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Planet S

Planet S Game Cover
92%Game Brain Score
Most mentioned positive aspects:gameplay, graphics
Most mentioned negative aspects:grinding, monetization
92% User Score Based on 1,687 reviews

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Planet S Game Cover

About Planet S

Planet S is a single player and multiplayer open world city builder game with a science fiction theme. It was developed by Glimmerlight Games and was released on October 28, 2023. It received very positive reviews from players.

Planet S is a real-time strategy game where your goal is to colonize multiple planets in a solar system to advance your civilization, build a city and supply it to grow your faction.

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Reviews

92%Audience ScoreBased on 1,687 reviews
gameplay25 positive mentions
grinding10 negative mentions
  • Very fun and addictive gameplay with a unique blend of RTS, city building, and space colonization mechanics.
  • Highly praised for being a complete and polished free game with frequent developer updates and active community engagement.
  • Enjoyable both in singleplayer and multiplayer modes, with features like trade routes, resource management, and interplanetary expansion that offer depth and strategic choices.
  • Steep learning curve with a tutorial that is often described as unhelpful or incomplete, leading to confusion for new players.
  • Frequent crashing and stability issues reported, affecting both singleplayer and multiplayer experiences on various hardware.
  • Some complaints about unintuitive UI, clunky controls, and limited quality-of-life features like lack of hotkeys, difficult fleet management, and tedious micromanagement especially in late game.

  • gameplay

    67 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    37% positive mentions, 57% neutral mentions, 6% negative mentions

    The gameplay is praised for being deep, engaging, and addictive, offering a satisfying blend of city-building, resource management, and RTS mechanics with a smooth progression and strategic depth. While some users find certain mechanics clunky or the early learning curve steep due to limited tutorials, overall it provides a captivating experience that balances casual relaxation with challenging multitasking and offers great potential for future updates.

    • “I'm surprised it's free, honestly, as the gameplay is remarkably deep.”
    • “Endless possibilities, smooth gameplay, difficulty control, everything... I just love it.”
    • “This game really is exceptional, it's got a captivating gameplay loop with a good sense of progression.”
    • “I definitely find some mechanics to be more clunky and annoying to manage like the mechanic for moving resources but I also understand it's an early game and that such a thing is really part of the challenge.”
    • “It roughly introduces you to how some of the mechanics work but leaves out a lot. For example, "making more planets or explorable places", because now it doesn't really take that long to colonize everything (excluding the overload of mechanics this game has).”
    • “Also overall gameplay, despite there not being much to do, is full of noob traps, choices which are clearly wrong but they appear as such only after being taken.”

  • graphics

    46 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    41% positive mentions, 52% neutral mentions, 7% negative mentions

    The game features simple, low-poly graphics that many find charming and fitting for its gameplay, though some feel the art style is mismatched for the space theme. While visuals are generally praised for being smooth and pleasant, occasional graphical bugs and crashes—especially on unsupported or older graphics cards—are reported. Overall, the graphics are seen as effective and enjoyable given the game's free status, but not groundbreaking or highly polished.

    • “Beautiful visuals, smooth fps.”
    • “Great small game for friends: tons of features, small storage, great graphics, and all for free. Would recommend.”
    • “It is one of the only games which we play without combat (as of now) without getting bored; the concept of the game, its graphics, the ambience, and the gameplay simply are amazing.”
    • “It's nothing objectively bad, but the aesthetic here is just completely unsuited for a space game.”
    • “It works but it has graphical bugs on the building as it stretches and turns into some sort of hostile architecture.”
    • “I seem to have a lot of random graphical timeout errors on this game.”

  • music

    14 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    36% positive mentions, 43% neutral mentions, 21% negative mentions

    The music is consistently described as calm, relaxing, and chill, effectively complementing the casual colony sim gameplay. While some users note the soundtrack is limited and repetitive, most appreciate its peaceful vibe, making it an enjoyable background during play. Overall, the music is considered a strong positive, enhancing the game's relaxing atmosphere.

    • “Genuinely one of the best hidden gems I've found, can be both relaxing and stressful but either way it's an amazing and fun indie game for any city build lovers looking for a relaxed, free game. Its music is calming, the gameplay is casual yet fun; I give it a strong 8/10.”
    • “The soundtrack is peaceful and relaxing music which, for a change, I didn't actually mute after the first hour!”
    • “Calm background music, multiplayer, procedural generation, and again free!”
    • “It's better with friends; solo play can get boring fast since you wait for resources while listening to the same 3 soundtracks repeatedly.”
    • “The same music plays over and over.”
    • “Could use better music and sounds.”

  • grinding

    12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    0% positive mentions, 17% neutral mentions, 83% negative mentions

    Grinding in the game starts off manageable but becomes increasingly tedious and time-consuming at higher tiers, with complex menus and repetitive tasks like farming feeling like busy work. While the gameplay is enjoyable initially, players may find themselves stuck in long, grind-heavy sessions, especially when managing crafting lines and trading systems. Overall, the game offers casual fun but lacks depth and becomes grindy as you progress.

    • “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
    • “Laying down farms is tedious and feels like busy work since it has little benefit other than just putting down a bigger building.”
    • “It's fun for an afternoon until it gets excessively tedious.”

