Terraforming / Space Exploration Games

[tazarbm]

Hey guys,

I just read 2 books about space exploration and I got thirsty for trying some of it myself, but since I can't explore spaces the best next thing I can do is do this in a video game. But I am not familiar with this genre since I never liked it all that much until now.

I am familiar with Planet Crafter (which I do like and have finished it several times already despite of its linear and simplistic story), so I would love to get recommendations of similar games if any of you knows. So that's one thing...

The other thing... I remember that in the early 90s (1990-1995) one of my school colleagues had introduced me to Master of Orion and Galactic Civilizations,. both of which - at that time - have probably been the best in this genre, so I liked them back then but I totally forgot about them after those introductory 2-3 years in which I've played them because of this friend of mine that was heavily into this type of games.

So - if I don't find something similar to Planet Crafting (terraforming and exploration) - I would be very happy with MoO / GalCiv alternatives too. As a matter of fact, I am downloading GalCiv 3 at this very moment and I will dip my hands into it once more, I remember that I loved (absolutely LOVED) the tech tree and researching and seeing the upgrades getting better, so I am heavily interested into a researching / exploration type of game. I am NOT fond of war / combat / military (which is why I like Planet Crafter so much, because it has none of it), so if you could recommend me pure exploration - researching - artifact / treasure hunting related games that take up in space (or, simply terraforming and mystery-based) games in general, that would make me very happy.

I know that stuff like Even Online exists, which is a very complex space-based game, but I never liked it due to its complexity, but also due to its heavy economy and military aspects. So, please don't recommend any online game (I genuinely prefer single player + offline gaming modes), also don't recommend me graphics-intensive or combat intensive space games as I totally despise combat and aggression (if I remember correctly, when I played GalCiv in the 90s I would always choose the most pacifist enemies and would focus on diplomatic / influencing / researching victories instead of combat ones)...

Trade / economy-oriented space exploration games are ok, just not heavily into economics and financial systems like Even Online is...

So yeah, if any of you had ever played such games please let me know what I should play to scratch the space mystery / exploration itch that I've gotten after 3 days of reading about space exploration and colonizing planets. I sooo got into this, and I don't know what my options are since I'm not familiar with this genre beyond GalCiv and Planet Crafter.

Of course, I will still do my own research too (on YT and Reddit since these are my go-to sources for video gaming questions all the time), but I don't have accounts on these sites so I can't get personalized help like I can here, which is why I'm asking here

Thanks in advance for any suggestion!

 

[NoSoup4U]

Technically terraforming is on no man’s sky. I like it on Nintendo switch. They also have trade and other item. Fun game. Not scary at all.

 

[tazarbm]

Technically terraforming is on no man’s sky. I like it on Nintendo switch. They also have trade and other item. Fun game. Not scary at all.

I tried NMS about 2-3 years ago and I remember it being very clunky (it even crashed my PC several times), so I uninstalled it. But yeah, it looked like an interesting game back then, too bad that my computer couldn't handle it so I had to uninstall.

Does it have a story / mystery-type of thing attached to it like Planet Crafter does, or is just exploration? Actually, what is its end game / goal? Just explore and build stuff, or what's the goal in NMS?

And thanks for the recommendation

 

[NoSoup4U]

I tried NMS about 2-3 years ago and I remember it being very clunky (it even crashed my PC several times), so I uninstalled it. But yeah, it looked like an interesting game back then, too bad that my computer couldn't handle it so I had to uninstall.

Does it have a story / mystery-type of thing attached to it like Planet Crafter does, or is just exploration? Actually, what is its end game / goal? Just explore and build stuff, or what's the goal in NMS?

And thanks for the recommendation

Yes there a story you follow in the game. It’s not buggy anymore.

It’s know as the “Starfield” killer game

 

[tazarbm]

Yes there a story you follow in the game. It’s not buggy anymore.

It’s know as the “Starfield” killer game

got you! I'll try it again then, thanks for the suggestion...

 

[Yoram]

There's a real-money game called planet calypso where you can do several activities on different planets, like harvesting materials, shooting/hunting down monsters, you can even fly to other planets

 

[tazarbm]

There's a real-money game called planet calypso where you can do several activities on different planets, like harvesting materials, shooting/hunting down monsters, you can even fly to other planets

nope, not my thing (especially the "real money" nonsense). Thanks for the suggestion, though, I appreciate it