Starbound
Image: Steam store (© respective owners)

How do players who really played Starbound rate it? TrueGG Rating 75.4%

Release date: Jul 22, 2016 Data as of 2026-10-19 View on Steam ↗

Players who really played rate it lower than Steam overall. Ratings tend to be steady from the first hours. Recent reviews are falling.

Good for

  • Players who want dozens of hours of play
  • Players who like setting their own goals
  • Players who care about visuals and music

Think twice if you are

  • Players buying on the promise of future updates (complaints about the developers)
  • Players who dislike repetitive grinding
  • Players buying right now (recent ratings are falling)

A rule-based guide from review patterns (no AI). How

TrueGG RatingMethodology ↗
75.4%
▼ −14.5 pt
vs Steam overall

Positive among players with 20+ hours (last 180 days) · 769 reviews

TrueGG, all time
91.3%
Steam overall
89.9%
Japanese, all time
90.8%

Early wall

Reviews written under 2 hours: 3.3% of all reviews. Their positive share is 67.3%.

This is not a drop-off rate; it describes who wrote reviews. Refund guide: within 14 days of purchase and under 2 hours of play (Steam refund policy).

01 / TRUEGG INSIGHTS

Does the rating change the longer people play?

Used for TrueGG Rating (20h+)JapaneseRight: reviews
Positive share by playtimeRanges from 20 hours up are highlighted. Exact values are in the table below.0%25%50%75%100%0–1 h33%271–2 h43%212–5 h75%525–10 h83%8610–20 h81%11220–50 h76%17250–100 h71%182100–200 h73%168200+ h79%247Positive share by playtime0–1 h2733%1–2 h2143%2–5 h5275%5–10 h8683%10–20 h11281%20–50 h17276%50–100 h18271%100–200 h16873%200+ h24779%

Positive share by playtime at the time of review (reviews from the last 180 days). Ranges under 50 reviews are pale and dashed (indicative only); “—” means no reviews.

Show chart values as a table
PlaytimePositiveJapaneseReviews
0–1 h33.3%100.0%27
1–2 h42.9%—21
2–5 h75.0%—52
5–10 h82.6%—86
10–20 h81.3%—112
20–50 h76.2%—172
50–100 h71.4%—182
100–200 h73.2%—168
200+ h79.4%100.0%247

How long people play: half of reviewers had played 20+ hours. 71% had 20+ hours and 27% had 100+ hours (all time).

02 / TRUEGG INSIGHTS

Summary

Starbound has a TrueGG Rating of 75.4%: the positive share among 769 reviews written in the last 180 days by players with 20+ hours. That is 14.5 points below Steam's overall 89.9%, so players who really play the current version are harsher than the headline number suggests (all time: 91.3%).

Reviews written under 2 hours make up 3% of the total, and only 67% of them are positive. Some players bounce off early, but those who get past the opening rate it higher. Steam accepts refund requests within 2 hours of play and 14 days of purchase.

Negative reviews most often mention updates and the developers, boredom, and grind. Positive reviews praise how fun it feels, freedom, and graphics and music.

Among Japanese-language reviews, the TrueGG Rating is 90.8%, 15.4 points above all languages.

Re-weighting reviews by trust signals (playtime, length, how the game was obtained) barely changes the rating (89.3% adjusted), so Steam's number is not noticeably distorted by key giveaways or throwaway reviews.

All figures come from Steam's public review counts, and topics are counted with our published dictionary (no AI). Data as of 2026-10-19.

03 / TRUEGG INSIGHTS

Why it is rated this way

− Most mentioned complaints

  • Updates & developers27% of negative reviews (13% of positive) · most common among 100h+ players · ongoing since launch · 7 positive reviews say it improved
  • Boring / repetitive16% of negative reviews (8% of positive) · most common among 20–100h players · ongoing since launch · 5 positive reviews say it improved
  • Grind9% of negative reviews (4% of positive) · most common among 100h+ players · ongoing since launch
  • Crashes & bugs8% of negative reviews (3% of positive) · most common among 100h+ players · less than at launch
  • Unfinished / low effort8% of negative reviews (3% of positive) · most common among 100h+ players · less than at launch

+ What players praise

  • Fun & feel33% of positive reviews (16% of negative)
  • Freedom / sandbox11% of positive reviews (5% of negative)
  • Graphics & music10% of positive reviews (5% of negative)
＋ クラフト＋ 種類＋ 日本語＋ 冒険＋ 無限＋ 世界観＋ 仲間＋ 最高− gave− access− chucklefish− cannot− unplayable− trash− including− extremely

Counted from 349 recent negative and 600 positive reviews in Japanese and English, using our published topic dictionary. No AI is used. Topics overlap, so shares do not add up to 100%. Sarcasm and nuance are not detected, and this does not show cause and effect.How we count

04 / TRUEGG INSIGHTS

Checking the numbers

Figures with a different scope, shown alongside the TrueGG Rating.

