Everyone loves a good space game, but sometimes it can feel like there are more space games to play than there are stars in the sky. Fortunately, we’re here to help with our list of all the best space games you can play on PC. Whether you’re a budding space cruiser captain, a wannabe space conqueror or an intrepid space-faring explorer, there’s a space game here for you.

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Here’s a double giveaway to snap up now before it disappears early tomorrow. Available until 2pm GMT on Wednesday are a pair of good games that couldn’t be more different – Sins Of A Solar Empire: Rebellion by Ironclad Games is – depending on how you look at it – a mega-scale space RTS or a small, real-time 4X strategy game. Geneshift by Nik Nak Studios is a multiplayer (with bots) bit of knockabout fun inspired by the rather cyberpunk Grand Theft Auto 2. Both are free and if you snag them on Steam here and here now, you can keep them forever.

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An entirely objective ranking of the 50 best PC strategy games ever made, now freshened up to include everything from 2017 and 2018. From intricate, global-scale wargames to the tight thrills of guerrilla squads, the broad expanse of the genre contains something for everyone, and we’ve gathered the best of the best.

The vast majority are available to buy digitally, a few are free to download and play forever. They’re all brilliant.

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I’m honestly taken aback by how good game giveaways have been in recent years. In the past few months alone we’ve seen some genuinely great stuff given away for nothing but the time it takes to click a button. Even if most of the giveaways are promotional in nature, there’s enough available for nothing to keep even the most fervent player going for months. For the next 44 hours (give or take a few minutes), you can score the Ultimate Edition of Stardock’s well-received sci-fi 4X strategy game Galactic Civilizations 2 here on the Humble store, free to keep forever.

Galactic Civilizations II may not be the greatest strategy game ever made, but according to our once-resident master of war Adam Smith, it’s in the top 25, and that’s not to be sniffed at.

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Space games have experienced a rebirth over the past few years, particularly space sims, but as many in the comments pointed out, you don’t need to be sitting in a cockpit to enjoy the stars. This updated list broadens our search for the best space games on PC, throwing strategy games, roguelikes and at least one RPG into the mix.

Read on to see what the top picks are.

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Have You Played? is an endless stream of game retrospectives. One a day, every day of the year, perhaps for all time.>

When people remember Demigod, mostly they recall Rook, the character with castle towers for shoulders pictured above. That’s fair, he’s great, but Demigod was fun across the board. … [visit site to read more]

Stardock and Ironclad Games have launched a surprise update for Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion [official site], their sparefaring RTS from 2012. The update brings engine improvements to let the game use more memory so it can crash less, it reduces stuttering in large battles, fixes AI bugs, supports modern high resolutions, adds options for higher-quality textures and shadows, and it generally makes Rebellion better. Not bad for a game that’s almost five years old. Rebellion is on sale for a few days too, with a hefty 75% discount. … [visit site to read more]

I remember when it were all Sins of A Solar Empire [official site] ’round these parts. Couldn’t move for Rossignols and Gillens talking about spaceship real-time strategy/4X games. Over eight chuffing years later, oh God I am so old, Ironclad and Stardock’s space management’n’war-em’up is still going strong. It was reinvigorated with the shinier Rebellion expandalone in 2012, which has just now received new, criminal empire-focused DLC that also includes a slew of new maps.

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Each week Marsh Davies unleashes a patriotic aquiline shriek and swoops upon the home of the brave that is Early Access, bringing freedom by way of cash-purchased endorsements and glib media-ready soundbites to all he meets. This week, these skills will hopefully propel him all the way to the White House in The Political Machine 2016 [Steam page], a timely update of the presidential campaign strategy game in which candidates scoot between states, bellowing platitudes to the credulous and smarming their way through interviews while doing everything to sabotage their opponents.>

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Gas Powered Games wants $1.1 million of your dollars. I also want $1.1 million of your dollars, but – instead of spending them on a mansion made of trampolines and a pony that’s also a rocketship – the Dungeon Siege and Supreme Commander dev is hoping to bring an RTS-RPG called Wildman to life. It’s about prehistoric evolution, but with an amusingly silly twist. “What if men, when they evolved into the homo sapiens form, what if other creatures also evolved, and other creatures had sentient minds? You could fight, say, a giant fly creature, or a lizard creature, or wild animals. What if there were thinking cats and things like that? Insects that are just creepy, that grew and were vying to take over the planet,” explained Taylor in an interview with RPS. So it’s part exploration-based hack ‘n’ slash, part troop-commanding RTS, and part fly monster. Got it. Video after the break.

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