Bethesda has spent the last year talking about Starfield’s future. The 2027 DLC is still coming, the roadmap is public, and yet the loading screen between a planet’s atmosphere and its surface has not moved. If our patience for that particular cut is thin, the good news is that PC has a full shelf of space-faring RPGs that either land the exploration Bethesda promised or trade it for something tighter. These seven Starfield alternatives cover open-world sandboxes, story-first RPGs, and hard-sim space flight, all on Windows, macOS, or Linux.
Quick comparison
| Game | Best for | Runs on | Base price | Standout feature |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No Man’s Sky | Seamless planet-to-space exploration | Windows, macOS | Around $60 | Real atmospheric entry, no cuts |
| Mass Effect Legendary Edition | Story-driven sci-fi RPG | Windows | Around $60 | Three-game arc with clear stakes |
| The Outer Worlds | Fallout-style writing in space | Windows, macOS | Around $60 | Sharp dialogue, tight scope |
| Elite Dangerous | Realistic space flight | Windows, macOS | Around $30 | 1:1 Milky Way |
| Everspace 2 | Arcade ship combat with an RPG loop | Windows, macOS, Linux | Around $50 | Loot and dogfights |
| Cyberpunk 2077 | Dense narrative RPG | Windows | Around $60 | Night City density |
| Star Citizen | MMO-scale ambition | Windows | Around $45 pledge | Persistent universe |
Why we kept bouncing off Starfield
Three friction points came up again and again in our sessions and in Reddit threads on r/Starfield.
Loading screens between everything
Atmospheric entry cuts to a menu. Docking cuts to a menu. Fast-travel is the whole traversal layer. It works, but it never feels like piloting a ship.
Empty procedural planets
The 1,000-planet number is real but most of them repeat the same four points of interest. Explorers who came for wilderness came away describing it as a checklist.
Companion writing
Reactions are shallow compared to Mass Effect or even Fallout: New Vegas. Constellation members repeat lines a few hours in. If banter is the reason we sank 200 hours into ME2, Starfield’s crew feels thin.
The alternatives
No Man’s Sky, best for the exploration Starfield promised
No Man’s Sky got the seamless part right. Fly toward a planet, enter the atmosphere, land on the surface, walk out of the ship, all in one continuous shot. Hello Games has shipped over 30 free updates since launch and the current version has base building, freighter fleets, VR support, and full cross-play. Planets are procedural too, but the biome variety and the survival loop give reasons to stay past a scan.
Where it falls short: The main story is thin and inventory management still feels like it was designed for Vita. Combat is functional at best.
Pricing:
- Base game: around $60, drops to around $30 on sale.
- No paid DLC. Every update is free.
- vs Starfield: cheaper on sale and a fraction of the download size.
Migrating from Starfield: Nothing transfers. Give the tutorial a couple of hours before judging it. The pull kicks in around the first freighter.
Download: Steam · GOG · Publisher site
Bottom line: Pick No Man’s Sky if the loading screens killed Starfield for us. Skip it if the story is the reason we play RPGs.
Mass Effect Legendary Edition, best for narrative sci-fi
Mass Effect Legendary Edition collects the original trilogy with 4K textures and a rewritten combat feel for the first game. Three connected campaigns, decisions that carry across games, and the reason companion writing became a Bioware benchmark. It is the sci-fi RPG most Starfield reviews compared Constellation to and found wanting.
Where it falls short: ME1’s Mako sections and inventory UI still show their age even after the remaster. Combat in ME2 and ME3 is tight, ME1 is looser.
Pricing:
- Base game: around $60, regularly on sale for around $10 to $20.
- No further DLC. Every Legendary Edition upgrade is included.
- vs Starfield: much cheaper across the trilogy.
Migrating from Starfield: No save transfer. If we came for companion romance and choice-and-consequence, this is the reference implementation.
Bottom line: The correct pick if Constellation left us cold. Sixty to ninety hours per playthrough and three of them.
The Outer Worlds, best for Fallout-style writing in space
The Outer Worlds is Obsidian’s take on a Bethesda-scale RPG built at a manageable size. Half-Colony Halcyon is a handful of hand-crafted hub worlds with dense writing, corporate satire, and consequences that fire within a few quests. It came out in 2019, runs on modest hardware, and a sequel arrived in early 2026 that took the criticism to heart on world scale.
Where it falls short: Combat is competent, not exciting. The first two hours are the weakest.
Pricing:
- Base game: around $60 for the Spacer’s Choice Edition, often under $20 on sale.
- Peril on Gorgon and Murder on Eridanos DLC add roughly 20 hours combined.
- vs Starfield: shorter, cheaper, tighter.
Migrating from Starfield: Nothing transfers. Dialogue skills matter more than gunplay, so a talker build works fine.
Bottom line: The clearest Fallout: New Vegas descendant. Pick it if writing is what pulled us into Bethesda RPGs in the first place.
