In space, no one can hear your nostalgic sighs

I didn't play enough of Rebel Galaxy Outlaw to give it a fair shake; just enough to recognize what I miss - or to realize what I don't miss - from space-life simulators like Escape Velocity.

Something I miss: "safe" progression options, or to put it another way, options to create my own stepping-stones toward a fully decked-out warship. Modern games in this vein do consistently include features like asteroid mining, commodity trading, and simple transport missions, but as I lamented in the first Rebel Galaxy, they tend to be very ornamental and not worth the time. (Outlaw has at least some of these, but they're so poorly tutorialized that I don't think the game even wants me to do them.)

Something I don't miss: destinations, like planets and space stations, that are really just text menus. 3030 Deathwar Redux did a great job of building the illusion that you were actually walking around a spaceport using computer terminals and chatting with NPCs; I wish more genre revivals would take that hint instead of copying the same menu UIs from 20+ years ago. (Outlaw has 3D renderings of your character interactions, and even some voice acting, but you still click through menus - and submenus! - to initiate actions, so the facade is entirely transparent.)

Something I miss: a bit of substance to space travel. Pointing at a nav marker and waiting for time to pass is no fun (yo, Starpoint Gemini 2), but neither is fast-traveling straight to your objective. Between sublight piloting inside a system, and hyperspeed navigation across systems, one or the other should have enough mechanical complexity to make star-hopping feel earned. (Outlaw lacks complexity in either, with automatic docking and one-button autopilot jumps.)

Something I don't miss: impenetrable ship combat. As with navigation, "some" complexity in targeting or maneuvering can be thrilling, but if a game can't pull off Strike Suit Zero I'd rather it keep things simple like the original Rebel Galaxy. Clunky aiming and firing (like Space Pirates and Zombies), or a proliferation of fiddly energy options a'la "redirect weapons power to shields" (like Outlaw), can make dogfights feel more like work than a game. (Outlaw does implement a great "follow target" simplification, but throttle-control and evasion are terribly unwieldy.)

And something I kind of miss: compelling storytelling. I know the old games' mission narratives were just walls of text, and that doesn't cut it anymore, but you can't just whip up some 3D character models and lip-synced voice acting and call it a day. Without interesting characters or engaging events, why should I upgrade my ship or explore the galaxy? (Outlaw starts with a wordless animated short that feels like a concept pitch for investors; then the main character's voice-overs sound genuinely uninterested in her own plot.)

I think I'd be kidding myself to believe that substantive, well-written, and well-acted story content could come from anything short of a AAA budget; and even epics like Mass Effect miss those marks pretty regularly. But I do want to believe there's some satisfying compromise, some way for a small, independent production to deliver a good story - and a few fascinating side-stories - in an open galaxy with fun (if simple) mechanics. Like a sane version of Star Citizen.