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My first planet was a beauty. I beamed down to a bright alien installation filled with money boxes and secret passages, while behind me claret-covered hills rose above forests in which every tree looked like a human brain. The wildlife was aggressive but puny; I could be a king here, and I was, I was! I drilled the mineral guts out of the place and felled all those trees. I built useful gear and fought a UFO loaded with penguins, and then I moved on leaving little but rubble. I never looked back.My second planet was an ice world. I froze after a few short steps and died. My riches wouldn't protect me, because I'd crafted nothing to keep me warm, and my third planet was ever worse. A moon: a stubbly piece of rock, no atmosphere and the place was colder than hell. It was filled with natural treasures, though: fabulous ores winking at me through the compacted strata of grey dust. I could be richer than a king if I ever found a way to survive here. Richer than a million kings!
Starbound is a lot like Terraria when you get in really close. It offers a procedural - and destructible - 2D environment in which almost everything wants to kill you and where you'll only survive by scavenging your way up the food chain. Mine ores and gather wood, build tools and a shelter - then build a means of building better tools and better shelters. Grow stronger by growing more knowledgeable, and watch as each trip outwards takes you further, earns you more, and leaves you alive that bit longer. Fight, craft, thrive! The UI's not entirely dissimilar, the mouse-and-keyboard controls will feel familiar, and many of the incidental details between both games mesh rather harmoniously, too.
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