Thirty years after launch, this classic space combat sim just got updated to work on modern systems and released for free
Alongside first-person shooters and real-time strategy games, the '90s was also the golden era of space combat simulators. From Star Wars: X-Wing to Freespace 2, whipping out your joystick to blow up spaceships in nausea-inducing 3D spaceflight was a formative experience for every first-generation PC gamer.
Among those space sims jostling for supremacy was Star Quest 1 in the 27th Century. Developed by Virtual Adventures Inc and released in November 1995, its defining feature was how it allowed seamless transition between open space and planetary atmospheres, which technically put it decades ahead of games like No Man's Sky. Sadly, this wasn't enough to make Star Quest a big success, and the game's been largely forgotten in the interceding years.
Until now, that is. Three decades since Star Quest first appeared, its designer Paul Lauzon has updated the space combat sim so that it works on modern machines, and re-released it over on itch. Best of all, you can download it for completely free.
Lauzon announced the game's rerelease over on Reddit. "I’m the original developer of Star Quest 1 in the 27th Century, first released in 1995," he wrote in the post. "I spent the last few weeks updating it for a 30th Anniversary Edition so it runs on Windows without the need to install and configure a DOS emulator yourself. I also modified the code to support game controllers and joystick with HOTAS setup and revised the keyboard and mouse control too."
While Star Quest is primarily a game about dogfighting in space, it actually has a variety of missions, which include space races, surface strikes, and more tactical engagements where you fight with a squad of wingmen. The itch page also shows off the game's incredibly '90s box art, and also provides a from-the-time list of key features, which you can read below:
- 3D mapped stars for a total feeling of immersion.
- Full 3D Gouraud shaded planets with atmosphere simulation.
- Texture mapped objects with real-time shading by sunlight.
- Mixed missions: deep space, air and surface.
- Over 60 different spaceships.
- Space racing with weaponry.
- Full 360 degrees 3D movement including light speed, reverse and stop.
- Layered sound effects with volume that decreases with distance.
- General MIDI music output.
- Animated texture mapping.
- Exploration mode to plan your attack and strategy.
- 10 levels of difficulty per mission.
- Stunning explosions with flying debris.
3D mapped stars? Gouraud shading? Texture mapping? Someone pinch me, I must be dreaming. I'm also impressed that Virtual Adventures managed to program 10 levels of difficulty, which seems like five more levels of difficulty than anyone realistically needs.
You can download Star Quest 1 in the 27th Century over on Itch, though ensure you account for the whopping eight megabytes of drive space it will gobble up. Lauzon points out that while the download button takes you through to a payment page where you can choose to make a contribution, you can also click 'No thanks, just take me to the downloads', to skip it.
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