Parents' Guide to Deep Sky Derelicts: Definitive Edition

The original game hit more than a year ago for PC gamers to a mixed reception. Now, Deep Sky Derelicts: Definitive Edition has made its way to consoles, complete with a number of updates and downloadable content meant to add more to the content while improving the overall experience. The gameplay is a mix of dungeon crawler and card game mechanics. Each piece of equipment gives characters a stat boost and adds different action cards to their individual decks. There's a lot of strategy in finding just the right balance of cards, stats, and abilities to deal with whatever might be lurking around the corner.

While this package is the most complete way to dive into the deep space scavenging adventure, there are still a number of shortcomings that make it feel less than "definitive." For starters, it's nearly impossible not to fall into a rut of repetition. There's not much to distinguish one contract from another. There are occasional environmental variables that can tweak certain elements of gameplay, but you still can't help but feel like you're just going through the motions. Also, since each derelict is randomly generated, the difficulty curve has more rises and dips than a theme park roller coaster. And due to the fact that each playthrough is its own entity, there's no carry over of any experience if players have to start over, adding to that feeling of deep space déjà vu. The result is that Deep Sky Derelicts: Definitive Edition will appeal to a certain kind of strategy RPG fan, but many other gamers will prefer a different kind of adventure in space.