Starbound almost out of Early Access

Starbound is an old, old game.

So old, in fact, that it’s easy to forget that it’s still in early access. It just seemed like one of those games that was constantly evolving and growing, never going to reach a final ‘end’ state. And yet, here we are: after two years, countless updates, and on-again-off-again interest on my part, it’s finally here: the 1.0 release of StarBound: the lil’ Terarria clone that could.

A lot is going to change in this 1.0 update. The most significant, however, is the story: namely, in that there is one. Here’s what the Starbound blog has to say:
 

You are a Protector in training. The protectors belong to the Terrene Protectorate. An organisation formed on earth by humanity to protect and guide the universe towards peace. The story begins on earth, on your graduation day and quickly has you hurtling out into the stars.

 
Pretty damn different from the original plot, where you were some random schmuck escaping their home planet for… reasons. With this new plot, there’s 8 new main missions (each with unique boss fights and rewards), a plethora of side-missions, and a chance to upgrade the outpost. The blog post brags that however you want to play the game, through combat or exploration or village-growing, you could complete all eight quests. Not sure I believe that, but sure, I’ll take your word for it, Starbound .

But there’s more than just that in this upcoming update! Pet’s are getting revamped and their functionality is increasing, planets have more than one biome, generated quests, crew members that can serve a variety of functions, ship upgrades, the return of hunger, new weapons, armor augments, and perhaps most excitedly—more Steam integration. That means that multiplayer will be loads easier, and steam workshop integration, allowing people to share and download mods easily. Sounds exciting!

Anyway. We don’t know when this big update is coming, outside of ‘soon’ so keep your eyes peeled if you’re interested! And if you’re not, then… okay! You do you, reader. You do you.