Star Traders RPG is an open-ended game of trade, exploration, and combat. It resembles the Pirates & Traders game, but with a science-fiction makeover.
As with Pirates & Traders, how you play the game and what sort of conduct you engage in is largely up to you. You travel to various star systems trading goods, going on missions, exploring planets, and attacking other spaceships. During all this time you will amass an ever-growing crew that you must feed and keep happy. As the game progresses, you can improve your attributes as well as those of your ship, which frequently requires repairs. New spaceships are available for purchase, as well. Accepting a specific mission can be a dicey proposition. Gaining favor with one merchant or political group may entail earning the enmity of another. But you need money to survive, so you can’t turn your nose up at every mission that comes your way. Sooner or later, you have to risk making some enemies.
My biggest complaint with Star Traders RPG is that the writing lacks polish. Some of the game’s prompts are difficult to understand, and the help section was not always clear either. If you’re willing to look past a couple of rough patches, however, Star Traders RPG is a well developed and interesting game to play.
Though this review covers only the free version of Star Traders RPG, two other versions are available. One is a paid version that features even more complexity. (The free version was complex enough for my tastes, but I’m sure some people will appreciate the additional depth.) The other is Star Traders Mini–a simpler version of the game for people using older Android phones–like the G1–that have simpler hardware.