  • monetization

    10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    30% positive mentions, 10% neutral mentions, 60% negative mentions

    The monetization approach is heavily criticized for being misleading, effectively presenting an advertisement sold as an incomplete game requiring a $6 DLC purchase to access the full experience. Conversely, another viewpoint praises a free game with no microtransactions or ads, highlighting that well-executed monetization can support a positive user experience.

    • “It has good graphics, lots of gameplay, and updates regularly while having no price tag and no in-game purchases.”
    • “Hard to downvote a free game with no microtransactions.”
    • “Genuinely 9-10/10, incredible game, free, no ads, microtransactions, or even skins.”
    • “In order to actually play the game this is advertising you need to shell out a whopping $6 USD to buy the DLC for it which unlocks the campaign.”
    • “The developer unwisely breaches Valve guidelines to deliver a hamfisted confession... while demanding this crap isn't exactly what I said it is, an advertisement to shell out $6 to buy the full game, the developer at the same time refers to this as an incomplete 'base' to the full game... the developer deliberately and willfully set out to mislead gamers by dumping an incomplete advertisement, a non-free product, onto Steam, with the expectation it would lead to sales.”
    • “If you enjoy advertisements, you can consume them for free on the web or on YouTube without needing to add them to your game library, download them, and then launch the advertising.”

  • stability

    9 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    11% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 89% negative mentions

    Users report several stability issues including frequent game freezes when performing actions like placing items or moving on planets, occasional multiplayer bugs, and overheating problems causing heavy PC load. Trade routes also appear buggy, affecting gameplay. While some users can run the game smoothly, these stability problems hinder the overall experience and need addressing.

    • “Maybe I'm just too stupid or the trade routes are buggy... couldn't find anything online on the topic, not gonna play anymore unless this gets fixed :/”
    • “Tries to place something, the game freezes and has to be closed.”
    • “I wanna know why the game after 5 to 10 minutes of playing just freezes and my computer begins to overheat. This never happens in other games that I play. I have played games that are harder to run than this and still this is the only game that causes my PC to start chugging hard.”

  • story

    8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    38% positive mentions, 24% neutral mentions, 38% negative mentions

    The game lacks a developed story, with users suggesting the addition of engaging scenarios or missions to enhance player involvement. It is seen more as a casual experience with limited narrative depth and a small game map.

    • “In Anno, you can spend time on quests and interacting with NPCs.”
    • “This is a story of travel in the solar system, the memory is also super small, can be used as a casual small game to play.”
    • “And maybe you can make some scenario to get people hooked up in the tutorial, a small story to get people engaged.”
    • “No story.”
    • “Cool game, but it needs a better tutorial and missions.”
    • “The map is too small, making the game feel limited despite the interesting travel theme.”

  • humor

    5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    100% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions

    The game is widely praised for its humor, being described as very funny and enjoyable both solo and especially when playing with friends. Users find the comedic elements enhance the fun, though some suggest adding bots for more consistent multiplayer experiences.

    • “Very fun and funny game.”
    • “Fun little strategy game and super funny and fun with or without friends, more so with.”
    • “You can also play with your friends up to 4 in the same game (it is really funny, you should try that!)”

  • atmosphere

    4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    50% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 50% negative mentions

    The game's atmosphere is praised for its relaxing and immersive qualities, with a chilled-out intro and a laid-back pace that encourages players to unwind rather than rush. Some users note unique, mysterious elements like invisible pirate ships adding intrigue to the environment. Overall, the atmosphere effectively balances calmness with subtle tension, making it enjoyable for casual play.

    • “The chilled out intro is nice - atmospherics that draw you in.”
    • “I'm enjoying the relaxed atmosphere of the game; I don't have to rush to do stuff and can sit back and wait for resources to build up. It's a great game for combating boredom when I'm too tired for my high-action games.”
    • “Not waiting for the ships to go under the atmosphere to engage them.”
    • “There was a pirate ship in my planet's atmosphere that nobody else could see, and it would attack anything nearby.”

  • optimization

    3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    67% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 33% negative mentions

    The game offers good graphics and a solid price-to-performance ratio, but suffers from poor optimization, especially noticeable with fps drops when building more than 30 structures. Overall, optimization issues impact smooth gameplay.

    • “Great game with excellent price-to-performance ratio.”
    • “Poorly optimized, broken game”

  • replayability

    3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    67% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 33% negative mentions

    Replayability opinions are mixed: while some find the game's simplicity limits its long-term appeal, others praise its engaging blend of RTS, city building, and space elements as creating a highly replayable experience.

    • “Seems very replayable.”
    • “Honestly, this is quite the hidden gem of a game. It blends RTS, city builder, and space into an entertaining and replayable experience.”
    • “The simple nature of the game doesn't really lend itself to much replay value.”
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Play Times

8h Median play time
9h Average play time
2-9h Spent by most gamers
*Based on 6 analyzed playthroughs
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Frequently Asked Questions

Planet S is a open world city builder game with science fiction theme. Common tags for Planet S include free to play, science, futuristic, 3D, indie and others.

Planet S is available on PC, Windows and Linux.

On average players spend around 9 hours playing Planet S.

Planet S was released on October 28, 2023.

Planet S was developed by Glimmerlight Games.

Planet S has received very positive reviews from players. Most players liked Planet S for its gameplay but disliked it for its grinding.

Planet S is a single player game with multiplayer support.

Similar games include Patron, Kingdoms Reborn, Rise to Ruins, Overcrowd: A Commute 'Em Up, Cliff Empire and others.