ChrisReid
Super Soaker Collector / Administrator
I don't know Mafia is a great game I played it back in the early 2000s and they redid the whole story line to a certain extent and I'm begging them off your stuff to just got back from Las Vegas on my honeymoon
I don't think Mafia can really play into the comparison here. If that's a type of game you like and you feel like playing that rather than a space sim, go for it, but I don't think we're in much of a position to weigh in on that.
But as far as comparing the two spaces sims go, I would similarly echo Pedro's sentiments. If you can afford it, get both! They're both launching at budget prices ($30 and $40) and add up to roughly the cost of a normal full size release combined. Aside from both being space sims, they're also very different offerings. Think of Squadrons as your WC game and RGO as your Privateer.
I've sampled a great many space sims in recent years, but RGO is the first that's actually hooked me and compelled me to play past the beginnings in a long time. The constant Wing Commander nods gives it an excellent learning curve compared to most games. There's no question how the Imrec launcher works compared to the Heat Seaker missiles. The mass driver is a good starter gun, but eventually you'll want to move up to a tachyon cannon. Get a tractor beam to suck up space salvage and don't bother with a jump drive until you're ready to venture to other star systems for missions, but since there are Merchants and Mercenaries Guild offices in your starter stations, there's no rush to leave. Be careful about upgrading your shield generator faster than your power plant. Finish a tough mission and you'll be treating to the sweet transmission, "You're now entering an automatic landing zone." It's much more of a spiritual successor to Privateer than Starlancer or Squadron 42 are to Wing Commander.
It has a lot of nice quality-of-life things that modern games feature that we didn't have 27 years ago. You don't accidentally dock when you get too close to a space station you're defending. When you buy a new ship, your gear just automatically transfer rather than having to sell at a loss and rebuy. There are in-game tips about whether the commodity prices are good or bad. Cloud saves are wonderful.
I think Star Wars Squadrons looks pretty slick too, and we'll see soon enough. A big selling point there will be the multiplayer. A bunch of the folks on the #Wingnut Discord will be picking up the game and playing after it comes out.