Stationeers

About

Stationeers is a single player and multiplayer survival management game with a science fiction theme. It was developed by Rocketwerkz and was released on December 12, 2017. It received positive reviews from players.

Stationeers puts you in control of the construction and management of a space station to run by yourself or online with your friends. Complex atmospheric, electrical, manufacturing, agriculture, and gravitational systems require your thought and management at all times!

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88%

Audience ScoreBased on 5,844 reviews

gameplay202 positive mentions

grinding193 negative mentions

Stationeers offers a unique and complex survival experience, combining elements of engineering, automation, and resource management.
The game features a deep and realistic physics simulation, allowing players to experiment with gases, liquids, and temperature management.
The developers are dedicated to continuous updates and improvements, fostering a supportive community that enhances the overall experience.

The learning curve is steep, and the tutorials are often insufficient, leaving new players feeling overwhelmed and confused.
The user interface can be clunky and unintuitive, making basic actions cumbersome and frustrating.
Multiplayer connectivity issues can hinder the experience, making it difficult for players to join friends' games seamlessly.

gameplay
921 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
22%
76%
2%
The gameplay of "Stationeers" is characterized by its deep and complex mechanics, requiring players to engage in intricate systems involving resource management, atmospheric control, and automation. While the game offers a rewarding experience for those who enjoy problem-solving and engineering challenges, it presents a steep learning curve, often necessitating external resources like tutorials and community guides to fully grasp its mechanics. Despite some frustrations with the user interface and occasional bugs, players appreciate the game's realism and the satisfaction derived from mastering its systems, making it a compelling choice for fans of survival and simulation genres.
- “If you enjoy Stormworks for its fluid sims and Space Engineers for its logic/space survival mechanics, take those, put them here... and then dial that up to eleven because nothing comes close to the complexity this game brings!”
- “The gameplay has enormous depth as the simulation has significant complexity allowing for very complex and interesting interactions.”
- “The mechanics are extremely deep and they require lots of learning and patience, but the feeling of finally figuring out a problem or becoming sustainable feels so rewarding to accomplish because you put in the effort to learn and do it.”
- “The core gameplay mostly revolves around getting power, sorting atmospherics and attempting to grow food on the harsh surface of another celestial body before you die of hunger.”
- “The game is advanced to play especially in the start but if you dont give up so easy and are prepared to watch a few tutorials in the start such as how to make an airlock then you will pretty fast learn how to play the game and its mechanics.”
- “The mechanics are solid and easy to pick up.”
atmosphere
638 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
57%
41%
2%
The atmosphere in Stationeers is a standout feature, offering a deeply immersive and complex simulation of gas dynamics, pressure, and temperature management. Players must navigate the intricacies of atmospheric control to create breathable environments, manage resources, and automate systems, all while facing the challenges of various planetary conditions. The game's realistic mechanics encourage problem-solving and experimentation, making the experience both rewarding and engaging for those who enjoy detailed engineering and survival gameplay.
- “The level of depth in its systems—from atmospheric management to power networks and automation—is incredibly satisfying once everything clicks.”
- “The satisfaction of stabilizing an atmosphere, balancing power, or automating a system you’ve built from scratch is like nothing else.”
- “The atmosphere can be tense and exciting, especially when you realize you forgot to connect your oxygen supply.”
- “You’ll vent your entire atmosphere into the void, program an airlock wrong and suffocate yourself, or melt your entire furnace setup because you misjudged the pressure by a couple of zeroes.”
- “My base's atmosphere combusts sometimes, I'm sure that's okay though.”
graphics
201 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
31%
60%
9%
The graphics of the game have received mixed reviews, with some players praising recent improvements that enhance visual fidelity and detail, while others criticize the simplistic and sometimes cartoonish art style. Many appreciate the game's performance on mid-range PCs, noting that it runs smoothly even at higher settings, but some feel that the graphics lack depth and polish compared to other titles. Overall, while the visuals may not be groundbreaking, they serve the game's functional design well and contribute to an immersive experience.
- “With one of the recent updates, the graphics were significantly improved, giving the game a cleaner, more polished look while still keeping its functional style.”
- “The graphics are much improved and I have not had any performance issues with graphics set to max. Gameplay interface is reasonably intuitive and certainly quick to learn.”
- “The graphics and atmospheric effects in Stationeers contribute to the immersive space environment.”
