Of all the upcoming space sims on the way, Rebel Galaxy Outlaw is the one I’m most excited for, and it’s easy to see why after last Sunday’s three-hour developer stream. Double Damage’s front-man Travis Baldree took trading and shooting sandbox on a long, leisurely spin for Easter, sipping whiskey the entire way. Between the slightly sozzled sincerity of it all and the game looking like a lovely space-trucker-themed tribute to Wing Commander: Privateer, there’s a lot to like here. Watch the whole video below; a little over two hours of game and the rest is a Q&A session.

Right off the bat, Baldree starts getting into interesting details, including how the game handles difficulty settings. Casual difficulty gives the player a foot up with some better starting equipment, but doesn’t make things significantly easier otherwise. Sim mode locks you to cockpit view and disables aim assistance, making for far more involved combat. At the top level there’s Old School mode, which disables all flight assistance too, so no quick-facing targets. He also confirms that controls are fully configurable, and that the HOTAS crowd aren’t forgotten.

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The whole stream is worth watching if you’ve any nostalgia at all for ’90s style space combat, or just like the genre at all – it helps that Baldree can tell a story. The game’s soundtrack (delivered through in-ship radio) is excellent, including some sludgy deep-south rock and even some jazz, for when you want to pretend it’s a Cowboy Bebop game. The stream shows off a little of the very beginning of the game, before skipping forward to show off the later segments and what you can do with a ship that doesn’t look like a skip (Dumpster for those in the US) with engines and guns.

The game is a treat to look at, which is all the more impressive as Double Damage are a tiny studio with only a handful of devs. The game’s grimy bars are detailed, ship cockpits are full of character and the combat is just the right kind of shiny. They’ve even got a full ship-painting system, letting you decal or doodle all over your hull as you see fit. They also plan on releasing editing tools post-launch, letting you create all new ships, so long as you have the 3D modelling chops for it, and assigning hardpoints and stat values to these new craft. Lots to look forward to.

Rebel Galaxy Outlaw is out ‘soon’, and will be Epic Store exclusive (store page here) for the first year. It’ll cost $30, with regional prices to be announced. Check out the game’s official page here.