i have spent the last ten minutes trying to articulate how this game series is so good/why it means so much to me but my brain simply refuses to so instead ill just say PLAY THE DAMN SERIES IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY ITS SO GOOD
this game never fails to scratch the "space exploration sim" urge that i get every so often, but it doesn't last for long since the sandbox elements don't really grab me that much.
this game first came out when i was in the fifth grade and it's most recent re-release dropped a couple months after i turned 22. mods have carried this game for the overwhelming majority of its lifespan
played this leading up to Alan Wake II, really interesting story and worldbuilding but the game can be fuckin HARD. not ashamed to say i had to crank the difficulty down several times to get thru this game