The Last Starship

About

"The Last Starship" is a 2D space construction and simulation game where you design and upgrade your own starship. Explore vibrant star systems, discover unique resources, and shape your experience by becoming a pirate hunter, miner, engineer, or spacebus driver. Regular free updates expand this sandbox environment, with your journey through the cosmos just beginning. Build your starship with a reactor and supplies from the local space colony.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

80%

Audience ScoreBased on 444 reviews

story10 positive mentions

stability10 negative mentions

The game has a solid foundation with great potential for future updates and improvements.
Ship customization and building mechanics are engaging and allow for creative freedom.
The developers have a good track record and are committed to enhancing the game based on community feedback.

Currently lacks content and depth, making gameplay feel repetitive after a few hours.
The user interface is clunky and not very intuitive, leading to confusion for new players.
There are numerous bugs and technical issues that can disrupt gameplay, including crashes and glitches.

story
111 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
9%
85%
6%
The game's story is currently limited and primarily revolves around escaping a black hole, with a few missions that provide some narrative context. Players appreciate the potential for deeper storytelling and varied missions, but many find the existing quests repetitive and lacking in complexity. As the game is still in early access, there is hope for future updates to enhance the narrative and mission diversity.
- “The new story missions tie the game together, providing a sense of purpose as you fly around upgrading your ship and crew.”
- “You start the game by either choosing story-driven or survival, which has a sort of FTL feel about it, where you've got to keep one step ahead of the void that is gradually getting bigger.”
- “I liked how I was faced with a moral choice in the mission, and it would be great if future story missions would force you to make tough decisions.”
- “The story isn't complete.”
- “Currently in game the story is limited to run away from the void, and the tiddles (a Star Trek tribble knockoff, that often breaks the game) quest in the second sector, that is it.”
- “As far as storyline there is almost absolutely nothing here.”
gameplay
86 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
24%
71%
5%
The gameplay of the game is currently a mix of solid mechanics and design, but it suffers from a lack of direction and clarity, particularly in its tutorial and core mechanics. While the ship management and construction aspects are engaging, many players find the gameplay loop simplistic and marred by bugs, with some mechanics feeling incomplete or confusing. Overall, the game shows promise and potential for depth, but it remains in an early access state with significant room for improvement and expansion.
- “The gameplay loop in survival mode of running away from an ever-expanding false vacuum cascade adds a time limit to almost everything you do.”
- “Even in its alpha stage, the game is captivating and thought-provoking, providing a unique and engaging gameplay experience.”
- “The graphics are stunning and the gameplay is smooth, making it easy to lose track of time while playing.”
- “What with this odd pressure mechanic not allowing me to experiment with the new game?”
- “The developers have discussed current plans to introduce many different game modes for TLS, which is significant in mitigating the gameplay loop’s inherent grindy feeling.”
- “The current gameplay feels like an old flash game.”
graphics
21 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
52%
14%
The graphics of the game are described as simple yet stylish, reminiscent of classic arcade games, with a clean aesthetic that fits the game's scale. However, many users note that the visuals are still rough around the edges due to its early access status, featuring placeholder graphics and inconsistent quality. While some elements, like the starmap and sound design, are praised, the overall graphical experience is considered barebones and in need of further refinement.
- “The graphics, oh sweet celestial bodies!”
- “The graphics are stunning and the gameplay is smooth, making it easy to lose track of time while playing.”
- “The visuals are simple yet stylish, and it's easy to see how the devs' previous hit game, Prison Architect, influenced them.”
- “Being in early access, it is of course still rough aesthetically and with some gameplay bugs like loading saves.”
- “You will find placeholder graphics here and there, and overall it's still a bit barebones.”
- “I’m also hesitant about the lack of proper settings (indie or not, graphics-tweaking and rebinding keys are not features to miss out on), inconsistent graphics (the game’s effects are pretty, but the PNG backgrounds become somewhat stale after a while), and lack of a tutorial or other explanatory guide.”
stability
11 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
27%
91%
The game's stability is a significant concern, with numerous bugs affecting various aspects such as UI, ship navigation, and combat mechanics, leading to frustrating gameplay experiences. While some players report rare game-breaking crashes, many acknowledge that these issues are typical for early access titles and express optimism about the developers' commitment to fixing them. Overall, while the game offers enjoyable moments, potential players should be prepared for a buggy experience.
- “The game runs smoothly without any major glitches, making for a seamless experience.”
- “I appreciate how stable the gameplay is; I rarely encounter any crashes or bugs.”
- “The developers have done a great job ensuring the game remains stable, allowing me to enjoy it without interruptions.”
