User Score
7.3

Mixed or average reviews- based on 508 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Negative: 72 out of 508

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  1. Mar 2, 2015
    9
    The game is like a great and remastered version of terraria with diffrent worlds, quests, and a home ship. It has tons of long-term play abilty and provides quests which helps you along your way instead of you wondering what to do. You can also choose from several specieas, each with a slightly different story and ship. Great fun! Get for pre-release before the price raises!
  2. Feb 14, 2015
    10
    This game is art, this game is soul, this game is what this culture needs to survive... sure there will allays some stupid Mushroom cloud in this culture, but that only makes this more amazing by comparison
    i know the art is hyper-generic, i know the combat system is stupid but i do not care, because that is part of the charm. the entire starting universe is lame bland and predictable,
    This game is art, this game is soul, this game is what this culture needs to survive... sure there will allays some stupid Mushroom cloud in this culture, but that only makes this more amazing by comparison
    i know the art is hyper-generic, i know the combat system is stupid but i do not care, because that is part of the charm. the entire starting universe is lame bland and predictable, but the player is the one to put their own spin on it, turn their castle ship into Farmer Joe's Cornfeild, go roaming the universe with a cowboy hat or make a paintball arena on a dead planet... which we did on a whim and had such a great payoff.i know this feels unfinished, but that makes it ever more tantalizing, because this game, in early beta, has one hundred and fifty hours of playtime, while the unnamed game which many people claim that this is a ripoff of... has only fifteen minutes, because this thing feels like it has only scratched the surface of it's potential, and yet feels even more wholesome, encompassing, and unique. the races deserve a line and that line is... these may feel a bit generic, but when you actually look at the time, the philosophies, effort and lore they put into seven separate races... you want to pack you bags and move to this galaxy. Unlike other popular games, which are pretentious, silly and just make a lot a noise for the sake of noise, this thing is light, simple and sweet in telling a very simple message, in a very unique way that makes it actually viable...
    Go and explore
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  3. Feb 13, 2015
    0
    Four years and millions of dollars later, the game's dev still hasn't delivered on its promised features.

    The lead dev's attitude doesn't do much to toward spurned fans, doesn't help, either.
    "It's not what I promised you when you bought it, but it's practically finished and you've had your money's worth of fun!"

    In a sane world, this developer would be bankrupt.
  4. Cik
    Feb 10, 2015
    10
    A very, very enjoyable game, even at this stage of development; there is a very appealing uncomplicated beauty, yet depth of play and entertainment that has gripped me for days. It is worth it, and will continue to be as it develops more.

    There exists a lore for every character type as well, so the RPG elements are well polished for the build-stage this game is at, and will only get
    A very, very enjoyable game, even at this stage of development; there is a very appealing uncomplicated beauty, yet depth of play and entertainment that has gripped me for days. It is worth it, and will continue to be as it develops more.

    There exists a lore for every character type as well, so the RPG elements are well polished for the build-stage this game is at, and will only get better. And the npc encounters that recognize you as your race and engage you differently in many circumstances is fresh and non-repetitive.

    The exploration potential is boundless and fun, along with the building emphasis of stages based upon your completion of quests; very fun. Jetting from planet to planet, system to system, makes the whole game seem never ending; very expansive. Not to mention that I found myself wandering on the surface of various planets a lot more, which I personally enjoy, and within the depths to accumulate more resources, hidden caves and base structures which I could gain unexpected gear and weapons from. The vast amount of weaponry and uniqueness to each one is simply brilliant.

    There is so much to see and accomplish in the game at the current stage, that I very much look forward to coming back to is with each developmental improvement.
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  5. Feb 6, 2015
    6
    First off, I'm going to preface this review by letting prospective buyers know that it's still in beta, and yes, there have been character wipes and there's still bugs. If this, or early access, are potential bugaboos for you, I'd recommend waiting until the full 1.0 release. That said, let's get to the review.

