Upcoming space games: Mass Effect 4, Borderlands 4, Marathon & more

It's an exciting time to be a big sci-fi nerd, because there are absolutely loads of upcoming space games to be excited for. That's why we've put together a list of ten future space games that you should keep an eye on. So, take your protein pills and put your helmet on as we embark on plenty of new space odysseys in 2025 and beyond.

From big Star Wars games to brand new IPs, there are tons of space-set video games coming our way across a variety of genres, and sometimes it's quite hard to navigate such a crowded market and to pick the perfect game if we're short on free time. Our hope is that this list will make some future purchases easier, and maybe even reveal some overlooked releases to you.

If you're looking for games tied to the stars that are already available, then check out our lists of the best space exploration games and the best space games on Xbox Game Pass you can play right now. Plus, we've got an entirely different list for the upcoming Star Wars games that will be coming out of hyperspace in the future.

Steel Hunters - TBA 2025

• Release date: April 2, 2025 (Early Access), Full release TBA
• Platform: PC
• Developer: Wargaming

Steel Hunters was another striking sci-fi game announced during the Game Awards 2024 ceremony. It's a free-to-play shooter that's all about brutal mech battles on an abandoned Earth. The twist is that you won't just be fighting other players, as NPC enemies are roaming the wastes too. 'Starfall' is a rare extraterrestrial resource, and these "mechanical giants" are now the key to dominance.

The game entered early access on April 2, 2025, with a full launch planned for later (we're keeping it in our upcoming list until the full release). A console release is on the table, but the developer-publisher Wargaming won't disclose any details until the game has fully released on PC. Meanwhile, the best mech games of all time should keep any eager mech pilots occupied and warmed up.

Revenge of the Savage Planet - May 8, 2025

• Release date: May 8, 2025
• Platforms: PC, Xbox Series X/S, PS5
• Developer: Raccoon Logic Studios Inc.

Journey to the Savage Planet, a first-person adventure title full of colorful alien locations and lifeforms, flew under many radars in 2021, but it's a space exploration game well worth checking out, even today. Now, we're awaiting its bigger and zanier sequel, which is set to arrive in 2025.

Revenge of the Savage Planet appears to keep the same wacky charm that made the original interesting and unique. If the first trailer is any indication, this game appears to have more of an edge when it comes to the action and fast-paced platforming. We need far more cartoony sci-fi romps, so we're totally down to play this one once it drops. The best news? It's got both online and split-screen co-op options.

The Alters - June 13, 2025

• Release date: June 13, 2025
• Platforms: PC, Xbox Series X/S, PS5
• Developer: 11 Bit Studios.

If you want something doing, do it yourselves. That's the guiding principle behind The Alters, an upcoming sci-fi survival game where you must rely on alternative versions of yourself to survive and ultimately escape a deadly planet.

It comes to us from the developers of Frostpunk and This War of Mine, and there's definitely some of that base-building, survival DNA in here, but The Alters goes deeper than that. You'll need to explore the world to find resources, while also managing the mood and needs of the Alters. These aren't just clones, but rather different versions of you — those that walked the path you didn't — and despite being you, they all act very differently.

We can't wait for this one, and we won't have to for long, as we recently received a release date of June 13.

Marathon – Sept 23, 2025

• Release date: September 23, 2025
• Platforms: PC, Xbox Series X/S, PS5
• Developer: Bungie

Despite struggles at Bungie both inside and outside of Destiny 2 in recent times, the company remains committed to releasing a multiplayer reboot of the (rather ancient) Marathon IP. Whereas the original games were plot-heavy and mostly traditional FPS with a strong sci-fi setting, it seems this new iteration of the franchise is focusing on a strictly online PvPvE model starring cybernetic mercenaries “venturing into the unknown in a fight for survival and fortune.”

Marathon will be an ‘extraction shooter’ set in a sci-fi universe, which may or may not have explicit connections to the old Marathon games. We recently got a big update that included the release date, some extended gameplay reveals, and a very cool cinematic teaser trailer to introduce us to the universe.