MetricPositiveScope
Official Steam rating89.9%All time, all languages · 123,339 reviews
Adjusted rating89.3%Weighted by trust (95% range 89.0%–89.7%), −0.6pt vs official
Japanese-language reviews87.7%All time, Japanese-language reviews (−2.2pt vs overall) · 399 reviews
Show the positive vs negative breakdown

Share of sampled reviews that meet each condition that lowers trust. When a condition is more common on the positive side, the adjusted rating falls below the official one.

ConditionPositive reviewsNegative reviews
Under 2 hours played at review3%11%
Very short text33%14%
Key activated outside Steam29%33%
Received for free3%2%
Owns very few games9%2%
Over 100 reviews written5%8%
Average trust (1.0 = full)0.780.83

The median total playtime of the sampled reviewers is 64.9 hours. 400 positive and 400 negative reviews analyzed · data as of 2026-10-19

05 / TRUEGG INSIGHTS

When did the rating change?

Monthly positive and negative review counts since release, as published by Steam.

Reviews per month

■ Positive■ Negative
0 10k 20k 30k 2013-11: +0 / −0 2013-12: +6,334 / −180 2014-01: +3,285 / −132 2014-02: +2,001 / −94 2014-03: +1,071 / −62 2014-04: +616 / −37 2014-05: +534 / −52 2014-06: +942 / −104 2014-07: +558 / −164 2014-08: +334 / −81 2014-09: +267 / −80 2014-10: +311 / −71 2014-11: +376 / −81 2014-12: +503 / −100 2015-01: +821 / −134 2015-02: +891 / −86 2015-03: +359 / −41 2015-04: +403 / −35 2015-05: +372 / −28 2015-06: +492 / −92 2015-07: +333 / −83 2015-08: +525 / −72 2015-09: +311 / −28 2015-10: +269 / −39 2015-11: +317 / −29 2015-12: +586 / −65 2016-01: +511 / −65 2016-02: +338 / −55 2016-03: +293 / −61 2016-04: +332 / −31 2016-05: +265 / −47 2016-06: +325 / −42 2016-07: +2,367 / −429 2016-08: +1,736 / −281 2016-09: +736 / −83 2016-10: +445 / −52 2016-11: +2,107 / −76 2016-12: +886 / −93 2017-01: +787 / −78 2017-02: +971 / −109 2017-03: +447 / −40 2017-04: +417 / −35 2017-05: +430 / −45 2017-06: +1,101 / −92 2017-07: +859 / −61 2017-08: +546 / −59 2017-09: +403 / −39 2017-10: +447 / −40 2017-11: +1,884 / −54 2017-12: +622 / −61 2018-01: +584 / −79 2018-02: +421 / −46 2018-03: +363 / −38 2018-04: +328 / −21 2018-05: +366 / −48 2018-06: +635 / −98 2018-07: +426 / −55 2018-08: +295 / −26 2018-09: +212 / −32 2018-10: +232 / −37 2018-11: +1,228 / −37 2018-12: +302 / −75 2019-01: +334 / −63 2019-02: +285 / −42 2019-03: +216 / −45 2019-04: +194 / −38 2019-05: +229 / −33 2019-06: +9,213 / −231 2019-07: +26,279 / −538 2019-08: +257 / −76 2019-09: +211 / −145 2019-10: +288 / −32 2019-11: +1,929 / −41 2019-12: +1,711 / −65 2020-01: +1,293 / −62 2020-02: +918 / −52 2020-03: +986 / −66 2020-04: +1,099 / −62 2020-05: +884 / −90 2020-06: +1,011 / −105 2020-07: +861 / −63 2020-08: +675 / −67 2020-09: +570 / −50 2020-10: +604 / −48 2020-11: +760 / −43 2020-12: +860 / −80 2021-01: +1,185 / −131 2021-02: +863 / −81 2021-03: +620 / −48 2021-04: +533 / −64 2021-05: +562 / −49 2021-06: +829 / −100 2021-07: +722 / −72 2021-08: +570 / −56 2021-09: +433 / −45 2021-10: +410 / −43 2021-11: +546 / −50 2021-12: +520 / −68 2022-01: +577 / −87 2022-02: +432 / −51 2022-03: +367 / −51 2022-04: +326 / −42 2022-05: +378 / −30 2022-06: +521 / −68 2022-07: +424 / −66 2022-08: +547 / −75 2022-09: +285 / −30 2022-10: +265 / −45 2022-11: +501 / −51 2022-12: +376 / −47 2023-01: +380 / −53 2023-02: +267 / −37 2023-03: +290 / −39 2023-04: +316 / −48 2023-05: +260 / −45 2023-06: +334 / −48 2023-07: +352 / −44 2023-08: +248 / −28 2023-09: +251 / −27 2023-10: +213 / −32 2023-11: +313 / −34 2023-12: +294 / −41 2024-01: +293 / −30 2024-02: +185 / −21 2024-03: +243 / −48 2024-04: +233 / −55 2024-05: +189 / −46 2024-06: +226 / −32 2024-07: +257 / −50 2024-08: +186 / −40 2024-09: +205 / −47 2024-10: +260 / −46 2024-11: +183 / −31 2024-12: +209 / −49 2025-01: +214 / −46 2025-02: +167 / −42 2025-03: +193 / −32 2025-04: +171 / −34 2025-05: +139 / −25 2025-06: +138 / −24 2025-07: +182 / −37 2025-08: +138 / −43 2025-09: +134 / −28 2025-10: +119 / −20 2025-11: +129 / −25 2025-12: +116 / −18 2026-01: +150 / −33 2026-02: +112 / −24 2026-03: +122 / −25 2026-04: +125 / −18 2026-05: +109 / −24 2026-06: +99 / −14 2026-07: +124 / −71 2026-08: +98 / −36 2026-09: +80 / −23 2026-10: +56 / −10 2013/112014/012015/012016/012017/012018/012019/012020/012021/012022/012023/012024/012025/012026/01

