Games Like Starbound

Dig, fight, explore, build! Nothing is impossible in this action-packed adventure game. Four Pack also available!

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 41.1% ★, Sandbox 13.7%, Survival 6.8%, Crafting 6.5%, Building 4.8%

Why You'll Like It: It is the closest overall match, offering side-scrolling pixel-art exploration, constant gear progression, deep crafting, boss fights, and huge sandbox building freedom.

Explore an open world, sci-fi sandbox – in PVP, PVE, and co-op. Build and manage colonies on alien planets, and recruit AI survivors with unique personalities and skills. Craft, build, mine, farm, or get your electric death rifle and say hello to your neighbors.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 35.1% ★, Sandbox 11.7%, Space 8.5%, Crafting 8.2%, Online Co-Op 7.9%

Why You'll Like It: This is one of the most direct Starbound-like games on Steam, combining 2D sci-fi exploration, colony building, crafting, and procedural planets.

Dive into an epic adventure alone or with friends! Explore hidden dungeons, capture and tame fearsome monsters, build and defend your village. Craft powerful weapons, master magical spells, and transform an planet into the cradle of a new civilization!

Why similar: Sandbox 22.9%, Crafting 13.9%, Open World 11.3%, Building 9.4%, Multiplayer 7.9%

Why You'll Like It: Its pixel-art sandbox structure, creature-filled worlds, crafting progression, and exploration-heavy pace make it feel very close to Starbound's adventure side.

Signs of Life is a sci-fi survival sandbox platformer with a combination of procedurally generated and hand-crafted content. You'll explore mysterious locations, Mine blocks for resources, and meet strange (and some familiar) creatures, some of which don't even want to kill you and eat your corpse.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 45.8% ★, Sandbox 13.9%, Crafting 7.7%, Survival 7.2%, Space 6.1%

Why You'll Like It: It shares Starbound's 2D alien-planet survival feel, with mining, crafting, base-building, and sci-fi exploration across hostile environments.

Explore a vast cavern of creatures, relics and resources in a mining sandbox adventure for 1-8 players. Mine, build, fight, craft and farm to unravel the mystery of the ancient Core.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 29.5% ★, Sandbox 11.1%, Crafting 7.8%, Survival 7.3%, Online Co-Op 7.2%

Why You'll Like It: While underground-focused, it nails the same addictive loop of exploration, mining, base-building, crafting, and co-op progression in pixel art.

Crash land on a hostile planet where you'll have to build the strongest defenses if you wish to live to escape from it. But be warned... this planet is merciless. Build strong, and smart; else physics may flood or destroy your only hopes of survival.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 45% ★, Sandbox 14.5%, Survival 9.9%, Crafting 9%, Open World 5%

Why You'll Like It: It captures the stranded-on-an-alien-planet loop with resource gathering, fortification, and survival-focused crafting in a side-view format.

Build, quest, and conquer across an infinite procedurally generated world. Play alone or with friends as you establish a settlement and explore deep dungeons, fight monsters and bosses, mine rare ores, craft magical equipment, recruit specialists for your colony, and more!

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 44.3% ★, Sandbox 9.7%, Crafting 6.1%, Survival 5.7%, Open World 5.3%

Why You'll Like It: It delivers a similar sandbox progression loop of exploration, crafting, base expansion, and multiplayer adventuring, just from a top-down perspective.

Progress with every slain monster, learn over 80 skills through talents, craft hundreds of items, and explore vast procedurally-generated worlds in this ever-expanding sandbox RPG!

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 47.1% ★, Sandbox 15.4%, Crafting 8.6%, Survival 5.9%, Building 3.6%

Why You'll Like It: This 2D sandbox RPG mirrors Starbound's mix of mining, building, crafting, and character progression in a colorful procedural world.

As one of the last human survivors, you find yourself stranded on an uninhabited island. With a few other victims of the crash, can you craft, mine, and build your way to survival?

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 39.8% ★, Sandbox 12.3%, Survival 9.4%, Open World 8.4%, Building 8.1%

Why You'll Like It: Like Starbound, it starts with survival and crafting on a strange world before expanding into ship repair, advanced technology, and eventually space travel.

No Man's Sky is a game about exploration and survival in an infinite procedurally generated universe.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 44.8% ★, Space 11.5%, Open World 8.8%, Sandbox 8.8%, Survival 6.6%

Why You'll Like It: If your favorite part of Starbound was repairing your ship and roaming a universe of distinct planets, this is the strongest 3D version of that fantasy.

