Are there any games like Starfield? - eviltoast

So, Starfield was a disappointment (in my opinion). The story isn’t interesting. The lore and world-building do not make sense. The game mechanics do not mesh together. (And it doesn’t run well on the Steam Deck.)

But the promise of Starfield? The big space game? The big space RPG where you can play as Captain Reynolds type character? That’s something I can get behind. I want to traverse space, visit different planets, get lost, meet interesting characters, solve their problems, and shoot some stuff. Two games come to my mind when I think of this:

  • No Man’s Sky
  • Mass Effect

I’ve only played a few hours of No Man’s Sky, but I think it does space traversal well. To put it bluntly, flying from planet to planet without interruption is better than fast travel. But the gameplay loop did not

Mass Effect nails the space adventure side of things. You visit multiple interesting places, you meet different people with curious problems, and you solve these problems (mainly by shooting). But it’s a typical Bioware game: The places you visit are small and confined, and there are (comparatively) few of them. The space traversal is done by clicking a few buttons in a menu.

My question is: Are there any “big space games”? Are there any games that deliver on the promise of Starfield? What are your favourite sci-fi RPGs?

  • BallShapedMan@lemmy.worldEnglish
    16·
    13 hours ago

    Everspace 2 (first one was a rogue like, you don’t need to play it to enjoy the sequel)

    Rebel Galaxy Outlaw (also a sequel, the first one doesn’t have a Y axys so you may not like it)

    Chorus

    All three are a lot of fun, neither are AAA games so they lack a bit of polish but aren’t vanilla as hell either. I enjoyed each one better than Starfield but neither as much as ME 1-3.

    Also I’ve had some luck with https://www.50gameslike.com/ finding games.

    • winety@lemmy.zipOPEnglish
      3·
      13 hours ago

      I’ll check out all three of them!

      Cowboys in space is not my favourite trope, but I’ve heard good things about the first Rebel Galaxy. How was the switch from 2D combat to 3D combat in the sequel? (And is the story any good?)