Elite: Dangerous

The space shooter Elite was damn popular at one time. The developers of similar games looked up to him, he was considered an example of the genre and gave rise to many clones. And now it returns, to the delight of old-school gamers, in the form of the game Elite: Dangerous, from which everyone who wants to "steer" an interplanetary fighter should download a torrent. Over the years of development, it has become much larger and more epic. Billions of stars and yet undiscovered planets await the player, each of which is unique. Dozens of races are ready to converge in a global battle, hundreds of stations live their own lives, and space awaits the player.

Elite: Dangerous is arguably the best space game. 400 million unique (sic!) star systems! Dozens of races, complete freedom of action, the ability to fight, explore and build - what else do you need for the perfect space game? Only great graphics!
And Elite: Dangerous can boast of it too. Using modern technology, the game looks really beautiful and realistic. Space is so similar to the real thing that the screenshots resemble NASA photos.
Of course, most of the story campaign will be given over to battles in space. It's a shooter, after all. But in freeplay mode, you can safely fly anywhere and explore new star systems.