Recommendation for Space Flight Sim Wanted!!!

I'm itching to play a really good space flight sim, with a great story and strong hair-trigger combat. I haven't seen anything decent looking since Freespace 2, though.

Elite: Dangerous is "open world," which implies to me that it lacks narrative. I tried EVE Online, but found the learning curve to be ridiculous and combat sorely lacking. How about Battlefront? How much is actual space combat?

Any other thoughts or recommendations?

Thanks!

Boz

Freelancer - it's a bit aged, but still an awesome game.

If you're more into instant action then try out Descent. It plays more like an FPS, but with a 6DoF style.

Or if you don't mind the never ending alpha state, then you can try Star Citizen.

Was hoping to find something a bit newer, but that one's been on my radar. Maybe I'll have to actually take the plunge.

I loved the original back in high school, but I was more looking for the narrative alongside the action like in Freespace 2. Going into a mission and, mid-mission, getting new orders and completely changing what I was planning or having the entire story change based on new infor given in-flight- it was SO good.

Still want to play Descent, too, though!

Boz

I've tried a few other space sim games and none of them have done me any good. I don't try to compare previous games in a genre to newer released games, but I find it hard to do with space sims. Freelancer was so awesome when it came out and I haven't found another space sim that entertained me like Freelancer did. Also, last time I checked (back in 2012), there were still folks playing the game online. I never tried taking part in the online aspect of the game, but it seems folks still really enjoyed it. Also, be sure to get all the official updates/patches installed and also the most recent non-official patch, if you get the game.

I think it's certainly worth a go. Check out amazon or ebay for a copy of the game, since it's not available digitally anywhere.

Dark star one its on steam.

I'm glad I'm not the only one that thinks that.

x3 terran conflict. You can follow a story line if you want though is a bit mehh. Otherwise it hits all the right notes if you got time to invest into it

I've read mixed reviews on Dark Star One, but since everything says they hoped it was the next Freelancer, I'd hazard I should try Freelancer first!

This didn't seem very space-battle oriented. More flying around and trading and stuff. Correct me if I'm wrong; the videos are kind of vague.

Sorry for the bump; I'm not on Gamespot nearly as much as I used to be!

Thanks,

Boz

@Bozanimal: Everspace, a space rogue-like. It's not quite a "space sim" but it's worth checking out. It's very promising and made by an established development team. It's early access so you may wanna wishlist it and wait for a few more patches. It's pretty good so far though, I enjoy it.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/396750/