Positive share per month

0% 25% 50% 75% 100% Monthly data overall 92.5% 2013-12: 97.2%2014-01: 96.1%2014-02: 95.5%2014-03: 94.5%2014-04: 94.3%2014-05: 91.1%2014-06: 90.1%2014-07: 77.3%2014-08: 80.5%2014-09: 76.9%2014-10: 81.4%2014-11: 82.3%2014-12: 83.4%2015-01: 86.0%2015-02: 91.2%2015-03: 89.8%2015-04: 92.0%2015-05: 93.0%2015-06: 84.2%2015-07: 80.0%2015-08: 87.9%2015-09: 91.7%2015-10: 87.3%2015-11: 91.6%2015-12: 90.0%2016-01: 88.7%2016-02: 86.0%2016-03: 82.8%2016-04: 91.5%2016-05: 84.9%2016-06: 88.6%2016-07: 84.7%2016-08: 86.1%2016-09: 89.9%2016-10: 89.5%2016-11: 96.5%2016-12: 90.5%2017-01: 91.0%2017-02: 89.9%2017-03: 91.8%2017-04: 92.3%2017-05: 90.5%2017-06: 92.3%2017-07: 93.4%2017-08: 90.2%2017-09: 91.2%2017-10: 91.8%2017-11: 97.2%2017-12: 91.1%2018-01: 88.1%2018-02: 90.1%2018-03: 90.5%2018-04: 94.0%2018-05: 88.4%2018-06: 86.6%2018-07: 88.6%2018-08: 91.9%2018-09: 86.9%2018-10: 86.2%2018-11: 97.1%2018-12: 80.1%2019-01: 84.1%2019-02: 87.2%2019-03: 82.8%2019-04: 83.6%2019-05: 87.4%2019-06: 97.6%2019-07: 98.0%2019-08: 77.2%2019-09: 59.3%2019-10: 90.0%2019-11: 97.9%2019-12: 96.3%2020-01: 95.4%2020-02: 94.6%2020-03: 93.7%2020-04: 94.7%2020-05: 90.8%2020-06: 90.6%2020-07: 93.2%2020-08: 91.0%2020-09: 91.9%2020-10: 92.6%2020-11: 94.6%2020-12: 91.5%2021-01: 90.0%2021-02: 91.4%2021-03: 92.8%2021-04: 89.3%2021-05: 92.0%2021-06: 89.2%2021-07: 90.9%2021-08: 91.1%2021-09: 90.6%2021-10: 90.5%2021-11: 91.6%2021-12: 88.4%2022-01: 86.9%2022-02: 89.4%2022-03: 87.8%2022-04: 88.6%2022-05: 92.6%2022-06: 88.5%2022-07: 86.5%2022-08: 87.9%2022-09: 90.5%2022-10: 85.5%2022-11: 90.8%2022-12: 88.9%2023-01: 87.8%2023-02: 87.8%2023-03: 88.1%2023-04: 86.8%2023-05: 85.2%2023-06: 87.4%2023-07: 88.9%2023-08: 89.9%2023-09: 90.3%2023-10: 86.9%2023-11: 90.2%2023-12: 87.8%2024-01: 90.7%2024-02: 89.8%2024-03: 83.5%2024-04: 80.9%2024-05: 80.4%2024-06: 87.6%2024-07: 83.7%2024-08: 82.3%2024-09: 81.3%2024-10: 85.0%2024-11: 85.5%2024-12: 81.0%2025-01: 82.3%2025-02: 79.9%2025-03: 85.8%2025-04: 83.4%2025-05: 84.8%2025-06: 85.2%2025-07: 83.1%2025-08: 76.2%2025-09: 82.7%2025-10: 85.6%2025-11: 83.8%2025-12: 86.6%2026-01: 82.0%2026-02: 82.4%2026-03: 83.0%2026-04: 87.4%2026-05: 82.0%2026-06: 87.6%2026-07: 63.6%2026-08: 73.1%2026-09: 77.7%2026-10: 84.8% 2013/112014/012015/012016/012017/012018/012019/012020/012021/012022/012023/012024/012025/012026/01

Months with under 30 reviews are omitted from the rate.

