Bethesda is known for creating in-depth, story-heavy RPGs with a vast world to explore. Fans have enjoyed the likes of Elder Scrolls and Fallout for years. A few years ago, the company announced it was working on a new IP called Starfield, which will be set in the depths of outer space.
Sadly, the game is still many months away and will be an Xbox exclusive when it does finally arrive. That said, there are a few solid story-heavy sci-fi games like Starfield that can serve as a great distraction for PlayStation and Switch players.
Updated March 27, 2023, by Chris Birsner: After Starfield was revealed back in 2018, it was initially set for release in 2022. However, the game was delayed and is now set to release in the fall of 2023. Luckily, Starfield fans have not necessarily been starved for information as there have been plenty of updates, including a gameplay reveal and a deep dive into some of the systems by director Todd Howard. For those who just can't wait though, there are even more games like Starfield that have come out over the last few years that will certainly keep any player busy before the big Bethesda title finally drops.
15 Deus Ex
Set in 2052, Deus Ex puts players in control of JC Denton, who has supernatural abilities thanks to nanotechnology and serves as an agent for a fictional anti-terrorist organization called UNATCO. Players must face off against hostile forces in a world that has been hammered with a deadly plague.
In addition, Denton gets put in the middle of conspiracy theories that have him targeted by the likes of Majestic 12 and the Illuminati. Deus Ex gives players multiple ways to complete missions, leading to different outcomes.
14 Stellaris
Straying from a typical action RPG is Stellaris, a Grand Strategy game set in space. Much like Starfield, Stellaris is about going out and exploring the galaxy and interacting with various new species. The goal of the game is to grow the empire, with each playthrough being different from the last.
While the base version of Stellaris isn't as story-driven as games like Starfield, Paradox Interactive did release a DLC for the game that allows players to add to their backstory, as well as add some story for various different colonies that the player comes across. This makes it a much richer story experience on top of the strategic gameplay.
13 Fallout: New Vegas
In the case that players haven't moved outside the mainline Fallout games, Fallout: New Vegas is the perfect spin-off for capturing what makes Bethesda's open-world RPGs great despite it being developed by Obsidian Entertainment. Players take on the role of the Courier who is delivering a package across the Mojave Desert to New Vegas.
After they survived an attack that led to the package being stolen, New Vegas' main storyline revolves around finding the attempted murderer and retrieving the package. There are tons of side quests to follow as well.
12 Horizon Zero Dawn
Recent Playstation exclusives have centered around massive single-player campaigns that involve deep stories ready to be explored. One of the most successful titles in the last five years is Horizon Zero Dawn, which centers around a hunter named Aloy living in a post-apocalyptic land with creature-like machines running rampant.
Made by Guerilla Games, Horizon Zero Dawn revolves around Aloy's personal mission to find out what happened to the world for it to be in the shape that it is in and her connection to it while also dealing with the dangerous machines and people around her.
11 The Outer Worlds
Speaking of Obsidian, one of the most recent Obsidian games puts players in the middle of an outer space-based RPG. The Outer Worlds is set in an alternative reality where William McKinley isn't assassinated and Theodore Roosevelt doesn't succeed him, leading to mega-corporations taking over society and beginning to colonize space.
After landing on the solar system Halcyon, players are tasked with reviving members of their colony ship "Hope" by a mad scientist, Phineas Welles. The Outer Worlds includes a recruiting mechanic that dives deep into the stories of NPCs.
10 Cyberpunk 2077
While isn't necessarily based in space, Cyberpunk 2077 is a western RPG for those who want games like Starfield that are set further in the future. While the game wasn't well received out of the gate, CD Projekt Red has since worked to get the title in better shape after numerous updates.
The setting of Cyberpunk 2077 is Night City: a city where the player must get jobs and attempt to survive as numerous people will be looking to take them down. Along the way, players will be able to customize their looks and upgrade their bodies with cybernetic enhancements as well as explore a world filled with various characters and unique locations.
9 Nier: Automata
There's no game quite like Nier: Automata as it requires multiple playthroughs to unlock the full story. A battle between man-made robots and machines beyond this world, the story revolves around an android made by humans and her trials in combat.
