Space sims are one of the most ambitious genres out there, offering players entire galaxies and solar systems to explore. But while that level of scope can be exciting, it can also feel incredibly overwhelming, especially if you’re having to juggle multiple things like spaceship upgrades, oxygen levels, and alien invasions all at once.
Having to figure out multiple complex systems, memorize complicated mechanics, and deal with fleets of angry alien invaders can be a lot to deal with, and that’s not even factoring in the added weight of the entire, infinite universe always on your shoulders.
Not everyone wants their casual gaming session to turn into a crash course in astrophysics or spreadsheet management, and who can blame them? Video games are about having fun, not feeling overwhelmed.
Thankfully, there are plenty of space sims out there that dial down the panic and focus on casual gameplay. Here are the best space games that don’t feel overwhelming, for anyone looking to explore the stars without doing mental gymnastics to do so.
11 Diaries of a Spaceport Janitor
Not All Heroes Wear Capes (Some Wear Overalls)
At first glance, Diaries of a Spaceport Janitor might not look like much. Instead of saving the galaxy or blasting through aliens, you’re just a janitor, cleaning up the messes that the real heroes leave behind at a busy spaceport.
Despite the seemingly lackluster setup, this “anti-adventure” game will be one of the best space games that you’ll play all year.
In this game, you’re not some daring pilot or planet-hopping hero; you’re an underpaid Alaensee girlbeast just trying to make ends meet as a trash-incinerator at the local spaceport. Day in and day out, you’ll see ship after ship, hero after hero, explorer after explorer, all living far more exciting lives than you.
You’d love to one day be able to afford a ship to take you far away, but for now, you’re just stuck cleaning up random people’s trash for a measly paycheck. That being said, the things people throw away give surprising insight into their daily lives, and running around collecting them all is surprisingly entertaining.
You’ll get to choose what to keep and what to throw away and, in some cases, what to put in your mouth and see what it does. Diaries of a Spaceport Janitor is like the strangest, most fulfilling scavenger hunt you’ll ever go on, one whose items may just be your best chance at leaving Xabran’s Rock far behind you.
It’s surprisingly expansive but never overwhelming, proving that sometimes, you don’t need giant spaceships and epic battles to enjoy life among the stars; sometimes, finding the adventure in every day is more than enough.
10 Little-Known Galaxy
Anywhere is Home
You wouldn’t think that farming and space adventure would be two genres that would ever get along, but Little-Known Galaxy combines the two in a surprisingly cozy experience.
This cozy RPG puts you in the shoes of a new captain-in-training for the Space Alliance, where instead of being thrown straight into high-stakes battles or endless resource spreadsheets, you’re setting up sustainable farms, crafting useful resources, and exploring distant planets at your own pace.
Your end goal in the game is to work with your crew to solve an ancient mystery involving a strange relic found on the Grey Planet. Thankfully, it’s not a time-sensitive goal or anything, so you’re free to piece clues together at your leisure.
Along the way, you’ll meet tons of friendly faces, along with surprisingly hospitable aliens and even strange plants with minds of their own. There are dozens of planets to explore and even more people to meet, but it never feels overwhelming in the slightest.
Little-Known Galaxy somehow condenses space down into a cozy final frontier that anyone can get behind, regardless of whether it’s your usual genre or not.
9 Farlands
If Stardew Valley Were in Space
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Developer |
JanduSoft, Eric Rodríguez |
|---|---|
|
Release Date |
July 24th, 2024 |
|
Platform |
PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S, PC |
|
Genre |
Space Adventure, Farming Sim |
If you stuffed Stardew Valley into a cannon and shot it into space, you would get Farlands. But instead of inheriting your grandfather’s farm, you’ve bought yourself a lonely little agrarian planet on the edge of the galaxy, so suspiciously cheap that it was practically being given away.
Leaving behind your hectic metropolitan life, you soon settle into a rural rhythm of farming alien plants, raising alien livestock, and slowly turning your barren rock into a cozy, self-sustaining paradise, away from all the noise behind you.
It’s a cozy and non-overwhelming escape that transforms the untouchable reaches of space into a welcoming homestead, a place where you can truly be free from the chaos of space-capitalism. That being said, you’re far from confined to your new little home.
Though your ship may look like it’s seen better days, it’s still more than capable of taking you wherever you need to go, including your new home’s surrounding planets. These planets contain resources and rare materials that can be used to upgrade your farm, your tools, and even your ship.
And that’s not even including all the friendly (and some not-so-friendly) NPCs you’ll come across, too. Finding like-minded farmers, building friendships, and even falling in love are all possibilities, making your space adventure feel that much less lonely.
