I agree with John, it’s not like SWN’s D&D-in-space vibe. It’s got more Burning Wheel and Fate in it. It doesn’t really do nebulous wandering sandbox style play either, you’re supposed to be explicit about what interstellar society and its species and factions are like, and also what sci-fi themes you want to explore in play. When you accept a mission, there’s an emphasis on the contract, including negotiating with the faction employing you.

Christoph’s got this weird “cone of spacetime” thing going on with the maps too, so it’s not just a flat hexcrawl.

I’ve only played some missions and didn’t do any trading, but I also like how in this game the planetary economies aren’t necessarily integrated, so if you show up to a new planet you need to bring actual goods to trade. They won’t accept your foreign currency.