Best Space Games to Play Ranked

Space games cover more ground than almost any other genre label. Outer Wilds and Elite Dangerous are both “space games” the same way a short story and a doorstop novel are both “books.” Before you land on one, it helps to know which kind of experience you’re actually after. This list is organized around that what you want from the game rather than forcing wildly different titles into a single numbered ranking.

The One You Should Play Regardless of Taste: Outer Wilds

If there’s a single space game worth recommending to anyone who hasn’t played it, it’s Outer Wilds from Mobius Digital. You’re an astronaut in a handmade solar system, every planet a different physics puzzle, trying to piece together what happened to an ancient civilization called the Nomai. The twist is a 22-minute time loop the star goes supernova, you die, you wake up at the campfire again.

Here’s what makes it different from every other game on this list: there are no upgrades, no combat, no skill trees. The only thing that carries over between loops is knowledge. What you learn changes what’s possible. It’s one of the rare games where the moment you crack a mystery you’ve been chasing for hours feels genuinely earned not because the game gave you a new weapon but because you finally understood something.

It’s on PC, PS4/PS5, Xbox, and Switch. Play it without reading anything else about it if you can.

If You Want the Deepest Space Simulation: Elite Dangerous

Elite Dangerous is the most technically ambitious space simulator currently available, built around a 1:1 scale model of the Milky Way 400 billion star systems, the vast majority constructed using real astronomical data. Players have collectively explored less than 0.07% of it. Frontier Developments is still actively updating it: the 2025 System Colonisation update lets commanders physically expand the human bubble by building stations, and the Powerplay 2.0 overhaul finally made the political metagame interesting after years of being largely ignored.

The warning is real: Elite Dangerous does not hold your hand, and the early hours can feel overwhelming and sometimes brutally unforgiving. If you want to be handed a story, this is not it. If you want to spend three months flying toward a black hole in the galactic core, logging star data no human character in the game will ever read, it’s hard to find anything that comes close.

If You Want a Story-Driven Space RPG: Mass Effect Legendary Edition

The Mass Effect trilogy remastered. Commander Shepard, the Normandy, Garrus calibrating weapons in the background these games hold up in a way Starfield (which launched to mixed reviews and released on PS5 in April 2026 to a similarly divided reception) hasn’t managed to match. The character writing in Mass Effect 2 specifically is some of the best in any RPG, and the decisions you carry across all three games still feel meaningful in a way most modern games don’t bother attempting. Start here if you want a space opera with stakes you actually care about.

The Outer Worlds from Obsidian is a good companion pick if you want something shorter and snappier the companions are genuinely funny, the writing is sharp, and it wraps up in about 25 hours rather than the 80+ the Mass Effect trilogy asks for.

For players drawn to the horror and atmospheric end of space games Prey, Dead Space, System Shock this site’s best immersive sim games guide covers that corner of the genre in more detail, since immersive sims and space games overlap more than most lists acknowledge.

If You Want to Play Something New Right Now

Dune Awakening arrived on PC in 2025 and hit PS5 and Xbox Series X/S in 2026. While there are the inevitable Sandworms that pop out of the sand, or the random hostiles you may encounter, most of Dune Awakening’s world is barren deliberately so. The social engineering and PvP structure around spice deposits is what drives it, with weekly Coriolis storms that reshape the map entirely. It won’t suit players who want quiet exploration, but for those who like survival-plus-political-intrigue it’s one of the year’s more original releases.

Directive 8020 launched May 12, 2026 on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. It’s a cinematic sci-fi horror game where Lashana Lynch plays an astronaut 12 light-years from home who crash-lands on an alien world and given that it’s from Supermassive (the Dark Pictures studio), the branching horror choices are the entire point. More of a playable thriller than a proper space game, but if you liked Until Dawn or House of Ashes this slots in well.

