Starbound
Mild overall intensityWhat's in it
Stylized 2D pixel-art combat with melee weapons and guns against alien monsters, robots, and boss creatures; small cartoonish blood puffs, no gore or dismemberment.
The story opens with the destruction of Earth and the player fleeing as a stranded survivor, a mildly grim backdrop to otherwise light exploration.
Some biomes feature spooky settings and unsettling monster designs, but the tone is adventurous rather than frightening.
Players hunt and fight procedurally generated creatures and space wildlife for materials and progression as ordinary combat.
Who can reach your kid
What it is
Starbound is a 2D side-scrolling sandbox adventure set in a procedurally generated universe. After Earth is destroyed, you crash-land in a damaged spaceship and set out to explore countless planets, mine and gather resources, build bases, farm crops, befriend or fight alien lifeforms, and complete story missions against a cosmic threat. Combat is stylized pixel art with melee weapons and guns used against monsters and hostile characters, producing small bursts of pixel blood but no gore. Content stays light overall: mild dark undertones (Earth's destruction, an ancient world-ending menace), some spooky creatures and eerie dungeon settings, and routine hunting or fighting of alien beasts. The game can be played solo or online with others on multiplayer servers, where open text chat with strangers is possible, and it supports a large community of Steam Workshop mods.
How it's framed
The game frames violence as heroic exploration and survival: you defend yourself against alien monsters and villains while building, farming, and helping settlers. Its darker elements—a shattered homeworld and an ancient evil—serve as adventure stakes rather than being dwelt upon graphically, and the overall tone is colorful and lighthearted.
Details
- Developer
- Chucklefish
- Publisher
- Chucklefish
- Released
- Jul 22, 2016
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