Excellent mod support and community
Mentioned in ~2 in 5 positive reviews
“I don’t think I’ve played anything that’s easier to mod than this, and there are so many different options to choose from.”
Steam review · 5.5 h played ↗
Starbound
Worth buying? What 300 Steam reviews say.Worth buying? Here’s what 300 Steam reviews actually say.
Very Positive · 90%Very Positive · 90%Chucklefish2016Open World Survival Craft · Sandbox · Survival
The verdict
A charming, atmospheric space-exploration sandbox with great music and art, but thin and unfinished in vanilla and abandoned by its devs. Skip it if you won't use mods or dislike the studio's labor history.
Great for
Modders and co-op players who enjoy relaxed planet-hopping exploration, building and collecting
Main risk
Vanilla feels empty, repetitive and unfinished, with no more updates coming
What changed in the last 30 days
64 recent reviews
Recent negatives focus on the game being abandonware, thin vanilla content, and grind. Older complaints about the 10th-anniversary vinyl and labor controversy likely contribute. Moderate confidence.
64 recent reviews
What players love
Vast exploration of procedural planets
Mentioned in ~1 in 4 positive reviews
“This game has no equal in terms of comfort and the feeling of endless exploration.”
Steam review · 301.6 h played ↗
Beautiful soundtrack and pixel art
Mentioned in ~1 in 9 positive reviews
“the pixel art is some of the best in the genre, the music is genuinely incredible and I will not hear otherwise”
Steam review · 128.2 h played ↗
Cozy, relaxing sandbox with lots to do
Mentioned in ~1 in 9 positive reviews
“Really enjoyable, cozy crafting and exploration game. There’s loads to do without it ever feeling too stressful”
Steam review · 38.6 h played ↗
Fun co-op with friends or family
Mentioned in ~1 in 10 positive reviews
“easily my favorite survival game. great fun for solo, with friends, or with family.”
Steam review · 160.3 h played ↗
Charming races, lore and customization
Mentioned in ~1 in 14 positive reviews
“the different races have way more personality than they probably needed to which I appreciated a lot.”
Steam review · 128.2 h played ↗
What players complain about
Abandoned by developers, no updates
Mentioned in ~2 in 5 negative reviews
“Developers abandoned this game for years and then, as if nothing had happened, droped a vinyl release for 10th anniversary.”
Steam review · 211 h played ↗
Vanilla is empty, shallow and needs mods
Mentioned in ~1 in 4 negative reviews
“This game is bone-dry and devoid of meaningful content.”
Steam review · 75.5 h played ↗
Unpaid labor and exploitation controversy
Mentioned in ~1 in 5 negative reviews
“developers profited from the unpaid labor of teenagers making this game. see Chucklefish's page on Wikipedia. do not buy!!!”
Steam review · 248.9 h played ↗
Repetitive grind and fetch quests
Mentioned in ~1 in 8 negative reviews
“You’re forced to fly to a million identical planets, mine tons of colored dirt, and complete "fetch three lumps of coal" style quests.”
Steam review · 44.6 h played ↗
Planets feel samey and shallow
Mentioned in ~1 in 13 negative reviews
“Planets are procedurally generated, but they're all basically the same with slightly different colour palettes.”
Steam review · 75.5 h played ↗
Poor optimization, lag and crashes
Mentioned in ~1 in 14 negative reviews
“I cant get past the first moon base mission because the game freezes and boots out.”
Steam review · 23.7 h played ↗
System requirements
From the Steam store page
Steam Deck: Playable3 GB
Minimum
OSWindows XP or later
ProcessorCore 2 Duo
Memory2 GB RAM
Graphics256 MB graphics memory and directx 9.0c compatible gpu
Storage3 GB available space
Recommended
OSWindows XP or later
ProcessorCore i3
Memory4 GB RAM
GraphicsDiscrete GPU capable of directx 9.0c
Storage4 GB available space
OSWindows XP or later
ProcessorCore 2 Duo
Memory2 GB RAM
Graphics256 MB graphics memory and directx 9.0c compatible gpu
Storage3 GB available space
More games to check
Other games we’ve read the reviews for
Palworld
Very Positive · 95%+ Pals as workers and base building
− Late-game grind
analyzed 1 d ago
Grounded
Very Positive · 91%+ Great co-op with friends and family
− Co-op disconnects and join errors
analyzed 30 min ago
Conan Exiles Enhanced
Mostly Positive · 79%+ Outstanding base building
− Constant bugs and crashes
analyzed 6 h ago
SCUM
Mostly Positive · 75%+ Deep realistic survival systems
− Bugs never fixed, hotfixes break more
analyzed 7 h ago
Weekly digest
Fresh games worth a look, in your inbox
The most interesting games we’ve just analyzed, once a week.Once a week we send the most interesting games we’ve just analyzed: the verdict, top pros and cons, and what changed. No spam.
One email a week · unsubscribe in one click