Playable Worlds · Steam Early Access
Stars Reach Guide & Reference Desk
Stars Reach guide for Early Access build 8.4.6: all 8 playable species, every confirmed profession, crafting chains, homestead costs and live player counts.
Official Trailer Build Log
Patch Notes Since Early Access
- MINOR Early Access Hotfix 8.4.6 lands, the fourth hotfix in ten days since the 8.4.0 Early Access update.
- MINOR Hotfix 8.4.5 ships a long fix list, including skill tree hyperlinking, re-coloured skill nodes and a cap on creature difficulty in the Haven starter area.
- MAJOR Early Access Update 8.4.0: the Corruption arrives as a spreading hive-mind threat, Haven gets a new map, alien artifact puzzles go in, homesteads lose their skill gate but double in price, and Tailoring splits off as its own profession.
- MINOR Performance Update addresses the launch-week server load.
- MAJOR Stars Reach opens in Steam Early Access at $29.99, five days after the final playtest closed.
The Garden
What is Stars Reach?
Stars Reach is a sandbox mmorpg by Playable Worlds, the studio led by Raph Koster — the designer behind Ultima Online and Star Wars Galaxies. It opened in Steam Early Access on 18 August 2026 at $29.99, Windows only, and it runs one shardless galaxy of thousands of persistent planets rather than a server list. Water flows, forests burn, lava hardens into new land, resources deplete, and a species you drive extinct never comes back.
There are no classes. You learn skills grouped into professions — Playable Worlds is targeting 40+ of them — and a Skill Cap decides how many you keep Active at once. Character creation splits 9,000 points across Health, Stamina and Focus, which drive nine derived stats. Pick one of eight playable species, learn the harvest-to-refine chain, claim a plot on the homesteading page, and read what the living galaxy does to it while you are logged out.
Two things worth knowing before you buy. Stars Reach has no promo codes — it is a paid PC MMO, so any page offering them is manufacturing a search. And the galaxy is currently thin: Steam's concurrent counter has never recorded more than 227 players at once, which our player count page keeps stamped and dated, and our is-it-worth-it page weighs against the Mixed Steam score.
Stars Reach Screenshots
Get Started in 5 Steps
- Split your 9,000 points before you click confirm. Stat allocation applies to new characters only, so this is the one choice you cannot redo later — see the stat breakdown.
- Do the optional Haven missions, not just the required one. They teach camps and saving your state, dodge rolls, the grapple, and the harvester — four systems the main mission chain does not cover.
- Pick a first skill tree and commit. The Skill Cap punishes spreading thin; read how Active, Inactive and Reactivating interact on the professions page before you spend Klaatu.
- Learn the refining chain before you plan a build. Recipes changed ingredients as recently as 8.3.0 — the crafting page covers the recipe book limit and how to read a station's tier.
- Claim land once you can afford double. Homesteads need no skills since 8.4.0 but cost twice what old guides quote; the homesteading page has the current rules and the six building tools.
Wayfarer Reference Desk
Data Pages & Live Trackers
Professions & Skill Trees
Every profession confirmed in the 8.4.x build, plus how the skill cap works.
ROSTERPlayable Species
All 8 species with home planets, languages and roleplay hooks.
BUILDCharacter Creation
The 9,000-point stat split and all nine derived stats.
CRAFTCrafting & Refining
Recipe book limits, station tiers and the smelting chain.
LANDHomesteading
Claiming a plot, Property Pass rules and the 8.4.0 price change.
WORLDSPlanets & Galaxy
How worlds are generated, why some are gated, and what voxel really means here.
COMBATWeapons & Abilities
Pistol, Grenade Launcher and Healix ability lists as patched.
DATAPlayer Count
Live Steam concurrents, 24h peak and what the numbers mean for a single-shard MMO.
LIVEServer Status
Is Stars Reach down? Login checks and the official status channels.
SPECSSystem Requirements
Minimum specs, Steam Deck, Mac, Linux and GeForce Now.
DATERelease Date
Early Access launch, the 1.0 plan and what happens to your character.
VERDICTIs It Worth It?
What the Mixed review score is actually about, with the numbers.
Field Notes
All Stars Reach Guides
Build & Character
- Playable Species — all eight, with homeworlds and languages
- Character Creation — the 9,000-point split and nine stats
- Professions & Skill Trees — the Skill Cap and four skill states
- Weapons & Abilities — Pistol, Grenade Launcher and Healix kits
World & Economy
- Planets & Galaxy — how worlds simulate, deplete and get corrupted
- Crafting & Refining — recipe book limits and station tiers
- Homesteading — claiming land, Property Pass, governance
Status & Buying
- Player Count — Steam concurrents with the snapshot date
- Server Status — is it down, and the hotfix history
- System Requirements — specs, Deck, Mac, Linux, console
- Release Date — Early Access, wipes and the road to 1.0
- Is It Worth It? — the Steam score and who should wait
- Roadmap — what shipped and what is stated
Guides
- Stars Reach Alien Puzzles: Artifacts With No Instructions
- Stars Reach Beginner Guide: Your First Session on Haven
- Stars Reach Controls, Camera and Keybinds
- The Corruption in Stars Reach: What It Is and How It Spreads
- Stars Reach Economy: Klaatu, Vendors and Trading
- Stars Reach on Console, Mac, Linux and Steam Deck
- Stars Reach Founders Packs and Steam Keys Explained
- Stars Reach Playtests, Wipes and the Road to Early Access
- Is There PvP in Stars Reach? It Depends on the World
- Stars Reach Ranger Guide: Pathfinder, Camps, Makers
- Stars Reach vs No Man's Sky and the 2026 Sandbox MMOs
FAQ
Is it Stars Reach or Star's Reach?
Stars Reach — two words, no apostrophe. Playable Worlds writes it that way on the Steam store page and on starsreach.com, and the misspellings Star's Reach, Star Reach and Starsreach all point at the same game.
Is Stars Reach the same thing as the Star's Reach novel?
No. There is an unrelated post-industrial novel called Star's Reach by John Michael Greer, and searches for it collide with the game constantly. This site only covers the Playable Worlds MMORPG.
What is Stars Reach?
A sandbox MMORPG from Playable Worlds, the studio led by Raph Koster, who designed Ultima Online and Star Wars Galaxies. It runs one shardless galaxy of simulated planets where water flows, forests burn and terrain you reshape stays reshaped. It entered Steam Early Access on 18 August 2026 at $29.99.
How This Reference Is Kept Honest
Stars Reach Guide is an independent, unofficial fan resource for Stars Reach players — not affiliated with Playable Worlds.
- How we verify: Every number here is traced to a dated Playable Worlds source — a Steam patch note, a starsreach.com dev post, or the Steam store page — and the build number it came from is printed next to it.
- Update cadence: Each hotfix on the Stars Reach Steam news feed is read within 48 hours, and any page whose numbers it touches is re-checked and re-stamped rather than left to age.
- What we don't do: No invented tier scores, no stat tables the developers have not published, and no promo codes — Stars Reach has never issued any, and pages claiming otherwise are farming your click.