Endless Sky

Open World· Space· Free to Play· Sci-fi

Released Oct 2015

92% positive · 7,118 reviews

Not yet

Released, but still in active development

High confidence

Active Development

Not yet

Released, but still in active development

High confidence

Active Development

Where to get it

Free on Steam

Steam Free

Evaluation

Endless Sky is a free, open-source 2D space trading and combat game that has been in continuous development since its release on October 30, 2015. The store description explicitly states that the game "has been developed for over 10 years as a labor of love from hundreds of volunteer contributors" and that "updates occur regularly with three major updates every year." The development record fully backs this up. Looking at the news posts alone, there is a long and unbroken chain of substantial releases: Unstable 0.9.15 (October 3, 2022), 0.10.0 (February 19, 2023), 0.10.3 (September 30, 2023), 0.10.9 (September 28, 2024), 0.10.11 (January 25, 2025), 0.10.13 (May 31, 2025), 0.10.15 (September 27, 2025), 0.11.0 (January 31, 2026), 0.11.1 (April 25, 2026), and most recently 0.11.3 (September 26, 2026). Each of these releases brought significant new missions, ships, alien species, game mechanics, and other content — developed by a large and active pool of volunteer contributors. The September 26, 2026 release (0.11.3) added a new chapter of the Successors campaign with six new ships, a new outfit, and 57 new missions, among other additions. This is the most recent developer communication, just five days before today's date of October 1, 2026. There is no indication whatsoever that development is slowing down or winding down. The open-source, community-driven nature of the project means development is sustained by hundreds of contributors rather than dependent on a single studio's financial health.

Evidence

Unstable release 0.11.3 shipped on September 26, 2026, adding a new chapter of the Successors campaign with six new ships, a new outfit, and 57 new missions, plus additional mission chains and gameplay features.

news post · Sep 26, 2026 source content shipped

high

Unstable release 0.11.1 shipped on April 25, 2026, with new gameplay mechanics, a continuation of the Patir Mystery mission chain, and various balance and bug fix changes.

news post · Apr 25, 2026 source content shipped

high

Content

1 of 1 released · no outstanding content

Released

Endless Sky - High DPI

Oct 2015

Media

Details

Developer

Michael Zahniser

Publisher

Michael Zahniser

Achievements

—

Platform

Windows, macOS, Linux

Controller

—

Steam Deck

Playable

Players

Single-player

Space Free to Play Open World Sci-fi Simulation 2D Adventure RPG Trading Action Exploration Space Sim Indie Sandbox Top-Down

About this game

Take to the Stars

Endless Sky is a 2D space trading and combat game inspired by the classic Escape Velocity series. Work your way up from a relatively wimpy shuttle, cargo ship, or fighter, to a highly upgraded and customized flagship. Grow your fleet while exploring an expansive galaxy with hundreds of systems. Earn money by carrying passengers or cargo, escorting convoys, bounty hunting, mining asteroids, or plundering and capturing enemy ships.

Write Your Story

Enter the 31st century and choose from one of multiple starting locations and backgrounds where you set out on your own journey as the captain of a new ship. Take sides in a civil war, or ignore the story line and just enjoy exploring the galaxy at your own pace. The main story line alone takes about 8-16 hours to play through, with over a hundred hours worth of story content spread across the galaxy in the form of other story lines both big and small.

Extensive Plugin Support

The game's content can be added to using the plugin system, which allows anyone with a text editor and a paint program to create new ships, weapons, missions, and more to the game. All of the game's content is built using the same system, so anything you see in the vanilla game can be done in a plugin. The capabilities of plugins are fully documented on our GitHub wiki.

A FOSS Labor of Love

Endless Sky is free, open source, and cross platform (Windows, Mac, and Linux). The game has been developed for over 10 years as a labor of love from hundreds of volunteer contributors. Updates occur regularly with three major updates every year. Over time, the game will continue to expand as contributors add new missions, story lines, alien species, places to explore, sound effects, artwork, gameplay mechanics, quality-of-life improvements, and more.