RiftSpace
RiftSpace is a space exploration and combat game for Windows first released in 2004 by American studio StarWraith 3D Games LLC. RiftSpace was released almost simultaneously with . Whereas the Star Wraith series prior to the release of Riftspace in 2004 had been purely military, RiftSpace is a freeform mercenary game. Its successor is the Evochron franchise, none of which were or are freeware games. Story. An ancient Vonari prophecy tells of a mysterious system called RiftSpace, a system that will be found by an outsider to shelter a dying race. The player was to unravel clues and find pieces  of a puzzle to discover RiftSpace, where the player would be faced by Vonari guardians of the system. Gameplay. When beginning Riftspace, the player begins with the most basic ship, a second-level weapon (out of three), four Viper missiles (the second out of seven missile types) and 60,000 of the game's monetary system, which is not named in Riftspace. This form of money is usually referred to as credits. Throughout the game, it is possible to upgrade your weapon to the third type or downgrade to the first, which take more and less energy respectively and deal more  or less damage, with a slower or faster rate of fire. It is also possible to obtain up to three wingmen, which have a skill and loyalty rating. As the missions go on, they will request pay raises until their loyalty reaches 100, and their skill will gradually increase. Loyalty rating is used as a percentage factor to determine whether or not a wingman will leave upon return to wherever you obtained the contract. To progress past a certain point and obtain better ships and weaponry, it is necessary to leave the starting system and the protection of the Alliance  and the Mercenaries Guild. Each planet specializes in one or more areas; for example, weapons on the planet Deneb are much less expensive than on the planet Fauston. Outside Alliance territory, the player is likely to find more lucrative areas, but the contracts will be more dangerous. After following the clue trail and obtaining all of the artifacts (which lead the player on a wild goose chase to locate the rest, the last giving the location of the RiftSpace portal), the player may progress through the red wormhole leading to RiftSpace. Once there, 9 Vonari guardians must be fended off , at which point the game will initiate a cutscene showing the player and any wingmen that accompany the player flying towards the planet, at which point a few lines of text appear at the bottom-left of the screen concluding the storyline. The screen then fades out, and the player is returned to the pilot selection screen. Licensing changes. As of January 2008, StarWraith has released RiftSpace as freeware.