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Starbound
You’ve fled your home, only to find yourself lost in space with a damaged ship. Your only option is to beam down to the planet below, repair your ship and set off to explore the universe...
What players say
Steam review score and the most-helpful voices, which may include critical ones. Data as of 2026-05-20.
What reviewers agree on
40 of the 102 reviews raise this.
“One of my favorite OWSC Sandbox games that was unfortunatley shafted by the devs after it was revealed they were exploiting workers and providing zero compensation for their assistance in the games creation.…”
“It's terraria, but with a more refined story line to it. There are a ton of NPCs that give out quests, so there's always something for you to be working towards. Also you operate in a spaceship and use a…”
“The game is fun, but they never put my name in the backer list, or the NPC I requested. 250$ for a forum title...The game is worth 15$, not 250$ Unfortunately. Check it out for 15$”
6 of the 102 reviews raise this.
“one of the only games i come back to over the years. great for a parent and a kid. amazing 2player adventures”
“it's actually a really fun and endearing exploration and story focused game, genuinely. with and without mods. could not recommend it more. amazing mix of sandbox and story, really wish more games did that. and the ones…”
“Its not perfect, mistakes were made that never really got polished away without mods, but years later I still came back to it without regrets.”
5 of the 102 reviews raise this.
“It's terraria, but with a more refined story line to it. There are a ton of NPCs that give out quests, so there's always something for you to be working towards. Also you operate in a spaceship and use a…”
“It's fun, but it's obviously not Terraria 2.0, which a lot of people were hoping it would be initially. Just doesn't scratch that same itch. I would treat it more as a fun story game than a sandbox game like Terraria.…”
“Mellow space faring Terarria like game with a story line and fun for friends playing together”
4 of the 102 reviews raise this.
“one of the only games i come back to over the years. great for a parent and a kid. amazing 2player adventures”
“Mellow space faring Terarria like game with a story line and fun for friends playing together”
“I would recommend this to friends because I like making original characters and stories within this Starbound universe; the overall gameplay is very fun but the lore feels very watered down if that makes sense. The devs…”
3 of the 102 reviews raise this.
“Great game ! Such a shame they abounded it, but i understand the decision after what happened Anyway even if game is no more developed, mods still make the game really fun to play. For such small price (especially on…”
“Very good game for the price, especially with mods”
“it's good, you should play it, it's worth the price tag”
8 of the 102 reviews raise this · 5 of them still recommend the game.
“One of my favorite OWSC Sandbox games that was unfortunatley shafted by the devs after it was revealed they were exploiting workers and providing zero compensation for their assistance in the games creation.…”
“Imagine abandon your game in incomplete state. I am not even talk about that they dont release all prommised things. This game non-optimized lag fest, that need couple mods to fix it. And now you have ad compain in net.…”
“Lmao just saw an advertisement for this on twitter an entire decade after it was fumbled and abandoned. Realized I never reviewed this, as an original backer from the humble indie bundle days, I can assure you this ♥♥♥♥…”
6 of the 102 reviews raise this · 5 of them still recommend the game.
“Returned from 2018 to be reminded of why I just cannot like this game. Its beginning must be one of the worst ways to get into the game, where you blindly get into doing things without knowing critical things that…”
“Very complicated game, but very fun! I'd recommend playing this game modded over just base game though”
“100% would recommend, sometimes feels like theres gaps in the content or it needs balancing but nothing a few mods cant fix and this game is great for moding”
5 of the 102 reviews raise this · 5 of them still recommend the game.
“Good game , has some problems , lacks content , the planets kinda feel empty wish they actually made the universe smaller and gave more effort to each of them big potential but wasted.”
“the base game is a little lackluster and it can feel a bit unfinished, but the modding community is great and there is a lot of good content. with mods i think its a really great experience overall but it can be a…”
“Terraria but worse, take it or leave it. Also the company sucks. Still fun though.”
3 of the 102 reviews raise this · 2 of them still recommend the game.
“Imagine abandon your game in incomplete state. I am not even talk about that they dont release all prommised things. This game non-optimized lag fest, that need couple mods to fix it. And now you have ad compain in net.…”
“The only complaint I have about this game is a very slow memory leak, specifically on the macOS build. It plays wonderfully on macOS, PC, and Linux, and I've bought it both on Steam and GOG. 20/10 would recommend. Has a…”
“Amo o jogo! Apesar de que descobrir que os mundos são gerados aleatoriamente me deu uma pequena freiada por um tempo, ainda amo muito! Exploração de um universo tão grande que parece infinito, tantos planetas, tantos…”
3 of the 102 reviews raise this · 3 of them still recommend the game.
