6DOF games are a small genre (subgenre?) of FPS games usually about flying a spaceship in six degrees of freedom (hence 6DoF) and blasting enemies in confined spaces such as tunnels or underground or corridors.
Descent (1995) is the progenitor of them all.
Overload (2018) (gog, steam) is a spiritual successor by the original creators
but there other solid entries in the genre such as:
Desecrators (2021) (steam) - seems to be the popular "indie Descent" 6DoF game.
Zerograve (2022) (steam)
Sublevel Zero Redux (GOG, steam)
Geocode (spacesimcentral thread, Steam)
Ships That Fight Underground (steam) is upcoming and has had a hilariously convoluted beginning as a possible licensed sequel to Descent
Would love to get some suggestions of other games or opinions on the above games!
Pretty sure Terminus is a 6DOF game but not in the more arcade sense of somthing like Decent also IIRC space engineers and their first game Miner Wars were 6DOF, Babylon 5 I Found Her maybe as well, but I could be completely wrong as it been a while since I played any of them.
Edit just looking at my desktop and see two more games, Flight of Nova and Helium Rain.
Interesting! I can't find Terminus. Is Babylon 5 I Found Her a mod or a real B5 game?
Interesting! I can't find Terminus. Is Babylon 5 I Found Her a mod or a real B5 game?
Terminus is an old game from the late 90s, I like to think of it as the unofficial game of the Expanse, we might have a copy of here in the download or it can found on abandomware sites.
Babylon 5 I found her is a free game which used the Freespace engine, thinking about it, I think it uses the fly in one direction then hit a key to turn the ship around while still travelling in the original direction. Again check the download here as I think we have a copy of it.
Games like Independence War 2, Tachyon the Fringe also used it, not quite 6DOF then again I might be wrong about that maybe those two game did have up and down, will have to check at the weekend.
Rogue system is another to check out, it was a hard sci-fi sim but development stopped when the dev had a bad car accident, still on Steam.
Astrokill as well IIRC, again on Steam
Helium Rain is quite chill.
Helium Rain had the hardest docking since Elite but I think they changed it later on, also I now see that it is free to play alone with their other game on Steam.
Check out Tsmspace thread about a controller he is working on 6DOF games show your 6dof inertial control method here please!! – General Chat – SpaceSimCentral Forums Their another more upto date thread some where as well.
I guess I consider the 6DoF subgenre a lot more arcade-y than sim. I could be mistaken.
I would say after more research this week that Desecrators is maybe the best "living" example of the genre at the moment.
Thanks for the suggestions, keep 'em coming!
I guess I consider the 6DoF subgenre a lot more arcade-y than sim. I could be mistaken.
Maybe that with the Decent games being the best known of the 6DOF games, 6DOF it has become more associated with the more faster paced arcade side rather than the sim side of things.
But I have always thought that their is a lot cross over within that Newtonian flight model some games use weather it be 6DOF or the drift method.
And speaking Newtonian flight model, Space Rouges springs to mind as in total unplayable on the Amiga when you switch it on, may have been more playable on the C64 being a lot slower, Pc version can be found on GOG.
And speaking Newtonian flight model, Space Rouges springs to mind as in total unplayable on the Amiga when you switch it on, may have been more playable on the C64 being a lot slower, Pc version can be found on GOG.
I looked up Space Rogue, what a cool game. I love the box art!
@classyk I bought the original game, for my Amiga. An interesting mix of space sim, light RPG and arcade!!! Check this walkthrough:
http://crpgaddict.blogspot.com/2013/07/game-105-space-rogue-1989.html
I love the backstory!
Space Rogue is classic and it has some great bits in the box as well.
Must have been one of the early Newtonian games, can't remember if Warhead was Newtonian but it's unofficial sequel Mantis was IIRC.
A few games seem to offer both Newtonian and "airplane" controls (which probably makes nobody happy). I think this the case with Space Rogue. it's hard to say as the controls seem pretty unique!
Their is some odd control schemes, Starfury has the player having to slow down to a stop then turn and start speeding up again to change direction.
I found a "secret stash" of 6DoF games on itch.io!
In particular I like the look of Polychoron. Looks like a simple idea well executed.
I picked up Zerograve and Overload in a sale and look forward to them haunting my library of unplayed games
I have play tested so much Liberation I hear the battle music in my sleep ?