When does Starbound get good?

Give it 3 hours. In the first 2 hours 1 in 3 reviews are negative (33%); after 20h it's 1 in 11 (9%). Fully opens up by hour 10.

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ActionAdventureCasualIndieRPG

Starbound

Jul 22, 2016 Steam: Very Positive

Give it 3 hours

Gets good by 3h almost every game dips in hours 2–3

Fully opens up by 10h rated like by long-time players

Started playing 82% of owners

Steam reviews 90% positive of 123,336

What the data shows

In the first 2 hours 1 in 3 reviews are negative (33%); after 20h it's 1 in 11 (9%).
Fully opens up by hour 10.
The game has no story achievements, so drop-off points can't be measured.
82% of owners got the first achievement.

When it gets good

Share of positive reviews by how many hours the reviewer had played when writing the review.

before it gets good opening up fully opened up

Based on all 123,471 Steam reviews in every language. Median playtime in a sample of 294 reviews: 58.2h for positive, 44.6h for negative. Almost every game is rated lower in the first 2–3 hours: that window includes refunds and quick first impressions. What matters is how deep the dip is and how fast the game recovers.

Where players quit

Share of players who started the game and reached each story milestone. 100% is the most common achievement (82.1% of owners), so people who bought the game and never launched it don't count.

This game has no story achievements, so we can't tell where players quit.

All achievements (51)

story milestone ending side

Adventurer Eventuality Complete a quest! Joke's on you, there isn't any XP in this game. 100%
Congratulations on Your Graduation! Survive the Protectorate. It could have been worse. 100%
The Simple Life Harvest a crop. See what happens when you eat it. 96%
Just like mum used to make! Practice your chef skills. Try not to harm anyone. 72%
The Wanderer Meet Esther. 71%
Book Club Find a Codex. On Earth it's rude to read other people's diaries. 64%
Amateur Bard Collect your first musical instrument! Keep playing, even when everyone begs you to stop. 63%
The Hopeful Fix your ship. 63%
Not in Front of the Children! Defeat Mother Poptop. Every Poptop you meet from here on out is a lonely orphan. 61%
Protected Protector Obtain an entire set of armour. Now use dye to make your armour fabulous. 56%
Augmented Reality Augment your EPP. Now it's an AEPP. 46%
The Brave Return Nuru to the outpost. 40%
First Mate Recruit your first crew member. Captain! 37%
Ending Prohibition Defeat the dastardly Dreadwing. Bring joy to penguins everywhere. 36%
Villain Incapacitate an innocent bystander. You monster. 32%
The Wise Return Koichi to the outpost. 32%
Traveling in Style Obtain a cool vehicle. Pop some sweet wheelies. 28%
Monster Whisperer Capture a monster. How does it fit in that tiny ball? 27%
The Devout Return Tonauac to the outpost. 25%
Perfectly Generic Achievement Obtain the mythical perfectly generic item. 23%
Shock and Awe Defeat the Shockhopper MK I. Notice it rarely hops. 22%
Home Sweet Home Attract your first colonist. Make sure you treat them right. 21%
The Resilient Return Lana Blake to the outpost. 21%
Sweet Revenge Kill 100 small flying monsters. They had it coming. 20%
King Barbarian Become champion of the arena. Crush your foes like an orange sorbet. 19%
Starbound Valley Harvest 30 unique crops. Start thinking about who you'd like to romance and that barn extension. 18%
The Loyal Return the Baron to the outpost. 18%
The Protector Defeat the Ruin. 17%
Feathered Friend Recruit a penguin mercenary from the Beakeasy. 15%
Too Heavy to Kick Destroy a robot chicken. Don't try to eat it. 15%
Bug Tracker Capture your first bug with a bug net. Esther would be proud. 13%
Captain of the Year Recruit at least 12 crew members. Consider starting a pension plan. 8.9%
You're aMAZEing! Complete Mazebound. You only need to beat it 300,000 times to win a slide whistle. 8.3%
Culinary Century Prepare at least 100 unique dishes. Bonus points if they're edible. 7.9%
From the Ashes Build a large colony. Well done Protector! 6.5%
A Helping Hand Complete 10 quests for your colonists. Feel like an asset to the community! 6.2%
Cramped Colony Build 5 homes in a very small space. This isn't a healthy way for anyone to live. 5.7%
Cosmic Curator Complete the Cosmic Museum's cosmic collection. 5.0%
Alien Archaeologist Restore a complete fossil. Make wild assumptions about what it used to be. 4.4%
Nox's Apprentice Kill another player. Unity is overrated anyway. 4.3%
All Walks of Life Attract 10 unique tenants. Marvel at their collective peculiarity. 3.2%
A Cheeky Chore Complete 25 quests for your colonists. These guys sure do ask a lot of you don't they... 3.0%
Well Read Find 100 unique codex items. Study them all, prepare for a pop quiz. 2.7%
A Motley Crew Recruit one crew member from every race. It's like a teeny tiny protectorate. 2.7%
Not a Llama Obtain a complete alpaca costume. Use it only for good! 1.8%
A Tireless Task Complete 50 quests for your colonists. When did this become your full time job? 1.7%
Mint Condition Collect at least 50 unique action figures. Insist to your friends they're actually called statuettes. 1.3%
Them Bones Unearth 55 unique fossils. Try not to pay attention to the ones that are alarmingly humanoid. 1.3%
Bug Free Catch 42 unique bugs. Give them all funny names. 1.2%
Armour Aficionado Collect 210 unique pieces of armour. See how many you can wear at the same time. (Spoiler, it's 3). 1.2%
Destroyer of Worlds Move a planet's worth of blocks. If you weren't using a Matter Manipulator you'd be ripped. 1.2%

Steam page Updated: 2026-10-21.