Summary
- Starfield offers a grounded first-person perspective with customizable ships, detailed interiors, and deep lore.
- Space Engineers allows players to construct ships, stations, and planetary facilities in first-person with creative and survival modes.
- No Man's Sky is now one of the most content-rich space exploration games with seamless ground-to-space transitions and continuous updates.
There is no greater adventure than that found in the depths of space. For generations, gamers have yearned to fly into that dark void and find new worlds, new sights, experiences, and adventures. Because many games set in outer space involve a few floating assets and a fancy skybox, many game studios have obliged.
10 Space Games With The Best Stories, Ranked
These sci-fi games feature deep, resonant narratives that take place against the dramatic backdrop that is the vast expanse of space.
However, while being able to watch a character spacewalk from behind or shoot up ships from the thruster is fun and all, having a first-person perspective brings players closer to experiencing the grandeur of the cosmos for themselves. Whether it’s walking across alien worlds in space boots or piloting a ship from a detailed cockpit, these open-world space games take players beyond surface-level exploration, emphasizing immersion, discovery, and playful intention.
6 Starfield
An Immersion Narrative Sandbox With Planet Hopping And Discovery
From the cockpit to the corridors of derelict space stations, Starfield provides players with an immersive experience with every moment from a grounded first-person view. Although there are criticisms to be had about quest design, exploration, and loading screens, Starfield's highly-customizable ships and shipbuilding mechanics, richly detailed interiors, and deep lore reinforce the lived-in sci-fi vibe that has the power to suck players in.
While it is a shame that more emergent gameplay couldn't take place between interplanetary travel inside the ship between the crew, there is still plenty of space action out in the one hundred worlds worthy of a first-person look, from discovering alien creatures, managing outposts, or rocketing across landscapes on a jetpack.
5 Space Engineers
First-Person Construction Meets Planetary Survival
Space Engineers
- Released
- February 28, 2019
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- T For Teen Due To Drug Reference, Fantasy Violence, Mild Language
- Genre(s)
- Simulation, Sandbox
Space Engineers is a sandbox driven by physics and imagination, allowing players to build ships, stations, and entire planetary facilities with precision tools. First-person control grounds every task, from welding steel beams in orbit to scavenging resources on a Martian plateau.
8 Sandbox Games That Defined The Genre
There have been many games that helped to define the sambox genre in some way, making them milestone titles.
Whether focused on creative architecture or brutal survival mechanics, Space Engineers rewards problem-solving and curiosity. The game’s survival mode adds pressure, but even in the resource-infinite, peaceful creative mode, there's a sense of intention behind every tool used and structure placed.
4 The Outer Worlds
Behind The Eyes Of A Stranger In A Strange Land
The Outer Worlds
- Released
- October 25, 2019
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language
- Genre(s)
- RPG
The Outer Worlds brings a distinctly first-person roleplaying experience to space, placing players in the boots of a drifting colonist with a non-predetermined background and a ship full of goofball companions (if the captain decides to take them on). The Halcyon system isn’t massive, but it’s filled with open zones and planets that beg to be explored, each with its own factions, cultures, and dilemmas.
With its tight writing, stylized sci-fi environments (including a memorable adventure on a semi-terraformed asteroid), and flexible progression systems with a handy respect mechanic, The Outer Worlds is both approachable and layered. Its time-dilation mechanic makes fighting in first-person a little less chaotic and makes for some awesome slow-mo action sequences for those willing to put the perk points in.
3 Elite Dangerous
A Cockpit-First Space Sim On A True Galactic Scale
Elite Dangerous is a deep-space simulator that places players directly in the pilot’s seat of starships ranging from nimble fighters to massive freighters. Every aspect of flight, from docking and hyperspace travel to dogfighting, is experienced through a detailed, immersive first-person cockpit view. With such a complex array of controls, many fans will recommend special equipment (a joystick, first and foremost) to get the best out of Elite.
Exploration is vast and unscripted, offering a full-scale Milky Way with billions of star systems to chart, making it the closest thing to a realistic journey through the cosmos. Whether scanning planets for anomalies or navigating asteroid belts while under threat from aggressive ships, ED delivers a grounded spacefaring experience where presence and precision are everything.
2 Outer Wilds
A Time Loop Mystery In A Miniature System
Outer Wilds
- Released
- May 28, 2019
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- E10+ For Everyone 10+ due to Fantasy Violence, Alcohol Reference
- Genre(s)
- Adventure
Given the number of open-world games with fast travel options, it seems that large-scale worlds are not always the best design decisions. While part of the fantasy of exploring space is its enormity, Outer Wilds proves that size isn't always everything. From behind the eyes of a space (and indeed, time) traveler, players are tasked with uncovering an ancient mystery and finding a way out of a 22-minute cycle.
7 Best Open-World Games That Don't Have Huge Maps
Open-world games don't have to be massive to be immersive. These games offer pint-sized open-world maps jam-packed with content to explore.
Besides the first-person view, exploration is made that much more intimate and meaningful in that answers are never fed to the player. While Outer Worlds allows players to run their eyes over the facts and evidence on their own, and through spiraling black holes to crumbling ruins, to find their own way to proceed in the gorgeously hand-crafted miniature solar system.
1 No Man's Sky
A Limitless Universe Built One Step At A Time
No Man's Sky
- Released
- August 9, 2016
WHERE TO PLAY
Although No Man's Sky promised the world (millions of them) and underdelivered at launch, it has since become one of the most complete and content-rich space exploration games out there. While there is now the option to play in third person, first person remains the default way to play, and whether it's exploring an alien world or taking off in a personal spaceship from ground to space seamlessly (without a loading screen!), it does so flawlessly.
From story missions to base building and true multiplayer adventures, No Man's Sky's regular updates over the years have made this space simulation almost exhaustive. The sheer breadth of options, all viewed from the player’s own eyes, makes No Man’s Sky a universe not just to explore, but to inhabit, and one of the best value for money games in the universe.
10 Best Space Games With Ship Interiors, Ranked
The spaceships in these games are detailed not just on the exterior, but on the inside that players can explore.