It's a promising start, if they deal with some horrendous first steps it will be on the way to a fun space pew pew game
-controls are HYPER sensitive right now. There's no distinction between 'adjust your course slightly' and 'do a 180' so trying to line up shots with delicate adjustments is typically an exercise in futility. Especially with a joystick. The joystick mapping was awful and I had to load a custom xml file to fix a yaw/roll bug.
The engine is very good, but the gfx need some work (weapons graphics, explosions, shields, HUD, etc). I see a lot of potential but right now they need to clean it all up, make them more distinct. The ships don't feel 'heavy' and real, they feel like they are kind of skating around.
I think in time as they refine this will all be fantastic, but it definitely doesn't feel 'right' yet in the cockpit game play wise. For me at least.
The 'immersion' factor is very very high though. Walking up to your ship, getting in the cockpit, flipping on the controls all seamlessly from first person view I have to admit is very, very cool. They've done an amazing job of really putting you in the cockpit. The ambience, and the voice assistance are really damn cool this early on.
here's a good video showing the pew pew (not mine)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKlE3-5_77Ythis guy using keyboard mouse looks like for sure