Ostranauts

Ostranauts is a space survival game set in a solar system cut off from a ravaged Earth. You play a scavenger who has saved enough money, and taken on a large loan, to leave wage-slave scrapper work and try to become independent. You manage a ship and its dysfunctional crew while trying to avoid bankruptcy and worse.

Character and relationships

In character creation, a Career Kiosk lets you shape your character’s background, income, qualifications, traits and skills. These choices affect how you manage the ship and crew, deal with other characters, and handle conversations later on. You begin with enemies, former lovers and acquaintances to seek out or avoid.

Characters you encounter make decisions through AI that responds to their needs and past experiences. Their needs include food, oxygen and water, as well as intimacy and security. At spaceports, you can scout for crew and build relationships; your background affects how you interact with others and whether they join your ship. A silver tongue or a rule-by-fear approach can shape those interactions.

Build and fly your ship

You build a ship from functional parts, scavenge used components in the boneyard and connect subsystems. Add power and fuel, and replace parts that wear out during your travels. Finding old or rare parts in the system can cost less than buying them from the original manufacturer, and your choice of parts affects how the ship flies.

Flight follows Newtonian physics. You learn to pilot using in-world manuals and sheets, operate control panels and switches, and handle docking carefully. Each craft flies differently depending on its thrusters, hull mass and customisation, and running out of fuel can leave you stranded in the outer rim.

The solar system

The game shares a universe with NEO Scavenger. After civilization collapses on Earth, colonies and factions spread across planets, moons and asteroids. States and corporations extend their reach through the system, while unexplained phenomena circulate in whispers through back channels. The setting contains lore for players who choose to explore it.

Modding

You can edit a wide range of game data to customise your experience. Most of the data is stored in plain-text files.