Last Updated on May 31, 2024 by Jhonni Jets
Space has always captured humanity’s imagination. We dream of discovering new worlds, meeting alien civilizations, and pushing the boundaries of what is possible beyond our home planet. In recent years, video games have allowed us to bring those dreams to life in virtual worlds that resemble the grandeur and mystery of the cosmos. This article highlights 9 of the best space games for satisfying any player’s need to boldly go where no one has gone before.
No Man’s Sky (2016)
No Man’s Sky was a true innovator when it launched in 2016, giving players an entire universe to explore that was generated procedurally. The game delivers on the promise of letting you travel to planets no one has ever seen before. You can fly between planets, explore their diverse ecosystems, mine resources, shoot enemies, and more. With near-endless variety, every new planet holds the thrill of discovery. Updates have added additional modes like freighter fleets and base-building. Most impressive is how the game seamlessly blends all its disparate systems to create a cohesive whole. No Man’s Sky is the gold standard for boundless galactic adventure.
Elite Dangerous (2014)
For hardcore space sim fans, Elite Dangerous delivers an astoundingly detailed 1:1 scale Milky Way with procedural technologies. You control your own starship in a massively multiplayer environment. Trade goods, mine asteroids, bounty hunt, engage in pirate activities, join a player faction, explore planetary surfaces, and more.dogfighting also feels truly visceral thanks to Newtonian flight physics. The game continues evolving with expansions like Odyssey, which introduces EVA and first-person combat on planets. Overall, Elite Dangerous provides the most immersive and realistic virtual astronaut experience available today for those seeking a serious and engrossing spaceship simulator.
Mass Effect (2007)
The original Mass Effect launched a beloved sci-fi RPG trilogy and defined a new style of story-driven third-person shooter. As Commander Shepard, you explore a sprawling galactic community comprising dozens of alien species both familiar and strange. Political intrigue and civilizations on the edge of annihilation give each mission a sense of purpose and stakes. Using dialogue choices, you determine Shepard’s personality and influence the fate of the galaxy. Iconic crew members like Garrus, Tali, and Wrex are welcoming presences in the Normandy’s corridors. Visuals may look dated now but the series’ exploration of what it means to be human in a vast, often hostile universe has few equals. Even now, Mass Effect inspires dreams of faster-than-light travel and first contact.
Starbound (2016)
Starbound channels the freeform fun of Terraria into a procedurally generated sci-fi universe. Players customize their ship and crew before embarking on escapades across dozens of alien planets. On the surface, you’ll encounter exotic flora and fauna, hidden secrets, ancient ruins, enemy outposts, and more. Craft gear to mine resources, jet around via rocket boots, build elaborate bases and colonies, and communicate with colorful robotic NPCs and humanoid races. Quests push the story forward while player agency and creativity remain high priorities. With rewarding combat, gorgeous 16-bit visuals, and an upbeat soundtrack, Starbound provides boundless planetary romps perfect for solo or co-op play.
Freelancer (2003)
Freelancer was ahead of its time with an immense open-world universe melding action and economic simulations. Trade goods between systems, smuggle contraband, join mercenary battles, complete missions for factions, or work as a pirate raiding merchants. Flight handles smoothly while dogfights ensue against swarms of enemies. Story missions unfold cinematically yet player choice factors into outcomes. The game world feels alive through random encounters, non-player traders plying routes, and rumors of lucrative deals. Freelancer showed what was possible for open world space games on consoles and helped popularize the idea of simulated interplanetary transport networks. Its legacy influenced many subsequent entries.
Star Trek Online (2010)
Star Trek Online seamlessly incorporates the classic TV series into an MMO adventure across the Alpha and Beta quadrants. Choose to captain a Federation, Klingon, or Romulan ship with players uniting against threats like the Borg and Iconians. Dynamic space combat allows players to man stations targeting enemy vessels. Meanwhile, away missions are first-person adventures on strange alien worlds. Numerous systems and reputations exist for building fleets and bases. New expansions like Legacy of Romulus add story chapters touching beloved characters. Beginners can experience an authentic Star Trek aesthetic while veterans participate in player vs player conflict or endgame activities. For fans of the franchises, STO delivers an epic ongoing voyage amid a faithful recreation of its sci-fi setting.
Kerbal Space Program (2015)
Kerbal Space Program teaches players about the challenges and triumphs of humanity’s real-life spaceflight endeavors. As the administrator of the Kerbal Space Center, it’s up to you to design and construct rockets, planes, rovers, and more to safely transport adorable green aliens into orbit and beyond. Trial and error is crucial as flawed blueprints lead to hilarious explosive failures. Achieving milestones like reaching different planets or docking in orbit feels hugely rewarding. KSP prioritizes realistic physics and mechanics to authentically model concepts like asparagus staging, gravity turns, orbital rendezvous procedures, and more. Both educational and entertaining, Kerbal Space Program continues propelling players’ engineering skills to new heights.
Everspace (2017)
Everspace combines roguelike elements with fast-paced, intuitive twitch-based combat. As a lone pilot stranded in uncharted sectors, players craft and upgrade their ship while scavenging derelict vessels and ruins. Upgrade weapons, shields, engines through crafting materials and acquired technology. Explore nebulae, jettison between stations orbiting planets, and take contracts to earn credits. Combat challenges with nimble dogfights against swarms of enemies. Dying resets progress but unlocks respawn perks. Everspace perfects a solo space sim experience, immersing players in atmospheric vistas and thrilling skirmishes through an engrossing gameplay loop. Randomization gives each playthrough novelty within its seamless open universe.
Empyrion – Galactic Survival (2016)
Empyrion emerges from early access with a unique spin on crafting and base-building. Players harvest resources to construct sprawling fortress bases, dynamic starships of any design, rovers, deployable stations, and weapons with helpful in-game blueprints. Explore colorful extraterrestrial destinations as dangers lurk amid the wilderness. Survive against aliens and robots while uncovering mysteries in a procedurally generated sci-fi setting. The flexible creative and survival systems allow players to shape their own destinies as colonists, engineers, or scrappy scavengers across multiple biomes. With updates continuing to refine and expand Empyrion’s immersive open-world construction experience, it provides the ultimate canvas for making civilization prosper amid the stars.
From titanic political RPGs to small-scale survival adventures, these games showcase the breadth of experiences available for fans eager to explore previously uncharted reaches of space. With continuous updates and new entries on the horizon, galactic playfields will only grow larger, worlds more vivid, and possibilities more dynamic. The future of gaming is mapped across the cosmos, and these titles represent pinnacles of achievement thus far. For anyone wanting to launch past Earth’s skies in search of adventure, these 9 games offer fantastic virtual worlds to get players’ spacefaring dreams underway.