When I first discovered this game, it was years ago, like around 2017 to 2018. With 2026 coming up on the horizon, I think it's fair to remind everyone that this game has been in development for over a decade now having first started in 2013, and it still hasn't been completed. There are plot threads from over 10 years ago that are still just loose ends, characters that have just been abandoned, things that haven't been updated for new or even existing gameplay mechanics, and many more that I will get into.
The Good
I think it would be fair if we got into the good first. One of the best things that this game has going for it is just the sheer variety of content to where you're bound to find something that you like. If you want vanilla, you'll find it. If you want futas with balls the size of a record breaking pumpkin, there's plenty of it. You want freaky stuff like a character with two dicks and four balls, it exists. The point is, there's content for so many fetishes or tastes that you can find, and whatever character can become your favorite. With as many characters as there are, you're spoiled for choice.
Some characters are also pretty well written, with Ben/Bess (the abandoned sexbot you can find on Tarkus), Paige (the blind half Ausar yoga instructor on Tavros Station), Chaurmine (the Saurmorian mercenary that you can find on Tarkus and later Uveto), and Fisianna (the human modded catgirl on Tavros Station) being some of my personal favorites, and some of the best written in my opinion.
Another good aspect is that they switched game engines a few years back, migrating to Java instead of continuing with Flash. There are a lot of developers who would either continue working with Flash even though it's a 20-something year old engine that can only be stretched so far, or they would just abandon the project because they don't want to make the effort to switch game engines.
Now, time for the bad.
The Development Time
Now, like I said earlier, this game has been in active development since 2013, meaning that as of me writing this, it's been 12 years. 12 years of development, and sure, there's a lot of content, but the main questline still isn't done yet, and I have no idea how many more planets and locations that Fenoxo plans to add before this game is considered to be done. The main questline itself really should've been completed a long time ago, with additional side content being added afterwards instead of taking up all the writers' focus like the current situation does.
But that's honestly the opposite direction that was taken. The main questline comes out at a trickle's pace; Phaedra II was introduced in 2023 with not much added, Dhaal was introduced in 2020, Zheng Shi before that in 2019, with Dhaal and Zheng Shi continuing to get more content, and Phaedra II probably won't be completed for another few years. We got Uveto fleshed out to the moon and back before the main questline was completed. We got New Texas fleshed out before the main questline was completed. We got dozens of inconsequential side characters added and fleshed out before the main questline and characters related to such was completed.
The Dead Ends
One of the biggest dead ends in Trials in Tainted Space is the Myr questline and ending the war on Myrellion. After several years it's... still not completed, but hey, ignore this major incomplete plot thread because now we've got several more planets for you to explore and a dozen more futas for you to get fucked by! Several characters that you should be able to recruit as crew considering that you can build relationships with them? Nope, here's some new characters who you also can't have as crew either.
Another major dead end is the character of Bess/Ben. There was supposed to be more content with the character after what is the current final event where you rescue the character on Mhen'ga or New Texas. But lo and behold, the person writing Bess/Ben abandoned the character and that is it. Quite possibly one of the best written characters in the game, and abandoned.
The Neglected Pregnancy System
The pregnancy system is also just notoriously neglected to where there are more characters who can't get pregnant/impregnate you than there are characters who can. One of the worst offenders I can think of is Vahn, the half Ausar mechanic on Tavros Station. In one of his scenes it's implied that he impregnates you, and yet since his introduction in 2015, a literal fucking decade ago, there is still no pregnancy content in the game's files for him. And I have plenty of examples that I can go on with, so let me do just that.
The male version of Lane, the Danar hypnotist on Tarkus, will tell you to get on birth control, but there's no consequence if you don't. Zaalt, Vark, the Milodan Male, Milodan Bruiser, and Milodan Amazon can all get the player pregnant, but not Eitan despite him also being a Milodan and in his bad end for the Siege of Korg'ii Hold questline, he does get you pregnant if you're fertile, but he doesn't get you pregnant after you free him after the quest and have sex with him. Lund, the Korgonne hunter at Korg'ii Hold, despite plenty of other Korgonne being able to get the player pregnant, and despite one of his scenes is taking you to a literal fucking BREEDING CAVE, can't impregnate the player even if the player is fertile. There are so many nonsensical and just outright lazy things like this to where I could keep going even further, but you get the idea.
The Inability to Toggle Fetishes
Now, not every fetish is for everyone. You know it, I know it, everyone knows it. For instance, I'm not into cumflation or anything hyper. I'm fairly certain that quite a few of you reading this would definitely like it if you could disable certain fetishes from appearing in the game, no matter what it is. Maybe some edited sprites to reflect that, some lines of code to replace certain sentences in scenes if you toggle a particular fetish off, something to that effect so that you don't have to see any content that isn't your cup of tea. Nope, you don't really get any of that; the only time you really get something like that is on Tarkus where you can disable worms, and that's pretty much it.
I mean, at least in my mind, it shouldn't even be that complex of an ask and should've been in the game from the get-go. Not everybody wants to see inflation or transformations or a species whose balls grow infinitely depending on how long it's been since they came. The fact that a simple feature like this hasn't been implemented in 12 years, and considering how many people play this game, it's honestly kind of insane to me that it's just absent.
Conclusion
Trials in Tainted Space is an okay game, but holy shit do the people behind it make some boneheaded decisions regarding it. For every well written character, there are dozens that aren't that good at all. For every plot expansion, something gets left behind. For every new character, another old character gets forgotten and left in whatever state they were in to likely never be touched again. For every side world that gets more content, the completion of the main quest gets delayed by literal years. And with every new update, more and more loose ends just never get tied up.
Can I recommend the game? Honestly, yeah, but with one caveat; don't expect this project to really get that much better in the long run. Based on the last 12 years of work that's been put into the game, and with everything I listed, the people behind this game don't really seem to care about any of the old stuff they made and finishing what they started, only the new and the shiny. It's like they just keep adding more and more things to an essay, adding a whole lot of filler to pad it out before even getting to the point, and spending way too much time on it before they turn it in to the teacher.