Reviews per day, last 30 days

0 2 4 6 8 2026-09-19: +6 / −1 2026-09-20: +3 / −0 2026-09-21: +1 / −0 2026-09-22: +3 / −1 2026-09-23: +1 / −0 2026-09-24: +0 / −1 2026-09-25: +2 / −0 2026-09-26: +1 / −0 2026-09-27: +2 / −1 2026-09-28: +2 / −0 2026-09-29: +2 / −0 2026-09-30: +0 / −0 2026-10-01: +4 / −2 2026-10-02: +2 / −0 2026-10-03: +4 / −1 2026-10-04: +7 / −0 2026-10-05: +1 / −0 2026-10-06: +1 / −0 2026-10-07: +2 / −1 2026-10-08: +5 / −0 2026-10-09: +3 / −0 2026-10-10: +1 / −0 2026-10-11: +3 / −1 2026-10-12: +0 / −1 2026-10-13: +3 / −1 2026-10-14: +4 / −2 2026-10-15: +2 / −0 2026-10-16: +5 / −0 2026-10-17: +5 / −1 2026-10-18: +4 / −0 09/1909/2610/0310/1010/17
Show monthly data as a table
MonthPositiveNegativePositive
2013-1100—
2013-126,33418097.2%
2014-013,28513296.1%
2014-022,0019495.5%
2014-031,0716294.5%
2014-046163794.3%
2014-055345291.1%
2014-0694210490.1%
2014-0755816477.3%
2014-083348180.5%
2014-092678076.9%
2014-103117181.4%
2014-113768182.3%
2014-1250310083.4%
2015-0182113486.0%
2015-028918691.2%
2015-033594189.8%
2015-044033592.0%
2015-053722893.0%
2015-064929284.2%
2015-073338380.0%
2015-085257287.9%
2015-093112891.7%
2015-102693987.3%
2015-113172991.6%
2015-125866590.0%
2016-015116588.7%
2016-023385586.0%
2016-032936182.8%
2016-043323191.5%
2016-052654784.9%
2016-063254288.6%
2016-072,36742984.7%
2016-081,73628186.1%
2016-097368389.9%
2016-104455289.5%
2016-112,1077696.5%
2016-128869390.5%
2017-017877891.0%
2017-0297110989.9%
2017-034474091.8%
2017-044173592.3%
2017-054304590.5%
2017-061,1019292.3%
2017-078596193.4%
2017-085465990.2%
2017-094033991.2%
2017-104474091.8%
2017-111,8845497.2%
2017-126226191.1%
2018-015847988.1%
2018-024214690.1%
2018-033633890.5%
2018-043282194.0%
2018-053664888.4%
2018-066359886.6%
2018-074265588.6%
2018-082952691.9%
2018-092123286.9%
2018-102323786.2%
2018-111,2283797.1%
2018-123027580.1%
2019-013346384.1%
2019-022854287.2%
2019-032164582.8%
2019-041943883.6%
2019-052293387.4%
2019-069,21323197.6%
2019-0726,27953898.0%
2019-082577677.2%
2019-0921114559.3%
2019-102883290.0%
2019-111,9294197.9%
2019-121,7116596.3%
2020-011,2936295.4%
2020-029185294.6%
2020-039866693.7%
2020-041,0996294.7%
2020-058849090.8%
2020-061,01110590.6%
2020-078616393.2%
2020-086756791.0%
2020-095705091.9%
