GamingPCPC Games

What are the best space MMOs for PC?

7

Options
Considered

115

User
Recs.

Sep 19, 2018

Last
Updated

Find Awesome Games

6 Games Considered

Best space MMOs for PC	Price	Steam Rating	Genre
89 EVE Online	-	Mixed	Mixed
85 Elite: Dangerous	-	Mixed	Space Sim / Open World / MMO
-- Star Trek Online	-	Mostly Positive	Mostly Positive
-- Star Wars: The Old Republic	-	–	–
-- Star Citizen (still in development)	-	–	–

EVE Online

Add Video or Image

Top Pro

Amazing freedom of play

You can do almost anything in the game. You can become a massive entrepreneur and deal with billions of ISK, set up a pirate base in wormhole space, explore anomalies, build massive ships, become CEO of a player-run industrial corporation. There's tons and tons and tons of stuff. This is likely the most sandboxy of MMO sandboxes. See More

Top Con

Toxic community

Lose everything you spent 6 months building because you can be attacked anywhere. The perpetrators do it because they say they love the tears and then tell the victims to go play WoW instead and Eve Online is not for everyone. The player base plummets and the PvPers blame CCP, the devs, for a decreasing number of potential targets, because they say the game has become to "carebear" friendly. A large driver of the game is an external site called Killboardz that tracks your ship kill/loss ratios. The emphasis is on quantity of kills and not quality. This means many successful players will evade difficulty fights and will prey on the weakest and mostly newer players. See More

CooperativeBeChuille's Experience

CCP is indifferent to any problem that inside criminal behavior causes to others, the goal is to destroy the others game. CCP allows this on purpose becuae they want to make it pay to play. Don't loose tyour time. Meta gamins in its worst, all deals are cut betweent 2-3 persons and CCP administrators on game, any change is to help them. See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Mixed

Top Pro

All Players in one universe

All players are in the same space, unlike other MMORPG games with realms/ servers/ etc that can potentially separate players from connecting with their friends. See More

Top Con

On the decline

The player number is about half of what it used to be and continues to decline. The game has been around for 10 years so it's hardly a surprise. See More

Top Pro

Real freedom

You can do anything. literally anything. You can become a massive entrepreneur and deal with billions of ISK, set up a pirate base in wormhole space, explore anomalies, build massive ships, become CEO of a player-run industrial corporation. There's tons and tons and tons of stuff. This is likely the most sandboxy of MMO sandboxes. See More

Top Con

Meta gaming

Game communities have taken over the game and CCP is with them, deals are cut outside the game. See More

Top Pro

Freedom of movement

Up, down, left and right simply stop having a meaning when it comes to space. Making for a true space simulator in that the controls mimic how objects would behave in a real space environment. See More

Top Con

It's about screwing over customers for as much $$$ as they will tolerate; pay to play greed at its worst

The custom appearances are hastily built and don't even look good. The worst is that CCP indirectly supports those who are cheating. There are a few corps that post videos of them clearly cheating and yet they are not punished. It seems clear that the ISD members signing the confidentiality agreements are causing players to lose ships and encouraging them to pay real money to replace them. The new content is hardcore and buggy forcing a lot players to spend money besides their monthly sub fee or quit. The PvE content is minimal and redundant. The Pvp content is a joke. Gang bang abushes or religious fanatic style suiciding. No ladders. No Ranking. See More

Top Pro

Your actions matter - PvP is meaningful

If you kill someone else, they're dead and you can loot their corpse. They don't get it back, or respawn with the same ship a few minutes later. This makes PvP highly exhilarating and really gets the blood pumping. See More

Top Pro

The game lore is player event driven

Elite: Dangerous

Add Video or Image

Top Pro

Very realistic representation of space & star systems

Elite Dangerous uses publicly available real world star maps that we have of the Milky Way consisting of 150,000 star systems. Although in the current beta, full access to the entire galaxy is limited, in the final game, you will be able to visit any of the 400 billion stars in our galaxy on a 1:1 scale. Stars that we do know of are properly mapped in place and are of the correct type given the information we have about them. Stars we haven't collected data on are procedurally generated which allows you to explore any of the 400 billion of them. Star systems are intelligently simulated using the "Star Forge", a generator that simulates the creation of a star system forming from its nebular cloud to determine what celestial bodies appear and what orbits they have. This feature leads to many varied and unique star systems possibly with planets that can co-orbit around each other, or with binary star systems, and infinitely more possibilities. See More

Top Con

"Mile Wide and an Inch Deep"

The game has a serious problem with depth and requires the user to repeat the same few fun actions over and over again. The world is massive and beautiful but feels empty. The game gets stale quickly despite being visually stunning. See More

DedicatedOshosi's Experience

Work for something - Even bought ships using real money - start getting some enjoyment Lost it 30 minutes later - Stopped playing. I have played this since 2007. Finally have spend enough money on this game with little satisfaction and a LOTS of "tears" The challenge is you think you can make it in this VERY hostile world. ITs addictive... to try and make it (Much like Real life), but reall life is a lot easier. No, The game is against you - The Devs WANT you to spend more real money. See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Mixed

