What are the best open world space games?

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Feb 3, 2019

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3 Games Considered

Best open world space games	Price	Steam Rating	Genre
-- Elite: Dangerous	$29.99	Mixed	Space Sim / Open World / MMO
-- No Man's Sky	-	Mostly Positive	Action-Adventure, Survival
-- Star Citizen	-	-	-

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score 6 · Answer 1

Elite: Dangerous

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

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

Alex Gower's Experience

Runs on gtx 670 See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Mixed

Genre:Space Sim / Open World / MMO

Co-Op:Multiplayer

Controller Support:Full

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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

"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

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

Top Pro

Built with future expansion in mind

When Elite Dangerous come out, development won't 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

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score 6 · Answer 2

No Man's Sky

Top Pro

Good graphics

The art style of this game is very colorful and saturated and uses hues in a way that it gives you an otherworldly feel. Graphics like these tend to remain good for a much longer time than classic 3D graphics. See More

Top Con

No clearly defined missions

The objective of the game is to ultimately reach the center of the galaxy. However, the player is completely free and unguided from the beginning. You figure it out for yourself as you start mining, crafting and upgrading your ship and gear. This game doesn't have a big story to tell. See More

IntellectualKusarikku's Experience

Great game but don't believe that dinosaur. I am on V1.38 & big changes coming July 2018. No one to tell you what to do unless you want to listen. 1000 ways to play the game. I am at 1000 hours & others at 2000 so there is something. Loads of things to get done. Do them. Don't do them. It is up to you. Honest, this is great fun and rewarding when you get something you really want. See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Mostly Positive

Genre:Action-Adventure, Survival

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Top Pro

Massive galaxy to explore

Thanks to the fact that the entire galaxy of No Man's Sky is procedurally generated, the amount of planets to explore is almost endless. The number of planets would be 18,446,744,073,709,551,616. See More

Top Pro

Endless procedural generation

This game procedurally generates almost everything. Your spaceships are procedurally generated, so are the planets, moons, every animal on these planets, the resource nodes, trade routes, languages, etc. When discovering new species or planets, players get to rename these and leave their mark on the galaxy. See More

Top Pro

Freedom to choose how you want to play

Ally with factions, trade or just be a pirate. When trading with NPC aliens, you build up a positive reputation with the faction they belong to. Alternatively you can also be hostile and attack trade ships, or even be attacked by NPC pirate spaceships. Both can be ways to get what you need, so do whatever suits your play style. See More

Top Pro

Seamless space to planetary flight

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score 10 · Answer 3

Star Citizen

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

Requires a powerful computer

To be able to run the game you need an expensive pc with high end materials. 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

Long waiting

The game will be released in 4 or 5 years. 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

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 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

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What are the best open world space games?

3 Games Considered

Elite: Dangerous

My Recommendation for Elite: Dangerous

My Recommendation for Elite: Dangerous

Very realistic representation of space & star systems

Really complicated to learn

Exploration at every level of detail

"Mile Wide and an Inch Deep"

Great Oculus Rift integration

Built with future expansion in mind

No Man's Sky

My Recommendation for No Man's Sky

My Recommendation for No Man's Sky

Good graphics

No clearly defined missions

Massive galaxy to explore

Endless procedural generation

Freedom to choose how you want to play

Seamless space to planetary flight

Star Citizen

My Recommendation for Star Citizen

My Recommendation for Star Citizen

Dynamic economy system

Requires a powerful computer

A true PC game

Long waiting

Vast, detailed sci-fi world

Includes a singleplayer mode, called "Squadron 42"

Ability to command persistent ships and stations

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