Essential space sandbox game Astroneer drops to its lowest ever price

As wonderful as the No Man's Sky redemption was to watch, and even as the likes of Rimworld and Factorio have ventured among the stars, Astroneer remains my favorite space sandbox game of all time. It's the perfect blend of casual and complex, offering up incredibly powerful tools to shape its planets to your liking. Developer System Era Softworks has continued to expand on it since launch, most recently introducing some fantastic quality-of-life upgrades, and now you can grab it cheaper than it's ever been on Steam.

Where NMS is all about sheer scale and endless possibilities, Astroneer approaches a similar format from a more focused perspective, and in doing so delivers an even more rewarding experience. Freeform exploration is key, but the best sandbox games ensure there's just enough structure for you to latch onto and make sure that you can quickly plot out what you need next. It's that balance that SES nails just right, resulting in the perfect mix of earned knowledge and the unknown, no matter whether you play solo or in co-op.

Each of Astroneer's planets has a distinct atmosphere and resources that can only be found there, meaning you'll need to visit them all and adapt to their respective conditions to succeed. The game's greatest asset is its Terrain Tool, a giant vacuum that can be used to suck up materials or deposit them, along with modifiers for tricks such as flattening out ground to create bridges or buildable spaces.

The base building is easy to learn but will keep you optimizing right until you're done; furnaces, condensers, and shredders all require power, and you'll need to select appropriate energy collectors for the world you're on and ensure they're hooked up to distribute energy appropriately. Wind power can be more efficient than solar, but it's often less consistent, and you might find yourself running out if you don't plan ahead with storage batteries.

Your treks across the planet to discover missing resources are limited by oxygen tethers - these make sure your adventurer is able to breathe, and wandering too far from the lines you've laid down will put you on a tight time limit to return. It creates just enough tension for you to plan ahead, and ensures a sense of permanence (along with helping the more navigationally challenged among your group to find their way to your forward bases and potentially material-rich caverns).

The best space games capture the wonder of venturing to unknown worlds, and you don't need grand scale to do that well. Before we were wowed by the masterful Outer Wilds, it was Astroneer that first convinced me of this; with just five planets and two moons to discover (plus an extra location in its Glitchwalkers expansion), SES created a galaxy that begs to be explored, and that rewards you for taking that bold next step forward. With a 92% Steam review score from over 111,000 reviews, you don't need to take my word for it, and now you can grab it cheaper than ever.

Astroneer is 67% off on Steam via the Humble store until Thursday July 31 at 10am PT / 1pm ET / 6pm BST / 7pm CEST, meaning you'll pay $9.89 / £7.85 for your copy. Simply click the box above or head over to the Humble store to take advantage of the deal.

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