Astroneer, officially written in all capital letters, is a 2019 sandbox adventure game created and published by the American company System Era Softworks. The game was first available in early access in December 2016. It was fully released on February 6, 2019. In the game, players are assigned the task of colonizing planets, building structures, and gathering resources. The player's character is called an Astroneer. Players can travel to planets to activate cores and finish the game. Rewards are often given to players after completing core activation, such as a suit or a visor.

Gameplay

Astroneer is a sandbox adventure game viewed from a third-person perspective. The game’s open-world planets, where players can reshape the environment, are created using random generation, except for specific resources found on certain planets. The player controls an astronaut, known as an Astroneer, who moves by walking, using a rover, teleporting, or traveling by spacecraft. Exploring the planet is necessary to locate resources, such as materials and research items.

Players can craft items like rovers, printers, jets, buggies, tractors, spacecraft, storage silos, atmospheric condensers, research chambers, component smelters, batteries, generators, turbines, solar panels, and shelters. The game features two basic crafting materials, Resin and Compound, which are available in large quantities on all planets. Other, rarer resources are discovered during exploration or by using smelters, chemistry labs, or atmospheric condensers. These resources are combined with other materials using in-game machines to create new items. To craft advanced items, players collect "bytes," which unlock new technologies for crafting. When oxygen levels are low, the Astroneer recharges using portable oxygenators, snail creatures, or by staying near craftable tethers. These tethers can be connected to a base or oxygen-providing object for long-distance oxygen supply. As of the game’s full release, an "oxygenator" is required to extend the range of oxygen when using tethers. To use an oxygenator, it must be connected to a shelter or platform.

Each Astroneer has a Terrain Tool, which allows players to gather resources and modify the landscape. Resources such as organic material, quartz, lithium, ammonium, resin, and the rarest material, astronium, are collected and stored in neat stacks by the Terrain Tool. These stacks can be placed into slots on the Astroneer’s backpack, storage units, or research chambers. Some resources, like titanite or clay, can be smelted or combined to create more advanced materials. Players can also research and craft upgrades for the Terrain Tool, which can be attached or removed as needed.

The Backpack is the Astroneer’s primary tool. It serves as the player’s inventory and on-screen display, featuring two quick-use slots, eight storage slots, a basic 3D printer, a small internal power supply (shown as a column of yellow segments), and a built-in oxygen tank (displayed as a horizontal blue or red bar). The Terrain Tool, which has three slots for storage or modifications, is attached to the side of the Backpack when not in use. The Backpack also contains the Research Catalog, which players use to unlock new crafting blueprints.

Plot

The game provides a flexible storyline that lets players make choices and progress at their own pace. Players can complete optional tasks and missions, which help tell the story through special scenes and logs.

The player begins on a spaceship from an unknown planet and lands on Sylva, the starting planet. The player decides what to do next. To move forward in the main story, the player must find and activate an alien Gateway Chamber and dig into the planet. The planet has different underground layers with increasing difficulty, including dangers and challenging terrain. When the player reaches the deepest layer, they must dig from an alien structure called a pylon. They then travel to the Gateway Engine and activate it using a material that becomes harder to find as the planet's difficulty increases. The player must collect 7 Geometric Triptychs, placing one on a terminal and keeping one to use later on a satellite. Once a Gateway Chamber is activated, the player can safely travel to it anytime. This process is repeated for other planets and moons: Desolo, Calidor, Vesania, Novus, Glacio, and Atrox, listed from easiest to hardest. After collecting all 7 Triptychs, the player can go to a Gateway Portal and place them in their correct spots. An Odd Stone will appear in the center. Interacting with it will show the final scene and credits.

In addition to the main story, players can complete optional storylines at different points in the game. These include the Wanderer's Way mission, the Space Snail rescue mission, the Rails Update mission chain, the Awakening Update missions, and Holiday Events.

If the player finishes the main story, completes the rails and space snail missions, and gathers nanocarbon alloy (a resource in the game), they can unlock the Awakening Update missions. These missions reference the game's community, other missions, and the book The Little Prince, which inspired some of the update's themes.

Development and release

The game began when Adam Bromell showed his friend Paul Pepera a "personal art project" featuring a space man. Bromell said the two began discussing whether a game could be created from the idea. Later, Pepera reached out to two other friends, and the four of them started a company called System Era to develop the game. At first, they worked on the game part-time. After about two years of development, Bromell mentioned in an interview that they were ready to work on the project full-time.

The art style was partly inspired by Bromell’s desire to move away from a look similar to Minecraft, as he noted, "there are enough games that do that already." Instead, the team chose an art style with "curved geometric shapes and bright, colorful designs." Bromell explained that the simple art style helped the team quickly create new ideas for the game. Initially, the game used a more detailed 3D style, but after participating in a contest focused on the "low-poly" style, Bromell changed his mind.

Astroneer was announced in October 2015 by System Era Softworks and was developed using the Unreal Engine 4. Co-founder and lead artist Paul Pepera passed away on March 27, 2017, four months after Astroneer’s early access release, but before the game’s official release.

Astroneer was first released in early access for Steam, Windows, and Xbox One on December 16, 2016. It officially launched on February 6, 2019. A PlayStation 4 version was released on November 15, 2019, and a Nintendo Switch version was released on January 13, 2022.

In November 2023, publisher Devolver Digital acquired System Era Softworks, allowing the studio to continue publishing Astroneer. The company had previously been unable to gain publishing rights for the game. In September 2024, System Era Softworks announced the "Glitchwalkers" expansion for Astroneer, which added new planets and maps.

A version of the game for PlayStation 5 was released on November 20, 2025.

Reception

Astroneer received "mixed or average reviews" from critics for Windows and Xbox One, and "generally favorable reviews" for Nintendo Switch, according to the review website Metacritic.

Shacknews gave the game an 8 out of 10, noting praise for its atmosphere, exploration, crafting, base building, setting, casual survival elements, cooperative play, and visual style. However, it also mentioned some minor technical problems. USgamer described the game as having "soft" survival challenges, but concluded that it is a "lovely little game" if players prefer survival without needing to manage hunger and thirst. The site also noted that the game lacks enough unique activities on each planet. GameSpot praised the game's visuals, art style, easy-to-learn survival mechanics, oxygen system, and open world, but also pointed out issues with inventory management, limited activities on planets, and technical problems. Nintendo Life reviewed the Nintendo Switch version, highlighting strong developer support, crafting, terrain tools, and how well the game works on the console. However, it also criticized the game's choppy frame rate, unsmooth physics, and poor camera and controls.

In March 2022, System Era Softworks reported that Astroneer had sold more than 3.74 million copies and had been played by more than 8 million players.

Spinoff

In April 2025, Devolver Digital introduced a new game called Starseeker: Astroneer Expeditions during a Nintendo Direct event. This multiplayer-focused game is planned to be released in 2026 for Windows, Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S.