Best Space-Themed Construction Games

Whether it be building roads and apartment blocks in a city-builder, designing and constructing entire complexes in architectural and tycoon games such as Prison Architect, or even in colony simulators like RimWorld, construction has always been a frequently simulated activity in gaming.

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Construction is also a huge part of the simulation genre, with many games going to great lengths to simulate certain aspects of construction. Although these titles are more simulation-heavy games, not all the entries are simulators, and most are accessible experiences. This is especially so because many of these games contain aspects of science fiction.

1 The Last Starship – A Spaceship Builder From The Developers Of Prison Architect

Steam User Rating: 81%

Developed by indie legends Introversion Software (the studio behind indie classics like Darwinia and the more recent hit, Prison Architect), The Last Starship allows players to construct their own spaceships.

Throughout a playthrough of The Last Starship, players explore space, completing missions and slowly upgrading their ship. The game also features an intuitive ship editor that allows players to more easily design and edit their ships. Furthermore, as players progress, they are able to expand their fleet, allowing them to design and construct a variety of ships.

2 Stationeers – A Slow, Hardcore simulation

Steam User Rating: 84%

This highly complex construction and management game tasks players with building, expanding and managing a space station in solo or online co-op. Players must keep a multitude of simulated systems in mind, including atmosphere, electrics, gravity, and more.

Stationeers is aimed at hardcore players who are looking for complex, simulated systems. The game takes a lot of learning and practice, so it can be slow to start, and players will have to carefully plan out their designs with these systems in mind if they're to be successful.

3 Space Scavenger – A Top-Down Action-Roguelike Set In Space

Steam User Rating: 86%

This top-down action-roguelike game distinguishes itself in an otherwise overly saturated genre with its construction mechanics. While not heavily simulated or complex, Space Scavenger allows players to slowly build and upgrade their spaceship by scanning planets to collect parts.

Constructing and modifying spaceships in Space Scavenger is made easy by its grid-based building system, and collecting parts is fun thanks to the planet-scanning mini-game that requires players to fly around planets while being wary of incoming enemies. The game's simple but colorful visuals, satisfying combat, and accessible construction mechanics make Space Scavenger one of the easiest games to pick up.

4 Space Haven – A Colony-Sim Set On A Spaceship

Steam User Rating: 86%

Similarly to The Last Starship, Space Haven allows players to construct their spaceships with intuitive controls and a variety of customization options. However, Space Haven leans more heavily into its colony simulation aspects, tasking players with keeping their crew's needs in mind when designing their ship.

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Life support, defenses, and the mood of the crew must all be taken into consideration when constructing spaceships in Space Haven to maintain a successful spacefaring colony. Although its colony simulation gameplay may not be as nuanced as games like RimWorld, Space Haven's construction mechanics allow it to distinguish itself.

5 Sunshine Heavy Industries – A Relaxing Puzzle Game About Building Spaceships

Steam User Rating: 98%

This cute and colorful puzzle construction game has players building spaceships via intuitive controls out of a set of distinct parts. Sunshine Heavy Industries also features sandbox elements, allowing players to express themselves and construct spaceships with their own stylistic flair.

Sunshine Heavy Industries was developed by Rocket Rat Games, the team behind the recent indie hit Cobalt Core, a deck-building game that features the same colorful art style and character design. Sunshine Heavy Industries tasks players with working to a budget, constructing ships with optimization in mind, and satisfying customer demands. Despite all this, however, Sunshine Heavy Industries is a decidedly relaxing experience. However, Sunshine Heavy Industries doesn't offer quite as much depth as some other games, despite a very high review score on Steam.

6 Space Trash Scavenger – A Space-Themed Survival Game

Steam User Rating: 89%

Similarly to the survival game, Raft, Space Trash Scavenger starts players in the middle of nowhere surrounded by trash, tasking them with pulling in that trash and building a base out of it. Unlike Raft, however, Space Trash Scavenger takes place in space, replacing Raft's hook with a tether.

Space Trash Scavenger is a completely open-world sandbox, but players will have to worry about defending their base from a variety of aggressive enemies, adding a little time pressure to the game right from the start. Like many survival games, Space Trash Scavenger features a crafting system that allows players to create food and weapons, among other things.

7 Space Engineers – A Complex Simulation Sandbox

Steam User Rating: 89%

This simulation-heavy sandbox game features construction and engineering simulation gameplay with a focus on exploration and survival across space and even on the surface of planets. Players can build spaceships, stations, and bases as they journey across the game's universe, creating outposts and gathering resources to survive and expand.

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When it comes to construction, the possibilities in Space Engineers are near endless, and although the game does allow exploration and building on a planet's surface, a lot of the game is focused on building and traveling in space.

8 Kerbal Space Program – A Game About Reaching For The Stars

Steam User Rating: 95%

This highly popular modern classic space construction simulation game tasks players with leading an entire space program for the fictional race of Kerbals. Kerbal Space Program allows players to build all kinds of ships, vehicles, and contraptions on their sandbox journey through space.

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Kerbal Space Program tasks players with constructing rockets, shuttles, landers, and rovers alike to launch and fly across the game's galaxy. Players will have to build their spaceships with simulated aerodynamic and orbital physics in mind. This heavily simulated approach makes Kerbal Space Program a bit inaccessible, but once players have learned the ropes, it's also one of the most replayable.

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