Dust Fleet

About

Dust Fleet is a single player strategy game. It was developed by Orbiting Disco and was released on August 23, 2023. It received mostly positive reviews from players.

It's the 24th century and the colonization of space is not going well. Hyperspace opened the door to the stars, but habitable worlds are few and far in between, overpopulation is still rampant, and our civilization's appetite for resources has only increased. For over a hundred years, the incredibly rich Dust Zone sated this endless appetite, jointly controlled by the United Earth Nations and the …

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

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75%

Audience ScoreBased on 136 reviews

story11 positive mentions

stability3 negative mentions

Dust Fleet offers engaging space combat with a blend of 4X strategy and real-time tactics, reminiscent of Homeworld.
The game features enjoyable ship customization and a variety of mission objectives, providing a satisfying gameplay experience.
The developer is responsive to community feedback and regularly updates the game, showing commitment to improving the overall experience.

The campaign is relatively short, leaving players wanting more content and depth in the story.
There are several UI and control issues, such as difficulty in selecting ships and managing fleets effectively during combat.
The AI can be unbalanced, often leading to frustrating encounters where players feel overwhelmed by enemy forces.

story
67 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
16%
80%
4%
The story is generally described as a standard sci-fi narrative centered around Earth versus space colonists, with a campaign that features varied mission objectives and full voice acting. While some players appreciate the engaging and fun aspects of the story, others find it linear and too short, with repetitive missions that detract from the overall experience. Despite its shortcomings, the game offers a compelling backdrop for strategy and combat, appealing to fans of fleet battles and ship customization.
- “Nice story-driven strategy game.”
- “It has a nice campaign with many varied mission objectives, with a sizable length and full voice acting.”
- “Despite the jankiness, I'm enjoying the campaign story; the battles are still fun, and there is an excitement to building my fleets up and unlocking those massive capital ships.”
- “The first con is that the story is far too easy/short.”
- “Most of the missions were very repetitive and mostly just attack and defend missions with some that have their own special aspect to them, but besides that, it just becomes boring.”
- “I really wanted to like this game; the RTS space combat sections and ship customization have so much potential, but I can't even finish the tutorial without wanting to smash my PC. I generally don't care for this attempt to add 4X strategic gameplay; it just turns what could be a really cool homage to Homeworld into a lot of scripted mini missions.”
gameplay
26 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
19%
69%
12%
The gameplay in Dust Fleet is generally well-received, featuring enjoyable ship customization and intense space battles that evoke comparisons to classic titles like Homeworld. However, players have noted some mechanical quirks and UI issues, as well as a mixed execution of strategic and tactical elements that can detract from the experience. Overall, while the game offers a fun and engaging combat system, some players feel it lacks replayability and depth in its strategic gameplay.
- “Haven't encountered any issues at all, really fun ship customization mechanics.”
- “Dust Fleet isn't Homeworld, but it is a neat space RTS with 4X elements, some interesting features, slick presentation, and solid gameplay.”
- “Whether you're engaged in a small-scale dogfight or commanding a massive fleet, the battles in Dust Fleet are a testament to the game's attention to detail and commitment to delivering thrilling gameplay.”
- “For me, the game was worth the money at a discounted price, but I’m not sure I’d pay full price for just 10 hours of gameplay that has no replayability.”
- “I really wanted to like this game; the RTS space combat sections and ship customization have so much potential, but I can't even finish the tutorial without wanting to smash my PC. I generally don't care for this attempt to add 4X strategic gameplay; it just turns what could be a really cool homage to Homeworld into a lot of scripted mini-missions.”
- “Very small tactical space to play in; ships built in tactical have to be scrapped for balancing against strategic gameplay.”
graphics
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
86%
43%
The graphics are generally well-received, featuring decent visuals that enhance gameplay, particularly during space battles. Players appreciate the functional design, good zoom features, and dynamic camera angles that create a cinematic experience. Overall, the graphics meet expectations for a homeworld-style game, contributing to its appeal in the space strategy genre.
- “The full 3D space battles are a visual treat, with stunning graphics and dynamic camera angles that make every skirmish a cinematic experience.”
- “The good are space battles, nice visuals with the usual big, medium, small, and fighter class ships fighting out; the whole 3D space thing works properly, etc. It's what you would expect from a Homeworld-style game.”
- “Its captivating story, tactical depth, stunning visuals, and customization options make it a must-play for fans of space strategy games.”
- “The graphics are decent, but they lack the detail and polish expected from modern games.”
- “While the graphics are not terrible, they feel outdated and uninspired.”
- “The visuals are underwhelming, making it hard to get immersed in the game.”
replayability
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
43%
14%
43%
Overall, the game's replayability is mixed; while some players appreciate the inclusion of a campaign editor and a random campaign generator that can enhance replay value, many feel that the lack of challenge from the AI and a limited research tree diminish replay potential after completing the main campaign. Players suggest that the game may be worth a discounted price, but question its value at full price given the limited gameplay hours.
- “It certainly has a soul and some replayability potential.”
- “I should note there is a campaign editor that can likely enhance replayability, but not something I delved into.”
- “The game comes with a main campaign and offers replayability by also offering a random campaign generator as well.”
- “There's not much replay value after completing the campaign, as the AI is too easy to overcome and the research tree is not very robust.”
- “For me, the game was worth the money at a discounted price, but I'm not sure I'd pay full price for just 10 hours of gameplay that has no replayability.”
- “I should note there is a campaign editor that can likely enhance replayability, but it's not something I delved into.”
optimization
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
Overall, the game's optimization is generally solid, with users reporting stable performance and no crashes or stuttering. However, some players have noted audio issues when using certain abilities repeatedly, as well as performance dips during late-game combat.
- “On the technical side of things, the game's performance is solid.”
- “Good performance.”
- “I haven't suffered crashes nor stuttering, but I have encountered issues with the audio getting chopped if you use the healing aura ability multiple times in a short amount of time.”
- “Performance issues in late game combat.”
stability
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game suffers from significant stability issues, including a buggy user interface and combat mechanics, which detract from the overall experience. While it has potential, many users find it feels incomplete and plagued by bugs.
- “Half-baked homeworld clone with a limited technology tree (and no confirmation before you click/buy things) and a buggy UI.”
- “This is a really good game, but it is buggy.”
- “The combat is neat but very simplistic and buggy.”
humor
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is highlighted by unexpected and amusing gameplay moments, such as players reacting strongly to in-game messages and inadvertently dominating the campaign. Additionally, a humorous bug allows players to issue commands to captured enemy ships, adding a layer of comedic chaos to the experience.
- “Perhaps hilariously, I got the message so strongly and reacted so aggressively that the main fleet I put together pretty much stomped the campaign.”
- “When you capture enemy ships, there is a funny bug that lets you give orders to all enemy ship types of the class that are still under enemy AI control.”
music
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The music in the game is generally well-received, with players appreciating its quality and contribution to the overall experience. However, there are suggestions for improvement in the sound quality of weapon effects, which some feel lack impact.
- “Good graphics and nice music.”
- “I would like to see some improvements on weapon sound quality; they don't have the punch I would expect, but I do enjoy the voice acting, and the music is surprisingly good too!”
grinding
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be excessively tedious and disorganized, particularly criticizing the ship management and movement mechanics, which contribute to a frustrating experience due to a lack of control over formations and behavior.
- “What takes me aback about this game is that it is exceedingly tedious and very disorganized.”
- “Tedious is what ship management is... ship movement is tedious. Also, formations and even behavior are something I have absolutely no control over.”