Games like Ostranauts

The Squirrel's verdictX4: Foundations scales the systems-over-story sandbox to economy-wide simulation: trading, fleet building, and station ownership across a persistent galaxy. Where Ostranauts keeps you inside one hull managing individual components, X4 zooms out to sector-spanning logistics. Released in 2018 and updated through at least 2026, its core loop is functional—though tutorials operate as a separate manual rather than connected gameplay.

Not for you if you want tutorials that connect to actual gameplay instead of a separate manual you consult mid-run.

The Squirrel's verdictSpace Haven shares the core premise: build a ship piece by piece, salvage to keep crew fed and powered, and watch small oversights cascade into hull failures. It scales that loop up to multi-crew colony management rather than a single character in a suit, carries a Very Positive rating, and reached a 1.0 release in 2026. The UI is widely flagged as a friction point, and the tutorial is effectively mandatory.

Not for you if you want the solo, one-body-in-a-suit intimacy of Ostranauts rather than juggling a crew, or you can't tolerate a rough UI and mandatory tutorial.

The Squirrel's verdictStar Traders: Frontiers carries a Very Positive rating and a median playtime around 71 hours, built on dense overlapping systems: crew management, trade routes, skill checks, and permadeath consequences across a galaxy at war. It trades Ostranauts' tactile inventory-and-hull simulation for text-and-stat-driven crew management, where RNG skill rolls decide most outcomes.

Not for you if you want hands-on ship-system tinkering over stat-driven crew management, or dislike heavy RNG skill checks deciding outcomes.

The Squirrel's verdictAutomation-focused builders and RimWorld fans will find familiar ground in Stardeus: colonists handle logistics through queues you configure, a tiered research tree gates most ship functions, and the developer's process is publicly documented. That structured progression and base-building depth sit closer to colony management than scavenging, with a 53.8-hour median playtime and a Very Positive rating.

Not for you if you want hands-on inventory tinkering without heavy research gates and colonist queue management.

The Squirrel's verdictPlayers who want structured missions, a solid tutorial, and conveyor-belt automation layered over a salvage loop will find Space Trash Scavenger delivers that at a $19.99 price point and roughly 19.8 hours of content. The core activity—flying to derelicts, pulling components, selling or installing them—is familiar, but missions and automation systems give it defined direction. Physics-driven item loss to the void is a documented friction point.

Not for you if you prefer open-ended freeform ship simulation over structured missions, or object physics causing lost items frustrates you.

The Squirrel's verdictThe Last Starship puts you designing and maintaining a ship at the component level, with combat and crew survival tied to how well it holds together. It expands scope toward colony and fleet management rather than the single-hull scavenger loop, drawing comparisons to Cosmoteer and Stardeus. It reached 1.0 in 2026 with a Mostly Positive rating, though reviewers flag thin endgame content.

Not for you if you want the tight, one-ship, one-body survival focus rather than a broader colony and fleet-management scope.

The Squirrel's verdictStarminer shares the ship-systems focus: Newtonian physics, building and managing your own vessel, flight and combat as separate learned systems rather than abstracted menus. Where Ostranauts is single-ship survival and inventory management in a derelict, Starminer leans toward building, mining, and drone management with a tech tree. Fits players who want ship engineering over narrative scavenging.

Not for you if you came to Ostranauts for the scavenging and inventory-survival loop rather than base-building, mining, and tech-tree progression.