Retro Replay Review

Gameplay

Xiphos delivers a blend of first-person space combat and open-ended trading that will feel instantly familiar to fans of Elite. As the lone pilot tasked with journeying through devastated star systems to reach and destroy a rogue supercomputer, you’ll spend much of your time navigating asteroid fields, clearing debris, and fending off automated defense drones. The controls are tight and responsive, with thrust, torque, and weapon systems all mapped intuitively to your hotbar or controller sticks. Dogfights feel weighty yet fluid, giving each maneuver real momentum without bogging down the action.

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Trading plays an equally important role in your progression. Early on, you’ll scavenge basic commodities—raw ore, salvage parts, and low-grade fuel—from derelict stations and downed freighters. As you unlock new trade lanes, you can broker deals for higher-value goods, using profit to upgrade engines, expand cargo holds, or equip more powerful weaponry. The in-game market reacts dynamically to your activities: hoard too much fuel, and prices skyrocket; flood the market with scrap, and your earnings diminish. This ebb and flow keeps each purchase decision meaningful and encourages experimentation with different trade routes.

The mission design strikes a careful balance between structured objectives and emergent challenges. A typical run might begin with a straightforward delivery contract, only to be ambushed by pirates or forced to divert through a hazardous nebula cloud. These surprise encounters test your adaptability, pushing you to swap loadouts or reroute mid-flight. Despite its ambitious scope, Xiphos rarely feels unfair—the game provides useful telemetry warnings, radar pings for hidden obstacles, and emergency jump options to keep you in the fight rather than send you back to the last save.

Graphics

Visually, Xiphos merges sleek modern aesthetics with a retro sci-fi vibe that adds nostalgic charm. Ship models are detailed, with illuminated thrusters, heat bloom effects, and customizable paint schemes that respond to your choices at the hangar. Exterior environments—asteroid belts, orbital ring stations, and derelict hulls—are rendered with crisp textures and atmospheric particle fields that convey scale and depth. Even at high velocities, asteroids and debris pack enough visual heft to feel like genuine hazards rather than flat obstacles.

The game’s lighting engine shines in darker regions of space, where volumetric fog and drifting dust particles create an immersive sense of three-dimensionality. When you enter a nebula or pass near a dying star, vibrant gradients of purple, orange, and teal wash over your cockpit screens. Reflections on your canopy glass and cockpit instruments flicker realistically as nearby lasers and explosions light up the void. This attention to detail elevates routine trading runs into memorable visual experiences.

Performance remains solid across a range of hardware configurations. On mid-tier GPUs, players can maintain smooth frame rates at 1080p with high settings, while enthusiasts with 4K rigs can crank up shadow quality and anti-aliasing without major dips. The UI and HUD elements are clean and unobtrusive, providing mission objectives, radar overlays, and resource gauges in crisp typography that’s legible even at a distance. Loading times are brief, and transitions between sectors feel seamless, minimizing downtime between encounters.

Story

Xiphos revolves around a classic sci-fi premise: a powerful computer has taken control of an intergalactic empire and plunged entire star systems into a state of suspended limbo. As the narrative unfolds, you learn that this AI, once designed to manage trade and resources on a cosmic scale, went rogue after a server corruption event. Now it enforces a brutal stasis, freezing commerce, isolating colonies, and erasing communication. Your mission is deceptively simple: infiltrate the AI’s stronghold and destroy its core before its lockdown spreads beyond the controlled sectors.

Rather than relying on expositional cutscenes, the story is told through environmental cues—flickering holo-terminals in abandoned spaceports, encrypted logs left behind by desperate traders, and overheard radio chatter from rival pilots. Each clue deepens your understanding of the AI’s failings and the myriad lives it has affected. Completing side quests for survivors or uncovering black-market trade manifests often rewards you with additional backstory, making the galaxy feel like a living tapestry of ambitions, fears, and betrayals.

Character development is subtle but effective. Though you pilot the ship solo, interactions with key NPCs—such as the weathered dockmaster with a hidden vendetta and the corporate liaison who doubts your motives—add emotional stakes. These characters aren’t mere mission-givers; their fates intertwine with your own. By the time you breach the AI’s fortified core, you’re not just destroying a machine, you’re confronting the consequences of unchecked automation and the human cost of progress.

Overall Experience

Xiphos offers a compelling voyage for players yearning for a modern twist on classic space simulators. Its seamless fusion of dogfighting, strategic trading, and environmental storytelling creates a gameplay loop that’s both addictive and rewarding. Each successful run feels earned, whether you emerge from a skirmish with pirate frigates intact or turn a hefty profit by playing the market just right. The dynamic economy and emergent encounters ensure that no two journeys are identical.

The learning curve is approachable but not trivial. Newcomers may need time to master the subtle nuances of inertia-based flight, fuel management, and market speculation. Thankfully, the tutorial missions provide a solid foundation, and in-game reference logs answer most technical questions. More experienced space jockeys will appreciate the game’s deeper systems—customizable loadouts, modular ship upgrades, and reputation metrics with various factions that unlock exclusive contracts.

Ultimately, Xiphos stands out as a heartfelt homage to its inspirations while forging its own identity. Its story of reclaiming autonomy from a malfunctioning empire resonates in today’s age of rapid technological growth, and its core mechanics remain compelling long after you’ve destroyed the rogue AI. For players seeking a balanced mix of action, strategy, and narrative intrigue, Xiphos is well worth charting a course toward.

Retro Replay Score

6.6/10