Explore the cosmos, blast some aliens, or build your own interstellar empire with the best space games.
Space and sci-fi games are undergoing a bit of a renaissance at the moment, so there’s never been a better time to get lost in the void. From huge AAA releases in established franchises all the way through to experimental projects from indie creators, there’s something out there for everyone.
1. Stellaris
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Best for running your own galactic civilization
Platforms: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S | Developer: Paradox Development Studio | Genre: 4X grand strategy | Release date: May 9, 2016
It’s by no means the first 4X space game out there, but in our humble opinion, Stellaris is the best.
It gives you unprecedented control over a sprawling galactic empire, allowing you to design your civilization’s features and people from the ground up, and then take the helm as you guide them through expansion, diplomacy, research, and war.
Stellaris excels because, while it gives you mastery over a galactic empire of staggering scale, it manages to remain intuitive and approachable, with systems that not only make sense, even to a strategy layman, but that are also balanced and fair.
2. Everspace 2
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Best space shooter / loot-driven spacefaring power fantasy
Platforms: PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S | Developer: ROCKFISH Games | Genre: Action RPG space shooter | Release date: April 6, 2023 (full release)
In one of the best glow-ups in gaming history, Everspace 2 took some of the core elements of its simple, roguelike predecessor and blew them up into a fully fleshed-out, open-universe space sim.
It’s a game that manages to walk that precarious line between a deep, systems-driven space simulator and an arcade spaceship blast-em-up, carving out its own unique niche with color-coded loot and a compelling story about survival and betrayal in an unforgiving universe.
3. Outer Wilds
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Best for unravelling a cosmic mystery
Platforms: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch | Developer: Mobius Digital | Genre: Exploration adventure | Release date: May 28, 2019
One of the most critically acclaimed space games of all time, Outer Wilds posits the question, “What if Groundhog Day, but in space?”
More importantly, it gives you a solar system of planets to explore, all concealing their own secrets and mysteries, and all containing pieces of a larger, central mystery that’s one of the most fun to piece together in all of gaming.
It also never loses sight of how important moment-to-moment gameplay is, ensuring you’re having fun navigating around even as you’re relentlessly killed by punishing stellar hazards.
4. FTL
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Best for high-tension starship command
Platforms: PC, macOS, Linux, iPad | Developer: Subset Games | Genre: Roguelike strategy | Release date: September 14, 2012
FTL is one of the best arguments for the roguelike genre ever developed.
Few other games have left me fiending with that “one more sector, one more run” feeling the way FTL has, because of the way it expertly layers challenges and in-run progression.
Proving that graphics are secondary as long as you have a really killer hook, FTL nails the balance of risk vs. reward; when death means restarting from scratch, it adds incredible tension, even to slower-paced, tactical combat. It also showcases once again the incredible satisfaction of venting your enemies out an airlock.
Side note: About 12 years ago, our Entertainment Editor Ian built a sick gaming PC to play the most graphically demanding games of the time, and then proceeded to just play FTL on it for like 3 years. There can be no finer endorsement.
5. No Man’s Sky
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Best way to experience the existential horror of infinite space
Platforms: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch | Developer: Hello Games | Genre: Open-world survival space sim | Release date: August 9, 2016
Probably the game industry’s most impressive redemption arc, No Man’s Sky went from a tale of deceptive marketing and overpromising to become one of the most expansive and immersive space games ever created.
Years of continued development and free updates have added everything originally promised in the ambitious vision presented back in 2016 and much, much more, from fully customizable bases to capital ships, vehicles for on-planet exploring to a full archaeology system for unearthing fossils.
Given the massive amount of free content now available, No Man’s Sky is not only one of the best space games now available; it’s also one of the best deals in gaming.
6. Elite Dangerous
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Best flying around the Milky Way simulator
Platforms: PC, PS4, Xbox One | Developer: Frontier Developments | Genre: Space flight simulation MMO | Release date: December 16, 2014
Another game that’s seen many years of continued development and a huge number of updates and expansions, Elite Dangerous remains the most realistic spaceship piloting simulation that us earthbound plebes can currently experience.
Anyone who’s spent any time in Elite Dangerous’ massive universe can attest that never before has landing a spacecraft felt like such a huge accomplishment.
Beyond the realistic physics and deep ship management, Elite Dangerous has drastically expanded since launch to include full on-foot, FPS exploration and combat, and now a complete narrative experience to supplement the space sandbox.
7. Kerbal Space Program
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Best rocket science simulator
Platforms: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S | Developer: Squad | Genre: Space flight simulation | Release date: April 27, 2015
At first glance, you might be tempted to dismiss Kerbal Space Program as a goofy experiment, given its Minions-adjacent protagonists. But those cartoonish graphics belie one of the most sophisticated simulations of orbital launch physics ever committed to code.
Get deep into Kerbal Space Program, and you’ll learn a tremendous amount about how complicated it is to get a massive hunk of metal and giant tubs of fuel into space, much less set them on a (safe) intercept course with another celestial body. In fact, master the game, and you’ll be halfway towards a career at NASA.
8. Hardspace: Shipbreaker
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Best capitalist dystopia in space
Platforms: PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S | Developer: Blackbird InteractiveGenre: Simulation/sandbox | Release date: May 24, 2022 (full release)
Hardspace: Shipbreaker is one of the best examples of exposing a fantasy I didn’t realize I had.
I never realized I wanted to use plasma cutters and other futuristic power tools to slash apart giant hulks of decommissioned space ships in a zero-g dry dock, but it turns out I absolutely do.
