What Are The Best Games Like Starbound?
Open world survival games are some of the most fun games to play. Games like Starbound, Terraria, and Minecraft bring endless hours of fun to gamers of all kinds.
If you liked Starbound then here’s a list of games you might also be interested in. This list consists of survival games with interesting twists.
All of these games are available for purchase on Steam so explore to your heart's content!
15. Planet Centauri
Planet Centauri gameplay
The Chlorinians need your help! The objective of this game is to rehabilitate society and raise a new civilization on the planet Centauri.
After crash landing on planet Centauri its your job to build homes, craft weapons and spells, farm land, and capture monsters to create a colorful new society for your NPC inhabitants.
This 2D side scroller has a beautiful pixel art style and smooth animations. Your imagination can go wild on this exciting pixel planet!
Planet Centauri Environment: A cozy log cabin in a mountainous alien landscape.
Planet Centauri Inventory: The players UI including the inventory, armor, hot keys, item descriptions, and enemy stats.
14. Dig or Die
Dig or Die gameplay
The objective of this sandbox game is to survive the relentless monster attacks and weather phenomenons of a hostile planet you’re trapped on.
It's a sandbox and tower defense action/strategy game much like Starbound. This game is more tower defense heavy and instead of staying on the planet's surface, the further you go down the better.
Dig or Die Day: Bright orange trees sit on a floating island being flooded by rain from above.
Dig or Die Night: The player defends their cave base from enemies using lasers and fire.
13. Aground
Aground gameplay
Aground is more low res than all the others on this list, but it’s low pixel count doesn’t take away from its endearing nature. This game is focused on progression.
There are less monsters than Dig or Die, and it’s more based on resource collection and exploration.
After you’ve fallen from a crashed ship into the water below you end up on an island with nothing but your clothes and the environment around you. It’s your job to figure out how to weather the environment of this deserted island.
This game is also available as a free web browser game.
Aground Environment: The player stands in front of a straw hut in a green forested environment. There are tunnels dug beneath them.
Aground Action: The player rides a dragon over the ocean and attacks airborne enemies with firebreath
12. Don't Starve: Shipwrecked
Don’t Starve: Shipwrecked gameplay
The name of the game is the objective of the game! Pretty simple, Just don’t starve as you try to build and expand your shelter, and items. Actually it’s not so simple.
This game can be quite challenging at times, but nothing a truly determined gamer can’t conquer. The archipelago is unforgiving and brutal to navigate, there’s a twist around every turn. It includes new characters, biomes, creatures, and seasonal effects.
This is DLC for the original Don’t Starve full of new tropical themed items and biomes.
Don’t Starve Environment: Wolfgang sits on a raft in swamp water fishing. Two Ox like creatures with bright soulless eyes stare.
Don’t Starve Enemy: Wilson rows a boat across the sea past a giant squid monster.
11. Crashlands
Crashlands gameplay
This game has an art style that resembles Don’t Starve with it’s flat 2D nature, and a world much like Planet Centauri’s.
This game is perfect for you if you like both of those! It’s a sci-fi survival with a much higher RPG element than the others. You play as Flux Dabes a galactic truck driver who lost his shipments after his ship was attacked, and destroyed by an alien.
Your objective is to send a message to the Bureau of Shipping to find those lost packages and complete your job.
Crashlands Base: Flux’s base surrounding their crashed escape pod. There is a library to the left, a main room, a little kitchen with a fire, and a path leading outside to some kind of creature holding structure.
Crashlands Enemies: Flux s out in the open where a group of hippo looking aliens roam the plains. They attack when he gets close.
10. Wrongworld
Wrongworld gameplay
Embark on a ridiculous survival adventure with a furry polygon creature as your playable character. This is the first three dimensional survival game on our list. This game makes up what it lacks in visuals with humorous gameplay and monsters.
You can build a new life on this world, or attempt to build a ship and escape it. The map is randomly generated so every time you start a new game you’ll get something completely different from your last game to see!
Wrongworld Environment: The little fuzzy main character stares blankly into a lonely fire in the middle of the night on a grassy section of the world. There are mountains, a desert, and ocean in the background behind him.
Wrongworld Combat: The player has acquired a helmet and a double edged sword. They attack a funny looking rock with eyes. Action words like POW! appear when the enemies are hit.
BONUS: Stranded Sails - Explorers of the Cursed Islands
Stranded Sails - Explorers of the Cursed Islands
This game has not been released but expect to see it this year! Halfway between an adventure game and a simulation game this cute 3D sandbox will be very aesthetically pleasing. New discoveries and agriculture are the keys for survival.
After being shipwrecked along with your crew on this unknown archipelago, you will have to develop agriculture to feed your men and find safe places to live. During your journey you will face many dangers and take on quests.
Stranded Sails Agriculture: A garden has been planted next to a cute little cabin. Many different kinds of greens are sprouting from the ground as the player fills more holes with seeds.
Stranded Sails Exploration: Light filters through a dark cave as the player stands in front of piles of gold and treasure chests.
9. Wayward
Wayward gameplay
Wayward is a bit different than the other survival games on this list. It’s top down, and turn based unlike the other 2D side scrolling. This is a challenging strategy based survival that’s good for anyone who likes puzzles.
This game has character customization, hundreds of craftable items, and multiplayer capabilities.Wayward is a sandbox, but it does have an ending.
You must collect five pieces of treasure and leave on your boat to finish the game.
