Star Wars: X-Wing and MechWarrior veterans release In The Black, a "serious" space combat sim with Newtonian physics

No Spitfire-style handling in this one

In The Black is a new space combat sim that is "laser focused on the pilot experience" - this being the one, entirely justifiable and indeed, pleasantly grisly usage of "laser focused" I have ever encountered, while quoting a press release. It's the work of Impeller Studios, a company led by Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance gameplay and story lead David Wessman and MechWarrior 2: Mercenaries director Jack Mamais. Those are certainly the right CVs for the job. I imagine they called the studio "Impeller" because some actual military aviation company already owns the trademark on "Overheating Flying Coffins R Us".

You play as a probably short-lived mercenary pilot, scrapping for credits in the shadow of Saturn and Mars, sometime in the 23rd century. There are orbital stations to defend, debris fields to scour, and asteroids to hopefully not crash into. On which note, the Steam page makes a big deal of the game having realistic physics. There's a demo as of writing if you'd like to try it out. Or you can watch the developer's intro to that demo.

The first thing you'll probably notice is that if you start moving in a direction, you'll need to fire engines in the other direction to stop. Partly as a result of this seriously simulatory slipperiness, much of the dogfighting happens at great distance, with the enemy vessel invisible save for the 3D targeting model on your dashboard. You'll also need to lead targets, when firing off slower projectiles, and you'll have to worry about your individual ship modules losing function. Aye, tis no Star Fox.

The current early access build supports 2-4 player co-op across a range of short mission scenarios, plus 5v5 Bloodsports multiplayer. There doesn't appear to be a full story campaign. You can slap different guns on each ship design's hardpoints, in addition to painting them to look like they have Angry Eyebrows and other elements of psychological warfare.

Even before you get your spraycan out, the ship designs cover a nice range visually. Some of them resemble WipEout racers, some of them look like what I imagine Apollo 33 will look like, if NASA still exists two centuries from now, and one of them appears to be a really gung-ho Segway. Again, though, you will spend a lot of time sprinkling bullets over indicators, rather than examining these vessels up-close.

The Steam page promises "robust controller support for everything from mouse and keyboard, gamepads, Steam Deck, HOTAS and HOSAS" - as in, flight sticks - "as well as head and eye tracking and ultrawide monitor support." The one Tie Fighter in the ointment is that you'll currently need an internet connection to play it.

"The core of the game is built around a shared back-end that all rely on a live database," the devs explain on Steam. "Even in solo or co-op scenarios, players are interacting with the same systems running the multiplayer experience. We completely understand the appeal of a fully offline mode, especially for a sim-style game like this, and it's something we hope to revisit down the line."

In The Black will spend at least a year in early access, and the final version will "feature UX refinements, improved combat systems and player progression balance, expanded content, new game modes, enhanced graphics and sound, and some new friends and matchmaking features.”

All this reminds me that we have a feature on the best space games on PC. It hasn't been updated for a few years. Any changes to suggest right now?