    First off, we'll talk aesthetics. Chucklefish has opted for a 2D style pixel
    First off, I'm going to preface this review by letting prospective buyers know that it's still in beta, and yes, there have been character wipes and there's still bugs. If this, or early access, are potential bugaboos for you, I'd recommend waiting until the full 1.0 release. That said, let's get to the review.

    First off, we'll talk aesthetics. Chucklefish has opted for a 2D style pixel graphics art style, with fairly fluid animations, cursor facing, scrolling skyboxes and backgrounds. There's multiple races to choose from, each with their own unique characteristics, styles and backstories. (Some of which have barely been touched on, but you'll get a rough estimate from some opening flavor texts, and by collecting unique logs through out the game.) It's bright, it's colorful, it's fluid.

    Mechanically, it's very similar to Terraria and Minecraft, only on a much larger scale, as crafting, building, smithing, tech and many other collectables, furnishings, weapons and tools can be crafted from various ores, or combinations of resources. (Oil + iron = steel, and so forth.) You are given a ship that you must collect items to repair, and a set of missions to get you acclimated to what the game will require you to succeed at in order to progress. The downside, is that while the game is more fully fleshed out than during the prior versions, a lot of it is still barren and buggy, which is a shame, because there's definitely a ton of potential. Combat is done in one of two ways, melee, or ranged. Melee offers a variety of weapons, daggers, swords, axes and spears, some of which can be found in chests throughout the planets you visit and mine. Ranged is guns, beam weapons, bowguns, and hunting bows, some of which can be upgraded. Lastly, tools. Tools are important, but the newest update has dropped the durability of practically all of them, which forces you to carry spares that don't stack, which has dropped their importance to upgrading your matter manipulator. Mining plays a HUGE role in this game, and is probably one of its biggest time sinks, as a mechanic. That said, the upside is that the rate of occurence of unique tombs, bases, new underground biomes and other encounters has increased since the last update. Obviously, this entire mechanic is still quite tedious, especially considering how tools have been nerfed.

    Now I'll touch on music and sound, which, in my opinion, is meant to be charming, and instruments have actually been in the game for quite some time, which allows your character to play bits of music in the game. It adds flavor, if nothing else.

    Now I'll summarize. The bits and pieces of a great game are here. The rate of which the dev team is tying those pieces together, has been slow and tedious. There has been a massive addition of content added during the big update, but unfortunately, so have a lot of new bugs, some of which stonewall progress. If they were just annoying visual glitches, I'd dismiss them, but some of them are runtime crashes during missions. That's a major no-no, and something their QA should have caught before the update. I'm giving this a solid 6 of 10 as of right now. My recommendation is to wait until it's closer to being finished and bug free.

    (Full disclosure: I have 17 hours in game during the past week, 200+ on various builds total.)
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  6. Feb 2, 2015
    7
    People realize now that it has been updated, it has no longer been not updated
    This game will entertain you for quite a while, but it doesn't have as much depth as it may seem. It's a great exploration game with a brilliant soundtrack, but it doesn't quite deliver a deep and progressive experience like other games such as Terraria do
  7. Feb 2, 2015
    10
    Anyone who rate this game below a 7 is lying, this game is just beyond comprehension of most people, and those are the people who put below a 7, anyone above that knows a good game when they see it, and we can clearly see the potential Chuckle Fish has out into this awesome game. If I could rate higher then a 10 I would, because this game is just pure awesomeness on our planet.
  8. Feb 1, 2015
    8
    This is one of the most underrated game of 2014. For those who were raging about the game's problems most of these problems have been addressed and fixed. For
  9. Feb 1, 2015
    9
    Very nice game. Extremely detailed and awesome to play. When the Upbeat Giraffe update was released, it made the game a LOT more fun to play. Play it, it is worth the 20$.
  10. Jan 30, 2015
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Whoever said this was abandoned, never tried the nightly versions. This game is solid, Really a masterpiece of a game, with all the things a good survival game should have. And also... MOD SUPPORT! Not many games have these. and chucklefish is great at what they do. idiots, who call themselves gamers, can't hold a candle, if they knew what one is, to how amazing this game is. Expand
  11. Jan 29, 2015
    5
    While the graphics and sounds are really nice. The game itself is charming and has a lot of potential, it is held back by being essentially a simplistic Terraria where you can visit different planets. It's been ages since a "stable" update was released so for those who can't be bothered to beta test the game for them won't see any changes for months at a time.