- “The UI is buggy, the ship navigation is a little wonky, and the ship building is even wonkier.”
- “The new 'battle stations' button is so buggy - disappearing even when it should show up - that the combat mechanic is basically just gone.”
- “The only caution I can give you is that if you are unfamiliar with early access games, it is still in development and can be buggy; it can crash at any time, not have all the features of the finished game, and your save games can stop working or be deleted from version to version.”
grinding
9 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious, especially in later stages where combat mechanics are poorly explained and ship management becomes frustrating due to bugs. While some construction elements are well-designed, the overall lack of depth in activities leads to a repetitive experience. Future updates promising new game modes and additional systems may help alleviate the grind, but balancing complexity and enjoyment remains a challenge.
- “Becomes tedious in the later stages.”
- “These activities simply lack depth, and they become tedious quickly.”
- “Of course there are some bugs; the biggest one I noticed was ships that, even though they are repaired, don't return to 100% health, and trying to build new ships and getting rid of the old is a tedious process.”
music
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
60%
40%
The music in the game is highly praised for its engaging soundtrack and ability to complement the visuals, creating a relaxing yet exciting atmosphere. Reviewers, particularly music enthusiasts, appreciate how the background music enhances the overall experience, aligning well with the game's pacing and emotional tone.
- “Great background music to boot!”
- “As a music nerd, I really like the soundtrack so far.”
- “The game will force you forward to be the literal 'last starship' as the galaxy is slowly consumed behind you, yet, confusingly, the game's pacing is quite relaxing, with exciting music that follows the mood, creating a chill and enjoyable play experience at its forefront.”
optimization
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
100%
Overall, the game's optimization is generally praised, with players noting smooth performance even with multiple fully designed ships and active crew members. However, some users have reported issues with performance degradation as ships grow larger, alongside crashes and a lack of feedback on system mechanics, indicating room for improvement in engine stability.
- “I remember the early versions of their previous game, Prison Architect, struggling when it got to 30 prisoners. But in this game, you can have multiple ships, each fully designed from scratch, flying around doing different tasks in different places, with crew walking about inside and some with production lines going on. I haven't had any performance problems.”
- “Poor performance as your ship grows; crashes all the time. Combat is rather bland, and feedback on how systems work isn't there.”
- “Hope they stay focused on the performance of the engine as well.”
- “I remember the early versions of their previous game, Prison Architect, struggling when it got to 30 prisoners. In this game, you can have multiple ships, each fully designed from scratch, flying around doing different tasks in different places, with crew walking about inside and some with production lines going on. I haven't had any performance problems.”
replayability
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
67%
100%
Players note that while the game shows potential for replayability, particularly in its rogue-like spaceship mechanics, it currently lacks substantial content and features due to its early development stage. Users have experienced random crashes and issues with contracts, which further limit the overall replay value at this time.
- “Alpha 8, I got the game while it was on offer and it's much better than the free weekend. There are still random crashes, so save often. It's far more playable now.”
- “It's in very early stages of development, so there isn't a huge amount of content or replayability yet.”
- “The emphasis now should be on mirroring the replayability of previous titles while still capturing the FTL rogue-like spaceship scenario.”
- “It's in very early stages of development, so there isn't a huge amount of content or replayability.”
- “Alpha 8: I got the game while it was on offer, and it's much better than the free weekend. There are still random crashes, so save often. It's far more playable, but I'm still not sure if contracts are working right; they mention other systems, but yet there are none.”
humor
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is highlighted by its funny issues and charismatic developers, Chris and Mark, who engage players through entertaining dev-diary videos. Players particularly enjoy the "tiddlets mission," a humorous nod to Star Trek, and express anticipation for more comedic episodes in future updates.
- “I am so glad to see this game is getting frequent updates, each coming with a dev diary update video on YouTube from the funny and charismatic developers Chris and Mark at Introversion.”
- “The Tiddlets mission is the highlight of the game so far, a funny reference to Star Trek, and I look forward to them adding many more of these fun episodes as you go through the game (which I really hope are coming soon).”
monetization
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The monetization of the game has raised suspicions among some users, with concerns that it may be perceived as a cash grab or an asset flip, despite some players expressing a willingness to overlook these issues due to their enjoyment of the game.
- “I liked the game enough originally that I'm willing to dedicate all four of my brain cells to believing this game has not been an asset flip or a cash grab.”