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Drifter
Drifter is an open-world sandbox space trading game with a procedurally-generated galaxy 100,000 light years across made up of tens of thousands of star systems to explore and features an original soundtrack by composer Danny Baranowsky.
What players say
Steam review score and the most-helpful voices, which may include critical ones. Score via Steam as of 2026-08-31 · quoted reviews as of 2026-05-14.
What reviewers agree on
51 of the 97 reviews raise this.
“It's essentially Elite but not in first person. It looks lovely, plays well - even at this stage - and the developer seems to be a genuinely nice guy who listens to those people who have decided to support his game and…”
“I bought this a couple days ago after reading about the recent update and watching a few vids and reading some comments.. I gotta tell you that I'm pleasantly suprised! I've been exploring, trading, policing and doing a…”
“I'm editing this review to include the following, at the top so it's the first thing you read: I'm so glad I got this game. I've really been stressing over RL crap and finding it difficult to unwind with my usual…”
16 of the 97 reviews raise this.
“It's essentially Elite but not in first person. It looks lovely, plays well - even at this stage - and the developer seems to be a genuinely nice guy who listens to those people who have decided to support his game and…”
“At the time I am writing this review, I have no gameplay time what so ever. This is a review of the Dev himself, and the interactions ive seen and the one that Ive had. Many times I have said to myself " No more early…”
“A great fun space exploration and trading game. I backed it on Kickstarter and it has turned out great thus far. I highly recommend checking this one out, it's still being actively developed by one very talented guy and…”
16 of the 97 reviews raise this.
“It's essentially Elite but not in first person. It looks lovely, plays well - even at this stage - and the developer seems to be a genuinely nice guy who listens to those people who have decided to support his game and…”
“This is a pretty cool toy. I hesitate to call it a game, because there's really nothing to do. There's no grand quest. There's no ultimate objective. You just fly around and do stuff. You... drift. No real direction, no…”
“I bought this a couple days ago after reading about the recent update and watching a few vids and reading some comments.. I gotta tell you that I'm pleasantly suprised! I've been exploring, trading, policing and doing a…”
8 of the 97 reviews raise this.
“I bought this a couple days ago after reading about the recent update and watching a few vids and reading some comments.. I gotta tell you that I'm pleasantly suprised! I've been exploring, trading, policing and doing a…”
“I love this game! i dont have like any steam hours on the game, but i have had this game since around and maybe before christmas. i have played it for countless hours and loved it! If you really like exploring massive…”
“A great fun space exploration and trading game. I backed it on Kickstarter and it has turned out great thus far. I highly recommend checking this one out, it's still being actively developed by one very talented guy and…”
6 of the 97 reviews raise this.
“I love this game! i dont have like any steam hours on the game, but i have had this game since around and maybe before christmas. i have played it for countless hours and loved it! If you really like exploring massive…”
“TL;DR - This is almost good. Ensure that you really want this game before buying it. I don't think I've had this much fun with an early access game before. If you like games such as Flash Trek, Elite Dangerous, X…”
“I have been playing this game for about a week now. Started out very confusing since the game play instructions are very basic. This is a BETA, so you need to go into this knowing that also. There will be tweaks along…”
41 of the 97 reviews raise this · 7 of them still recommend the game.
“I backed Drifter on Kickstarter. It got funded in juni 2012. More than 3 years later next to nothing has changed. Might still have potential, but the developer probably doesn't care anymore. Very infrequent updates…”
“Vaporware. UPDATE: 6 months later, this game is still vaporware. UPDATE 2: Another 6 months later, still vaporware. UPDATE 3: Another 6+ YEARS later, still vaporware. You've been warned.”
“It's definitly a rough sketch of a game that has potential. I had some fun with it, but that's only after I used Cheat Engine to derp around with with everything this game has to offer. It's lacking a lot of content at…”
27 of the 97 reviews raise this · 4 of them still recommend the game.
“I backed Drifter on Kickstarter. It got funded in juni 2012. More than 3 years later next to nothing has changed. Might still have potential, but the developer probably doesn't care anymore. Very infrequent updates…”
“I'm going to sound like an old man, but this game has tried (and totally failed) to be like Freelancer, a game over a decade old which did a much better job with every aspect of space combat, travel, mercantilism,…”
“It's definitly a rough sketch of a game that has potential. I had some fun with it, but that's only after I used Cheat Engine to derp around with with everything this game has to offer. It's lacking a lot of content at…”
18 of the 97 reviews raise this.
“I bought this game AGES AGO! It looked like it might shape up to be a Privateer type of game. It's boring, it's never going to make full release and the updates are sporadic at best. This game was one of three that made…”
“This was one of the games that taught me to never buy early access. Years ago it showed promise, a sort of 2D, simplified sandbox space game. Then it was abandoned and I'm never getting my money back”
“The author has forgotten about his game and doesn't care a hoot about his customers that have paid good enough money for the game. He got the taste of some extra cash and ran. Pathetic. EDIT: There must be a way that we…”
17 of the 97 reviews raise this · 8 of them still recommend the game.