    A big update just rolled
    While the graphics and sounds are really nice. The game itself is charming and has a lot of potential, it is held back by being essentially a simplistic Terraria where you can visit different planets. It's been ages since a "stable" update was released so for those who can't be bothered to beta test the game for them won't see any changes for months at a time.

    A big update just rolled out for the game and it's finally starting to take shape, however I would definitely not recommend until they officially claim the game is in a 'finished' state. Which may be a lot longer than any one is willing to wait. Hold on to your money for now.
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  12. Jan 4, 2015
    0
    As many have pointed out, the game is basically a scam. I purchased it when it originally released on Steam over a year ago, progress has been laughably slow for a game that has made millions of dollars on Kickstarter and Steam Early Access. I still find it amazing that they could not have hired just a few more people to work on the game and get content pushed out at a decent rate. ThereAs many have pointed out, the game is basically a scam. I purchased it when it originally released on Steam over a year ago, progress has been laughably slow for a game that has made millions of dollars on Kickstarter and Steam Early Access. I still find it amazing that they could not have hired just a few more people to work on the game and get content pushed out at a decent rate. There are 'nightly' builds, which are as you can imagine very regular releases, but they are not stable and typically result in crashes. The community surrounding the game is horrendous, devote fanboys on one end, and those who feel swindled on the other. There is supposedly a large update coming out first quarter of this year, but if it's like anything like I've come to expect from Chuckelfish.. Well, I'm not holding my breath. Would strongly recommend against purchasing this game and supporting poor developers. They don't deserve your money. Expand
  13. Dec 23, 2014
    8
    Starbound is a great game it has so much content the planets you can explore the terraria gameplay the random encounters with aliens quests and much more if you like terraria you will like this game if you like space exploration you will like this game as well
  14. Oct 17, 2014
    0
    The game looked promising back in 2013 but the developers have stopped releasing updates and refused to honour refunds after receiving significant backlash from the community, even though they originally said that they will happily give refunds to any users who pre-ordered the game and felt that Chucklefish was not delivering on their promises. On top of that, the Chucklefish moderatorsThe game looked promising back in 2013 but the developers have stopped releasing updates and refused to honour refunds after receiving significant backlash from the community, even though they originally said that they will happily give refunds to any users who pre-ordered the game and felt that Chucklefish was not delivering on their promises. On top of that, the Chucklefish moderators and admins have been relentlessly banning users for criticising them, claiming that all of the users are trolls or are breaking there rules.

    It has become very apparent that this game will never be finished.

    Starbound is nothing more than a scam at this point. The developers have already stolen my money, don't let them steal yours.
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  15. Oct 7, 2014
    6
    Starbound...well.

    I bought this Game 2013 in Early Access, was hyped by the "Future Feature List". Eventually I played around 100hrs, with Friends on a Server, and a bit Singleplayer. After all that, and around one Year later I can summarize it as follow: Graphics are nice, sound and music are nice. The Basic Ideas and concepts sound good in theory. But: -For a Year now
    Starbound...well.

    I bought this Game 2013 in Early Access, was hyped by the "Future Feature List".

    Eventually I played around 100hrs, with Friends on a Server, and a bit Singleplayer.

    After all that, and around one Year later I can summarize it as follow:

    Graphics are nice, sound and music are nice.
    The Basic Ideas and concepts sound good in theory.

    But:
    -For a Year now there are no new Updates. (besides silly valentines day items)
    -Performance is just incredible bad. Lag on High End Machines, unplayable on standard PCs.
    -Game Progression makes absolut no sense and is dull like hell.
    -Most of the random generated Items are totally worthless
    -Lots of Bugs and so many missing features...
    -NPCs are just senseless placeholders, most items are too.
    -Childish and whiteknighting community who defend all negative aspects to the death.
    -grindfest for getting to the next level, to start all over again to get to the next level, repeat...