8 Among Us
Social Deduction at its Funniest
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- Released
- June 5, 2018
- ESRB
- E10+ for Everyone 10+: Mild Blood, Fantasy Violence
- Engine
- Unity
- Cross-Platform Play
- Mobile, PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One & Xbox Series X|S
- Franchise
- Among Us
- How Long To Beat
- N/A
- X|S Optimized
- Yes
- File Size Xbox Series
- 1005 MB (November 2023)
- Metascore
- 85
- Platforms That Support Crossplay
- Mobile Devices, PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One & Xbox Series X|S
- PS Plus Availability
- N/A
- Steam User Rating
- 92%
- OpenCritic Rating
- Strong
Among Us has become somewhat infamous among gamers everywhere, and though that’s completely understandable given its contents, it doesn’t change the fact that the game is still technically a space adventure, one that doesn’t even come close to being overwhelming.
Few space games have managed to capture the cultural zeitgeist of 2020 quite like Among Us. The game’s premise is simple: you and a handful of other players are thrown onto a spaceship hurtling through space, and you all must work together to keep that ship running.
But here’s the catch: at least one of you is an impostor. While the majority of the crew works to keep the ship running smoothly, there will at least be one “crew member” who is actively trying to destroy the whole mission, either by sabotaging the ship itself or by killing its crew one by one.
The goal of the impostor is not to get caught, and the goal of the crew is to find out who the impostor is and eject him into space. This is done through the use of social deduction, forcing players to look for clues and turn on one another, as they all try to incriminate each other in what is essentially a space-themed witch hunt.
Not knowing who to trust is probably one of the scariest scenarios in video games, and Among Us pulls it off flawlessly.
It might not be an overwhelming experience, but it sure can be a stressful one; after all, your life literally hinges upon how well you can talk your way out of suspicious situations, and for some of us, that’s like climbing Mount Everest backwards with no legs and only one arm.
7 60 Parsecs!
Soup is Love, Soup is Life
60 Parsecs is the hilarious spiritual successor to 60 Seconds, a text-based strategy game that took over the gaming world back in 2015. Unlike its predecessor, 60 Parsecs moves away from the bunkers of middle-class suburbs and instead features a sci-fi adventure through the cosmos in the Atomic Space Age.
In this game, you play as an employee at a space station, and you’ve just been informed that total nuclear destruction is imminent. With the remaining time you’ve got left, you’ll need to get yourself and your crewmates aboard a space shuttle and off the planet before it’s too late.
At the start of each run, you’ll have only 60 seconds to scramble around your space station and grab everything you’ll need for the journey, including your coworkers.
Once everyone’s on board, it’s off to the cold void of space, where you’ll have to manage food rations, keep up with ship repairs, and try desperately to keep your oddball crew of misfits alive.
The premise might sound stressful at first, but its execution is anything but overwhelming. The humor, cartoonish art style, and absurd daily interactions keep things light, even when imminent danger comes knocking.
60 Parsecs might be a strategy game, but it’s less about micromanaging every little detail and more about seeing how long you can survive, just to laugh at how badly things can go wrong.
6 Mouthwashing
Don’t Drink the Kool-Aid
Mouthwashing is probably the scariest game on this list, but even so, it doesn’t feel nearly as overwhelming as many other horror games within the genre. Terrifying? Yes. Overwhelming? No.
Mouthwashing is a psychological horror game that puts you in the shoes of a crew member aboard the Tulpar, a merchant spaceship. After its captain, Curly, crashes the ship, you’re left stranded with what’s left of him and the rest of your crew.
With no help in sight and resources rapidly dwindling, you’re left with a choice: starve to death with dignity, or try to sustain yourselves with the lifetime supply of mouthwash in your cargo.
Starvation, isolation, and delirium rarely go well together in the best of circumstances, but when you add hallucinatory paranoia and anxiety to the mix? Yeah, maybe drinking the mouthwash wasn’t a good idea after all.
Sanity starts slipping fast, and soon, you won’t be able to know what’s real and what’s not, who to trust and who to doubt, what to say and what to keep to yourself. Surprisingly, the “sanest” person on board seems to be your captain, Curly, who is bedridden, maimed, limbless, and unable to speak after his suicide attempt.
Even though he’s the one who stranded you all there, you can’t help but feel drawn to him, and maybe even a little pity. Death would certainly be a kindness now, after all, and you can’t help but wish you’d all ended up dying like you were supposed to when the ship crashed in the first place.
Faced with the bleakest of circumstances, trying to survive almost feels pointless, but what else can you do?
Mouthwashing reminds us that space doesn’t have to be huge to be terrifying; sometimes, the scariest thing is being stuck in a single place, with no way out and far too much time to think.
5 Dome Keeper
Steal Resources from Abandoned Planets
Dome Keeper is the perfect choice for those who like space adventures but hate anything that isn’t action-related. In Dome Keeper, you only have one objective: scavenge as many resources as you can before your protective dome is destroyed.
In Dome Keeper, you go to various abandoned alien planets and scavenge for resources, with only a few meager weapons and a dome to protect you. Except, not all the planets are fully abandoned, and the scant few survivors that stayed behind aren’t exactly the friendly type.
While under your dome, you’ll be able to dig and mine for precious materials in relative safety, but it’s only a matter of time before their attacks manage to break through. Your mission is to get as many resources as possible before that dome breaks.
