StarMade
Early access since Dec 2014
The ultimate space sandbox. Participate in epic fleet battles, form alliances, strive to dominate entire galaxies and harness the universe’s resources for your industrious empire or the destruction of others. Customise your experience, the universe is yours!
67% positive · 2,990 reviews
Not yet
In early access, active development but status unclear
Low confidence
Active Development
Development Uncertain
Not yet
In early access, active development but status unclear
Low confidence
Active Development
Development Uncertain
Where to buy
Steam $14.99
Can't confirm — worth a look
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Evaluation
StarMade has been in Early Access since December 4, 2014, and remains so today. The store description describes the game as a full alpha, and no 1.0 release or end of Early Access has been announced.
A significant turning point came on October 3, 2021, when the original developer ("schema" of Schine GmbH) announced that due to insufficient personal funding, he could no longer work on StarMade full-time and would be open-sourcing the game for the community to continue. This marked a shift from commercial studio development to a community-driven model.
Despite this shift, the project has continued to receive meaningful updates. A fleet and AI overhaul shipped in March 2023, a Universe Update pre-release arrived in October 2024, a major feature update including new blocks and systems shipped in November 2025, a complete build tools overhaul arrived in February 2026, and two substantial updates shipped in June 2026 — one migrating the game to Java 21 with major performance improvements (June 13), and another overhauling AI targeting and fleet commands (June 25, 2026). The June 3, 2026 launcher beta announcement also referenced a future "New Foundations" update (version 0.400.0+) still in progress on a separate branch, indicating further development is planned.
The game is still purchasable on Steam. However, because the original developer stepped back from full-time work in October 2021 without announcing a resolution (such as new funding or a formal handover to a named successor team), there is ongoing uncertainty about who is responsible for delivering a finished product and whether the game will ever reach a 1.0 state.
Evidence
Feature patch v0.304.4 shipping AI targeting overhaul, fleet controls, creative server options, modding fixes, and bug fixes — the most recent developer communication.
Feature patch v0.303.38 ('Up to Speed') migrating the game from Java 7 to Java 21, with major performance improvements, expanded modding API, new fleet recon systems, and UI improvements.
Media
Details
Developer
Publisher
Schine GmbH
Achievements
—
Platform
Windows, macOS, Linux
Controller
partial support
Steam Deck
Not rated
Players
Single-player · Multiplayer · Co-op · PvP
About this game
[PLAY THE FULL ALPHA FOR FREE THROUGH THE DEMO!]
A voxel-based 3D sandbox set in the never-ending darkness of space. Create your own ships, explore new galaxies, stars and planets. Discover and salvage space stations, fight against pirates or opposing factions in multiplayer. Equip your ships with completely customisable weapons and conquer the galaxy. Trade and make a fortune, mass produce materials in gigantic factories. Design your very own space station. Create warp gates and network the universe at your front door.
The universe is a vast, mystical, beautiful, awe-inspiring place.... the universe is yours.
Built for scalability to facilitate massive fully interactable objects, almost anything is possible. Gameplay elements have been skillfully constructed to bring the ultimate space sandbox experience.
Dive into your own unique universe, and choose your path.
A voxel-based 3D sandbox set in the never-ending darkness of space. Create your own ships, explore new galaxies, stars and planets. Discover and salvage space stations, fight against pirates or opposing factions in multiplayer. Equip your ships with completely customisable weapons and conquer the galaxy. Trade and make a fortune, mass produce materials in gigantic factories. Design your very own space station. Create warp gates and network the universe at your front door.
The universe is a vast, mystical, beautiful, awe-inspiring place.... the universe is yours.
Built for scalability to facilitate massive fully interactable objects, almost anything is possible. Gameplay elements have been skillfully constructed to bring the ultimate space sandbox experience.
Dive into your own unique universe, and choose your path.
Key Features:
- Procedurally generated infinite universe, with quadrillions of galaxies - The universe is massive. It'd take approximately 10,000 years to cross from one end to the other! Singleplayer and Multiplayer worlds can be heavily customised with our extensive config options.
- Developed for scalability- We have a broad range of graphical and performance options that cater to our low-end users as well as those with heavy rigs and servers.
- Advanced Build Tools - Powerful and easy to use building tools, quickly design awesome ships, stations and bases. Including functions: Copy & paste, undo, redo, replace, symmetry modes, shape assistance systems (spheres, cycles, torus and more) and rotation of templates.
- Modular Weapon Systems - Combine weapon systems for countless configurations of weapons. From sniper beams to swarm missiles.
- Comprehensive Rail & Logic Systems - Use the rail system to build moving parts. You can do anything from simple elevators, sliding or rotating doors, to complex cranes.
Tinker with our logic systems to control any system in the game, be it weapons, lights, rails, or explosives. Logic covers all basic gate types for convenient use (AND, OR, NOT, DELAY, Flip-Flop), allows in flight control and wireless connections between entities. You can use it for simple things like timers, switches, buttons. Or, build complex systems like working clocks and even a real CPU. - Community multiplayer (dedicated servers) - Play with others in our community hosted servers. Our configs allow administrators to customise core game mechanics for a tailored experience. Most settings can be tweaked to squeeze the best performance out of hardware.
- Platform independent (Windows, Linux, Mac) - StarMade is completely platform independent. We support the three most widely used operating systems.
- Free to play in alpha - We offer the full game free to play while in alpha development. Play our game through this period for free while in return we receive invaluable feedback and bug reports.
Are these done yet?
Last evaluated Aug 19, 2026
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