Aphelion from Don’t Nod released April 28, 2026. A solo astronaut braves rugged landscapes and shifting realities to rescue her injured partner and learn more about a 9th planet at the edge of the solar system. It’s the grounded, quiet counterpoint to Directive 8020’s horror worth watching if you liked Deliver Us the Moon.

For a broader look at the best games releasing across all genres in 2026, this site’s best video games of all time list keeps track of where recent space releases fit in the larger picture, and the best PS5 games guide covers which of these space titles are worth prioritizing specifically on that platform.

If You Want a Creative Sandbox: No Man’s Sky

Released in 2016 to massive disappointment, No Man’s Sky has been continuously updated to a point where it bears little resemblance to its launch state. Today it is a rich creative sandbox you can build planetary bases, breed exotic alien creatures, travel with friends across procedurally generated worlds, and follow a narrative campaign.

The caveat hasn’t changed: 18 quintillion planets sounds extraordinary until you realize that procedural generation means many of them blur into each other after a while. If planet-to-planet variety matters to you, Elite Dangerous serves that itch better. If you want to build a base, befriend alien animals, and explore with friends at a relaxed pace, No Man’s Sky is the better fit and costs far less.

If You Want Galaxy-Scale Strategy: Stellaris

Paradox’s 4X grand strategy game lets you build a space-faring civilization from scratch, shaping its species, ethics, and government before a single star has been claimed. The beauty is that your goals are self-defined you can build up a space-faring empire and squash any foe in sight, or establish a race of friendly technocrat turtles that help other species expand. It’s been out since 2016 but receives expansions regularly, and the current version is the deepest it’s ever been.

For players who want real-time combat over turn-based empire-building, Homeworld 3 and Sins of a Solar Empire 2 are both solid alternatives different in pace but similarly focused on fleet-level decision-making.

If You Want Co-op or Multiplayer Space Chaos

Deep Rock Galactic is the easy recommendation here four space dwarves, procedurally generated caves, alien bugs, co-op chaos. It’s not a space exploration game so much as a co-op shooter set in one, but the teamwork loop is excellent. Deep Rock Galactic: Rogue Core hit PC Early Access in May 2026, adding roguelite structure to the formula.

Warframe remains enormous free-to-play, cross-platform, with space missions, boarding actions, and Archwing combat layered on top of its melee-and-gun core. The game has a dedicated community, reporting nearly 50 million registered players, and continues to expand.

EVE Online is the extreme end: the most extreme example of player-driven game economics and politics in existence, with entire wars fought by thousands of players over resources and territory, covered by mainstream news outlets. The learning curve makes Elite Dangerous look welcoming. Worth knowing about; probably not where most players should start.

What About FTL?

If quick sessions are what you’re after, FTL: Faster Than Light from Subset Games is still one of the best arguments for the roguelike genre. Few other games leave that “one more sector, one more run” feeling the way it layers challenges and in-run progression is difficult to match. It’s old (2012) and looks it, but the design hasn’t aged.

The Immersive Sim Space Games Worth Knowing

If you’re specifically interested in the immersive sim side of space games like Prey, System Shock, and Dead Space that use a space setting for horror and exploration those deserve their own research pass, since the genre overlaps significantly with space games in terms of audience but plays very differently from simulators and open-world picks.

What’s Coming Later in 2026

Exodus from the former BioWare team not yet out but likely the most anticipated space RPG in development. The hook is relativity as a mechanic: expeditions take days for your character but decades for the people you leave behind. Waiting for release will likely extend into early 2027, but chances for early access in 2026 remain.

Halo: Campaign Evolved an expanded remake of the original Halo, coming to PS5 for the first time alongside PC and Xbox. Rebuilt from the ground up with four-player online co-op, three new missions, and an expanded arsenal.

Star Wars: Zero Company released August 27, 2026 a tactical strategy game set in the Star Wars universe for those who want the sci-fi space setting with turn-based combat in the vein of XCOM.

Quick Reference by What You Want