Overview
Deep Space is an early spaceflight action-simulation game in which the player is an owl-headed "freelance buccaneer", piloting a long-range space fighter on a search-and-destroy raid into alien space to destroy the enemy mothership. On the way, the player dogfights simple 3D-rendered enemy ships and uses a cargo scoop to pick up and apprehend their squirming alien pilots after they have ejected. The game features a lavishly-detailed cockpit with a significant level of complex functionality controlled by mouse and keyboard input aside the standard joystick flight control.
Deep Space is played in single sessions; there is no campaign mode. During the course of the game, in addition to combat with enemy ships and observation posts, the player can also expect to face minefields and asteroids. If the player is broke and runs out of fuel, they can skim fuel from a gas giant, though this is difficult and risky.
Each enemy ship or observation post destroyed, alien or enemy satellite scooped, and explosive mine cleared earns the player credits which can either be spent on ordering repair drones, refuel drones or powerful quark bombs, or accumulated toward the final score earned after destruction of the mothership.
The game can be played in five different star systems, each with its own map, that represent different levels of difficulty.
