What is the best space exploration video game of all time?

Space exploration games have taken players to the far reaches of the universe. Which one offers the ultimate cosmic adventure?

Outer Wilds

The 2019 mystery set inside a 22-minute time loop across a handcrafted solar system, celebrated as one of the most profound gaming experiences ever made.

1/13

No Man's Sky

Hello Games' 2016 procedurally generated universe with billions of planets, transformed by years of free updates into one of gaming's greatest redemption stories.

2/13

Kerbal Space Program

The beloved physics-based 2015 rocket-building simulator where players must engineer real spacecraft and navigate actual orbital mechanics.

3/13

Elite Dangerous

Frontier's 2014 massively multiplayer galaxy simulation with 1:1 scale Milky Way to explore, trade in, and fight across.

4/13

EVE Online

CCP's landmark 2003 MMO featuring a player-driven galaxy economy, massive fleet battles, and emergent political intrigue spanning two decades.

5/13

Starfield

Bethesda's 2023 open-world RPG set across a handcrafted galaxy of 1,000+ planets, delivering the studio's most ambitious worldbuilding.

6/13

Star Citizen

Roberts Space Industries' 2013 crowdfunded universe that surpassed $1 billion in funding, promising the most detailed space simulation ever attempted.

7/13

Mass Effect

BioWare's 2007 trilogy-launching RPG that set the standard for narrative space opera in games with unforgettable crew relationships.

8/13

FTL: Faster Than Light

Subset Games' 2012 roguelite that made spaceship management and crew decisions feel tense, meaningful, and infinitely replayable.

9/13

Homeworld

Relic Entertainment's 1999 real-time strategy classic set entirely in three-dimensional space, pioneering a genre and telling a heartbreaking story.

10/13

The Outer Worlds

Obsidian's 2019 satirical space RPG combining classic Fallout DNA with dark humour about corporate colonialism across the Halcyon star system.

11/13

X4: Foundations

Egosoft's 2018 deep-space economy simulator offering unrivalled complexity in fleet management, trade, and station building.

12/13

Wing Commander IV

Origin Systems' 1996 space-combat epic starring Mark Hamill, blending live-action cinematics with dogfighting in a morally complex narrative.

13/13