- “Graphics are crap, even for an early access game.”
- “It runs my video card into slag even on the lowest settings (GeForce RTX 2070) and the graphics are absolutely terrible.”
- “The visuals are subpar and nothing special.”
grinding
198 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
1%
2%
97%
The grinding aspect of the game is characterized by a mix of rewarding complexity and frustrating tedium. Players appreciate the depth of systems like farming, atmospherics, and automation, which require thoughtful engineering and problem-solving, but many find the inventory management and tool-switching mechanics excessively cumbersome and repetitive. While some enjoy the challenge of micromanagement and the satisfaction of building intricate systems, others feel that the game's controls and UI detract from the overall experience, making it feel unnecessarily grindy.
- “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
- “The biggest flaw in this game, in my opinion, is how tedious building anything is.”
- “Unfortunately, the inventory management system is far too tedious and annoying to be enjoyable for me.”
- “The game mistakes tedious and repetitive micromanagement of your hands and inventory as depth and difficulty.”
optimization
154 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
23%
63%
14%
Overall, the game's optimization has seen significant improvements, with many players reporting smooth performance on mid-range to high-end PCs, even with complex systems in play. However, issues persist, particularly with large bases and multiplayer scenarios, where performance can degrade. While the developers are actively working on optimizations and updates, some users still experience notable performance hits, indicating that further refinement is needed.
- “The arbitrary limits they impose force us to learn optimizations and line-saving techniques, which turns coding into a bit of a puzzle at times as we try to get the most out of a single 50-watt chip.”
- “The team is always adding new features and even taking the time to completely rework old systems to much higher functionality, performance, and quality.”
- “Every single detail of your habitat is important; electrical networks need to be optimized by logic circuits, and life support systems depend on your ventilation network, fluid pipes, and heat radiation layouts.”
- “Performance: even on high-end systems, Stationeers can suffer from performance issues, especially in large or complex bases.”
- “It's a fun little space game, but at the moment the optimization needs serious work.”
- “Unfortunately, it has some pretty severe performance issues later in the game.”
stability
135 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
9%
91%
The game's stability is a mixed bag, with many users reporting significant bugs and glitches, particularly in multiplayer mode, which can hinder gameplay. While some players appreciate the game's potential and find it enjoyable despite its issues, others express frustration over persistent bugs and a lack of polish, especially in tutorials and user interface. Overall, while the game runs well on various systems, it remains a challenging experience due to its early access status and ongoing development.
- “The game is well made and runs great!”
- “Now multiplayer isn't as buggy as before and the entire game runs better.”
- “For an early access game, it's relatively bug free; systems mostly work as intended.”
- “The multiplayer is a buggy mess.”
- “It's a buggy mess and only gets buggier with every bug fix and the de-sync is horrendous.”
- “This game will never be finished and will remain a buggy mess until it is completely abandoned.”
story
96 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
7%
80%
13%
The game currently lacks a structured story or quest system, offering instead a sandbox experience where players create their own narratives through gameplay. While many users express a desire for a more defined storyline or mission objectives, they still find enjoyment in the emergent challenges and survival mechanics. The potential for future updates to introduce missions and a deeper narrative is noted, but as it stands, the game is primarily about exploration and self-directed goals.
- “Every session turns into a story.”
- “This game has so much potential for adding both storyline and world exploration that I honestly can't wait to see where they go with this game. As it is, it feels very polished, better than most AAA base building survival games.”
- “The things you can do already in alpha are almost limitless, and when the survival, mission, and ship building elements are introduced, this will be an absolute gem.”
- “There is no story or quest; all the gameplay emerges from the systems the game presents you with.”
- “There are no missions or guides other than a basic (and optional) 'to-do' list to help you progress.”
- “Most of the content is more about 'I want to' rather than 'I have to' because you can build a tiny self-sustaining base in a few hours and be done with the game; there isn't any story, quests, or missions driving you forward yet.”
humor
58 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
98%
5%
The humor in the game is a standout feature, often arising from the complex and punishing mechanics that lead to unexpected and hilarious failures, such as explosive decompressions and catastrophic gas leaks. Players frequently share amusing anecdotes about their misadventures, highlighting the game's ability to create laugh-out-loud moments, especially in multiplayer settings. Overall, the combination of intricate systems and a lighthearted community contributes to a uniquely entertaining experience, making even frustrating situations feel comically rewarding.
