DarkStar One

The game is divided into different action role-playing quests. These are main storyline quests, side quests, and missions which can be accepted from trade stations. The latter can further be broken down into missions which include freighter escort, transportation, bounty hunting, espionage, or taking photos of objects that are of interest to your contractors. In addition, the player is also able to trade, mine, or liberate star systems from space pirates.

DarkStar One has some action role-playing elements in it, which are reflected by the ship's properties.

The DarkStar One is an advanced, partly organic starship that was built by the protagonist's late father, Simon Jarvis, using technologies from an ancient race. Jarvis was the co-founder and co-owner of a security firm, SimRob Industries, and his business partner and friend, Robert Altair, gives Jarvis's son Kayron, the protagonist, the starship after his father's death. After Kayron becomes familiarised with the controls of the DarkStar One, Robert tells him the manner of his father's death. The weapons system on Jarvis's ship had been sabotaged by Jarvis's former co-pilot Jack Forrester. Robert identifies Forrester as a traitor and murderer.

While Kayron sets out to hunt Forrester down in revenge, a series of attacks take place on research stations across the Galactic Union (GU). The attacking ships, identified simply as drones, appear to be a type of vessel completely unknown to the GU, and Robert convinces the Galactic Council that they are of Thul origin, a genetically engineered human civilization. This antagonizes all races within the Galactic Union against the Thul.

DarkStar One received positive to mixed reviews, scoring 71/100 on Metacritic based on 33 reviews. The graphics were often praised, but the gameplay was not. GameSpot lauded its accessibility and simplicity, while ActionTrip derided it as overly simplistic and repetitive. The game was frequently compared to other space sims, including Elite, Freelancer, and the X series.