Steam freebie is perfect for Starfield and No Man's Sky fans

This space-faring building game looks like a mix between No Man’s Sky and Starfield, although even saying that seems to be underselling things considering the hundreds of hours the player base has poured into it…

Archean on Steam is an early access, sandbox building game from developers and publishers batcholi and FloDKSM, and I don’t even know where to get started with this one.

The developers describe it as a “full-scale space sim, with realistic physics and orbital mechanics” that allows you to build the creations of your dreams– although it sounds like you might need an engineering degree to even wrap your head around the gameplay.

Thankfully, you don’t need to potentially waste your money and find out that it’s a little bit more complicated than you were hoping, because the devs just released a brand new demo for the game you can try out right now.

However, if you’re still not sold, maybe you should have a gander at the reviews on this one, because most of the people that have played it seem to have at least a couple hundred hours invested in it.

“After 100+ game hours, I can honestly say I thoroughly enjoy this game. Creative mechanics and limitless imagination potential in terms of building things to venture around the planet and the solar system with,” writes reviewer Bolomorte.

“All the mechanics are well thought out in the game, and the game is enjoyable in my group of friends who like to play and do crazy builds together.”

“I have played them all, every space building physics simulating etc etc etc game out there. I have yet to be as engaged and dare I say, obsessed with a game or simulation in decades,” writes user Criegg.

“Every part of this game is well thought out and the developer/designer is constantly and consistently making improvements to the game and documentation…Thank you...Thank you so much for all your hard work that has gone into making this.”

No word on exactly when this one will be leaving early access yet, but I assume a project like this could never really be deemed “finished” in the usual sense.

We’ll have probably figured out how to actually live on Mars by the time they’re done.