Dominate the Cosmos: Top Games Where You Rule Space Stations!

Summary

Players can build and manage space stations in games like The Spatials, Trappist, and Heliopolis Six.
Games like Starmancer and Ixion offer unique challenges in building and managing space stations in different settings.
Halcyon 6 and Galaxy Pass Station combine various gameplay elements, such as base-building, strategy, and management, for an engaging experience.

Space serves as a captivating backdrop for numerous video games, with space stations being particularly intriguing, bustling with activity for interstellar voyagers. Notable games such as “No Man’s Sky” and “Mass Effect” utilize space stations as central hubs where players can engage in trading, accept quests, or manage their spaceships. However, some gamers aspire to have greater control over the entire station.

Games like FTL: Faster Than Light and Galaxy on Fire 2 offer players the chance to handle spaceships, but with minimal management aspects in Galaxy on Fire 2. Instead, I’d like to highlight games that provide comprehensive control over space station operations, including adding new structures and giving orders to staff. These games are ranked based on a balance of overall quality and popularity.

8. The Spatials: Galactology

Build A Station And Colonize A Planet

Platform: PC
Released: 2018-04-18
Developer: Weird and Wry
Genre: Base Building, Management

Originated by a compact development group, “The Spatials: Galactology” stands as a base-building game, set millennia into the future. Essentially an enhanced edition of “The Spatials,” the primary objective is to construct a space station, colonize a planet, and ensure the wellbeing and contentment of your crew members.

In this space station, you’ll find numerous aspects to investigate, duties to delegate, and structures to erect. There could be hostile extraterrestrial beings or even the crew themselves who might jeopardize the station’s equilibrium. Ships are designed for interplanetary exploration, and budgeting and resource allocation need to be meticulously handled. The game is currently under continuous development, but it already demonstrates potential, offering a rich gaming experience that keeps players engaged.

7. Trappist

A Colony Builder Set In Deep Space

Platform: PC
Released: 2024-03-01
Developer: Sirrah
Genre: Colony Simulation

An independent project titled Trappist unfolds a whopping 40 light years away from Earth within the Trappist-1 solar system. Inside the Ark, serving as the central hub station, gamers are given the freedom to delve into the entire system, establish colonies on planets, interact with alien civilizations, and discover an intriguing narrative about this celestial neighborhood. Additionally, trade opportunities can be established between various settlements and the self-operating main spaceship, allowing players to focus solely on the enjoyable aspects of their interstellar adventure.

As gamers advance, they’ll gradually construct The Ark, discovering new resources along the way that allow for a range of building choices. Additionally, players can create robotic workers to manage minor tasks, freeing up time for more strategic decisions. Trappist, which continues to be updated, has garnered largely positive feedback from players thus far.

6. Heliopolis Six

Build A Thriving Station In Space

Platform: PC
Released: 2023-05-25
Developer: Acid Mines Software UG
Genre: Colony Simulation, Management

For those seeking a challenge with a deeper layer, Heliopolis Six is an excellent choice. Its main appeal lies in constructing and overseeing a space station, ensuring crew needs are tended to, and preventing mishaps due to poor administration. The tutorials are quite helpful at the onset, though some players have mentioned finding it somewhat tougher as the game progresses.

The individual crew members each have unique traits and aspirations that the players must cater to using specific resources or additional station facilities. Assigning tasks tailored to their abilities significantly boosts success. Properly arranging construction sites and managing resources effectively are crucial for survival in the cold, unmerciful expanse of space.

5. Starmancer

An AI In Control

A game called “Starmancer” is being developed by a modest team and is available in Early Access. In this title, players assume control of a space station found adrift in an odd star system. As the captain of a human-AI hybrid confined within the Starmancer core, your primary objective is to construct a station that can support human life. Once the station is built, you’ll help its inhabitants endure the various challenges of space travel.

In this setup, countless minds have been archived within storage devices, meaning that in scenarios where humanity is wiped out due to piracy, extraterrestrial attacks, natural hazards, or self-destructive actions, the game’s protagonist can easily regenerate new humans. The game offers a multitude of ethically questionable choices and the freedom to design, manage, and tailor a personalized space station for those who opt for this style of play.

4. Ixion

Combining City-Building With Survival

After Earth’s demise, the game Ixion places you in command of the spacecraft Tiqqun (which sounds like “tycoon”). As it voyages through the cosmos seeking a suitable new home for humanity, your mission is fraught with peril. Yet, amidst the danger, you must also explore and gather resources, essential components of the game’s narrative quests.

As a movie reviewer, I’d rephrase that sentence like this: Onboard the space station, maintaining harmony among the crew is crucial to prevent strikes or rebellion. Keeping them content with their roles can be the difference between a successful mission and chaos. The story has an ending, but the fate of the ship or my position as administrator could also lead to ‘game over’. Therefore, I must tread carefully, ensuring I observe, construct, and manage effectively to ensure our survival and success in space.

3. Halcyon 6: Lightspeed Edition

Elements Of XCOM And FTL

Platform: PC
Released: 2017-08-10
Developer: Massive Damage
Genre: RPG, Strategy, Turn-Based Tactical

The upgraded edition of the Kickstarter-backed strategy game, Halcyon 6: Lightspeed Edition, offers a more refined and swiftly paced gaming experience. It merges role-playing, base construction, and tactical turn-based gameplay. Your objective is to restore and fortify an abandoned space station, thereby thwarting an alien invasion that threatens Earth.

In this game, you need to consider numerous factors like deciding which rooms to construct, designating positions for your team, and making crucial decisions during the storyline events that could significantly impact the game’s progression. Additionally, both space and ground combat are turn-based, allowing you to deploy your crew members on exploration missions to neighboring star systems where they can gather resources or encounter alien races who may become valuable allies.

2. Galaxy Pass Station

Silly And Enjoyable Station Management

Platform: PC
Released: 2023-09-13
Developer: Galactic Workshop
Genre: Management

In the year 3020, Galaxy Pass Station shares elements with the game Papers, Please, incorporating space station management and a healthy dose of humor. However, unlike its more serious counterpart, this game has a lighter tone. Amidst the laughter, there are still nefarious individuals like arsonists and thieves who aim to create chaos. It falls upon the players to determine which characters should be granted access to the station, striking a balance between welcome and suspicion.

The automated creation of various alien species implies an endless array of visual differences among the 15 distinct alien races, ranging from somewhat human-like figures to mechanized felines. To generate revenue, we must build amenities such as karaoke bars and visually appealing decorations within the station, while also ensuring essentials like power supply and storage are taken care of.

1. Startopia

Rebuild And Manage Many Space Stations

In the time before the story of Startopia, a devastating intergalactic conflict occurred, leaving numerous space stations either destroyed or in ruins. It falls to the player to restore these stations to their previous splendor. Throughout the main campaign, there are a total of 16 stations to work on, and in addition, there’s a mode that allows for more open-ended play. The level of control over station management is customizable, allowing players to choose how hands-on they want to be.

Each unique alien species possesses distinct traits, preferences for joy, and exceptional talents, requiring players to tactfully charm them and make use of their abilities. The narrative occasionally includes humor, but not all creatures are friendly; some monsters and adversaries may stir up mischief. To ensure peace and order, security droids or alien guards are crucial.

2025-03-11 06:35