Genre:Space Sim / Open World / MMO

Co-Op:Multiplayer

Controller Support:Full

Top Pro

Built with future expansion in mind

When Elite Dangerous come out, development wont stop. To build a game with the huge scope of Elite Dangerous, not all of it can be done at once, so the developers have adopted an approach of incremental improvement. Various game play elements are being designed as a foundation for later features. For example, although planetary landings aren't going to be available until a later update, the engine has been designed to be able to support going from lightyears away to meters away. See More

Top Con

The gameplay is not fun at all

ImaginativeMara's Experience

Stupidly hard leaning curve See More

Top Pro

Exploration at every level of detail

Full exploration of the galaxy is planned, allowing you to be able to jump from star system to star system, and fly around within a solar system from planet to planet, eventually going all the way down to a planet's surface at a 1:1 scale in a later update. Planetary landings will require a lot of details to be developed and designed, but you can still see the level of detail shift in action when flying into a planet's rings, where getting close enough show the individual asteroids within, which you can then interact with through mining, or by having a battle among them. See More

Top Con

Really complicated to learn

Looking up faqs and trade routes from first hand users will be the norm for figuring out many aspects of Elite: Dangerous. On top of this notes will have to be taken, which is made more difficult by the fact the game does not support in game not taking. So a pad and paper is recommended to remember all of the minutia of the game. See More

ShrewdPapatuanuku's Experience

Garbage See More

Top Pro

Great Oculus Rift integration

Elite Dangerous has very good integration with the Oculus Rift thanks to its cockpit view only gameplay philosophy. All ship UIs are part of displays that appear on each side of you that appear when you turn your head, so accessing the navigation or ship menus happens seamlessly just by looking in their direction. The game also uses the direction you are looking in for targeting, so your lock on target is whatever you're head is pointing at. By sitting in the cockpit of a ship, you are given a stationary frame of reference that helps prevent motion sickness associated with movement in game when you aren't actually moving. See More

Star Trek Online

Add Video or Image

Top Pro

Large amount of content

Duty Officer missions that provide experience, credits and dilithium. Bridge officers that accompany you on away missions. Large amount of ships to choose from, many awarded during various events. Meaningful Fleet (Guilds) and their holdings. See More

Top Con

Busted Graphics

Broken and floating items and see through areas that should be solid.. See More

Kri Greenleaf's Experience

The devs are easily some of the worst I've ever seen. You see all the complaints about loot boxes in games like SWB2? They are innocent compared to the horror that is STO. Sure you -can- get everything in game that you can pay for, but if you want to be a competitive player, you better have deep pockets. You can have 5 ship traits, but you only get those from t6 ships and each one is $30 or 4 months of daily refinement of your limit in dilithium, which you also need an obscene amount for upgrading gear or even getting the best gear in the first place. The best ships for ship traits are even in loot boxes/packs with really bad odds for getting. Point is, this game is nothing but a giant money grab from a developer that doesn't give two sh**s about it's players. See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Mostly Positive

Top Pro

Very good community

Top Con

World's shi••iest developers

PrudentLukos's Experience

Way to many broken graphics, and the devs don't even listen to the players anymore. Used to be fun when you would go from system to system. Took months to level, but at least there was alot to see. Since the updates, the graphics have been weirdly buggy (the floating Iconian gateway pieces, and you can see through the sandy parts to some strange statues which belong in another area of the game) since the last six updates. The game play just gets boringly repetitive, and the end game grind for marks is enough to put anyone to sleep. See More

Top Pro

Fun ship combat

Command your own ship and crew. Customize everything and upgrade as you explore the galaxy as part of several different factions. See More

Top Con

Subscription gives advantage

The Developers have been careful to avoid pay-to-win, but being a subscriber or paying some real money for in-game quality of life perks can be a big bonus, and offer monthly rewards. See More

Yi Cai's Experience

Very rich story driven game and continues the story of Star Trek into the 25t Century. Many ships to play and space combat is top notch and strategic. See More

Top Pro

Free to play

Star Trek Online was one of the first to go free to play, and has continued to put out great content; including characters from various shows making appearances. See More

Top Con

Unrealistic travel and universe

The travel system is cartoony and feels out of place. See More

Top Pro

Realistic Star Trek universe

Set in the Star Trek Universe, command your own ship and crew, rising in ranks and gaining new ships, while facing perils on away missions and boarding actions alike. See More

Top Pro

Great character customization

Top Pro

Many ships to fly

There is a massive collection of ships and types, ranging from fast escorts, powerful cruisers, magical science vessels, massive carriers, etc. See More

Star Wars: The Old Republic

Add Video or Image

Top Pro

Movie like Star Wars universe

Play as a character from the beloved Star Wars universe, and immerse yourself in a fantastic story from Bioware set 1000 years before the movies. Choose a side and fight for the Sith Empire or the Republic as a Jedi, Sith, Trooper, Bounty Hunter, Smuggler and Imperial Agent. See More

Top Con

Upper hand to those that subscribe with a monthly fee or pay for microtransactions

