Within moments of booting up Rebel Galaxy Outlaw, the rogue nature of scavenging to get by is made apparent. A cover of 19th-century American folk song “In the Pines” led by an unnamed female vocalist crooned throughout the main menu’s dingy bar setting.

Hey boy, hey boy
Don’t lie to me
Tell me where did you sleep last night?
In the pines, in the pines
Where the sun don’t ever shine
I shivered the whole night through

In the often lawless spacefaring setting of Rebel Galaxy Outlaw, the haunting vocals aptly invoke a mood of desperation. The desperation of finding yourself in a bind and relying on jobs of questionable nature just to survive. Only becoming apparent in subsequent play sessions, the song playing on the main menu is randomly selected from a vast library of guitar reverb-heavy tunes, making the happenstance of the “In the Pines” message all the eerier. It’s no secret Rebel Galaxy Outlaw channels some serious Firefly vibes, what with its space cowboy aesthetic - which is utterly fabulous.

Following a 2D animation explaining the reasons for your scavenging ways, Rebel Galaxy Outlaw throws you into the deep end of space. Without much in the way of handholding, you’re quickly greeted with a series of equipment menus to kit out your run-down ship.

Frustratingly, you’re left attempting to figure out what’s what largely by yourself, but there are plenty of external resources available to help you through the rough introductory period. Although by spending time with the game and its various subsystems, you’ll naturally pick things up along the way, the lack of tangible in-game advice from the outset is daunting. Even just some initial text boxes to clarify what’s worth investing in early, and what can be saved for later, would be helpful. Among the equipment available to upgrade ships, you’ll encounter various upgrades for weapons, cargo holds, defence systems - the norm for this sort of sci-fi caper.

As for your income to pay for said upgrades? That’s reliant on completing shady smuggling gigs for even shadier characters. Or you can go space pirate and raid other ships, although this is highly discouraged in the early game due to your weak, hunk-o-junk starting ship. Jobs start small but ramp up to carrying more legally-questionable cargo to more dangerous systems, bringing with it a correspondingly high-risk, high-reward operation. Additionally, Rebel Galaxy Outlaw features an in-game stock market, whereby travelling to different outposts allows you to purchase various commodities at one price, with the aim to sell it where demand is high. When visiting outposts, speaking to bartenders reveals several lucrative opportunities, such as bounties and whispers of where resources could be sold for decent profits. Outposts also have pool tables, which is a fun distraction from your risky profession as a space smuggler.

Even though early-game combat situations see you lacking in firepower, the thrill of weaving between foes while dodging space debris is extremely cool. Depending on which of the generous settings chosen upon starting Rebel Galaxy Outlaw, there are various assists to help in tracking targets. Playing on the default normal setting, I found dogfights to be adequately challenging but shaking enemies from my tail difficult due to my slow spacecraft. Pleasingly, once I improved my manoeuvrability and got better at flying, identifying opposing ships on the radar, chasing them down and unleashing hellfire was immensely satisfying.

Honestly, my main appeal in playing Rebel Galaxy Outlaw isn’t in its relatively repetitive deliveries or even the thrilling space combat. The appeal is simply existing in this mesmerising world. Where there are starlit vistas aplenty and no discernable horizon in the distance. In flying with no clear aim or endpoint in sight, just cranking the catchy rockabilly jams and pretending you’re Nathan Fillion for a moment. Rebel Galaxy Outlaw creates a stunning setting and lets you take it at whatever pace you damn well please. Highlighted by a robust photo mode, this is a visual feast to take in, wide-eyed with a sense of exploration and wonder.

Conversely, Rebel Galaxy Outlaw doesn’t quite nail all it attempts. Its UI is sometimes not easy to interpret, particularly when trying to read old-styled computer terminal menus. Also, Rebel Galaxy Outlaw starts out slowly, taking a while before you can afford better ships and equipment. Which isn’t a bad thing, per se, it’s just important to know if you’re expecting a fast-paced space combat experience. Early on, ferrying cargo from one place to another feels a bit like a space trucking simulator. There is a fast-travel option of sorts, where you blast into lightspeed, but it’s interrupted when you’re in range of a distress signal. Which happened a bit too frequently for my liking.

Rebel Galaxy Outlaw offers plenty to do in its many smuggling runs, albeit repetitious in nature. However, the main attraction here is soaking in the joy of flying in the beautiful setting of outer space while taking the occasional tourist snap - in between dodging deadly space pirates.