Story time
At the beginning of the game, you are an operative tasked with stopping a criminal boss. You will have to talk to some people to gather information about where to find him, then you will have to eliminate the threat. Along the way, you may find other information, related to him or not, which could steer you different paths into the game.
This would act as a solid introduction to the game mechanics such as fighting, talking to NPCs, and gathering information. From here, I want to give the player the ability to freely explore the galaxy and find their meaning and story. Eventually, they would find the next step in the story, and sometimes they would have to choose what path they would take. I don't want to reveal too much as the story is only just beginning to be developed, but the player will have a decent amount of choices to make to influence their next steps in the story.
Hack and... crack?
Hacking will be a useful tool for the player. Not only will it open doors for the player (both metaphorically and physically), but it will be used to gather information, which will be a big part of the game. Void Strife will not hold your hand to tell you where to go at every step, instead you need to search that information on your own. Of course, there will be dynamic hints here and there that will lead you to the path, but it is still your responsibility to detect those.
I also like to think of the dialogue system as "hacking" a person. You need to make sure you are listening as they may occasionally give hints to the player for what to do next, and sometimes they really are reluctant to say, so you will have to find other ways to gain information, either from other people, notes, or computers.
Ambience
Void Strife will have a weather system that will somewhat impact your travels. Things like Aspite Storms would limit your jump drive capability, and you may also find other threats in your rear view mirrors as you are heading to locations across the world.