Elite Dangerous, best for realistic space flight
Elite Dangerous models the actual Milky Way at 1:1 scale. Newtonian flight, supercruise between planets, and a career loop that goes from mining Payables to combat to exploration expeditions to nebulae most players never reach. The Odyssey expansion added on-foot planetary walkabouts and Fleet Carriers give a persistent base.
Where it falls short: The learning curve is steep, and a proper HOTAS setup transforms the game in a way keyboard and mouse can only hint at. Story content is thin.
Pricing:
- Base game: around $30, on sale for around $10.
- Odyssey expansion: around $40 for legs and atmospheres.
- vs Starfield: cheaper and much deeper in flight but with no scripted RPG spine.
Migrating from Starfield: No transfer. Play the tutorials before the first Sidewinder loan expires. There is a lifetime pass for Horizons DLC included in the base game now.
Bottom line: For pilots. Skip if we wanted a story to follow.
Everspace 2, best for arcade dogfighting with loot
Everspace 2 is what Starfield’s ship combat wanted to feel like. Sixgun-style dogfights, an actual loot loop with rarities, and hand-crafted systems full of hidden caches. It runs well on a modest PC and it is on Steam Deck’s verified list.
Where it falls short: Third-person only. Ground combat does not exist. Storyline is competent rather than memorable.
Pricing:
- Base game: around $50, on sale for around $20.
- No essential DLC.
- vs Starfield: cheaper and combat is where it wins.
Migrating from Starfield: No transfer. Expect a Diablo-shaped feedback loop rather than a Bethesda one.
Bottom line: If our favorite Starfield moments were the dogfights, Everspace 2 is the upgrade.
Cyberpunk 2077, best for dense narrative RPG
Cyberpunk 2077 is not in space, but the pitch overlaps: an RPG about a wanderer, gear, faction reputations, and moral choices in a hostile setting. Since Phantom Liberty and the 2.0 patch it plays like the game the marketing promised. Night City has the environmental density Starfield’s cities do not.
Where it falls short: No space, obviously. Traversal is by car and metro. Still needs a mid-range GPU for path tracing to sing.
Pricing:
- Base game: around $60, often on sale for around $25.
- Phantom Liberty expansion: around $30, essential.
- vs Starfield: comparable price, denser world, tighter arc.
Migrating from Starfield: No transfer. If narrative and character build variety mattered most, this is a strong swap.
Bottom line: The sci-fi RPG that stuck the landing after a rough launch. Buy it with Phantom Liberty.
Star Citizen, best for scale
Star Citizen is not finished, and Cloud Imperium has been transparent about that for a decade. What is playable in the persistent universe covers ship-to-ship combat, planetary landings without loading screens, cargo runs, and mining. The scope is what Starfield gestured at and abandoned.
Where it falls short: Bugs. Downtime. A monetization model built around ship pledges. Anyone allergic to alpha software should walk away.
Pricing:
- Cheapest starter package: around $45, includes a ship and lifetime alpha access.
- Squadron 42 single-player campaign: sold separately, unreleased.
- vs Starfield: same price ballpark, wildly different maturity.
Migrating from Starfield: No transfer. Watch a couple of hours of first-time flight footage before committing.
Download: Publisher site
Bottom line: For the people who wanted Starfield’s ambition and are willing to trade polish for it.
How to choose
Pick No Man’s Sky if the loading screens are the reason we bounced.
Pick Mass Effect Legendary Edition if Constellation’s writing was the problem and we want a sci-fi RPG with real weight.
Pick The Outer Worlds if Obsidian’s Fallout: New Vegas is our favorite Bethesda-adjacent RPG.
Pick Elite Dangerous if we own a HOTAS or want an excuse to.
Pick Everspace 2 if we just wanted the dogfights.
Pick Cyberpunk 2077 if the dense city and character build variety pull harder than the space theme.
Pick Star Citizen if scale beats stability.
Stay on Starfield if the roadmap for the 2027 DLC and Shattered Space content matters more than the current-state critique. Bethesda’s post-launch patch cadence has been real.
FAQ
Is No Man’s Sky better than Starfield?
For exploration and traversal, yes. Landing on a planet without a loading screen is the single biggest experiential gap. For structured story quests, Starfield’s main path is stronger.
Can I import my Starfield save into any of these?
No. None of the alternatives share a save format with Starfield, and modding tools do not cover cross-game imports.
What is the cheapest Starfield alternative?
Elite Dangerous, at around $10 on sale, or Mass Effect Legendary Edition at similar sale prices. Both go on deep discount several times a year on Steam.
Which one runs on Steam Deck?
Everspace 2 is Steam Deck Verified. No Man’s Sky and The Outer Worlds are Playable. Elite Dangerous works but the launcher friction makes it a Playable at best.
What space RPG comes closest to Fallout in space?
The Outer Worlds. Obsidian built it that way on purpose and the DNA shows in every conversation tree.