While Bioware has been careful to avoid pay-to-win, being a subscriber or paying some real money for in game quality of life perks can be a big bonus, and offer monthly rewards. See More

InventivePuhaorangi's Experience

Still the best Story Game on the Internet. Not just Fluff but an evolving story with fully developed Star Wars characters. See More

Top Pro

Companions in any role (4.0)

Companions can now fulfill any role: Tank, Healer, Damage. Also companions no longer use gear stats, and so do not require constant gear upgrades. Gear is only used for cosmetic changes now. See More

Top Con

Generic MMO quests

Like most MMOs this game feature mainly mundane fetch or collect quests that can become not only repetitive but pretty boring. See More

Top Pro

Tells an impactful, personalized, well-delivered story

Offers a great role playing experience in that the game delivers a story that is personalized to the character and choices they make. The world reacts to what the player chooses to do which makes for a realistic environment that embodies the Star Wars universe. See More

Top Pro

Excellent voice acting

For as many characters as there are and how much dialogue is present in the game the voice acting is superb and comparable to the best offers out there. See More

Star Citizen (still in development)

Add Video or Image

Top Con

Must have massive gaming setup to get smooth gameplay

Top Pro

Ability to command persistent ships and stations

Players will be able to command multi-person ships with other users who will be able to command their own stations on said ships. See More

MightyLibertas's Experience

Cant call it the Best when its not even released! See More

Top Con

Refund system unresponsive

Though you can refund the game within 14 days, they will not reply to your attempts and hope you give up instead. See More

Top Pro

Vast, detailed sci-fi world

A long term goal is to have over 400 different star systems in game, most of which will have many planets within them. See More

Yi Cai's Experience

There is no official release date in sight (as of 2018) See More

Top Con

No player base

In a universe that requires a lot of players, there is none currently. See More

Top Pro

A true PC game

It's been stated that the game will take full advantage of PC's capabilities and will not be held back by a need to accommodate a console port. See More

Top Con

Lags often

Top Pro

Over $73million in funding

A game with the huge scope of Star Citizen will cost a lot of money to develop, and through multiple campaigns, Star Citizen has raised a huge amount of money to make that happen. See More

Top Con

Commercial launch is still a year away (2016)

The commercial launch of the persistent universe game will be sometime in 2016. See More

Top Pro

Dynamic economy system

The economy of the game and the actions to keep it moving are constantly going on in the background but allows for players to step in and out of it at their leisure in order to take part. See More

Top Con

Toxic cult like community and ridiculous customer support

-Cons- Eve Meta-game Cyberbullies Frequent. Harassment/Trolling if your not part of a dominant group. Dev's are involved in toxic behavior (Greifing) Cult like fan-base. (Aggressive to anyone not praising the game) Disconnected/Malicious Admins in some cases. Slow progression and Erratic/ Dev team. Low investment backers ignored, while wealthy investors pandered to. No free speech on forums. "Avoid spectrum" Bad marketing team and Somewhat "Questionable activity" No female characters (Currently) No alien characters (Currently) No armor/ship Colour customization (Currently) No ship customization (Currently) -Pros- Amazing graphics Armor customization possible, but limited (Currently) Great fluid combat and flying/combat (If you have the pc for it) Fluid control customization settings (If your pc can run it) Amazing potential. See More

Top Pro

Includes a singleplayer mode, called "Squadron 42"

Squadron 42 is a single player campaign that takes place in the in game universe that allows players to play offline. See More

Top Con

Still no release date (as of 2018)

Top Con

Too much $$$$

Prosperous Universe

Add Video or Image

Top Pro

Completely player-driven economy

The economy in Prosperous Universe follows real-world rules because it is made up entirely of real people. Pretty much everything that works in reality works in the game. See More

Top Con

Currently missing mid & end game content

As the game is currently at its alpha stage, it's still missing content that makes it fun to play for a prolonged period of time. See More

Mjeno's Experience

Full disclosure: I am now on the team of the development studio myself, but I first followed this game as a fan for several months. I was initially drawn in by the realistic sci-fi setting and the promise of a grind-free experience. I loved Eve Online and Elite Dangerous, but dropped out of both because of the in-game waiting times for which I simply don't have the time anymore. I don't play (or even look at) other browser-based games, but this one really sticks out from the crowd. See More

Specs

Genre:Space economy sim

Controller Support:No

Top Pro

Runs in any browser

The game runs in any browser. There's no flying around in space, which would require a heavy 3D client without adding any actual depth in terms of gameplay. See More

Top Pro

Highly realistic space flight

When planning a flight, orbital dynamics and the current configuration of planets actually make a difference. Except for FTL travel, the devs go out of their way to prevent watered-down "science fantasy" physics. See More

Top Pro

Opt-in to military conflict

You don't have to set your alarm to 4 in the morning because an enemy fleet is inbound and you never have to worry about your hard-earned property to be destroyed. See More

Black Desert Online

See flagged products

Request recommendations from the community

Explore Related Questions

Help millions of people find awesome games.

Each month, over 2.8 million people use Slant to find the best products and share their knowledge. Pick the tags you’re passionate about to get a personalized feed and begin contributing your knowledge.