Objects in Space is a stellar sandbox that treats spaceships not as nimble dogfighters but like sneaky submarines trying to fly under the radar in a slice of space full of pirates, organised crime and corrupt governments. Sounds like a real home away from home. It just landed in Steam early access today.

The broad strokes should be familiar if you’ve dabbled with Elite Dangerous or any other space sandbox. You flit around in your ship, taking on contracts, trading, upgrading and occasionally fighting – the combination and amount is largely up to you. Drill down into the details, however, and Object in Space starts to look quite different.

Navigation, for instance, requires plotting a course between worlds using a map, rather than piloting the ship directly, looking out a window or viewscreen. You’ll need to switch to different stations and rooms, too, depending on what you’re doing. You can visit the engine room and customise your guts of your ship, nervously obsess over sensor data and move from the map to the helm so you can do some fine-tuning. From there you can control your drive power, making you faster or stealthier, change direction or send out an SOS.

The developer has put together a video walkthrough that runs through ship operations and taking on contracts. Take a gander below.



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It’s a shame there’s no co-op, as I’m definitely getting an Artemis vibe, but I’m also glad I won’t need to put together a crew when I’m just going on a milk run.

Flat Earth Games anticipates that Objects in Space will be in early access for 2 – 5 months, though it could go on for longer depending on feedback. When it hits 1.0, the plan is to have a sandbox mode, narrative campaign and 10 scenarios that take players out of the open world and put them in tricky combat challenges.