Nicknamed 2B, she, along with her male scanner companion 9S and a fugitive android named A2, begin to learn about what happened to humanity in this post-apocalyptic world. Like the other Nier games, Nier: Automata begins to take on many different genres as it tells its story.
8 Outer Wilds
One of the most fascinating indie games to come out in recent years is Outer Wilds, a game that could be boiled down to being an exploration puzzle game. However, there is so much depth to the story of Outer Wilds that it could rival some of the biggest games like Starfield out there.
The open-world mystery game has players attempting to figure out why the world seems to end and then restart from a specific point. The goal is to hop into a spaceship and fly around the solar system, visiting various planets, and attempting to unravel the various mysteries that have been left unsolved.
7 Bioshock
The entire Bioshock series is worth checking out for those looking for a story-heavy sci-fi RPG to check out, but the most critically acclaimed game of the bunch is the one that came out first. The 2007 installment of Bioshock takes place in 1960 in an underwater city called Rapture, a once-thriving utopia that came crashing down thanks to a genetic material that could give people psychokinetic powers.
The player is Jack, who arrives at Rapture after his airplane crashes into the ocean. The goal is for him to escape the humans who have been morphed by this scientific discovery. With a new Bioshock game currently in development, there's never been a better time to check out the original, particularly for those looking for great story-heavy games like Starfield.
6 Dead Space
Those that are fascinated by a story-driven space game like Starfield but also enjoy a horror experience should check out the remake of the EA classic Dead Space. For anyone unaware, it's a sci-fi survival horror thriller that was recently remade for next-generation hardware to look visually stunning.
In Dead Space, players take on the role of engineer Isaac Clarke as the crew that he works for is slaughtered by unknown creatures while his partner Nicole is missing. The focus of the game is to wander around its environments and take on the various monsters that stand in Isaac's way.
5 Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic
BioWare is known for another iconic space franchise, but before that, they dabbled in the universe of Star Wars. Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic is an RPG that takes place 4,000 years before the Galactic Empire began its reign. Darth Malak, a Sith Lord, has led an attack against the Galactic Republic.
It's up to the player character, a Jedi, to defeat Malak. KOTOR involves traveling from planet to planet meeting characters and fighting enemies in turn-based combat on the journey to save the galaxy.
4 Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order
Sticking with the Star Wars universe, one of the newer games added to the franchise was one that was considered a potential Game Of The Year in 2019. Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order is an action-adventure game that takes place approximately five years after Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.
The story of Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order is focused on Jedi Padawan Cal Kestis, who was a scrapper that was hiding his Force powers. When he is caught, he is targeted by the Galatic Empire as two Inquisitors begin to hunt him down.
3 Citizen Sleeper
While games like Starfield have players wandering around in an open-world environment and stumbling into intense combat encounters, Citizen Sleeper is meant to play like a tabletop experience, with the player rolling dice and strategizing how best to assign each number they get.
Set on a space station, players take on the role of an artificial body called a sleeper who has escaped a corporation that is actively looking for them. To survive in Citizen Sleeper, the player must socialize with the various people who are also looking to survive while also taking on tasks that will keep them alive for longer.
2 Halo: The Master Chief Collection
Considering Bethesda is now a subsidiary of Microsoft, it's worth checking out the Xbox's most popular franchise set in space. Halo: The Master Chief Collection features six entries of the classic first-person shooter series: Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2, Halo 3, Halo 4, and Halo: Reach.
The initial trilogy focuses on Master Chief, a supersoldier who was trained for combat since he was a child, as well as the interstellar war between humans and The Covenant, an alliance of aliens looking to destroy humanity because it goes against their religion.
1 Mass Effect
For those looking for a premiere action RPG based in space like Starfield, it's hard to top Mass Effect. The trilogy as a whole is worth experiencing, but starting with the initial game can help map out the story moving forward into the following two games.
The game revolves around supersoldier Commander Shepard as they lead their squad against the potential invasion of Reapers. Players can customize their experience with Mass Effect by forming bonds with specific characters and making choices that affect storylines across the trilogy.