Helium Rain

Helium Rain is a single-player space simulation in which you run a spacefaring company. You trade resources, buy ships and stations, fulfill contracts, and explore a planetary system of around 25 sectors orbiting the gas giant Nema and its moons. You balance real-time spaceflight and combat with long-term company strategy: destroying a freighters affects the economy, while declaring war makes the spaceflight environment more hostile.

Run your company

Dock at stations to buy and sell wares or upgrade your ship. Improve your technology to operate more efficiently, build your fleet and protect it from piracy. Procedural contracts give you ways to expand your company and compete to become the largest in the system.

Independent factions and companies pursue the same goal of ruling the system. They may undercut you or attack if you become a threat. Conflict can also disrupt the supply of resources you rely on: attacking freighters destroys resources and can cause an economic crisis.

Build and fly ships

You can fly and upgrade 13 playable ships, including fighters, bombers, cargo ships, corvettes and capital ships. Buy engines and weapons, and customize main engines, attitude-control thrusters, weapons and hull colors. Ships have working generators, radiators, weapons, engines, cargo bays and life-support systems, with every thruster playing a role. Most ships have more than 30 individual parts.

Combat uses Newtonian flight with no speed limit and localized damage. You can aim for critical systems to disable ships, kill their crews or capture them; targeting engines can pin down an opponent, while destroying power stations can send a ship spinning. Asteroids are also a hazard.

Game modes

The main game combines contracts, exploration, technology upgrades and company management. In Quick-action skirmish mode, set up your fleet, choose an opponent and go straight into a fight.