It’s very much a niche game, with it’s own kind of appeal.

You set out in alone in a very basic ship, most likely to mine in some resource poor region of the Ring to get some starting cash.

Maybe you want to get better Mining equipment, salvage some damaged/abandoned ships, or piracy is more to your liking. But be warned space is big and there are a lot more rocks that people around.

As you progress you get better equipment and hire Crew. With some Crew you can mark PoI in the Ring to return to without having to fly all the way. The Crew and random events is where a lot of this Games story is hidden. Maybe the wife of your newly hired Crewmate hasn’t been in Contact recently and as you come near the Station she works at your Crewmate asks you if you could check up on her, only to find the station abandoned… Or you find a crazy astroid racer, who tells you where you can buy all that fancy racing gear, sends you some coordinates and tells you to meet him there in a week if you got the need for speed…

These events help make the world feel alive, give some goals and can be quite intriguing, but in the end the bulk of the gameplay is going to be flying through an astroid field and mining, or looking for other miners or destroyed ships.