Interact with strange new worlds in a unique and tactile way, molding the environment itself as if it were clay in your hands. Build your base, master resource management, automate your production lines, and more as you unravel the mysteries of the universe, alone or with friends.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 38.5% ★, Space 9.7%, Sandbox 9.4%, Survival 8%, Open World 7.1%

Why You'll Like It: It trades combat for a gentler style of planetary survival and base-building, but still scratches the same space exploration and co-op sandbox itch.

Fight and tame alien beasts, craft resources into menacing weaponry, befriend the outlandish locals, and go toe-to-chin with a world-domineering maniac.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 40.9% ★, Sandbox 11.8%, Crafting 8.8%, Survival 8.1%, Open World 7.1%

Why You'll Like It: Its premise of being stranded on an alien world and surviving through crafting, combat, and quest-driven exploration feels very Starbound-adjacent.

Welcome to Keplerth! Try to survive on a hostile alien planet in this 2D sandbox RPG, where you can choose to live alone or fight side by side with your friends in the online multiplayer mode. Survive, build, farm, fight, and explore your way to victory in this open-world adventure!

Why similar: Sandbox 23.8%, Survival 14.2%, Open World 12.1%, Building 11.8%, Exploration 6.9%

Why You'll Like It: Its alien-world survival, base-building, crafting, and procedural exploration make it a strong fit for players who liked Starbound's sci-fi sandbox side.

Suit up as an operative of the Ark Corporation, sent to the farthest reaches of the universe in search of habitable planets to terraform. However, after the long space journey you awaken from cryosleep to find that your ship has gone way off course and is disabled near a strange new world.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 46.5% ★, Sandbox 14.8%, Space 6.4%, Crafting 6.2%, Survival 4.5%

Why You'll Like It: This is another direct 2D sci-fi survival sandbox with planetary exploration, crafting, and base-building that overlaps heavily with Starbound's structure.

Build and explore in a true space sandbox survival adventure. Construct mighty capital vessels, sprawling planetary settlements, and vast space stations in your galactic journey to discover the mysteries of Empyrion!

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 36.1% ★, Sandbox 10.5%, Space 9.2%, Survival 7.5%, Crafting 7.1%

Why You'll Like It: It matches Starbound's larger-scale sci-fi survival fantasy with planet hopping, base construction, ship building, and multiplayer exploration.

Fight, Farm, Build and Explore Together in the standalone multiplayer expansion to the uncompromising wilderness survival game, Don't Starve.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 70.7% ★, Survival 15.1%, Multiplayer 2.6%, Co-op 2.5%, Sandbox 2.2%

Why You'll Like It: This is a stronger match for players who loved Starbound's survival and multiplayer base-building more than its sci-fi setting.

A sandbox adventure game as big as your imagination.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 33.5% ★, Sandbox 11.6%, Crafting 8.2%, Online Co-Op 7.9%, Survival 7.1%

Why You'll Like It: It offers a similarly accessible loop of exploration, crafting, building, and multiplayer sandbox play, just in a more voxel-based world.

Space Engineers is a sandbox engineering game where you design and build ships, stations, and planetary bases in a fully destructible environment. Explore planets and space, mine resources, survive hazards, and engage in combat alone or with friends in Creative or Survival modes.

Why similar: Sandbox 21%, Space 15.7%, Survival 13%, Building 11.7%, Open World 11.3%

Why You'll Like It: It leans more simulation-heavy, but its mix of survival, engineering, planetary exploration, and space sandbox freedom overlaps with Starbound's creative side.

A space survival open world terraforming crafting game, designed for 1 to 10 players. Alter the ecosystem of an inhospitable planet to render it habitable for humanity. Survive, gather resources, and build your base. Then, generate oxygen, warmth, and pressure to create a brand new biosphere.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 36.9% ★, Sandbox 8.9%, Online Co-Op 8.1%, Space 7.8%, Crafting 7.5%

Why You'll Like It: Although calmer and first-person, it shares the appeal of surviving on a hostile planet and transforming it through gathering, crafting, and base development.

Gather your friends and come to Tinkertown - A refreshing new Multiplayer Sandbox Experience! Explore magical places filled with loot, danger, and creativity.

Why similar: Sandbox 16.5%, Crafting 12%, Online Co-Op 9.5%, RPG 8.4%, Open World 8.2%

Why You'll Like It: Its cooperative pixel-art world, building systems, crafting, and adventure progression echo the lighter sandbox side of Starbound.

