Beta Preview: Starbound

Feature by Jason Noonan | 14 Apr 2014

After successfully wiping a planet clean of its inhabitants, I jumped back aboard my spaceship to make way for another world in my quest to destroy the universe. With so much freedom to do whatever you like, Starbound gives players the option to seek fun in whatever form they wish. You can build a home and settle down to mine for ore, or you can travel planet to planet in search of rare treasures, killing everything in your way.

Developers Chucklefish have borrowed heavily from randomly generated world games such as Minecraft and Terraria, but then added their own spin of giving you a universe, rather than one world. This means every time you start a new adventure, nothing will be the same, a common trait in games today, but Starbound does it to unbelievable heights.

Each time you begin a new game, you will start on a colonised world where you can begin to learn the basics through a very simple tutorial. You’ll learn how to fight, build, cook and as soon as your spaceship is up and running, you can hop from planet to planet. The universe is massive, with countless worlds for exploration, all with unique traits and quirky visuals to make things feel authentic with the sheer scope likely to blow minds.

It’s Chucklefish’s attention to detail which really shines as you travel through space and begin to notice details while on different planets which means no two planets will feel the same. Different coloured suns shine in the sky, causing a separate hue on the planet. Temperature will be a factor and may require certain equipment in order to explore. Nearby worlds will be visible as the player jumps higher and higher in various degrees of gravity. Planetary inhabitants will be of differing intelligence causing them to either attack or ignore the player.

Adventuring can be a pretty dangerous job with wildlife being difficult to surpass in the quest to find better loot. Each planet has different species of monsters, with the especially nasty ones being nocturnal. The player also has to eat, paving way for you to munch your way through an entire alien world in the search for some rare ore to mine. It’s also possible for the player to get musical instruments as he plays a soothing tune to the sun setting over a happy, civilised village.

Obviously this is if you decide to play the game as a boring, morally correct hero. Sometimes it’s fun to play as the bad guy, and in Starbound you can be a real tyrant to the universe. Giving that Chucklefish have allowed the players to decide how they will play, many have called for things like fishing to be placed into the game. I, myself, have called for enslavement of a planet to be placed on the list for future updates, as this will let me mine gold faster while I destroy other planets.

Altogether Starbound is a fantastic game with incredible scope and although still in development, it’s clear this game is going to continue to rise both in content and in price. I would fully advise anyone who has enjoyed Minecraft or Terraria to get onboard while the game is still at a budget price, as it has been constantly in the top ten for played games on Steam with over one million users weekly. With so much freedom in the 2D world of Starbound and an endless list of possible worlds, players will find a near unlimited amount of content to get stuck into.

Developer: Chucklefish Format: PC and MAC Release Date: Currently in Beta http://playstarbound.com