Drox Operative Preview

Space Game Junkie has given Soldak's Drox Operative the preview treatment after spending some firsthand time with the space simulation/action RPG's most recent beta build. A snippet, as usual:
Unlike dungeons, which have specific corridors and rooms, the systems in Drox Operative are open circular spaces with planets, anomalies, space junk, alien monsters, gates to different systems and so on. At first, I have to admit this was a bit jarring. I was used to the more focused experience of running through corridors and into rooms, finding stairs and other ways to move between floors.

With Drox Operative's open nature, this felt a bit like a slog at first, in all honesty. Even with rampant killing of enemy monsters, flying to planets to trade (more on this in a bit) and so on, I was kind of at a loss as to how to find a way to get from one system to another at first. This got more intuitive as I learned the game, but initially, I was somewhat frustrated. Thankfully a couple of patches have already been released to help ease the new player into the game, but new players should note that there is something of a learning curve until it all clicks. Thankfully, Drox Operative provides numerous options to tweak the game.