaking or massive inconveniences and I’ve experienced no issues with frame rate drops or texture loading. There is however an issue occasionally with pop in like asteroids and stations when coming out of warp speed.
Rebel Galaxy is a fun action-packed space adventure that you can dive into and get 50-60 hours out of it if you go for 100% completion. Even if you just play the story you will get 25-30 hours from Rebel Galaxy easily. If you enjoyed the Assassins Creed 4/Assassins Creed: Rogue naval combat or you are a fan of the cult classic Firefly TV show or Serenity movie you will feel right at home and enjoy Rebel Galaxy. I believe the value of this game is well beyond the $20.00 you spend for it.
Rebel Galaxy easily earns a 9.5/10 for its fantastic game play, excellent soundtrack, good story, and excellent setting. At the time of this writing I am 20% from 100% in Rebel Galaxy and I will definitely be going for that Platinum!
Article written by Torey.
I’m a long time passionate fan of games, not gaming drama.