Bungie’s shooter pedigree should be more than enough to make excite any veteran gamer, but the fact that the main setting is a lost colony on Tau Ceti IV makes it all more intriguing for space nerds like us too.

Borderlands 4 - September 23, 2025

• Release date: September 23, 2025
• Platforms: PC, Xbox Series X/S, PS5
• Developer: Gearbox

The Game Awards 2024 gave us our first proper look at Borderlands 4 in action. It's another long-awaited sequel that had been teased in the past and looks bigger and more explosive (somehow) than its predecessors. However, we were hoping for a bigger art style overhaul, and we're not 100% buying all the new protagonists yet. With that said, Borderlands always delivers on the 'flexible' and addictive action front, and the fourquel doesn't appear to be missing that mark.

After Borderlands 3 (2019) fumbled the story and characters pretty hard, alongside the live-action Borderlands movie released in 2024 taking the IP to new lows, there's no way but up for the veteran FPS series. Just shower us in totally busted weapons, colorful new enemies, and a narrative that doesn't shower us in terrible early 2010s memes.

Directive 8020 - October 2, 2025

• Release date: October 2, 2025
• Platforms: PC, Xbox Series X/S, PS5
• Developer: Supermassive Games

Supermassive Games' The Dark Pictures is an anthology series of big-budget narrative games that consists of four installments so far, with season 2 being teased at the end of 2022. A departure from the norm, Directive 8020 would be the first entry set in the far future and in outer space. Directive 8020 will also be dropping the 'Dark Pictures' part of its original title in hopes of attracting a bigger crowd of newcomers.

Lashana Lynch (The Woman King, No Time to Die) stars in the game as an astronaut 12 light years from home who crash lands on Tau Ceti f. Of course, since Supermassive is all about horror games, things on the uncharted alien world won't be pleasant, so don't say we didn't warn you. Either way, it looks fantastic and even more cinematic than its predecessors whilst adding new gameplay options that make it more of a 'hands-on' traditional space horror game.

Mars Attracts - TBA 2025

• Release date: TBA 2025
• Platform: PC
• Developer: Outlier

A park management sim set in the universe of Mars Attacks? Yep, this was the most unlikely new video game announcement of 2024, and we're extremely curious to see how Mars Attracts develops. Martian theme parks include cool rides, food stalls, and, of course, abducted humans as star attractions!

Publisher and developer Outlier were aiming to have the game ready for early access in March 2025, but that date has come and gone so we're bumping our projections to "some point in 2025".

Admittedly, this is a risky project, but with bold swings in the gaming industry being rarer and rarer nowadays (outside of brave little indie studios), we have to applaud the idea alone of turning this long-forgotten franchise into a park simulation game of all things.

Judas - TBA 2025

• Release date: TBA 2025
• Platforms: PC, Xbox Series X/S, PS5
• Developer: Ghost Story Games

If you're a fan of the best space horror games and you loved the System Shock and BioShock games, then you're in luck with Judas. Ken Levine – the creative director behind System Shock 2, BioShock, and BioShock Infinite – is back with a veteran team of devs and creating another narrative-heavy first-person shooter. However, this game feels like an evolution of the formula he and his people are known for.

According to the official Judas press release, the story takes place inside a disintegrating ship and follows the "desperate escape plan" of a troubled main character. It also sounds like alliances and choices may be part of the game's systems, as Levine has teased in the past that he wanted to push the possibilities of an open-ended narrative further. It's ambitious sci-fi and, from what we've seen in the Judas reveal trailer, it looks pretty fantastic so far. We're prepared to have our minds blown again.

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond - TBA 2025

• Release date: TBA 2025
• Platforms: Nintendo Switch
• Developer: Retro Studios

Whether you prefer the 2D or 3D entries, Metroid's distinct brand of sci-fi action and adventure feels unlike anything else in Nintendo's library. The franchise has had a lasting impact on video gaming and even spawned half of the modern 'Metroidvania' subgenre on its own.