2020-106044892.6%
2020-117604394.6%
2020-128608091.5%
2021-011,18513190.0%
2021-028638191.4%
2021-036204892.8%
2021-045336489.3%
2021-055624992.0%
2021-0682910089.2%
2021-077227290.9%
2021-085705691.1%
2021-094334590.6%
2021-104104390.5%
2021-115465091.6%
2021-125206888.4%
2022-015778786.9%
2022-024325189.4%
2022-033675187.8%
2022-043264288.6%
2022-053783092.6%
2022-065216888.5%
2022-074246686.5%
2022-085477587.9%
2022-092853090.5%
2022-102654585.5%
2022-115015190.8%
2022-123764788.9%
2023-013805387.8%
2023-022673787.8%
2023-032903988.1%
2023-043164886.8%
2023-052604585.2%
2023-063344887.4%
2023-073524488.9%
2023-082482889.9%
2023-092512790.3%
2023-102133286.9%
2023-113133490.2%
2023-122944187.8%
2024-012933090.7%
2024-021852189.8%
2024-032434883.5%
2024-042335580.9%
2024-051894680.4%
2024-062263287.6%
2024-072575083.7%
2024-081864082.3%
2024-092054781.3%
2024-102604685.0%
2024-111833185.5%
2024-122094981.0%
2025-012144682.3%
2025-021674279.9%
2025-031933285.8%
2025-041713483.4%
2025-051392584.8%
2025-061382485.2%
2025-071823783.1%
2025-081384376.2%
2025-091342882.7%
2025-101192085.6%
2025-111292583.8%
2025-121161886.6%
2026-011503382.0%
2026-021122482.4%
2026-031222583.0%
2026-041251887.4%
2026-051092482.0%
2026-06991487.6%
2026-071247163.6%
2026-08983673.1%
2026-09802377.7%
2026-10561084.8%
Show daily data as a table
DayPositiveNegative
2026-09-1961
2026-09-2030
2026-09-2110
2026-09-2231
2026-09-2310
2026-09-2401
2026-09-2520
2026-09-2610
2026-09-2721
2026-09-2820
2026-09-2920
2026-09-3000
2026-10-0142
2026-10-0220
2026-10-0341
2026-10-0470
2026-10-0510
2026-10-0610
2026-10-0721
2026-10-0850
2026-10-0930
2026-10-1010
2026-10-1131
2026-10-1201
2026-10-1331
2026-10-1442
2026-10-1520
2026-10-1650
2026-10-1751
2026-10-1840
06 / TRUEGG INSIGHTS

Recent sentiment

PeriodPositiveReviews
Last 30 days82.0%133
Last 180 days75.0%1,066
All time89.9%123,339
Japanese, last 180 days100.0%3
08 / TRUEGG INSIGHTS

About this verdict

Every figure is computed from review data that Steam makes public. No AI estimation is used.

Review text is never stored or republished. Read the actual reviews on Steam.

If you disagree with this verdict, please reach us via the contact on the About page. About

Read the methodology and its limits Read reviews on Steam ↗