Our picks, beyond the numbers
5 games like No Man's Sky we would recommend for different reasons
No Man's Sky's real trick isn't the size of its galaxy — it's the small, specific pleasure of touching down somewhere nobody has described to you yet and deciding, on the spot, whether to explore, build or just keep flying. We looked for games that keep some piece of that feeling alive, whether or not they ever leave the ground.
A few of these are close cousins in scope and setting; others take the exploring-and-building instinct somewhere much smaller and more intimate. These are the five games like No Man's Sky we'd actually recommend, and the specific reason for each one.
Astroneer
Our first choice for gentler planetary exploration
Astroneer keeps the same spirit of planetary exploration and base-building No Man's Sky is built on, but adds online co-op for up to four players, so a shared solar system is actually something you can share rather than describe to a friend afterward.
We'd start here because its planets are smaller, hand-shapeable sandboxes rather than a vast procedurally generated galaxy — terraforming terrain with your own tools gives base-building a more hands-on, tactile feel than No Man's Sky's largely automatic construction.
Expect a gentler, more colorful tone throughout, and a noticeably smaller scale than No Man's Sky's galaxy-spanning ambitions. Choose Astroneer when you want that exploring-and-building feeling shared with friends in a cozier package.
Empyrion: Galactic Survival
For going deeper on building your own ships
Empyrion leans hard into the half of No Man's Sky some players wish went further: building your own ships and bases from the ground up, piece by piece, with online co-op for doing the work alongside friends.
We like it for a No Man's Sky player whose favorite hours were spent designing a base or a ship rather than simply flying past one — construction and survival logistics sit at the center here instead of being one system among several.
Its presentation is rougher around the edges than No Man's Sky's polish, and the pace leans more toward engineering than effortless exploration. Pick this when deep construction is the itch, not a quick visual tour of a new planet.
Starbound
For the same idea, flattened into 2D
Starbound takes the explore-a-galaxy-planet-by-planet premise and flattens it into a 2D side-scroller, keeping the joy of touching down somewhere new and genuinely not knowing what you'll find there.
We'd recommend it to someone who wants No Man's Sky's sense of discovery paired with heavier RPG progression and built-in online co-op, since Starbound leans further into both than No Man's Sky's more solitary default experience does.
The shift to a side-scrolling view changes the texture of exploration considerably — this isn't a seamless 3D galaxy, it's a long string of distinct 2D worlds. Choose Starbound when RPG progression matters as much to you as the exploring itself.
The Long Dark
For a much smaller, grounded kind of survival
The Long Dark trades No Man's Sky's cosmic scale for something far more intimate: surviving cold, hunger and isolation in a believable Canadian wilderness, with the same slow-burn satisfaction of gradually learning a hostile environment well enough to feel safe in it.
We'd point someone here if what they actually valued in No Man's Sky was the quiet, solitary rhythm of learning a place — not the building, crafting toward spaceflight or the galaxy-spanning scope, but simply the feeling of being alone somewhere unfamiliar and figuring it out.
It's entirely single-player with no multiplayer of any kind, and there's no building or crafting path toward leaving the setting. Pick The Long Dark when you want that solitary-survival feeling stripped of everything sci-fi.
Breathedge
For the same scrap-and-survive loop with jokes
Breathedge keeps No Man's Sky's zero-gravity wandering and crafting-from-scrap loop intact, but wraps the whole thing in a dry, self-aware sense of humor about surviving the wreckage of one very bad trip into space.
We'd choose it for a player who wants No Man's Sky's early-game scavenging tension — stretching scraps into tools, tools into a way to keep breathing — but with a script that's actively trying to make you laugh along the way.
It's single-player only and far smaller in scope than No Man's Sky — there's no whole galaxy to explore, just the aftermath of one disaster. Choose Breathedge when you want the scavenging loop with a sense of humor attached, not an open-ended galaxy to wander.