“I'm going to sound like an old man, but this game has tried (and totally failed) to be like Freelancer, a game over a decade old which did a much better job with every aspect of space combat, travel, mercantilism,…”
“It's definitly a rough sketch of a game that has potential. I had some fun with it, but that's only after I used Cheat Engine to derp around with with everything this game has to offer. It's lacking a lot of content at…”
“I was Super Excited to this game and finally and be able to play a new, engaging space-trader (I'm a huge EV NOVA fan. Chances are you are too, if you're reading this.) I understand this is still in early days of…”
15 of the 97 reviews raise this · 6 of them still recommend the game.
“It's definitly a rough sketch of a game that has potential. I had some fun with it, but that's only after I used Cheat Engine to derp around with with everything this game has to offer. It's lacking a lot of content at…”
“I was Super Excited to this game and finally and be able to play a new, engaging space-trader (I'm a huge EV NOVA fan. Chances are you are too, if you're reading this.) I understand this is still in early days of…”
“Not getting a good feeling about this one. It's barely at demo stage still. Yes bits of it are playable, but the GUI, graphics and overall feel of content is very unfinished. I guess it got a few people interested back…”
Counted across 97 English reviews, sampled to match this game's 53.9% positive rating · as of 2026-05-14
“Tons of potential, but in my mind not really ready for even early access. The tutorial was frustrating to figure out, the radial menu is very much not clear. My main problem though is the game is paced way too slow. My first mission I got wanted me to deliver an object to…”
— a player, Steam review · 1 hrs played“I know this game has missed its original launch window by a lot, however I am so glad they aren't rushing. Even looking at the 8 months since last beta release would make you think this is not worth investing in as it may turn out as vapourware. I'd implore you to follow the…”
— a player, Steam review · 30 hrs played“There is nothing happening with this game aside from meaningless trade item updates. Whats actually wrong: 1. No factions. This alone breaks the game by it's very nature. There are things to do like trading and mining but these things are pointless given the fact that you can…”
— a player, Steam review · 37 hrs playedPrice tracking
US-region pricing (USD), sampled twice daily by our own tracker since 2026-08-12. Steam prices vary by region — always confirm your local price on Steam.
Regional prices at last sample, in local currency — Steam sets each region's price independently.
Cheapest → most expensive, converted to USD at ECB reference rates (2026-09-25). Relative comparison only.
Latest official news
Developer announcements via the Steam news API — links go to the original posts. More across all games on the news hub.
Drifter 0.8.4 is out!
http://cdn.edgecast.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/5725507/d8b49c6aa5516cf5d31e26bbeed9a0dbdc864f19.jpg It's been far too long! Drifter 0.8.4 is now live! This is the fifth release
Drifter 0.8.4 is out!
http://cdn.edgecast.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/5725507/d8b49c6aa5516cf5d31e26bbeed9a0dbdc864f19.jpg It's been far too long! Drifter 0.8.4 is now live! This is the fifth release
Drifter 0.8.3 is out!
http://celsiusgs.com/drifter/images/releasenotes/0.8.3/0.8.3.header.png Drifter 0.8.3 is now live! This is the fourth release in the 0.8.x series, codename "Event Horizon". We've finally converted the
Drifter 0.8.3 is out!
http://celsiusgs.com/drifter/images/releasenotes/0.8.3/0.8.3.header.png Drifter 0.8.3 is now live! This is the fourth release in the 0.8.x series, codename "Event Horizon". We've finally converted the
Drifter 0.8.2 is out!
http://celsiusgs.com/drifter/images/releasenotes/0.8.2/0.8.2.header.png Drifter 0.8.2 is now live! This is the third release in the 0.8.x series, codename "Event Horizon". We've finally fixed the bug
Games like Drifter
From our knowledge graph — ranked by shared traits, not a black box. Each card says why it's here.
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94.1% · 1,216 reviews
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Universe Sandbox
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X3: Terran Conflict
84.0% · 1,490 reviews
shares Trading, Space Sim, Space, Great Soundtrack
Astrox Imperium
84.7% · 1,035 reviews
shares Mining, Space Sim, Space, Sandbox
Hardspace: Shipbreaker
89.5% · 18,161 reviews
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Screenshots
Official Steam store screenshots — click any shot to enlarge.
Facts & details
From the Steam store record, snapshot 2026-05-14.
| Genres | Action, Indie, Simulation, Early Access |
| Player tags | Simulation · Indie · Space · Sandbox · Early Access · Action · Open World · Trading · Space Sim · Exploration · Sci-fi · Procedural Generation (SteamSpy community voting) |
| Features | Single-player · Partial Controller Support · Family Sharing |
| Languages | English * * |
| Official site | http://celsiusgs.com/drifter/ |
Minimum system requirements (PC)
Minimum: OS *: Windows XP SP1 Processor: x86 1.5 GHz Memory: 1 GB RAM Graphics: 256MB OpenGL 1.5 compatable Storage: 1 GB available space