Ciovala

I'd prefer buy-to-play (refuse to play 'free' to play games), but at least they are having a Plex-like system (https://devblog.dualthegame.com/2016/04/08/monetization-player-happiness-and-economic-viability/). So, you can work your arse off in-game and spend some sort of currency to keep your sub going.

Well, my first game was Defender on the Commodore 64. I was very young at the time, though. lol

Only tangentially related. However, my first space-related game was Starflight (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starflight), so you can guess I'm a bit older. Loved the exploration, meeting new species, etc. Definitely got me into the genre, followed by Descent, Wing Commander, and others. Even if this game isn't going to be a 3D version of Starflight, it's overall concept is something I'm very interested in. I do hope it has character creation like Eve does, as due to the type of game this will be you'll actually have a point to it! Eagerly following this game and will support it when we're able to.