One day, while wandering on abandoned planet you found a beautiful crystal. You took it hoping to sell it for a good price. On the way, you were attacked by two pirates who looted your ship and took the crystal. You barely managed to stay alive.

As the game starts, your escape pod reaches a nearby planet. You learn that those pirates come from planet Torres and decide to go after them. You have 2000 credits on your bank account.

It's time to begin your quest throughout the galaxy. You start at planet Xen, and first mission is to reach planet Torres. Both current and target planet are marked with pulsing white cross on the galaxy map. The small green circle in galaxy map represents the area you can reach with current amount of fuel. You can buy more fuel at "Trade&Cargo" screen. You ship's tank has capacity for 40 units of fuel, and that's the most you can travel within a single "hyperspace jump". If you loose all fuel and don't have any money, you're stuck on the planet until you earn enough money to buy fuel to leave it. To earn money, simply Launch off in the planet's orbit and shoot some aliens to collect alien artifacts you can sell when you return to space station.

Scum of the Universe is a space trading game that combines two genres: arcade and strategy. On one side, it's a classic vertical-scrolling space shooter game. On the other side, it is an adventure and strategy. You should choose whether you'll be an independent space trader, firearms smuggler, fierce freedom-fighter or something in between. Following the main storyline, you go through the galaxy from one planet to another. Space travel requires fuel, so you need to keep earning money to buy it. You can also buy various upgrades for your spaceship and weapons that affect the arcade part of the game. The storyline itself is not linear. There are also some points where you'll need to make decisions that will determine your destiny.