In 2023, fans of Samus Aran, the intergalactic bounty hunter, were blessed with the fantastic Metroid Prime Remastered (a remaster of the original Metroid Prime GameCube game) for the Nintendo Switch. Then, mid-2024, the long-awaited announcement trailer for Metroid Prime 4: Beyond was finally unveiled.

Little is known about the plot of Metroid Prime 4 right now, but the first-person shooter and platformer is looking as good as ever. Plus, the new mysterious threat could shake up the mythology in a big way. We're also expecting it to hit Nintendo's new console, so chances are the company has an ace up its sleeve when it comes to its graphical presentation and functionalities.

Falling Frontier - TBA 2025

• Release date: TBA 2025
• Platform: PC
• Developer: Stutter Fox Studios

Falling Frontier is an independent title that caught our attention, and it's shaping up to be a profoundly refreshing sci-fi RTS and a promising candidate for our best space settlement games list. Defined as a single-player strategy game where players "explore a vast procedurally generated star system," the goal is to survive and expand after completing the construction of a space port in orbit of a new world.

The problem? Other human factions with deep-rooted rivalries that come from the "old colonial wars" have also arrived at the same system. Getting the right pieces of intel and using the most effective tactics will be the only thing separating victory from defeat in this new system. To get that extra edge, your ships can be fully customized along with their crews. And, on top of all that, the developers are promising mod support and level editors that can power the game for years to come.

Pragmata - TBA 2025

• Release date: TBA 2025
• Platforms: PC, Xbox Series X/S, PS5
• Developer: Capcom

Even after two stunning trailers, we still can't quite figure out what Pragmata is really about. We know that outer space is part of the story, as it'll take players to a futuristic dystopian world built on the moon. According to Capcom, this first game has been envisioned as the start of a new franchise, so we're expecting a high-profile action-adventure game.

From the previews, we can also discern that the plot revolves around a little girl who seems a bit odd (maybe she's an alien or some sort of entity) and a person in an astronaut suit. There's also a robot cat, which, coupled with the catastrophic shots of the environments they're trying to leave, might suggest a biological or technological disaster of some sort. Based on the vibes alone, we can't wait to learn more about this one.

The Outer Worlds 2 - TBA 2025

• Release date: TBA 2025
• Platforms: PC, Xbox Series X/S, PS5
• Developer: Obsidian Entertainment

A huge big space game coming from Xbox Game Studios is the sequel to Obsidian's The Outer Worlds, a surprise RPG hit released in 2019. Even though the developer is now busy with several projects across different genres, the company has grown quite a bit since Microsoft's acquisition, so it makes sense to keep the Outer Worlds IP going as well with The Outer Worlds 2.

Little is known about the story at this time, but it's reasonable to expect a storyline set after the events of the first game, which happen in the year 2355. The highly satirical, hyper-corporate, class-centric setting – plus the first-person gameplay – certainly gave The Outer Worlds a flavor which reminded veteran players of titles such as Fallout or Borderlands, but it was ultimately far from those and had other objectives in mind. Hopefully, the Stranger's (the player) big choices will shape the sequel's world and main story one way or another.

Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet - TBA

• Release date: TBA
• Platform: PS5
• Developer: Naughty Dog

First announced in late 2024 with a mysterious but exciting teaser trailer, Intergalactic marks Naughty Dog's return to science fiction after two decades entirely dedicated to Uncharted and The Last of Us. It retains the studio's signature realism of recent times, but it seems to be going for something completely different when it comes to tone and the overall worldbuilding. Just look at those colors and listen to that music!

The single-player adventure follows Jordan, "a dangerous bounty hunter" on a slightly personal mission that goes sideways. She ends up stranded on a distant and enigmatic planet "whose communication with the outside universe went dark hundreds of years ago," and it looks like she's not alone. Expect punchy combat and hard-hitting drama, but also a lighter affair than Naughty Dog's recent home runs.

