Make them a different kind of challenge. Devoid of life and stations, but environmental challenges and weird caves with unique challenges and rewards. Random crashed ships, or you know complexes that forward the main story…

Just off the top of my head. Sad that they chose this and then doubled down when people gave them negative feedback.

I got one of those chatgpt style responses on my negative steam review that raised 5 major issues with the game. So irritating.