A living world full of surprises, secrets and danger awaits in The Survivalists, an adventure-filled survival sandbox set in The Escapists universe. Explore, build, craft and even train monkeys with up to three friends in a desperate bid to survive. Have you got what it takes to be a Survivalist?

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 34.3% ★, Crafting 10.3%, Sandbox 10.3%, Online Co-Op 9.6%, Survival 9%

Why You'll Like It: It offers a familiar loop of gathering, crafting, exploring, and building with co-op support, even if it swaps space for tropical islands.

It Lurks Below is an action-oriented, survival RPG in a randomly generated world. Fight through the massive underground dungeon, customize your character with random items and find out what evil lurks below.

Why similar: Sandbox 26.3%, Survival 21.5%, Crafting 15%, RPG 11.3%, Pixel Graphics 10.7%

Why You'll Like It: This side-scrolling action-survival RPG blends loot progression, crafting, digging, and base-building in a way Terraria and Starbound fans usually click with.

Choose one of the characters and start your journey. The game has many interesting things in store: building, crafting, puzzles, bosses, mystery, laughs, quests etc.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 42.7% ★, Sandbox 8.9%, Survival 8.2%, Crafting 7.4%, Multiplayer 5.5%

Why You'll Like It: Its pixel-art co-op survival, crafting, and building systems make it a worthwhile pick for fans of Starbound's smaller-scale sandbox adventuring.

Planet Explorers is an open world sandbox adventure RPG game set on a distant planet. The game uses a new OpenCL calculated voxel system to allow players to change the terrain in any way, create new objects such as weapons, vehicles, objects, and do it anywhere.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 45.2% ★, Sandbox 15.3%, Open World 7.6%, Crafting 6.7%, Survival 6.3%

Why You'll Like It: It shares the core appeal of exploring an alien world, gathering materials, building bases, and surviving in a sci-fi sandbox.

The highly popular and quirky "idle game that you want to actively keep playing". Explore, craft, gather & manage resources, find secrets and build your base out of nothing! Buy land to explore and expand!

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 49.4% ★, Crafting 10.1%, Survival 9.5%, Sandbox 9.1%, Pixel Graphics 5%

Why You'll Like It: It distills the resource-gathering and crafting progression of Starbound into a lighter, faster-paced sandbox that is easy to sink hours into.

MewnBase is a space-cat survival and base-building game. Scavenge around a barren planet for items to keep you fed. Explore and collect resources. Craft items and grow your base to help you survive.

Why similar: Sandbox 20.5%, Crafting 15.6%, Space 14.7%, Survival 12.2%, Building 10.2%

Why You'll Like It: It captures the feeling of surviving alone on an alien world, gathering resources, and building up a foothold in a compact 2D format.

Explore, craft, and fight your way through uncharted islands — solo or with up to 4 players in co-op! Tinkerlands is an exciting survival adventure where you will build your settlement, craft useful tools to survive, and even use magic!

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 35.7% ★, Sandbox 11.2%, Online Co-Op 7.9%, Survival 6.9%, Crafting 6.4%

Your spaceship crashed on an alien planet. Explore, salvage, craft, trade, manage and upgrade your way back home!

Why similar: Crafting 20.2%, Space 19.5%, Open World 18.1%, Relaxing 12.9%, Exploration 10%

Why You'll Like It: Its lone-explorer-on-an-alien-planet vibe, combined with crafting and light survival mechanics, makes it a good thematic follow-up to Starbound.

You awake to discover yourself no longer in the company of good men or a fine seafaring vessel. Treasure... you remember something about treasure. Wayward is a challenging turn-based, top-down, wilderness survival roguelike. Explore, build, and most importantly survive in these unforgiving lands.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 48.2% ★, Survival 11.2%, Crafting 10%, Sandbox 10%, Open World 5.5%

Why You'll Like It: This is a good pick if what you loved most was the open-ended survival-crafting problem solving, though it is much harsher and less adventure-driven than Starbound.

Don’t Starve is an uncompromising wilderness survival game full of science and magic. Enter a strange and unexplored world full of strange creatures, dangers, and surprises. Gather resources to craft items and structures that match your survival style.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 47.3% ★, Survival 16.9%, Sandbox 12.1%, Crafting 10%, Open World 4.1%

You've inherited your grandfather's old farm plot in Stardew Valley. Armed with hand-me-down tools and a few coins, you set out to begin your new life. Can you learn to live off the land and turn these overgrown fields into a thriving home?

