Starseeker: Astroneer Expeditions

Starseeker: Astroneer Expeditions is a cooperative space action-adventure game with extraction elements, set in the same universe as Astroneer (2016). It shares the original game's charming, colourful art style, but marks a radical departure from Astroneer's open-world survival crafting gameplay featuring base-building and automation. Whereas Astroneer was a sandbox survival game in which players could travel between planets, Starseeker is a mission-based co-op exploration game featuring extraction mechanics and shorter sessions. Therefore, it is not a sequel to Astroneer, as the title itself should make clear.

The game centres around the space station ESS Starseeker, which serves as the base of operations. Here, players can meet in the multiplayer hub, interact with NPCs, gain reputation with the Fronteer Force leadership, unlock quests and upgrade their equipment and abilities. From there, players can embark on timed expeditions either alone or as part of a team of up to three other players (four players in total). They often have just 30 minutes to explore the planet's surface. There, they can gather resources using similar tools to those in Astroneer, explore the surroundings, scan the flora and fauna, engage with and subdue enemies, or complete other mission objectives. This is reminiscent of Helldivers 2 or FBC: Firebreak, but with a more cozy feel. Unlike in Astroneer, there are not only environmental hazards, but also enemies. When the timer runs out, the team must flee to a landing zone to safely return their loot to the station. Anyone who dies loses the resources they have collected. One thing that stands out about the game is that it has the same exploratory feel as Astroneer, and the traversal methods, such as the Glider, are great. However, it does take some time to get used to the occasionally unusual controls.

At the start of Early Access, the handcrafted planet Tephra is available. It is full of jungles, swamps, oceans, and the wreckage of a failed EXO Dynamics mission. This is in sharp contrast to the procedurally generated planets of Astroneer, but both the worlds and the characters are colourful and charming, full of vistas and hidden caches. As squads progress, new landing zones are unlocked, opening up uncharted territory and tougher challenges, as well as larger cooperative missions. However, the progression system still feels somewhat repetitive and progression could feel more rewarding than simply unlocking new tools and equipment, but this could be expanded upon in the Early Access version. Hopefully, the somewhat clunky user interface and tutorial will be optimised, too. Having a more varied selection of quests might also help.

Starseeker: Astroneer Expeditions is being developed by System Era Softworks, a game development studio based in Seattle, Washington. It was founded in 2014. The studio has grown from five full-time employees in 2016 to forty in 2022. The studio's first game, Astroneer, was launched as an Early Access title on Steam and Xbox in December 2016. It sold over 600,000 units in its first month. Just over two years later, they released version 1.0. By 2022, the game had been purchased nearly 4 million times and played by over 8 million people thanks to Game Pass. In January 2022, it was launched on Switch, selling over 220,000 units across all platforms that same month.

At the time, Devolver Digital almost took over the publishing of Astroneer, but it didn't happen. However, in November 2023, Devolver Digital announced the acquisition of System Era for up to $40 million — which equated to around €37.6 million back then. In a statement regarding the acquisition, Devolver Digital revealed that since December 2016, the game had generated over $87 million in gross revenue and had been played by over 13 million people. The company stated that System Era had generated $7.0 million in revenue and $3.8 million in EBITDA during the 12-month period ending 30 June 2023.

Starseeker: Astroneer Expeditions was released on 11 June 2026 via Early Access on PC (Steam), PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S (Game Pass) and Nintendo Switch 2, priced at €29.99.

However, the launch was marred by server issues and misaligned expectations. As Starseeker is an entirely online PvE extraction game, players were kicked out of the game in the middle of an expedition, resulting in the loss of their loot and progress. Compensation has been announced. Additionally, the game was labelled as single-player on Steam prior to release. While it is possible to complete expeditions alone, it is more difficult than playing with others. The game requires a constant online connection to the live servers. Adam Bromell, Creative Director for Starseeker and Co-Founder of System Era, commented on this:

"At launch, Starseeker carried a Single Player/Solo tag, and we pulled it about two hours in. You can absolutely play Starseeker on your own, and we wanted solo players to know they were welcome. But the game is built as a solo-but-shared experience, and "Single Player" set the wrong expectation for what that feels like. The part we got wrong most is that we pulled the tag quietly, with no note. A silent change to something you based a purchase on is a bad way to handle it no matter the reason, and that is on us. Intent is not the point when someone feels misled, and I am sorry to the players who do. So here is what solo actually looks like. There is no offline, disconnected Starseeker. You can play without friends or squadmates, queue for an Expedition and go it alone, but there will always be other players around you. The station and the planets are built to foster community and camaraderie as you play, which means Starseeker will always be a connected, online experience (...)"

He also confirmed that there will be no microtransactions in Starseeker - no premium currency, loot boxes, battle passes or recurring charges. No aspect of the game will be locked behind a paywall. However, cosmetic packs will be available, and the first one is already on sale — a decision which has also drawn widespread criticism because these are considered to be a form of microtransaction. Adam Bromell commented: "The items offer new things to wear or extend the look of suits you already earn by playing the game normally. That is the whole model. To us, that is the standard we are holding ourselves to. "No MTX" was us saying we’d never have any monetization model where small, individually priced in-game cosmetic things are purchased for a premium currency that has a direct impact on the game’s economy, progression, and game play."

"Starseeker is a connected, online, shared experience, and the model is what it is: buy the game once with completely optional cosmetic supporter packs, nothing that touches play. We are not turning it into an offline game, and Starseeker is not Astroneer 2. I want to be honest about that rather than make promises we can’t keep just to win people back. If it isn’t the game you were looking for, I understand completely, and hope we make something down the road that is." - Adam Bromell, Creative Director for Starseeker und Co-Founder von System Era

Throughout the Early Access period, System Era will regularly update Starseeker, adding new regions, challenges, hazards, creatures, points of interest, craftable items, community events, mechanics and more to expand the experience. They currently estimate that the Early Access period will last about a year, after which the price of the game is expected to increase slightly.

Conclusion

Following launch issues, Starseeker: Astroneer Expeditions has a solid foundation on which to build a compelling co-op space action-adventure game. For now, however, it lacks content and additional features, which will hopefully be added during the Early Access period.

Features

• Cooperative space action-adventure game with extraction elements
• Charming, colourful art style
• Easy to Pick-up and bite-sized sessions