Free Space

Free Space is a premier game released by Volition Inc on March 19, 1998. The complete name of the game as seen from the cover is Descent: Free Space - The Great War. The game was created around the time Volition had already parted ways with Parallax Software. The game has been well received by critics, that 1999 saw its immediate sequel entitled Free Space 2 in stores.

Free Space is a first-person player game. The player will be assigned a starship with the command of other AI (artificial intelligence) pilots. They will have a flank of spaceships that will go to war and save two extraterrestrial races: The Terrans and Vasudans.

The gameplay starts with just the two mentioned races waging war against each other. Over the course of the war, another militant race appears – the Shivans. This third race effectively stops the war and just slaughters both opponents. The Terrans and Vasudans decide to form an alliance to defeat the Shivans. The player is part of the alliance that aims to destroy a common enemy.

Free space happens in the 23rd century. Humanity has already discovered easier interstellar travel. The player character is a pilot from the Grand Terran Alliance (GTA). Before any missions, there will be briefing sessions that will set the objectives of each stage. One such objective is the destruction of The Lucifer, which is the Shivan's ultimate warship. It is particularly difficult to destroy this ship because it has impenetrable shields that once wiped out a great ancient civilization.