- “Bottom line: this game is amazing if you give it a chance, you don't mind applying your mind, and aren't afraid of making mistakes that can cause some pretty hilarious brown-pants moments.”
- “The first few hours will likely involve accidentally depressurizing your base, suffocating due to faulty wiring, or blowing up your power grid in a spectacular (and hilarious) fashion.”
- “It's a fun, immersive semi-sim with a cool voxel world, based physics, and it can be incredibly funny when you're playing with friends and you have no idea why the inside of your base is burning and a hole has randomly burst open in one of your frames...”
- “The humor in this game falls flat; it's more frustrating than funny.”
- “I expected some laughs, but the jokes just don't land.”
- “The attempts at humor feel forced and often miss the mark.”
replayability
36 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
47%
45%
8%
The game boasts exceptional replayability, driven by its diverse planets, unique survival challenges, and regular content updates from developers. Players appreciate the procedural generation of landscapes and the ability to learn from previous mistakes, enhancing the experience with nearly infinite replay value. Additionally, the supportive community and availability of player-created mods further enrich the game's replay potential, making it a highly recommended choice for fans of the genre.
- “Each planet or moon looks and feels different and brings unique challenges to solve, so there is plenty of replayability to be had.”
- “The different worlds are not just new maps; they're whole different survival puzzles, great for replay value.”
- “Hundreds of hours of content, nearly infinite replayability, deep and intricate game systems, heaps of skills to master, and more features yet to come.”
- “The replay value is non-existent, as you can't come back and re-solve challenges that you have already solved.”
- “This means that the game has almost no replay value, because if you start a new base, you have to set up all those systems again, which takes hours.”
- “It can be a bit challenging and is best played with friends, but has lots of potential for replayability with the vast amount of customization options.”
music
19 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
16%
68%
16%
The music aspect of the game has received mixed reviews, with many players expressing a desire for a more dynamic and varied soundtrack, as the current offerings are limited and often repetitive. While some appreciate the subtlety of the background music and sound effects, others find the lack of ambient sound and music during gameplay detracts from the overall experience, leading to suggestions for improvement. Overall, players recommend enhancing the musical elements to create a more immersive atmosphere.
- “A great game to put on some music and tune out for a while.”
- “The soundtrack and sound effects are subtle yet effective, creating an atmosphere of unease and triumph as one makes progress.”
- “I like the background music in the game as well.”
- “The one thing I would suggest - background music similar to Planet Crafter would be very, very good for the game.”
- “The worlds feel kind of empty, there's no real music playing in the background (I guess I could put on some myself, but that just ruins the fun).”
- “There's also a complete lack of any soundscape - you'll find yourself wondering if your sound is still working until you weld something, because there's no breathing, footsteps, ambiance music, nothing.”
monetization
15 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
20%
7%
73%
The monetization of the game has received mixed reviews, with some praising its reasonable approach and lack of predatory practices, while others criticize the presence of DLC in an early access title, perceiving it as a cash grab. Users express frustration over the game's ongoing development issues and the feeling that the focus is more on profit than on delivering a polished experience. Overall, there is a call for transparency and community engagement from the developers to restore trust.
- “Almost a decade since the launch and the devs still keep updating the game, funded by reasonable monetization.”
- “Bonus points for having no predatory monetization!”
- “As long as the devs listen to the community, are active and don't incorporate lots of microtransactions, this game is a sure gem in the making.”
- “What I thought was going to be a genuine attempt at a love letter to SS13 has turned into an obvious cash grab. DLC should not exist for an early access game, cosmetic or not, especially a $30 early access game.”
- “A game with DLC (not against proper DLC when the game launches) and is still in early access makes you wonder if we can trust it or if the game is just a cash grab.”
- “Another cash grab and development hell game.”
emotional
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players express a strong emotional connection to the game, highlighting both its heartwarming moments and the frustrations that can lead to tears. The intricate physics simulation fosters genuine attachment to in-game objects, while the challenges of gameplay can evoke deep feelings, making the experience both touching and occasionally heartbreaking. Overall, the emotional journey is a significant aspect of the game's impact on players.
- “✓ Genuine emotional attachment to a virtual air conditioner.”
- “It is a wholesome gift to the world.”
- “The game made me cry.”