Drox Operative

Free demo can be downloaded here: http://www.soldak.com/Drox-Operative/Overview.html

The game is by the same guys who did Din's Curse and Depths of Peril. It's kind of a top-down action RPG in space. You grab quests, fly around and shoot enemies, improve your ship, skills, gear, collect loot, etc. All I can say about the game is that even though I didn't always know what I was doing, I found the game to be very addictive. I Was solving quests without actually realizing I was doing so, making mistakes, I'm sure, but none of which were fatal.

I'm not great at action games, but I was doing ok, which means that it may not be challenging enough for some of you. Then again, I only played until I reached level 5 or so and I'm sure it will get harder (the demo, I think, limits you to level 6). I've only played the demo, but I had enough fun that I'm considering buying it.

BTW, the way the quests are handled resembles a whole lot the way they are handled in Din's Curse, so you can actually fail quests, and that can have negative consequences. You actually have decisions to make, how do you prioritize all the different tasks that you have, since it's not always possible to do everything and there's often time constraints. So it's an action rpg that makes you think (And sometimes makes you suffer when you make drag your feet, or make mistakes). That seems to be Soldak's trademark game mechanic, and it certainly helps to add urgency to the quests. I definitely do recommend Din's Curse as well (I never played Kivi's Underworld, and Depths of Peril seems not as focused a game as Din's Curse, so I found it a bit overwhelming. If you like Din's Curse, you may want to try it, though.