SF2 is an extremely tough, yet surprisingly forgiving game, that showcases all of the greatest features of old-school gaming, as well as many of its foibles. While the game is far from flawless, the sheer scope and breadth of player agency makes for a completely engrossing experience that easily overcomes any shortfalls.

While my steam library is a graveyard of generic and nameless space exploration games, space shooters, and space strategy games that I will never touch again; the generically named Star Fleet 2, stands high above the rest as The Definitive Space Game by which All Other Space Games Shall be Measured (at least in my opinion). It does so by incorporating ship-to-ship combat, fleet management, resource management, exploration, boarding actions, planetary invasions, and more, all into one sometimes-difficult-to-look-at package; and it does so by giving the player granular control over each individual facet of the game. For example: Are you tired of AI allies standing around, doing mostly nothing, and letting you, the player, do most of the work? Well, then rank up enough to take control of the entire regional fleet, and bear its might down on any target of your choosing without the need to put your battlecruiser on the front line. Doing so does not bring a great amount of honor; however, and you may see reduced rewards from High Command, or you may outright fail to complete your mission objectives in due time.

First time players will struggle, guaranteed. To help them, is a pair of extensive manuals (each >150 pages), as well as a new in-game reference called the Ship Information System. The SIS is a feature new to the 2.0 Steam Release and greatly increases accessibility. There is also an extensive guided tutorial consisting of several missions, which in a lesser game, could constitute a major portion of the game itself. In SF2 however, the tutorial missions can be played in series, or to supplement to the main campaign as it throws more and greater challenges and gameplay systems at the player.

Even so, the scope of the game is so great that no manual or tutorial could ever elucidate everything about it; this is a game which has bound every single key on your keyboard 3 or 4 times. Thankfully, there is a wonderful and supportive community of die-hard players and fans of this game that congregate on Discord-- I would recommend that anybody picking up this game, join the official SF2 Discord server and seek assistance there, as myself and others there are always eager to help new players.

After dozens of hours, I finally feel like I have begun to master at least some of the game's systems; I have even been able to complete my first Prefect-level mission without save-scumming, or getting my upgraded cruiser blown to smithereens by UGA dogs. Being that the game has no mouse control whatsoever, the feeling that banging commands into your keyboard elicits is simply unmatched by anything else that I have ever played. Mastering control of your battlecruiser and later your battlefleet is supremely satisfying for those that are willing to put in a bit of book study time, and a lot of practice.