Gears of War: E-Day - TBA

• Release date: TBA
• Platforms: PC, Xbox Series X/S
• Developer: The Coalition

While the Gears of War games aren't strictly linked to outer space, Sera ain't Earth and the series whole storyline and universe-building is very much full of sci-fi elements. After a long break since 2019's Gears 5, the flagship Xbox franchise comes back with Gears of War: E-Day, a prequel focusing on Emergence Day. This is a return to the bloody beginning when all hell broke loose on the surface of the (up to that point) human-controlled planet.

Little is known about the new gameplay additions, but the in-engine reveal trailer shown during the Xbox Games Showcase 2024 was a corker – led by Marcus Fenix and Dom Santiago, the vibes were perfect. Yes, it looks fanservice-y as hell, but we can't deny we're extremely excited for it. Gears of War's traditional single-player, co-op, and competitive multiplayer packages never disappoint, and this one could be the hottest by far since the original trilogy.

Mass Effect 4 - TBA

• Release date: TBA
• Platforms: PC, Xbox Series X/S, PS5
• Developer: BioWare

Only named "The Next Mass Effect" at this point, a follow-up to the classic Mass Effect trilogy is coming from BioWare veterans and new talent added in recent years. Its mission is to course-correct the action-RPG franchise after Mass Effect: Andromeda failed to meet expectations in 2017.

As far as we know, that game's storyline is being dropped for now... although some rumors and theories suggest it could be woven into the fourth mainline Mass Effect. This will have the huge task of reigniting a galaxy that was shaken and forever changed by the events of Mass Effect 3. Details are light right now, but we did put together a list of 10 things we want from the next Mass Effect game.

We're obviously excited for this one, but Mass Effect 4 is sadly still quite far away. For now, we recommend revisiting – or discovering for the first time – the outstanding Mass Effect trilogy with 2021's Mass Effect: Legendary Edition. We just know that this will be your favorite game on the Citadel.

Star Wars Eclipse - TBA

• Release date: TBA
• Platforms: PC, Xbox Series X/S, PS5
• Developer: Quantic Dream

Star Wars Eclipse promises to be large, action-heavy, and narratively flexible. Set in the High Republic era of the Star Wars timeline, Lucasfilm Games and Quantic Dream's extremely ambitious title is years away, if it ends up happening at all… but we're still hopeful! In the meantime, at least we have the best Star Wars games to play.

The "branching narrative" game features several characters and takes place across a number of Star Wars planets, old and new. The Jedi Knights are part of the story, but the Trade Federation and the mysterious Nihil (introduced in the High Republic novels) are part of the larger conflict too. Moreover, a previously unseen alien species appears to be preparing for the return a big villain that likely isn't a Sith.

Exodus – TBA

• Release date: TBA
• Platforms: PC, Xbox Series X/S, PS5
• Developer: Archetype Entertainment

While the next Mass Effect is a ways off, we should be getting something similar with Exodus, another ambitious action-RPG from Archetype Entertainment, a studio that includes BioWare, 343 Industries, and Naughty Dog talent. It’s meant to be the start of a bold new sci-fi universe that puts players at the center of humanity’s fight for survival thousands of years into the future. The twist that gives it spice? Our worst enemies are our future selves. Also, there are armored space bears.

It remains to be seen if Exodus will be able to escape the shadows of its more obvious influences, but everything we’ve heard and read about it so far makes it sound like one of the most enticing high-concept AAA games in quite a while.

Using Time dilation as a key mechanic that can reshape the narrative is an incredibly ambitious idea by itself, but the worldbuilding that’s been shown so far is worth keeping tabs on, too. Moreover, the real-time combat appears to pack a punch while looking consistently dazzling. The bad news is that we don’t have a specific release window yet.