Starminer: Everything We Know

If the resources on Earth run out—apparently, some are speculating—we'll venture off into space to replenish ourselves. It’s not a completely insane idea, given that space nourishes plenty of precious minerals. The question is, will we have found a sustainable solution to make sure we don’t just run out again? While pondering over it, you may want to check out the upcoming Starminer. 

It’s specially curated for space lovers out there, dying for some over-the-top action and the time-intensive camaraderie of the galaxies. But while we await its arrival, we’ve compiled the story, gameplay, and release date information we could find about Starminer. This way, you know exactly what to expect once the game is up for grabs. Here’s everything we know about Starminer.

What is Starminer?

Starminer is an upcoming survival space station simulation with a dash of tower defense and resource management. It’s about stripping minerals off the asteroids in space and building 150,000 spaceships powerful enough to protect your colony from hostile invaders. 

Story

While we don’t have exact details on the story, we can presume that Starminer will focus on building a space-mining empire. Players will build and design a space mining fleet with two main goals in mind. Firstly, they’ll scour the depths of space for valuable minerals, stripping asteroids of their value and selling them off for a tidy profit. 

Meanwhile, your mining excavations will attract the attention of the aliens in space. So, you’ll need to build defense systems and warships powerful enough to take on any hostile energy—in real space, in real-time.

Gameplay

Build, research, mine, trade, expand, and defend. These key gameplay elements will be featured in the upcoming Starminer. You’ll need to find the balance between building warships and putting up a strong defense against alien forces. Your defense strategy isn’t just weapons-based. However, gameplay like energy production, research, management of crew funds and resources, and more will likely play a significant role as well. 

As you’ll need to build and customize several space stations, whether mining, defense, colonization, energy production, or something entirely dedicated to something else, you’ll be nurturing your creative, imaginative, and strategic side to blossoming power. It seems like a lot, but Starminer aims to unfold slowly, with a single hub ship to start and gradually building modules and attachments to become a powerful mining empire.

Key Features

Check out some of the official key gameplay, according to Steam:

• Maneuver in real space, in real-time – Feel your pulse quicken while piloting your 150,000-t warship between asteroids in the vacuum of space in real-time. All with fully simulated physics.
• Forge interstellar behemoths balance material requirements with power, tonnage, and size while building your fleet to maximum efficiency, piece by piece, module by module. Will you create a large number of smaller, more nimble vessels or double down on a massive station packed with firepower?
• Fuel your expansion harvest and process valuable materials from asteroids for your profit margins, or use the bountiful resources for the maintenance and expansion of your own mercenary fleet while doing missions for the highest bidders in the sector.
• Scale your mining operations – research new modules and tools to keep expanding your fleet of ships and mining stations. Build link gates to gain access to new riches in new sectors of space.
• Survive the alien – the more you mine, the more you build, and the greedier you get, the higher your heat signature becomes. Once it reaches critical levels, the aliens will detect you. Defend your fleet at all costs using defense systems and ships of your design.

Development

Developer CoolandGoodGames and publisher Paradox Arc are working on releasing Starminer sometime soon. CoolandGoodGames is a two-person developing team, so they have no doubt a lot of work on their hands. 

Fortunately, they have put up an early access version on Steam here that you can take out for a test ride. Afterward, you can give the team feedback to allow them to put out the best possible version of Starminer.

In a statement released by CoolandGoodGames via Steam, they express excitement over their partnership with Paradox Arc, to whom they’ll leave the marketing support and publishing rights. 

Originally titled “ILL Space,” the studio reveals why they decided to rename the new project to Starminer. It turns out that the previous name had a naming conflict with another project. Also, “Starminer” speaks more directly to the core mission and vision of the new game. 

Only a few space industry and logistics simulation games aim to please. Yet Starminer seems to be shaping up to quickly climb the ranks among the greats. The developing team is focused on propelling the game to “the forefront of space strategy gaming, blending cutting-edge rendering technologies with deep tactical and creative gameplay.”

The official statement kicks off with the words “our first dev diary,” which helps reassure us of future development updates for the Steam community. So, make sure to keep your eyes peeled on Steam for more information as it comes up.

Trailer

Are you curious to see what your interstellar contractor life might look like? Check out the official announcement trailer, which is currently out. The game looks absolutely gorgeous, with backdrops of fully realized 3D environments immersing you fully into its essence. And rightfully so, as you’ll be spending most of your time here, exploring and conquering the galaxies as you please.

Release Date, Platforms, & Editions

It’s official. Starminer will be released sometime in 2024. Granted, 2024 is a long-winded release window with no clue of the exact time the game might be released. However, we’ll be sure to keep you posted as soon as we know more.

Meanwhile, we can confirm that Starminer will launch on PC platforms via Steam. However, we don’t have any editions currently available for pre-order, which is also a little too soon for that.

For more updates, you can follow the game’s official social handle here. Alternatively, you can check back on gaming.net, where we’ll be posting new information as it comes up.

So, what’s your take? Will you be grabbing a copy of Starminer as soon as it drops? Let us know over on our socials here.