I purchased HotDS when it was in early access (late in that phase, but still early access). I bought it full price and don't regret a penny of that money. House of the Dying Sun is one of my favorite games of all time.

The positive:
House of the Dying Sun is a very no-frills, on-focus starfighter combat sim. The controls and gameplay are more arcade-y than, say, Elite: Dangerous, but it it visceral and insanely fun to boost, drift, dodge, and scream your way across the battlefield as capital ships burn around you and enemy fighters hound your heels. You start with the game in its purest form: One starfighter up against another and a single corvette (on the lowest difficulty). You quickly get a sense for the efficacy of the Executor-Class: *terrifying.* The main autocannon tears apart fighters, corvettes, and to some extent destroyers in seconds from a moderate range. The blunderbuss - your starting secondary - eats fighters and corvettes for breakfast, but struggles against capitals due to its long reload and limited magazine. The game's flow reveals itself here as well: breakneck speed is the name of the game. After a certain amount of time, depending on difficulty, a Traitor Flagship will arrive. The game's warning is simple and evocative: "Traitor Flagship has arrived. You are outgunned." Until you have a full suite of upgrades and a well-rounded fleet, don't try taking on the Flagships. You will lose.

That's another thing about this game: the second difficulty, Warlord, will slam you into the dirt. Not by having the AI deal more damage or other statisical tweaks, but by subtly changing the loadouts and timings of enemy forces. The Flagships will arrive sooner. The Miser will be a Destroyer rather than a Corvette. Escort fleets will be larger. This game never cheats, and even when you lose, you are immediately warping straight back in.

The fact that no primary objective (other than the final mission) takes longer than two minutes to complete aids this game immensely. Your tiny fleet warps in, assassinates a target, warps out. The enemy is left reeling. This is even nodded to in the game's lore, which is itself excellent short, but evocative, inspired by the likes of Dune, Homeworld, and Leckie's Imperial Raddch Trilogy.

Back to the Flagships. When they warp in, you are outgunned, but you are NOT outmatched. They each have unique loadouts and attending fleets, a touch included by the devs after players started hunting the Flagships on their own. Good tactics and planning are required to take down a Flagship, but it can be done. They offer the game, which is already immensely replayable, an extra amount of replayability.

The negative:

The game is a bit short. I beat it in my first sittting of about two hours. However, it has a massive amount of replayability to it, so this is mitigated.

Capital ships die somewhat easily. Especially the destroyers, which are meant to be your tanks. Even with Juggernaught Armor, they seem to go down in a flash.

The RTS mechanics are bare-bones, but that is understandable considering this is first and foremost a starfighter sim.

Outside of bringing a Flak Drone, there are very few options for avoiding missiles.

Overall, 9/10. House of the Dying Sun is an excellent, focused, and fun starfighter sim in the vein of TIE Fighter and X-Wing, with a nice serving of Homeworld on the side. Read the lore.