Space Rogue (Atari ST)

The Princess Blue was a trading vessel. While cruising through space, it happened upon a derelict ship floating in space. Only one crew member was allowed to investigate the abandoned ship. Suddenly, Manchi raiders appeared on the viewscreen. The Manchi managed to ambush and destroy the Princess Blue. The only surviving crew member from the Princess Blue swears revenge and is determined to do everything in his power to defeat the Manchi.

Space Rogue is a hybrid game that combines space flight and combat simulation with trading and RPG elements such as interaction with characters and a quest-based structure with a main plot line. Space flight takes place in two different modes: Cruise Flight, which is ideal for travelling quickly, and Newtonian Flight, which works best for combat and precision flying. There are also three different camera views for the 3D exploration and combat. Each planetary system has a variety of destinations and obstacles to travel through via a top-down navigational map. Traveling to an outpost, a space station, or any other location with the star system can be done simply by selecting it and charting a course, or in real-time 3D flight mode.

Interstellar travel between systems, is done by finding a Malir Gate and using it to reach hyperspace. While in hyperspace, the game becomes a simple 'tunnel' game where the player must manually control the ship not to hit any of the walls. Also hyperspace travel eats away at the ship, so the faster the player can get through them, the more armor the ship retains. While traveling in space the ship may get attacked, or the player may opt to assault any other ships first.

It is also possible to buy and sell various goods, earning money and spending it on outfitting the ship with weapons and various upgrades, such as for example a device that allows it to move more stealthily through space and avoid detection by hostiles. The player character has a reputation rating with various factions such as the Imperium, the pirates, and others. This rating is affected by the player's actions towards them and can be raised or lowered by helping specific factions fight others.

When docked at outposts or stations, the view shifts to top-down, and the player navigates the protagonist through the location in an adventure or RPG-like fashion, examining objects and talking to characters. Conversations may have multiple choices, and a few instances require the player to type in keywords, though for the most parts responses are selected from a menu. The game has a main plot line that requires finding, talking, and performing tasks for characters, as well as sub-quests that may result in various rewards such as money or ship upgrades.