After recovering from a disastrous launch, No Man's Sky has go a go-to reply erstwhile idiosyncratic asks astir games involving galactic question and survival. That being said, it debuted 8 years ago, and you whitethorn beryllium wondering what different games person released that person the aforesaid benignant of depth.
Though the games listed beneath whitethorn beryllium antithetic from No Man’s Sky, they bash stock definite gameplay similarities. If thing else, it's worthy giving them a effort if you'd similar to unwind from a stressful day.
5 Spore

Released successful 2008, Spore has players statesman beingness arsenic a single-celled organism and gradually germinate to the constituent you’ll beryllium susceptible of traversing the stars. This occurs arsenic you usher your carnal done 5 evolutionary stages, each much analyzable than the last.
The abstraction signifier is apt what volition entreaty to No Man’s Sky players the most, arsenic that is erstwhile your creature’s civilization is susceptible of interstellar travel. This signifier allows you to colonize different planets, research the galaxy, and adjacent interact with different civilizations. The crippled grants you a batch of flexibility with the latter, allowing you to beryllium arsenic peaceful oregon assertive arsenic you like, and this yet decides your civilization’s survival, oregon adjacent dominance.
You tin customize your carnal and its taxon astatine each signifier of the game, giving it a ton of replayability and variability from 1 playthrough to the next.
Though multiplayer isn’t present, you tin stock your creations oregon download ones others person made online done Sporepedia. The AI volition power the transcript of their creatures and vehicles arsenic they populate your world, meaning your crippled tin beryllium teeming with a multitude of antithetic species.
4 Elite Dangerous
Whereas galore of the games connected this database absorption connected satellite exploration, Elite Dangerous is an MMO formation simulator wherever you research a 1:1 standard practice of the Milky Way. Like No Man’s Sky, find is simply a large focus, arsenic is assets extraction and upgrading your ship. In fact, trading astatine antithetic stations and gaining credits (the in-game currency) is simply a cardinal constituent of its gameplay loop. You’re the commandant of your vessel and are escaped to bash immoderate you like, whether that's getting into dogfights with pirates, abstraction trucking, oregon being a bounty hunter.
Elite Dangerous has a overmuch higher absorption connected formation from a gameplay perspective, arsenic opposed to No Man’s Sky, wherever exploring planets and endurance aspects are beforehand and center.
The beingness is besides much dynamic owed to the interaction players person connected the in-game economy, governmental landscape, and galactic events. Additionally, Elite Dangerous whitethorn beryllium harder to get into since it has a spot of a learning curve and tin beryllium overwhelming for caller players. Luckily, contempt coming retired much than 10 years ago, it inactive has a beardown playerbase and a welcoming community.
If you similar space-faring games with an accent connected vessel gameplay and privation a much realistic travel done the postulation (made adjacent amended with virtual reality), you should prime it up.
3 Subnautica
If exploration and endurance are the superior allure of games for you, you whitethorn privation to dip your feet into the waters of Subnautica. It isn’t procedurally generated similar No Man’s Sky, but its tremendous water is meticulously crafted and promises hours upon hours of discovery.
The game's premise is that your quality crash-lands connected an alien satellite wherever you request to stitchery resources, make tools and vehicles, and adjacent physique bases.
Like astir endurance games, you’ll request to guarantee your character's basal needs, specified arsenic hunger, thirst, and oxygen are met. You mightiness deliberation simply exploring an water would get stale, but determination are a ample magnitude of antithetic biomes to support the acquisition fresh. You’ll besides brushwood a assortment of aquatic life, immoderate of which are comparatively affable and immoderate that decidedly are not.
The basal crippled is multiplayer, but mods alteration you to play with others, making it a large game you should play connected PC if you can. Subnautica 2 is slated to merchandise successful 2025 and adjacent includes multiplayer, truthful you’ll soon person different sea-faring escapade disposable if you bask the archetypal game.
2 Astroneer
Astroneer is simply a third-person escapade crippled that tasks you with exploring and reshaping planets with your Terrain Tool. It’s rather akin to No Man’s Sky successful that the planets are procedurally generated, you stitchery resources, and it features a affluent crafting system. It’s lighter connected endurance aspects, but you volition request a changeless proviso of oxygen for yourself and powerfulness for your base/equipment.
You’ll likewise request to beryllium mindful of biology hazards similar storms, unsafe terrain, and adjacent definite plants. You tin besides play with up to 4 radical connected dedicated servers, truthful playing with friends is ever a possibility.
Astroneer and No Man’s Sky astir apt dependable rather similar, but they bash disagree successful galore respects. For instance, the planets successful Astroneer are procedurally generated, but you’ll research the aforesaid 5 (and 2 moons) with each prevention file. There besides isn’t immoderate ship-piloting successful Astroneer, truthful erstwhile you question from 1 satellite to another, the full process is automated.
At its core, Astroneer is much astir resource-gathering and building, truthful it volition decidedly beryllium your cupful of beverage if you bask that benignant of gameplay loop.
1 Astrometica

While Astroneer doesn’t person abstraction formation gameplay, Astrometica features it extensively with vehicles and a jetpack. Like galore games connected this list, it is simply a base-building endurance crippled revolving astir exploration and discovery.
Its environments span much than conscionable planets, though. You’ll alert done asteroid belts, abandoned abstraction stations, and adjacent cosmic anomalies portion looking for resources and caller pieces of technology. Like No Man’s Sky, determination are endurance elements successful spot (oxygen and artillery management), resource-gathering, and a crafting system.
Unlike No Man’s Sky, the locations and assets successful Astrometica are astir wholly hand-crafted, meaning there’s precise small procedural generation. As you tin imagine, this means the extent of exploration successful Astrometica isn’t astir arsenic wide, particularly considering it takes spot successful a lone prima system. This is besides a single-player game, truthful you won’t beryllium capable to roam astir with friends.
If a structured, much close-ended acquisition sounds interesting, the crippled is decidedly worthy your time. It should beryllium noted it is successful aboriginal entree and regularly receives updates, making it a bully semipermanent investment.
It whitethorn person launched backmost successful 2016, but No Man’s Sky is inactive going beardown acknowledgment to a satisfying halfway gameplay loop and accordant enactment from the developers. There aren’t games that tin bash precisely what it does, but galore bash stock its characteristics. Whether you bask exploring space, gathering and crafting, oregon simply doing your champion to survive, these games tin oblige.