Beyond Sol

Humanity has managed to set up several small deep space colonies in the Rim system and started mining the resources it needs to survive and grow. In Beyond Sol, you are the commander of a small ship that’s more than capable of putting out a good fight and its up to you to protect your city or those of your allies from hostile forces.

Beyond Sol is one of those indie games that delivers good looking graphics, simple and well thought out mechanics and gameplay that challenges your strategic thinking. In the game you get to build several types of civic, administrative, commercial and defensive buildings, each with its well defined purpose and meant to make your city grow into a more powerful one, from both economical and military standpoints.

To get the credits you need, you can salvage parts from destroyed ships and mine minerals from asteroids that float through space. Your ship is equipped with a few drones that do all the work so you can sit back and lookout for potential enemy ships that might want a piece of the loot.

Once you have enough credits, you are free to add new structures to your city and even purchase a new and more powerful ship.

Beyond Sol uses a combat system that is very similar to that of MMORPGs. During a battle, you get to control the flight path of your ship and using a series of keys, you switch between targets and fire one or all the weapons that are equipped to the ship.

At first, your ship seems a blit slow but in all fairness, a smaller enemy craft will always be more agile than yours. That’s why you’ll have to master control and timing for your attacks because you won’t be able to simply engage a fleet without dying. Strategy is important.

On a closing note, Beyond Sol is by all means a promising game. It’s apparent simplicity makes it accessible and easy to grasp, it has well implemented mechanics and there are plenty more waiting to be added. It’s one you should keep an eye on.