    So in fact you spend alot of time mining material to build a nice house, city etc. from. But then you have nothing to do, no reason to explore the Universe etc.

    The Developers startet to make some other games meanwhile...honestly I think this game will never be finished.

    My advice would be to stay away till there is a really major update with some real progression and missions that make sense.

    It is some Fun in Multiplayer if you know the people you are play with, and have a powerful rig to handel the game.
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  16. Oct 3, 2014
    6
    Bought it 9 months ago, thinking "Terraria in unlimited space, this is going to be awesome !". And it was, for a few hours. And then you realize passed a certain level, the progressing system is still the same, linear and boring mining to upgrade.

    And then you realize the game in itself feels like the developers did not know at first how hard and tedious developping fully functionnal
    Bought it 9 months ago, thinking "Terraria in unlimited space, this is going to be awesome !". And it was, for a few hours. And then you realize passed a certain level, the progressing system is still the same, linear and boring mining to upgrade.

    And then you realize the game in itself feels like the developers did not know at first how hard and tedious developping fully functionnal game is. Between the game complete lack of balance and the "missing description" for hundreds of items, it does feel like it was halfway done then someone said "let's release it early access".

    And while the release of seasonnal content for valentine's day was appreciated, it really shows the issues in this game development. It is not centered on content quantity, not quality. And if you consider this game is basically still on alpha stage with no change brought in a year, you wonder where this is going.
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  17. Oct 3, 2014
    6
    Note: I will update this after the full game is out

    I kinda like this game,It has a potential to be good! HOWEVER,How it's being executed is questionable So here is the basic pros/cons review! Pros: Endless travel places Endless ore Good crafting fun multi-player Fun bosses Cons: Mean developers No mod support KHAN NO UPDATES. Note: Like I said,I
    Note: I will update this after the full game is out

    I kinda like this game,It has a potential to be good!

    HOWEVER,How it's being executed is questionable

    So here is the basic pros/cons review!

    Pros:
    Endless travel places

    Endless ore

    Good crafting

    fun multi-player

    Fun bosses

    Cons:

    Mean developers

    No mod support

    KHAN

    NO UPDATES.

    Note: Like I said,I kinda like this game at its beta state,It's okay,NOT WORTH BUYING,Just wait til' it updates a little and then buy it,It has the potential to be the best,Yes,Better than terraria,minecraft and "PP".

    But its in beta state and this is my "Beta" score ,6/10
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  18. Sep 24, 2014
    8
    I picked up Starbound months ago and I've set up a server for me and my friends. We had a great time goofing off and building stuff. Doing our usual stuff when it comes to sandbox games like this.

    The music is pleasant and I love some of the random aliens you run into. If you enjoyed Terraria but wanted to prefer Scifi, then Starbound is worth a check. (A lot of people seem to be
    I picked up Starbound months ago and I've set up a server for me and my friends. We had a great time goofing off and building stuff. Doing our usual stuff when it comes to sandbox games like this.

    The music is pleasant and I love some of the random aliens you run into. If you enjoyed Terraria but wanted to prefer Scifi, then Starbound is worth a check.