Why similar: Sandbox 20.2%, Crafting 14.5%, Multiplayer 13.6%, Relaxing 11.3%, Pixel Graphics 11.2%

Craft The World is a unique sandbox strategy game, the mix of Dungeon Keeper, Terraria and Dwarf Fortress. Explore a random generated world populated by dangerous creatures, build a dwarf fortress, gather resources, and craft all the items, weapons, and armor you need.

Why similar: Sandbox 28.5%, Crafting 20.8%, Building 16.1%, Survival 13.1%, Open World 9.6%

Why You'll Like It: While more colony-focused, it still delivers a satisfying blend of digging, crafting, defense, and progression that overlaps with Starbound's building loop.

Abiotic Factor is a survival crafting experience for 1-6 players set in the depths of an underground research facility. Caught between paranormal containment failure, a military crusade, and chaos from a dozen realms, the world’s greatest minds must survive against the universe’s biggest threats.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 41.4% ★, Sandbox 10.9%, Online Co-Op 10%, Crafting 9.9%, Survival 9.3%

Explore, craft, and survive in this Multiplayer RPG Platformer with permanent death! Featuring many Rogue-like elements, Magicite randomly generates each underground dungeon for you and your friends to delve deep into.

Why similar: Crafting 17.3%, Multiplayer 12.1%, Co-op 11.2%, Survival 10.7%, Pixel Graphics 9.8%

The ultimate space sandbox. Participate in epic fleet battles, form alliances, strive to dominate entire galaxies and harness the universe’s resources for your industrious empire or the destruction of others. Customise your experience, the universe is yours!

Why similar: Sandbox 25.5%, Space 22%, Open World 11.2%, Building 10%, Crafting 7.6%

Embark on a galactic journey in Cubic Odyssey, an open-world adventure where you explore vibrant planets, craft tools, build vehicles, and fight the Red Darkness. Uncover ancient mysteries, and shape a universe full of life, danger, and limitless possibilities!

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 45.8% ★, Sandbox 14.1%, Building 7.7%, Co-op 7.2%, Online Co-Op 4%

GRAV is a sand box experience where you explore a multitude of planets, hunt strange alien creatures, build and defend outposts, craft weapons and armor, and attempt to survive against other players in a hostile environment.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 47% ★, Sandbox 10.9%, Survival 9.5%, Open World 7.2%, Crafting 6.5%

The world of Elysia needs YOU! Join this cooperative, 3D sandbox action RPG to level up your character, craft epic weapons, conquer enemies in real-time, and build almost anything! Craft your adventure. Forge your hero. Become the ultimate Portal Knight!

Why similar: Sandbox 25.4%, Crafting 14.9%, Survival 12.4%, Building 12%, Multiplayer 10.4%

Cube World is a voxel-based action RPG with a focus on exploration. It takes place in a procedurally generated fantasy world made up entirely of cubes.

Why similar: Open World 18.8%, Online Co-Op 12.9%, Multiplayer 10.8%, Sandbox 10.1%, Crafting 8.8%

Embark on an epic journey in this hardcore Multiplayer RPG! As a Galactic Cadet, you and your Combat Squad of friends must brave hostile worlds in search of valuable loot and resources. Craft powerful gear, slay otherworldly creatures, and save the galaxy.

Why similar: Multiplayer 18.3%, Co-op 16.5%, Pixel Graphics 13.8%, Survival 11.5%, RPG 10.4%

Make the world truly yours in Junk Jack, a relaxing sandbox experience focused on building and improving your home. Discover new planets, tame and breed creatures, cook foods, collect animal companions, farm exotic plants, collect fish, grow flowers, play with your friends!

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 44.9% ★, Sandbox 14.6%, Crafting 8.2%, Survival 8.1%, Building 5.5%

You were deep in uncharted space on a research mission. Disaster struck. Together with your friends, explore a mysterious asteroid field and mine whatever resources possible to build what you need to survive.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 40.9% ★, Space 9.2%, Online Co-Op 8.7%, Sandbox 8.2%, Survival 7.9%

Grow your farm, meet the villagers, and join your friends online in building your world.