You’ll be able to use the materials you collect to strengthen your dome and weapons, so there’s a pretty big incentive to get as much as you can.
As you get stronger, you’ll be able to go to more difficult planets with even better resources. They may be more challenging, but the treasures they hold are worth risking your life over.
As an action roguelike, the goal of the game is to see how long you can survive before you meet your match. If you happen to fail miserably on the first try, don’t worry; Dome Keeper lets you take on its planet-hopping challenge as many times as you want, with each run feeling more approachable than the last.
Each run feels fresh thanks to its roguelike structure, but it never buries you in complicated systems or endless micromanagement.
Instead, the game’s tension stems from simple yet meaningful choices you make along the way, like whether to enhance your drill, expand your defenses, or focus on finding as many materials as you can, like rare gadgets that have the potential to supercharge your run.
It’s the perfect pick if you want a space game with just enough action to keep your pulse up without drowning you in complexity.
4 I Was a Teenage Exocolonist
Become a Human Alien
I Was a Teenage Exocolonist is probably one of the most approachable ways to experience the vast reaches of space, without question.
This game puts you in the shoes of a ten-year-old who’s just landed on their new home planet, Vertumna. You were born on The Stratospheric, a spaceship stolen from Earth that traveled through a wormhole to get to a new, hospitable planet.
Before your parents left, Earth had reached a breaking point; any attempts at a structured modern government had failed, and the majority of its citizens were starving, rioting, and dying in the streets while the world’s richest did nothing.
Overpopulation increased to the point of no return, and Earth quickly became unlivable for anyone who wasn’t the rich and powerful elite.
Your parents were part of an extreme resistance group that hatched a risky, yet ingenious plan: find a hospitable planet, steal a spaceship, and launch themselves at it like burning bats out of hell.
As one of the handful of kids born on the ship, you were ten years old before the wormhole spat you all out at your new home planet: Vertumna.
Vertumna seems like the ultimate paradise, rich in resources and uninhabited by any intelligent life forms (or so it seems). You’ll spend the next ten years on its surface, learning everything you can about it and how to survive. Every choice you make shapes not only your character, but the survival of the entire settlement as well.
Whether you decide to spend your days studying, exploring, socializing, or farming, every choice you make will drastically impact the survival of your colony.
It’s up to you to decide what kind of settlement you’ll become: will you live harmoniously with nature, or will you destroy it for more resources? Will you save those who find themselves in danger, or will you allow them to die to further your own goals?
If you want a space game that focuses more on what you can become than what you can conquer, I Was a Teenage Exocolonist should be at the top of your list.
3 Risk of Rain Returns
The Riskier and Rainier Remake
A remake of the original 2013 roguelike, Risk of Rain Returns takes everything that made the original title a cult classic and gives it a sleek, modern polish.
In this game, you crash-land on a mysterious alien planet and must fight your way through hordes of bizarre creatures, scavenging items that stack into wild combinations as you try to survive just a little longer.
Every run is at least a little bit different, and the thrill of watching your character grow stronger each time is as addictive as it is satisfying.
Despite the chaotic on-screen action, Risk of Rain Returns keeps things surprisingly approachable. The game’s core loop of “fight, collect, survive” is easy for old fans and newcomers alike to pick up, and the 2D side-scrolling perspective ensures nothing ever gets overly complicated on the screen.
It’s one of those games that you can just jump right into and never even need a tutorial. The combat is clear, the controls are intuitive, and the mechanics are incredibly easy to grasp; if you wanted an alien roguelike that focused on the action instead of overwhelming world-building, then you’ve found it with Risk of Rain Returns.
Plus, this new remake comes with an added co-op feature, so if you ever find yourself overwhelmed by massive hordes of enemies, you can always tag in a friend to help you take them down.
2 Slime Rancher 2
More Sliming, More Ranching
Few games have ever managed to be as irresistibly cheerful as Slime Rancher, but somehow, its sequel manages to take the cake.
Slime Rancher 2 is the latest title in the slime-ranching lineup, and just like its predecessor, it allows its players to collect an assortment of adorable alien creatures called slimes.
Returning to the role of Beatrix LeBeau, you set out to conquer yet another slime-filled land on your quest to become the greatest slime rancher that ever was, and your sights soon set on Rainbow Island.
Rainbow Island is full of adorable, never-before-seen slimes, each one of them more charming than the last. Using your trusty Vacpack, your main goal is to collect as many slimes as you can for your ranch.
Every day, you’ll need to build new enclosures for your slimes, feed them, and care for them; all tasks that are much easier said than done. Each slime comes with its own set of care requirements and food preferences, not to mention varying levels of mischief.
They may be a handful, but the resources they put out are more than worth the effort. These precious materials can be used to upgrade and expand your ranch, speeding up your dream of becoming a great slime rancher.
Whether you’re chasing down a new slime species or just enjoying the soothing rhythm of ranch life, Slime Rancher 2 proves that a space adventure doesn’t need high stakes to be rewarding. Sometimes, true happiness can only be found in a corral full of alien jelly blobs.
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Author: 360 Technology Group
