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After 400 hours additional to my 100 hours when I wrote this review, I'd like to add a note saying that I've only grown to love the game more and more as I continue to play it. The first and second major updates have been far better than I could have hoped. Every update the game doubles in fun, it's... simply incredible. They're also the most bug-free and well-balanced updates I've ever seen in a game by FAR.

Here is the review I wrote 100 hours into the game (any edits besides grammar are in bold):

I don’t know where to begin.

Although I’ve wanted to write a review for some time, I decided to wait until I had at least 100 hours on the game before reviewing it, to be sure that my review was as accurate as possible. I’ve now passed 100 hours, so, here it is:

Within 24 hours of learning of NEBULOUS: Fleet Command’s existence, I had the game installed and was playing it.

Within 7 days of purchase, the game had surpassed Space Engineers as my favourite game. For reference, I have almost 4000 hours on Space Engineers, and I’ve been dedicated to it as my favourite game by a longshot since I got it around 3 years ago (until I played Nebulous).

If, like me, you’ve played games like Homeworld and wished that there was a space game with more realism and tactics. If you played Children of a Dead Earth and wanted to pit your mind against another in multiplayer. If you’ve watched The Expanse and wished there was an Expanse game… this is the game for you.

The tactics in Nebulous are unlike any game I’ve played before. The sheer number of equally plausible, and customizable tactical opportunities that you are presented with in the game is simply fantastic. Want to sit in the back and guide swarms of missiles around asteroids in a surprise attack to your enemy, while having a couple ships up front jamming their sensors? Want to get in close with cannons and torpedoes? Want to sneak around the map with stealthy particle beam destroyers and rip their battleships to molten slag at close-range? Want to coordinate fighter and bomber strikes over the entire map? Any of these options and far more are equally plausible in Nebulous and are established in a very intelligent way making all of these gameplay styles extremely fun, for both you and usually your enemies. And the best part is that in-between matches you can customize your fleets (and save them) however you want and come with a different fleet every match if you wish, due to the game’s fantastic ship and fleet editor.

While games like Homeworld have to rely on fast-paced explosions, graphics and massive fleets to keep you engaged, Nebulous does it with the tenseness of trying to get information on the enemy, in maneuvering your fleet into position and out-maneuvering the enemy fleet, and then in sudden and intense combat with beautiful visuals, effects, and a very high roof ceiling on skill. In other words, it has both incredibly engaging and fun gameplay, and awesome visuals and space battles.

In terms of bugs, for an early access game, it has a staggeringly low amount. The only seriously problematic bug I’ve really experienced is that, although quite rarely, sometimes a few of my missiles fly into my own ships. Since writing this review this bug has been fixed. But considering this is basically the only notable bug in an early access game that came into public hands only like 3 months ago… it seems like nothing.

Nebulous is quite a complicated game, which is why it is so incredibly fun to play, although it is understandable to be concerned about the learning curve. Luckily, the developer spent a lot of time and effort on the tutorial. It includes voice acting, is interactive, and made learning the game’s mechanics quite easy. Of course, many of the details of the mechanics you learn better as you go, but… it’s really not a very bad learning curve compared to what you’d expect.

This brings me to talk about the developers. Really… I’ve never had more faith in a developer team. They seem extremely responsible, intelligent, and skilled, more so than I’ve ever seen in such a small team (4 people). They really seem to value the player’s opinion and spend a lot of time figuring out how the game is played to figure out the best way to improve it, for new and existing players alike.

Before I conclude, I do want to mention that this game is not AS realistic as I thought it was upon buying the game. Ships do have speed limits, and quite low at that. Space drag, (I know it sounds terrible), is still a thing in this game. However, the game’s mechanics, at least for me, completely make up for it for me. This coming from someone who is the biggest realism enthusiast I've ever met. Also, it is still significantly more realistic than Homeworld or any other of its multiplayer competitors, as there, actually, is no universal up-direction in the game. The spaceships fly like spaceships, using thrusters in all directions to change their velocity as needed, even flying backwards while shooting at the enemy if you want them to. I mean, the beginning of every match literally looks like a clip from The Expanse, with your fleet flying in backwards, main engines decelerating the ship to arrive at a stop at the edge of the battlespace. It’s not by any means perfect in realism, but it's still far more realistic than anything else I’ve seen (save for maybe Children of a Dead Earth, but that’s singleplayer).

So, to sum up, NEBULOUS: Fleet Command is the most mentally engaging, cool, fun, and realistic multiplayer space strategy game I’ve ever played. I give it a resounding, 100% recommended to any hard sci-fi or military tactics/strategy fan. I can’t say enough of how awesome it is. Before writing this, I just came out of a truly epic match against some AI (which, admittedly aren’t the best, but they work well enough and have some seriously awesome improvements planned) those improvements have come since writting this review! I’m just telling you… you need to buy this game. It is unbelievably under-priced for the incredible gem that is NEBULOUS: Fleet Command.