Why similar: Sandbox 21.9%, Online Co-Op 13.4%, Building 11.3%, Open World 10.7%, Co-op 8%

Descend into the depths of an alien underwater world filled with wonder and peril. Craft equipment, pilot submarines and out-smart wildlife to explore lush coral reefs, volcanoes, cave systems, and more - all while trying to survive.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 51.5% ★, Survival 10.9%, Crafting 8.5%, Open World 7.9%, Sandbox 7%

Survive in outer space! Together with your immortal chicken, discover the truth behind your sudden spaceship crash. Craft tools, pilot vehicles, and even control space stations to survive and explore the wreckage.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 45.8% ★, Sandbox 12.3%, Space 11.1%, Survival 8.3%, Crafting 6.8%

Factorio is a game about building and creating automated factories to produce items of increasing complexity, within an infinite 2D world. Use your imagination to design your factory, combine simple elements into ingenious structures, and finally protect it from the creatures who don't really like you.

Why similar: Sandbox 28.8%, Crafting 18.4%, Survival 12.2%, Open World 9.3%, Building 8.7%

Stranded in a hostile alien world, you must fight to survive. Hunt, harvest, craft, advance skills, and build using local resources along with technology from your voyage.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 49.4% ★, Survival 9.5%, Sandbox 7.5%, Open World 5.7%, Crafting 5.5%

Crash-land onto a unique and hostile alien world and begin your fight to survive. Face its inhabitants, upgrade your technology, create outposts & bases, and find a way to repair your ship. Explore the beautifully strange terrain, all while blasting and crafting your way off of the planet.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 44.8% ★, Space 10.8%, Sandbox 10%, Survival 9.2%, Crafting 9.1%

You are the lone survivor orbiting a potential new home planet, tethered to what’s left of your ship. Gather nearby debris and assemble a make-shift vessel in an attempt to survive the harsh realities of space. Maybe you'll live long enough to uncover the truth behind the ship's malfunction...

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 39.1% ★, Sandbox 10%, Space 9.4%, Crafting 9.3%, Survival 8%

Shape your citizen, forge your destiny and sculpt your world in this epic voxel sandbox MMO built on endless possibility.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 45.8% ★, Sandbox 14.9%, Crafting 9.1%, Open World 7.8%, Building 6.3%

Risk of Rain is an action platformer with roguelike elements. With permanent death as a primary feature, players will have to play their best to get as far as possible. Fight on a mysterious planet with randomly spawning enemies and bosses, either alone or with 3 friends in online co-op.

Why similar: Online Co-Op 28.8%, Pixel Graphics 16.6%, Co-op 16.1%, Multiplayer 9.1%, Survival 7.2%

A procedural co-op space sandbox where players can build their own space ships out of dynamically scalable blocks. Fight epic space battles, explore, mine, trade, wage wars and build your own empire to save your galaxy from being torn apart by an unknown enemy.

Why similar: Sandbox 30.8%, Space 22.2%, Building 16.7%, Open World 15.5%, Exploration 8.9%

A brutal exploration and survival game for 1-10 players, set in a procedurally-generated purgatory inspired by viking culture. Battle, build, and conquer your way to a saga worthy of Odin’s patronage!

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 41.6% ★, Online Co-Op 9%, Survival 8.3%, Crafting 7.1%, Sandbox 6.9%

Take the role of a plane crash survivor stranded somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. Come face to face with some of the most life threatening scenarios that will result in a different experience each time you play. Scavenge. Discover. Survive.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 53.1% ★, Survival 10.7%, Crafting 7.7%, Open World 6.3%, Multiplayer 6%

Stars End is a sci-fi survival sandbox set on the wild frontier of a distant star system. Play solo or host your own server as you craft, build, and battle to survive in a galaxy shaped by danger, discovery, and your own grit.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 33.7% ★, Sandbox 9.4%, Space 8.5%, Online Co-Op 8.2%, Co-op 7.2%

Experience a vast Sci-fi open-world survival TD game set on a distant planet deep in the universe. Craft, build, mine, trade, explore, and survive in this alien world. Collect Data and defend against waves of enemies seeking to banish you. Enjoy the adventure in Singleplayer or Multiplayer.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 35.3% ★, Sandbox 9.6%, Online Co-Op 8.1%, Crafting 7.8%, Survival 7.3%

Pilot your ship in the seamless open world made of space, planets, and more. Find new ships and equipment, find allies and beat all the enemies in this open source space shooter!

Why similar: Space 36.7%, Open World 21.4%, RPG 12.6%, Action 6.2%, 2D 5.4%