New Open World-Survival Game on Steam Is Blowing Up

A new open-world survival game on Steam is blowing up, having just achieved an incredible sales milestone. The game in question is Creepy Jar's StarRupture, a sci-fi base-building title with mechanics similar to Coffee Stain Studios' critically acclaimed Satisfactory. According to a recent post on StarRupture's official X account, it has sold over half a million copies just two weeks into its Steam Early Access release on January 6, 2026. With over 6,000 reviews and counting, the open-world survival game is currently maintaining a Very Positive rating on Steam, with players praising it for its base building, exploration, and combat.

According to SteamDB at the time of writing, StarRupture has already managed an all-time peak of over 42,000 players during Early Access and is among Steam's top 20 sellers. A big part of its appeal likely comes from the similarities it shares with Satisfactory, which is widely considered one of the best base-building games ever made. However, despite looking like Satisfactory's cousin, StarRupture has some standout features to help distinguish it.

StarRupture Has Already Sold Over 500,000 Copies on Steam

On January 17, 2026, the official StarRupture account made a post on X celebrating the game's first major sales milestone. After spending just two weeks in Early Access, StarRupture has sold over 500,000 copies, putting it in league with other Steam Early Access hits like V Rising, Core Keeper, and RuneScape: Dragonwilds. As a factory-building game, it emphasizes creativity and automation, but as an open-world survival game, its hostile alien setting gives players plenty of space to explore and enemies to encounter.

StarRupture's Features at a Glance

FIRST-PERSON OPEN-WORLD SURVIVAL — Sci-fi survival on a hostile alien planet.
BASE BUILDING AND AUTOMATION — Construct factories and conveyor systems.
RESOURCE GATHERING — Mine and manage materials for crafting and production.
COMBAT AGAINST ALIENS — Fight off aggressive alien creatures.
CO-OP MULTIPLAYER — Play solo or with up to four players.
EXPLORATION — Roam a changing world with cataclysms and discoveries.

Clearly, StarRupture has benefited from the current interest in base-building and open-world survival games, but its success doesn't come solely down to timing. Firstly, fans of Satisfactory (of which there are many) have likely been looking for the next big game like it, and StarRupture appears at first glance to mimic its mechanics. However, unlike Satisfactory and other factory-building games that focus almost entirely on crafting and optimization, StarRupture places a greater emphasis on navigating environmental hazards and combat encounters, thereby livening up the pace a bit. Its alien world of Aracadia-7 features dynamic weather and aggressive creatures that require players to be focused on their survival just as much as their base's efficiency.

The planet will surprise you at every turn. Extreme temperatures are not the only things you’ll be challenged with. Get ready to defend yourself, your team and your base from a horde of aggressive alien creatures.

Something else that has likely helped fuel interest in it on Steam is its cooperative multiplayer element. Solo play is still a solid option, but many reviews and community posts note that teaming up with friends to build a base or take down waves of enemies takes the experience to a whole new level. This is actually one of the biggest ways StarRupture sets itself apart from Satisfactory. Both games have cooperative play, but whereas Satisfactory focuses less on survival and combat and more on its iconic base-building system, StarRupture heats things up by putting players in a more threatening world.

Creepy Jar has also been transparent about its early access roadmap, which details everything the developer currently has planned for this phase of StarRupture's development throughout 2026. The roadmap includes performance optimizations, expanded wildlife, new combat mechanics, enhanced building tools, accessibility options, and quality-of-life features such as controller support and improved UI. Furthermore, the promise of dedicated servers and numerous accessibility options shows Creepy Jar's commitment to ensuring players get an experience that is as personalized as they need it to be.

Current complaints about StarRupture during Early Access include poor optimization, bugs, tedious UI, and a general lack of purpose.

Ultimately, StarRupture's rapid success on Steam just shows how taking some familiar base-building mechanics (even if they do look like one of the biggest base-building games ever made) and sprinkling in some fresh twists in the midst of strong community support can cause a game to stand out in a crowded space. Its sales milestone of over half a million copies on Steam during Early Access is undoubtedly impressive, but with future updates and the promise of a fully realized world waiting around the corner this year, StarRupture is already looking like one of the most exciting Early Access titles on Steam in 2026.

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