Hardspace: Shipbreaker combines some of the satisfaction of a game like Powerwash Simulator with the demolition fun of a Red Faction: Guerrilla, all while sprinkling in some welcome commentary about the soul-effacing nature of capitalism run amok. The voice acting is top-notch, too.
9. Citizen Sleeper
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Best for choose-your-own-adventure in space
Platforms: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch | Developer: Jump Over the Age | Genre: Narrative RPG | Release date: May 5, 2022
Speaking of capitalism run amok, Citizen Sleeper imagines a world where corporate-owned consciousnesses are downloaded into synthetic bodies to labor for profit until said body inevitably breaks down and collapses.
While the premise is grim, it does a fantastic job of gamifying this dystopia, forcing players to choose how to manage their scarce resources, including the scarcest of all: time. For a game with dice rolling as its primary mechanic, it manages to be one of the most engrossing and narratively rich experiences in recent memory.
It might be a bit too much of a book-in-disguise for some gamers, but if narrative is your jam, don’t skip out on this one. There’s a sequel, too, which is also excellent.
10. Helldivers 2
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Best for chaotic co-op alien bug slaughter
Platforms: PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S | Developer: Arrowhead Game Studios | Genre: Co-op third-person shooter | Release date: February 8, 2024
From a methodically-paced meditations on a post-capitalist dystopia, we move to a chaotic murderfest reflecting on the dehumanizing nature of imperialism.
Helldivers 2 lets us live out our boldest Starship Troopers dreams, dumping the raw, expendable youth of Super Earth onto ugly alien planets inhabited by hideous alien bugs or unfeeling android murder machines in the name of patriotism and conquest.
The result is the best kind of multiplayer havoc, where you’re as likely to get slaughtered by an allied turret being dropped onto you from orbit as by an alien’s pincers.
11. Mass Effect 2 (Legendary Edition)
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Best cinematic space opera
Platforms: PC, PS4, Xbox One | Developer: BioWare | Genre: Action RPG / third-person shooter | Release date: May 14, 2021 (Legendary Edition)
The Mass Effect series is best known for its branching narrative and how player choice dramatically influences the state of the galaxy. Ranging from the fate of individual crew members to entire species, your actions have major consequences, and while the Legendary Edition includes all three games from the original trilogy, nowhere does this shine better than in Mass Effect 2.
The second game has the luxury of featuring some of the choices you made in the first game and presenting you with harrowing new dilemmas, without having the responsibility of the third game to somehow resolve tons of different potential branching outcomes into a handful of unsatisfying endings.
It also improves on the combat from the first game, giving us some of the best sci-fi FPS action crossed with RPG progression we’ve ever played, all framed in the context of a dramatic, all-or-nothing suicide mission.
12. Warframe
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Best for hyper-kinetic space ninja simulator
Platforms: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, iOS | Developer: Digital Extremes | Genre: Action MMO / looter shooter | Release date: March 25, 2013
Another game that has benefited from years of live development, Warframe remains one of the most compelling action-MMOs on the market.
While its core remains the hyper-kinetic, parkour ninja action that made it a success at launch, subsequent updates have added a mind-melting amount of content. Beyond new frames to master and upgrade, Warframe now includes everything from mining and fishing to a buildable capital ship and space combat content.
13. Dead Space Remake
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Best sci-fi horror in deep-space isolation
Platforms: PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S | Developer: Motive Studio | Genre: Survival horror | Release date: January 27, 2023
While the last proper sequel lost its way somewhat, the remake of the original Dead Space reminded us all of why we fell in love with this franchise in the first place. Reasons like atmospheric horror in the confines of a creepy, abandoned starship, and, most importantly, the ability to vivisect alien monstrosities in creative and deeply gratifying ways.
The original Dead Space balanced the fear that comes from being surrounded by alien abominations with the power fantasy of upgrading your gear and weapons to become a monster-slaying badass. Here’s hoping the remake shines the way forward for a proper sequel that reclaims some of the first game’s shine.
14. Lethal Company
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Best for co-op panic in space
Platforms: PC | Developer: Zeekerss | Genre: Co-op survival horror | Release date: October 23, 2023 (early access)
Even deep space isn’t exempt from the friendslop trend (and we use that term lovingly). Lethal Company tasks you and your friends with scavenging abandoned moons for saleable goodies, all the while working against an arbitrary quota set by your faceless corporate overlords.
Succeed, and you get to move on to harder, more lucrative contracts; fail, and both you and your contract are cancelled. Lethal Company takes all of the mic screaming, chaotic friendslop action you expect from this trendiest of pseudogenres and adds a satisfying cosmic spin.
15. Dune: Awakening
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Best way to survival-craft your way through your Shai-Hulud fantasies
Platforms: PC (PS5, Xbox Series X|S due in 2026) | Developer: Funcom | Genre: Open-world survival MMO | Release date: June 10, 2025
A game that ate my entire summer, Dune: Awakening is an intoxicating blend of one of the richest tapestries of science fiction lore with some razor-sharp survival-crafting gameplay.
Setting a power fantasy amongst the spice-rich dunes of Arrakis was a brilliant way to deliver a deep, complicated narrative to gamers who wouldn’t otherwise know a Lisan al Ghaib from a Bene Tleilax.
Even better, it lets players grow from a naked prisoner with no future to an aircraft-piloting, magic-wielding lord of the sands with a base the size of a small city. If you don’t give this one a go, then may thy knife chip and shatter.
Keep up with what’s coming up later in the year with our guide to upcoming space games. And if you want more games you can jump into right now, we’ve rounded up the best space exploration games and the best space horror games.
