In The Black early access launched May 5 on Steam. Twenty-five reviews in, it's Mixed. The pedigree behind it is anything but.
The two guys who made the original X-Wing games in the nineties have spent the last few years building a successor. Not a remake, not a nostalgia pitch — a hard science fiction space combat simulator with a PhD-holding spacecraft consultant and an award for scientific accuracy. That gap between the credentials and the Mixed label is worth digging into.
Key Takeaways
- Impeller Studios is led by Jack Mamais (Far Cry, Crysis) and David Wessman (original X-Wing and TIE Fighter series)
- Five ship classes with variants, set in Saturn's rings in the 23rd century
- Technical consultant Zach El-Hajj, PhD, helped earn the Atomic Rockets Seal of Approval
- Mixed reviews at launch primarily due to always-online requirement for solo play
- Price: ~$8 USD on Steam Early Access
Overview
In The Black frames itself as a mercenary pilot game. You work contracts for megacorporations fighting shadow wars over Saturn's moons — Titan, Enceladus, the rings. The missions range from Debris Sweep and Asteroid Mining Facility to BloodSport PvP matches.
The setting is genuinely specific. Most space games wave at orbital mechanics and move on. This one has a PhD-credentialed spacecraft designer on the consultant list. The Atomic Rockets Seal of Approval — given to science fiction that doesn't make a physicist cringe — isn't easy to earn. The ships run on nuclear power. The orbital geometry of Saturn's ring system informs the mission locations. If that kind of rigor matters to you, this project has been working toward it for years.
The five ship classes cover the range you'd expect from a combat flight game: Shrike and Kolibri are light fighters built for speed over armor, Reus sits in the middle as a generalist, Pegasus is a combat transport (slower, three variants including Spectre and Spooky), and Hyperion carries the heavy weapons load. All ships are customizable via the ShipFrame Editor — swap weapon hardpoints, adjust loadouts, apply paint through the Ship Paint Customizer.
The input system is unusually complete for Early Access. Mouse and keyboard, gamepad, Steam Deck, HOTAS, HOSAS, head tracking, eye tracking, and ultrawide all work at launch. That's rare enough to be worth noting.
The ShipFrame Editor lets you configure weapon hardpoints per ship variant. Each class has multiple variants with different baseline stats.
Analysis
The "Mixed" label on 25 reviews tells you something specific: a vocal segment of players expected to fly solo offline and found out they can't. The Steam page notes the game "requires an Internet connection" and that "even in solo or co-op scenarios, players are interacting with the same systems running the live database." For a sim where the sci-fi framing leans on lonely mercenary work in the outer solar system, the always-online requirement grates.
That's a real complaint. It's also a known trade-off in games that anchor their progression to a live backend — rank systems, persistent mission logs, and BloodSport leaderboards work better when they're not split across offline saves. Whether that trade-off is worth it depends on how much solo flight you plan to do.
The founder credentials are more substantial than most indie space sim pitches. David Wessman's original X-Wing (1993) defined how cockpit-perspective space combat worked for a decade. Jack Mamais directed Far Cry before the series became an Ubisoft template, and before that he was production lead on MechWarrior 2: Mercenaries — a game whose physics model is still referenced in simulation communities. These aren't nostalgic brand names attached to a Kickstarter; they're designers who've shipped complex sims and know the difference between a convincing flight model and a space shooter with thrusters drawn on.
Early Access pacing matters here. There are rough edges — 25 reviews is a very small sample — and Impeller Studios is actively iterating. The Discord is the feedback channel, and the team has flagged the online-only requirement as something they're aware of.
The player asking "is this just another indie space shooter with ambitions?" deserves a direct answer: no. The simulation layer is legitimate. But it's also Early Access at $8, which means you're buying into a roadmap.
GODEEPER: Dead as Disco hit Early Access earlier this month with a different kind of small-studio swing. Dead as Disco Early Access Launch →
The comparison point that helps: if you played Alabaster Dawn or Dead as Disco recently and appreciated studios that clearly know their target genre from the inside — this is the same kind of project. If space sim specifically is your angle, the Amberspire launch from earlier this week covers what a different kind of technically ambitious small studio looks like at launch. It has more technical ambition than either. Whether that ambition lands at Early Access v1.0 is what the next six months will determine.
GODEEPER: Alabaster Dawn shows what happens when a solo developer builds deeply inside a specific genre they love. Alabaster Dawn Early Access →
Frequently Asked Questions
What is In The Black? A space combat simulator set in Saturn's system in the 23rd century. You're a mercenary pilot flying contracts for competing megacorporations. Five ship classes, PvE missions, and PvP BloodSport matches. Early Access since May 5, 2026.
Who made it? Impeller Studios, founded by Jack Mamais (director of Far Cry, lead on MechWarrior 2: Mercenaries, Crysis) and David Wessman (lead designer of the original 1993 X-Wing and TIE Fighter series, Saints Row 1). Technical consultant Zach El-Hajj, PhD, earned the project the Atomic Rockets Seal of Approval.
Why Mixed reviews? The game requires an internet connection for all play modes, including solo. That's the consistent complaint in early reviews. The studio is aware of the friction.
What ships are there? Shrike-class (light), Kolibri-class (light), Reus-class (medium), Pegasus-class (combat transport), Hyperion-class (heavy). All customizable via ShipFrame Editor.
Does it support HOTAS? Yes — full HOTAS and HOSAS, plus mouse/keyboard, gamepad, Steam Deck, head and eye tracking, and ultrawide.
How much? ~$8 USD at Early Access launch on Steam.