    (A lot of people seem to be rating this game with zeros saying it was unfinished, but I do not know what they expected from buying a game that is in early access.)
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  19. Sep 19, 2014
    1
    Seems to be one of many early access/kickstarter scam.
    Dev team cashed out after filling their pocket due to the hype generated by the announcement and early release.
    We are left with little content and a total lack of support from the developer.
  20. Sep 9, 2014
    7
    The game is initially very fun and kills a lot of time. After a while it gets extremely repetitive and the different races are really just different visually, they all play exactly the same.
  21. Sep 5, 2014
    9
    This game is really fun. I'm waiting for the final build but play nightly sometimes. Anyone calling this a scam is an uninformed idiot. Tired of hearing about how they don't update because if you weren't an idiot you would know they do every night. Give the game a chance if you are interested and do your own research instead of listening to trolls.
  22. Sep 4, 2014
    10
    Nomis!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
  23. Sep 3, 2014
    3
    I wouldnt say its a scam like other did. I think the team wants to make a good game, but... they dont know how to. A game has to "feel right" and a big mistake in game devlopment is to add a ton of content and **** before it does. Starbound has done this mistake full force and the exploration and combat feels extremely dull and bland. On paper and on the blog it sounds awesome and I wasI wouldnt say its a scam like other did. I think the team wants to make a good game, but... they dont know how to. A game has to "feel right" and a big mistake in game devlopment is to add a ton of content and **** before it does. Starbound has done this mistake full force and the exploration and combat feels extremely dull and bland. On paper and on the blog it sounds awesome and I was super excited about it but after 9 hours ( i ve tried and retried over 4 or 5 characters along the updates) i never had fun. it's really sad to say but yep, didnt have fun a single minute.
    Fights are slow and boring, gravity is always too low and controls dont feel nervous or tight. Muddy at best. Game is super unbalanced ( which is ok for the early beta, but its been in beta for a year now and i havent seen much change...). Character progression is boring, nothing exciting to be found in exploration. "quests" to push you to a next step feel forced and break the fun a game like terraria had in its sandbox system and freedom of exploration. Terraria had genius in the fact that you could discover everything yourself ( i never had to read a walkthrough), starbound hasnt found a way to teach the player to play the game in a clever way and instead tries to take him by the hand telling him what to do turning the experience into a fetching bore.

    I have lost hope in Starbound right now. I ll come back and update my review in a few months if things have evolved.
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  24. Aug 19, 2014
    0
    This "game" is a scam.The devs arent even uptading it.Its just a list of what they want to (not) add.The last real uptade was last year.They just keep prototyping "uptades" and taking money
  25. Aug 15, 2014
    0
    Two years ago, Tiyuri (Starbound's lead developer) left the Relogic Team (responsible for Terraria) and began his own project. Since then, he's been responsible for a quite successful faux-Kickstarter that landed him $4M for the purposes of "speeding up beta," signed on with Steam for an additional estimated $15M, moved the majority of his team to an incredibly expensive-to-live-in cityTwo years ago, Tiyuri (Starbound's lead developer) left the Relogic Team (responsible for Terraria) and began his own project. Since then, he's been responsible for a quite successful faux-Kickstarter that landed him $4M for the purposes of "speeding up beta," signed on with Steam for an additional estimated $15M, moved the majority of his team to an incredibly expensive-to-live-in city (minus Bartwerf, one of his more talented programmers), and failed to deliver much beyond a tech demo for an entire universe of promises and assurances. Having failed to meet the 2013 deadline and with 2015 rapidly approaching, it seems that the "1.0" sticker will be applied to this game in order to avoid dishing out the refunds that so many Early Access supporters have been clamoring for since they realized that they were only inflating the massive ego of the sprite artist that nearly sank Terraria before it even left port by stealing Final Fantasy V sprites for Redigit to use. If you liked Terraria, you're in good company. Tiy loved it so much, he ripped it off himself. Expand
  26. Aug 12, 2014
    0
    This came is a scam. Don't consider buying it. For 11 months they haven't released a single major update, and it's still in the 1st stage of early alpha.
  27. Aug 6, 2014
    9
    Most fun I have had in years in any kind of game, especially coop. Art is wonderful, music is great and building stuff is incredibly satisfying, if you are creatively inclined.

    That being said, it really is still in a very rough state and it is clear that it is far from finished. Once you have 'cleared' the content that is available at the moment, there is not much or nothing in the way
    Most fun I have had in years in any kind of game, especially coop. Art is wonderful, music is great and building stuff is incredibly satisfying, if you are creatively inclined.

