Playing Starbound, I’m reminded of my time in Terraria. I liked Terraria but it didn’t hold my attention for too long after writing my review. Starbound is more enticing due to its space theme. Don’t like the planet you started on? Hop aboard your starship and fly to a new one. It’s really liberating.

I began my first adventure with an avian avatar named BudBeak. There are six races to pick but from the differences don’t amount to a lot than aesthetics in practice. Personally this doesn’t bother me as much here since it’s more about standing out visually in multiplayer (which I haven’t been able to test yet) and making your character your own.

Starbound

BudBeak met an untimely demise in one of the regular character wipes (did I mention that Starbound is in beta?) and was replaced my Harris, a new red bird. Harris lucked out on his home planet and came across a nice dagger in a random baddie filled dungeon. This dagger, the Dire Broslicer, did 65 damage per second, compared to the 10 I was doing. With my new toy I went on a rampage across my home planet, wiping out all comers, including an attacking UFO. With the UFO out of the way I went to a nearby planet, a snowy, Hoth-like place where I promptly froze to death.

Starbound

Learning fast, I crafted a campfire that I carried around, placing it down for a short to warm up just before hypothermia set in, and picking it up again before moving on. I eventually came across another, even nicer toy, a spear called the Holy Rockstabber that did 86 DPS. Now, it was really on. I opted to leave my immediate cluster of planets and go to another group in my solar system. I targeted a desert planet and hit go, only to realize that traveling that far cost me 50 fuel, and I started with 51. That meant that I was stranded on this desert planet unless I could find more coal (the main fuel for your ship).

Starbound

It turned out that this planet had a ton of ore, all kinds of ore. An hour later I returned to my ship with 106 iron ore, 123 copper ore, 35 silver ore and 186 coal. I did have a near-death experience in an NPC base involving a pit with an electroshock device at the bottom. It wasn’t until I escaped and caught my breath that I learned just how close I came to dying.

Starbound

I’m dreading the next character wipe because Harris is loaded down with nice gear and some great treasure on my ship, but it will come. It will come, and it will hopefully make Starbound even more fun. Has anyone else tried Starbound, and if you have, let us know about your adventures in the comments below.

Starbound