Wayward Environment: The player stands outside of a small wooden shack with a stove in it. There are enemy spiders lurking around the shack.
Wayward Character Creation: This is the character creation screen. It allows you to pick a name, hairstyles, skin tones, and hair color.
8. Oxygen Not Included
Oxygen Not Included gameplay
Oxygen Not Included is a space-colony building game. Inside an asteroid hurtling through space your crew will need build, fight, and invent to overcome the strenuous life of the vacuum of outer space.
This is a survival game heavily built on base building. It’s the player’s job to supply water, warmth, food, and oxygen to keep the colonists alive and happy.
Instead of controlling one person you get a whole crew to command instead.
Oxygen Not Included Base: This is a highly detailed and well built underground base built in an asteroid. There are light fixtures, mining equipment, crew characters, and tunnels leading all around.
Oxygen Not Included Beginning: This is the start of a game, your crew awakens inside of a randomly generated asteroid with no recollection of how they got there.
7. Breathedge
Breathedge gameplay
Your simple main character is just a man who wanted to launch grandfather’s ashes into the the void to finally say farewell to a beloved relative.
This ironically funny game is set in space after the space herse you were riding just moments ago suffers a terrible crash. This game is taken as a joke even though it's quite good.
Breathedge offers you an intriguing plot with lots of dark jokes as well as badly animated cutscenes and other features such as ragdoll bodies, and conspiracy theories.
If you like a game to have a sense of humour and humility this is the game for you.
Breathedge Space: This image shows off the beautiful graphics of the game. The player floats through space in first person. They’re in an asteroid field above a planet, there's a broken section of a space structure in front of them.
Breathedge Creep Factor: This game has a dark humor to it so expect to see some fairly creepy assets such as mannequins floating around in the vacuum of an abandoned space station.
6. Signs of Life
Signs of Life gameplay
This is a sci-fi survival much like the others. With the human race on the line a ship called the Hephaestus was sent on a mission to seek out an Earth-like planet for them to inhabit. Unfortunately this ship is destroyed.You the only survivor manages to escape in an escape pod. With nothing but your wrist laser that acts as your mining tool you must survive, build, and conquer this alien planet. This game has a Starbound like feel with a unique art style and mechanics.
Signs of Life UI: This image shows parts of the ingame UI. We see the inventory box in the bottom left, a refine tab open with materials being smelted together into iron ingots.
Signs of Life Combat: The player stands atop a small metal base in a mega-mushroom filled landscape. A strange and frightening creature attacks and the player retaliates with an electricity weapon.
5. Empyrion - Galactic Survival
Empyrion - Galactic Survival gameplay
This game is like Breathedge, but with much more roaming on land instead of in zero gravity. This sandbox game is a free-roaming experience much like Starbound that allows you to warp between planets, fly from planet to moons, and freely walk around to explore your surroundings. This game is focused heavily on exploration and less about story. Fight aliens and other humans alike in this vast galaxy of new and exciting planets.
Empyrion Combat: On a bright and snowy planet the player points their weapon at a family of giant vicious looking space creatures.
Empyrion Environment: The player stands on the edge of a cliff in a rocky desert planet. The cliff overlooks a clear blue lake in the distance and a blue sky hangs above.
4. Crea
Crea gameplay
Crea is much like Planet Centauri. The player can improve their talents and master many skills in this game. Through each victory your level and strength will grow. Through each inquiry new items to build are unlocked. Discover the lore of the planet Crea as you explore and survive its challenges.
Crea Building: A wood house sits on top of a vine invested gave on a forest-y planet. The hotbar is visible as is the inventory which shows weapons and crafting materials.
Crea Research: It is night time outside. The player has the Research window and Inventory open using x1 lumber to research a weapon before being able to build it.
3. Junk Jack
Junk Jack gameplay
Junk Jack is available in the App Store for Apple and Android products as well as steam. This game allows cross platform enjoyment for you and all your friends. This cute block game is a great time passer. Gather treasures, cook, collect, and breed animal companions. Build a small cozy hut to kick back and relax or rule Heaven and Earth in the castle of your dreams. The sky's the limit!
Junk Jack Home: Blocky trees surround a wooden house next to a small lake. The players inventory is open showing materials and a crafting mechanic.
Junk Jack Space: A space station built by the player with many internal workings within, presumably a power structure of some kind. A rocket ship stands to the left on the moonlike terrain.
2. The Forest
The Forest gameplay
Starting with a death defying plane crash this game spares no mercy for the player. This survival horror game attacks fears of isolation, darkness, and the unknown. The player crashes on an island and is forced to watch as their son is kidnapped. You must find your son and find a way home. Learning some terrible secrets and uncovering disturbing truths along the way you must face violent natives, animals, and monsters to survive this Hellscape. This game can be a single or multiplayer experience you can enjoy in the dark alone, or with your friends.
The Forest Gameplay: The game is in first person. The player watches another player get attacked by zombie-like natives of the island.
The Forest Building: A large wooden structure built next to a river to keep enemies at bay. There are towers, stairs, walls, and indoor sections.
1. Terraria
Terraria Gameplay
Terraria is our closest contestant to Starbound followed by Planet Centauri. This game actually came out before Starbound so you could say Starbound is heavily inspired by this game. If you want to see Starbound’s origins then this is the place to look.
Terraria Building: The player has built wooden houses next to each other and a basement beneath the main house.
Terraria Ocean: The player sits on the dock of a small hut next to the ocean fishing.
