Ships are suitably weathered – your first really is an absolute heap of junk – space stations are populated by untrustworthy scum who always have a little info for the right price and striking up a conversation with nearby crafts always results in some pleasing hillbilly chatter that really helps sell the world in which this story takes place.

The effort and attention to detail displayed in terms of the musical side of Rebel Galaxy Outlaw extends to all other elements of the grungy little world Double Damage has created here. Captured on Nintendo Switch (Handheld/Undocked) There's over twenty-four hours of music split between several radio stations to enliven proceedings here, each with their own GTA-style parody advertisements and, although the game defaults to country and western and rock tracks that perfectly complement its hard-living, blue-collar world, we found ourselves tuning into the Latino and classical music offerings it turns out blasting the crap out of enemy ships as Ride of the Valkyries plays in the background just never gets old. It really is a revelation such a simple idea, but one that transforms combat encounters from the traditionally long-distance, frustrating and often time-consuming experiences into taut, fast-paced, close-range battles that are actually thrilling to get involved in. This neat addition, which you engage by simply holding in ZR, manages to successfully replace the usually laborious task of manually orienting your craft in order to tail your foes by allowing you to auto-lock to their every move, twisting and turning in unison with their ship.

Right off the bat, Rebel Galaxy Outlaw gets off to a strong start with core dogfighting action that's surprisingly fun and frenetic stuff due to the inclusion of a clever auto-pursuit function.

Following the fortunes of battle-hardened rebel Juno Markev, whose husband has been murdered and ship destroyed as she escapes an attempt on her own life, this is a gritty space-western tale of revenge and redemption which sees you gather intel from seedy blue-collar bars and their shady denizens as you attempt to locate your would-be killers and exact some bloody retribution. Rebel Galaxy Outlaw, Double Damage Games' prequel to 2015's Rebel Galaxy, brings a much-needed slice of old-school space sim action to Switch with swagger and style to spare.

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