“Good game , has some problems , lacks content , the planets kinda feel empty wish they actually made the universe smaller and gave more effort to each of them big potential but wasted.”
“100% would recommend, sometimes feels like theres gaps in the content or it needs balancing but nothing a few mods cant fix and this game is great for moding”
Counted across 102 English reviews, sampled to match this game's 92.3% positive rating · as of 2026-05-20
“I absolutely loved, and still love from time to time, this game. Development stopped many years ago, and having no further updates & no Starbound 2 announcement hurts me almost physically even today. Perhaps one day someone would make a perfect spiritual successor of this game,…”
— a player, Steam review · 650 hrs played“While the game isn't without issues, Starbound is a genuinely fun time. The backstories & designs of each race are all unique, the amount of customization is staggering, and the gameplay's basic, simple fun that looks quite nice. What will most likely make-or-break the…”
— a player, Steam review · 224 hrs played“nowadays its a very under rated game to play not much about it is heard of it at least for me.”
— a player, Steam review · 134 hrs playedPlayer activity
Monthly average concurrent players. Live count fetched 2026-07-11 11:54 UTC · history via SteamCharts.
Achievement stats
Global completion rates across all Steam players — a data view of how far people actually get. Source: Steam official stats · as of 2026-07-25.
Price tracking
US-region pricing (USD), sampled twice daily by our own tracker since 2026-07-11. 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 (2026-07-24). 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.
10th Anniversary Vinyl Announcement
Today marks 10 years since Starbound launched into 1.0, and to celebrate we've teamed up with composer Curtis Schweitzer, illustrator Kkcit, and the team at Lost in Cult on a brand new Starbound: 10th
1.4.4 Hotfix Patch Notes
Hi everyone! Tiny changelist to resolve a launch issue: Fixed issue preventing launch on new MacOS since Sequoia 15.1 update
Starbound 1.4: Bounty Hunter Update
https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/4471358/961f031e792b8323e4f00cfa1890fed1817aa4f2.gif We're excited to announce the release of Starbound 1.4 - the 'Bounty Hunter' upd
1.3.3 Hotfix Patch Notes
Original Post Hey, everyone! Things are busy here as we’re still hard at work on the 1.4 update. A number of players have been encountering a crash bug when switching between weapons of the same type,
1.3.3 Hotfix Patch Notes
Original Post Hey, everyone! Things are busy here as we’re still hard at work on the 1.4 update. A number of players have been encountering a crash bug when switching between weapons of the same type,
Games like Starbound
From our knowledge graph — ranked by shared traits, not a black box. Each card says why it's here.
Terraria
97.5% · 728,104 reviews
shares Open World Survival Craft, Crafting, Online Co Op, Building
Necesse
94.5% · 13,730 reviews
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Tinkerlands
88.8% · 841 reviews
shares Open World Survival Craft, Crafting, Online Co Op, Building
Feel The Snow
85.3% · 1,506 reviews
shares Open World Survival Craft, Crafting, Online Co Op, Sandbox
ASTRONEER
91.5% · 62,641 reviews
shares Open World Survival Craft, Crafting, Building, Space
Cubic Odyssey
74.9% · 1,404 reviews
shares Open World Survival Craft, Crafting, Building, Space
Voidtrain
72.5% · 4,692 reviews
shares Open World Survival Craft, Crafting, Online Co Op, Building
Signs of Life
76.0% · 587 reviews
shares Open World Survival Craft, Crafting, Building, Space
Screenshots
Official Steam store screenshots — click any shot to enlarge.
Facts & details
From the Steam store record, snapshot 2026-05-20.
| Genres | Action, Adventure, Casual, Indie, RPG |
| Player tags | Open World Survival Craft · Sandbox · Survival · Space · Adventure · Crafting · Pixel Graphics · Online Co-Op · Multiplayer · Open World · Exploration · Relaxing (SteamSpy community voting) |
| Features | Single-player · Multi-player · PvP · Online PvP · Co-op · Online Co-op · Cross-Platform Multiplayer · Steam Achievements |
| Languages | English * * |
| Achievements | 51 |
| Estimated owners | 2,000,000 – 5,000,000 (SteamSpy) |
| Official site | https://www.playstarbound.com |
Minimum system requirements (PC)
Minimum: OS *: Windows XP or later Processor: Core 2 Duo Memory: 2 GB RAM Graphics: 256 MB graphics memory and directx 9.0c compatible gpu DirectX: Version 9.0c Network: Broadband Internet connection Storage: 3 GB available space