One of the highlights of my gaming experience is the final mission of G-Police, Psygnosis’s cyberpunk flight sim. (It came out in 1997, so I think the statute of limitations on spoilers has passed, but if you still intend to play it, stop reading now.) The mission completes the long arc of foreshadowing that began with the intro’s mention that capital-class starships have been banned, following a ruinous war. It turns out that one particular evil corporation has sneakily built one of these megaships—not only that, but you can fly around in it, guns blazing. It was doing this that made me, as a teenager, realize the true exceptionality of video game art. You can’t fly around in capital ships in symbolist poems or baroque symphonies, can you? You can't fly in poems or symphonies at all, unless you do it metaphorically – “metaphor” being a poor man's kind of chart.
Flight simulation technology has come a long way since the days of G-Police. For example, in Everspace 2's just-announced Titans DLC, you can fly inside not only regular spaceships, but also massive space kaiju with procedurally generated digestive systems. Here's the trailer.
Watch on YouTube
The expansion will add two new stories, triggered midway through the main game's story: Dreadnought and Leviathan. Each lasts approximately three to four hours and introduces new enemies, equipment, craftable items, characters, and resources. In Dreadnought, you set out to find a legendary Colonial Battleship that has been hijacked by bandits – the basis for “the biggest battle in the Everspace series yet!”
It sounds fun, but the space battles in Everspace are ten-on-ten. I'm more interested in the Leviathan story, which adds secret star monsters that are actually huge, wandering, spontaneously forming dungeons, with a taste for passing pilots. Here's the summary:
Sightings of the legendary Leviathan have spread among the fortune seekers of Group 34, including your least favorite cultists, the Redeemers. Venture deep into the Khait Nebula to uncover the truth about these massive, presumed extinct creatures! Not all that is swallowed is lost: treasure is said to lie deep within the bowels of this beast, and that is exactly where you will find yourself. Journey inside to discover new and valuable resources that lie within the guts of these massive creatures. No two adventures inside will be the same, as the many stomachs and organs of these beasts rearrange themselves.
Sounds cool, I think? Not since I read Underspace have I experienced such a thrill of cosmic abandon. I can only imagine what the teenager in me would have thought of being able to fly around inside a space kaiju. I would have had no choice but to become Peter Molyneux. Anyway, the new Everspace 2 DLC doesn't have a release date yet, but you can always check out the Steam page.