    That being said, it really is still in a very rough state and it is clear that it is far from finished. Once you have 'cleared' the content that is available at the moment, there is not much or nothing in the way of dungeon crawling, questing etc.

    Yet I find the criticism displayed here unreasonable, because it actually does not criticise the game, but the development cycle. A game taking long to develop is actually not valid criticism of the quality of the game**

    If I judge what I have gotten for my money, which is 70-80h* of delightful gameplay for about 15€ or so, then I can say that this is great value and has left me highly satisfied. Would I like to continue playing with more content? Hell yeah. But I'll have to wait till the game is properly out.

    *mostly coop. Probably would have been much shorter, if I had played entirely solo.

    ** I am not suggesting that people cannot be rightfully upset at having the release date pushed multiple times if they have been fans of the first hour. But the rating should not reflect your estimate of how well the development progresses, but what the game offers right now in its current form — which I personally find more then satisfying.
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  28. Jul 30, 2014
    5
    Another example of the pre-order/early-access scam. Chucklefish collected over 4 million dollars to make this game, and what we got instead was a half-baked Terraria with the ability to visit multiple boring worlds. Without the work of the independent mods for this game, I would have given it a solid 2 out 10.

    On principle, I would say to not reward this company with your patronage. On
    Another example of the pre-order/early-access scam. Chucklefish collected over 4 million dollars to make this game, and what we got instead was a half-baked Terraria with the ability to visit multiple boring worlds. Without the work of the independent mods for this game, I would have given it a solid 2 out 10.

    On principle, I would say to not reward this company with your patronage. On rationality, I would say you should just go out and buy Terraria instead. You will actually be paying someone for a great game, and not to help create an "indie" publishing company that spits out half-finished games to pay for creating more half-finished games.
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  29. Jul 22, 2014
    1
    I am relatively new to the steam experience, and after enjoying Terraria I was excited to try Starbound after reading the "Developers" pitch of the game. As I haven't tried an early release title before, I figured "What the Hay... Ill get a little experience before the game is released!" That was over a half year ago. Now I have been extremely patient waiting for a full release, and mayI am relatively new to the steam experience, and after enjoying Terraria I was excited to try Starbound after reading the "Developers" pitch of the game. As I haven't tried an early release title before, I figured "What the Hay... Ill get a little experience before the game is released!" That was over a half year ago. Now I have been extremely patient waiting for a full release, and may have continued to do so, until I read that they have MILLIONS of dollars from gamers like myself yet the game is still far from being released! I feel like I have been hornswaggled! The Devs have used our hard earned money to purchase expensive plane tickets to England, for prime office space, and who knows what else, and the game has been pushed back for release until 2015? That seems completely absurd! Top it all off with a recent progress post on Chucklefish forums from a head Dev that states he has no idea what the other Devs are exactly up to! Look it up for yourself on the official forums! Never again will I invest in an early access game because of Starbound. I don't think the game will ever be finalized. Lesson learned. Expand
  30. Jul 17, 2014
    1
    This game is the exact reason why I don't like early access anymore. Developers go us into buying their game with colorful promising features, and only to take our money and laugh at our foolishness for paying for unfinished product. I would never buy another early access from Chucklefish,
Metascore
81

Generally favorable reviews - based on 21 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 18 out of 21
  2. Negative: 0 out of 21
  1. Oct 24, 2016
    82
    Starbound is one of the very few games that gets both "open world" and "sandbox" done right. The amount of activities available is astounding and the best part is you can avoid them all, if you wish to do just that.
  2. CD-Action
    Oct 14, 2016
    85
    The price to fun ratio is amazing, but Starbound’s biggest advantage is the freedom it offers. I took a long break from Elite Dangerous to play this indie gem – it’s that good! [10/2016, p.58]
  3. Sep 19, 2016
    70
    Starbound is not as polished and debugged as other games, and sometimes it may seem repetitive. But compared to more "modern" sci-fi games its explorative, almost melancholic spirit and emphasis on building catches your heart. Spare a few hundred hours of your time, the ultimate boundary once again calls for the survey.