Posted on lithgowtech.com/blog
Right, hear me out. I’m going to review a game I haven’t actually played properly yet. And I think that says more about the game than any five-star write-up could.
Empty Epsilon is a spaceship bridge simulator. They can’t call it a Star Trek Enterprise simulator for obvious trademark and copyright reasons โ which we absolutely respect โ but if you’ve ever watched a crew on a starship bridge and thought I want to do that, this is the closest you’re going to get without building a full LARP set in your backyard. Actually, people have done that too. More on that in a moment.
What Is Empty Epsilon?
Empty Epsilon is a 100% free, fully open-source spaceship bridge simulator. The concept is brilliantly simple: you set up multiple computers on a local network, and each player takes a different role on the bridge. Each officer fills a unique role โ Captain, Helms, Weapons, Relay, Science, and Engineering โ and except for the Captain, each officer operates part of the ship through their own specialised screen. WikipediaFallout Wiki
The Captain doesn’t have a control panel. The Captain gives orders and relies entirely on their crew to tell them what’s happening and carry out their commands. Just like it should be.
What We Love About It
Every position is its own mini-game, and none of them work without the others.
Engineering has to manage heat, handle repairs, and distribute power across ship systems โ and there’s never quite enough power to run everything at once. Choices have to be made under pressure.
Weapons has to coordinate with Science to modulate the shields and time attacks against incoming threats. You’re not just shooting โ you’re communicating constantly.
Helm is flying the ship. Sounds straightforward until Engineering is screaming about power and Weapons needs you to hold a specific angle and the Captain is shouting something entirely different.
Science/Sensors is scanning the battlefield and feeding information to everyone else. The quiet achiever of the bridge, until they miss something important.
What makes this genuinely special is the replayability. Playing a different position is essentially playing a different game. Someone who’s brilliant at Engineering might be absolutely hopeless at Helm. Someone who owns the Weapons console might fall apart in the Science seat. Every rotation changes the entire experience.
Scenarios are created by a Game Master โ not unlike a D&D game โ and can be crafted to fit whatever franchise or creative impulse feels right for that session. The flexibility here is remarkable. SysRqmts.com
And the graphics? Yes, they’re dated. Very dated. But as we’ve said before in our Fallout 3 review โ graphics are not the game. Empty Epsilon is proof. Nobody plays Minecraft for the visual fidelity either.
What We Hate About It
Nothing about the game itself. Genuinely nothing.
The problem โ and this is entirely a logistics problem, not a game design problem โ is getting five or six people in the same room at the same time with computers. The best experience involves playing on a LAN, with four to six devices handling the non-captain roles including helm, weapons, engineering, science, and relay/comms. SysRqmts.com
There’s always that one person. The one who thinks co-op team games sound great in theory, and then quietly disappears when it’s time to actually commit. You know the one.
This is also not a Discord-and-play-from-home kind of game. It works best when everyone is in the same room โ the communication, the chaos, the shouting across the table when shields are failing โ that’s where the magic is. Remote play technically works but loses most of what makes it great.
What’s Challenging About It
Coordination. Pure and simple. Even owning a computer repair shop with spare laptops stacked in the corner โ and yes, we have plenty of older machines that would run this without breaking a sweat โ getting everyone together at the same time on the same night remains the actual final boss of Empty Epsilon.
The game will run on practically anything. Windows and Linux are fully supported. Official releases for Windows, Linux (as a .deb package), and Android (beta quality) are available from the Empty Epsilon website and GitHub. It won’t run natively on Mac, though if you’re running VMware on a Mac it can work โ tested and confirmed, though it’s not the smoothest experience. Bethesda Support
The irony is beautiful: the technical barrier is essentially zero. The human barrier is enormous.
The Honest Verdict
No star rating yet. That’s the review. I’ve played individual positions in solo mode and the bones of this game are exceptional โ but Empty Epsilon deserves to be rated after a proper full crew session, and that hasn’t happened yet.
So here’s the open invitation: if you’re in the Lithgow area and you want to play, get in touch. We’ve got the laptops. We’ve got the network. We just need the crew. Drop us a line and maybe we’ll make a game night happen. The review will follow once we’ve actually played it properly โ and that feels like the most honest thing I can say about any game.
About the Game
The main developers of Empty Epsilon go by the names of Daid and Nallath. It started as an open-source alternative to Artemis Spaceship Bridge Simulator, and has since deviated with new features and gameplay to become its own distinct game. WikipediaSteam
๐ฎ Download Empty Epsilon โ Free ๐ป GitHub Repository ๐ข Official Site โ daid.github.io/EmptyEpsilon
๐ป PC System Requirements
This is where Empty Epsilon genuinely shines. There are no official minimum specs because frankly, almost anything works.
๐ก That old laptop gathering dust in the spare room? It’ll almost certainly run Empty Epsilon. This is one of the rare games where your hardware collection is genuinely an asset, not a limitation.
Speaking of which โ if you do want to run a proper game night setup with a dedicated server machine and reliable local network, come chat to the Lithgeek team. We can help you spec something up, or just raid our collection of refurbished machines. Check out what we’ve got โ a game like this is a great excuse for a LAN party setup.
Similar Games Worth Exploring
If the co-op bridge simulator concept appeals, here are some others in the same space:
- Artemis Spaceship Bridge Simulatorย โ The original inspiration for Empty Epsilon. Paid but polished
- Barotraumaย โ Co-op submarine survival with crew roles. Brilliant and brutal
- Space Teamย โ A chaotic mobile co-op game with a similar “everyone has different information” mechanic
- Keep Talking and Nobody Explodesย โ Same energy: one person acts, everyone else has the information
- Pulsar: Lost Colonyย โ Crew-based spaceship co-op with more modern graphics
- Lethal Companyย โ Co-op chaos that rewards communication and punishes the lack of it
๐ฎ Into free games that punch above their weight? Check out our thoughts on mobile game ads and why free doesn’t have to mean frustrating. Or revisit our ARK Mobile review for another free title done right.