The Planet Crafter

I've been playing this game since very early access. I have watched how its grown and improved over time and how they listened to what they're community was saying and requesting. I remember sending a request report asking for co-op, a few months later they made it work. I got my friends to start playing with me and our only real complaint was the time it took to get from one end of the map to the other. They listened to the community and added teleporters and a vehicle. The community wanted a bit more endgame, they added the portal generator and the free DLC moons that you can go too after beating your planet. They've just released a 2nd paid DLC for even more planets to explore and they made the non-greedy decision to make it so only host has to have DLC. This game and community is loved and cared for by the developers and I'm beyond proud to recommend this game to anyone and everyone.

Planet Crafter is the rare survival game that looks at grinding and says: “what if this didn’t feel like unpaid labor?” and then actually follows through.
From the first oxygen gasp to watching an entire planet slowly change in ways I wish my garden would, the game turns progression into something dangerously close to JOY. Every resource run feels purposeful, every upgrade visibly reshapes the world, and suddenly you realize you’ve been grinding for hours without once muttering, “why am I doing this?” That ALONE deserves a standing ovation.
The developers clearly understood the assignment: make the numbers matter, make the wait feel earned, and make the environment I T S E L F become your reward. Seeing lakes form, skies change color (light green is my personal fave), and life creep back into a once hostile rock is wildly satisfying. It’s not just 'progress bars' filling up, it’s like Planet ASMR... But for the soul?
What really sells it is how clean and respectful the design feels. No bloated systems, no artificial frustration, no grind-for-the-sake-of-grind nonsense. Just a steady addictive loop that warrants the “just one more task” whisper you tell yourself until the sun rises in real life. The pacing feels intentional, the UI stays out of your way, and the sense of scale grows, usually alongside your ambition (or a friend you play with). You’re not farming materials, you’re terraforming a future. You’re not crafting gear, you’re rewriting the destiny of a planet. And somehow, that turns mining rocks into a deeply relaxing, oddly hopeful experience.
H U G E appreciation to the devs for creating a game where progress feels personal, effort feels rewarded, and the grind finally feels like play. They also keep releasing new DLC of different planets to terraform! At time of writing they have released Toxicity DLC, and when I finish terraforming Aqualis, you can bet I'm gonna buy that ASAP.
Highly recommended... Just don’t start it when you need to be productive tomorrow. I'm guilty of calling out of work next day just to keep playing hahaha
EDIT: As of now, I am approximately 1/3rd of the way through Toxicity, and I am really vibing the cleanup-crew style of planet crafting. It's a refreshing new take on the prior planets where your task quota is measured in both idle number climbs, as well as manual environment management. I will write more when I finish the terraformation process!

This is a survival game, technically. In practice, it feels like survival wrapped in a warm blanket that occasionally reminds you to breathe.
There are multiple difficulty levels, but even the hardest one is very forgiving compared to most survival games. It leans hard into a sandbox, that makes it feel surprisingly cozy. You’re not constantly being hunted or punished. You’re exploring, building, terraforming, and vibing… as long as you remember your oxygen.
And yes, you can die. Mostly from falling off very tall things/cliffs or from not paying attention to oxygen, hunger, or thirst. Which is fair. The planet isn’t cruel, it just expects you to read your gauges.
Visually, this game is gorgeous. The landscapes are peaceful and fun to explore, and watching the terraforming process slowly change the world is incredibly satisfying. Water appears, skies shift, terrain transforms. It’s like watching a dead planet wake up in real time, and I loved every minute of it.
The absolute highlight was co-op. I played with my 13-year-old son, and we had an amazing time. At one point, the outside world had no oxygen yet and I was sprinting toward our base for dear life… when he deconstructed the door. While I was running toward it. Oxygen ticking down. Absolute betrayal.
He also repeatedly emptied my neatly categorized, lovingly organized lockers because he “needed the resources.” Needed them for what? No explanation was given. I assume science. Or crime.
Despite the attempted suffocation and ongoing inventory theft, co-op worked great and added a ton of fun to the experience. Building together, exploring together, and watching the planet transform together made for some genuinely great moments.
If you’re looking for brutal survival, this may be too gentle. But if you want a beautiful, relaxing sandbox survival game where the biggest threat is forgetting to breathe or trusting your co-op partner, Planet Crafter is an easy recommendation.
10/10 would terraform again.
0/10 would trust my teammate with doors.

This game is one of the most fun games I've ever played. I have a rare neurodegenerative disease and so I don't get to do much besides play video games because I'm wheelchair bound. I have found the repetitiveness of collecting resources and building and expanding my base so relaxing and exciting. There's always something to do, and places to explore. The graphics are really good too! I just wanted to tell the devs thank you for making my time here on earth a bit easier with your awesome space game!

If you're looking for a tech-savvy, realistic terraforming Mars type of experience, look elsewhere.
On the other hand, if you're looking for a game that is absorbing, but that you can just pause for a while to just look around in, then this is it.
In short, it's just beautiful. In fact it's the most beautiful game I've ever played. The designs for the plants, the animals, and the forests and plains that grow from them are wonderful.
Relaxing? Yes. Busy? Yes. Do you feel like you've really achieved something as you progress? Oh, hell, yes. You've grown a world that is so lovely you'll wish that you could leave this one behind and live there.
And I've only spent 132 hours playing it ...

The Planet Crafter: A Journey to Terraforming That Completely Hooked Me

I've played The Planet Crafter for about 45 hours, and I can say for sure that it's one of the most fun and surprisingly relaxing games I've ever played. I'm almost done changing my planet, and to be honest, I'm a little sad to see it end. I've really enjoyed the whole thing.

It has been very rewarding to watch this dead, red wasteland slowly become a living, breathing ecosystem from the very beginning. You feel like you've earned every milestone, like the first blue sky, the first lake forming near your base, and the first blades of grass breaking through the sand. It never gets old to see that you're making progress.

The gameplay loop really clicked with me because I like systems, automation, and building things quickly. You start small, making heaters and oxygen tanks by hand. But soon you have auto-crafters, drones, and full production lines that make the planet almost run itself. The game really shines when you go from manually surviving to managing an ecosystem automatically.

But what surprised me the most was how calm everything feels. You don't have to worry about fighting or real danger; you can just enjoy the quiet rhythm of building, optimizing, and exploring. After work, I've played this game to relax by mining resources, building up my base, and watching the world come to life around me. It's meditative in the best way possible.

The graphics are simple, but they look great when things start to grow. I still get a real sense of awe when I see rain or step into a new biome that is covered in green. The music fits that mood perfectly: calm, ambient, and hopeful.

If I had to pick on something, I'd say that the pacing of the endgame can slow down a little, especially when most systems are automated. But really, that's only because I don't want it to end. I love every hour I've spent in this world, and I'm excited for future updates or expansions.

In conclusion, the Planet Crafter is great because it lets you be creative, relax, and make progress. It satisfies the needs of builders, engineers, and anyone else who wants to make something ugly beautiful through their own work.

I only played this game to "try it out," but now I'm 45 hours in, proud of my little blue-green planet, and not even close to being ready to leave it behind.

10/10—would definitely terraform again.

Good.
Its subnautica in space, with multiplayer. 10/10