starbound

Starbound is a 2D sandbox action-adventure game developed by Chucklefish. It began as a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter in 2013 and was released in 2016. The game tasks players with exploring a procedurally generated universe of planets, each with distinct biomes, weather, and inhabitants. Players gather resources, craft tools and equipment, build bases, and upgrade a customizable starship to travel between star systems.

Playable species in Starbound include Humans, Apex, Florans, Glitch, Hylotl, and Avian, each with unique aesthetics and starting bonuses. The gameplay emphasizes exploration, combat, and item progression. Players encounter NPCs, quest-givers, and factions, with procedurally generated dungeons and creatures. The core storyline develops through quests and interactions as players uncover an interstellar mystery and threats.

Starbound ships a robust modding system, enabling players to create new content using Lua scripts and JSON data. A large community produces additional species, biomes, items, and gameplay tweaks.

The game received generally positive reviews for its breadth, art style, and replayability, while some critics noted repetitive mid-game tasks. Since release, Starbound has continued to receive updates and content additions to expand its universe and features.

Platform availability initially included Windows, macOS, and Linux, with console ports released later.