Mass Effect Meets Valheim In New Sci-Fi RPG With Over 90,000 Wishlists

Published Oct 20, 2026, 12:30 AM EDT

Tom Wilson is a Gaming Features Writer at Screen Rant. Over the past five years, Tom has worked as the Editor-in-Chief at The Game Crater, as a Staff Writer for GamingIntel, a List Writer at TheGamer, and, of course, as a Senior Writer at ScreenRant. Tom has experience writing reviews, guides, news, and features, and has been responsible for teams of writers, training them and editing their work.

Tom graduated with a Masters in Multimedia Journalism, and has since gone on to build up his portfolio of games journalism work.

Valheim is largely considered to be one of the greatest open-world survival games of all time. It managed to amass millions of sales in an extraordinarily short amount of time, proving to be a rapid smash hit that garnered even more commercial success when it eventually came to consoles. All these years later, fans of Valheim continue to grind away in its gorgeous, ethereal world, sailing alone or with friends across its choppy seas to uncharted lands, fighting fearsome bosses, and building magnificent bases that would make Thor proud.

Naturally, many have been wondering when the next great game like Valheim would be released, and, well, it turns out sooner rather than later. However, this time, it isn't going down the route of Vikings and giant trolls. Instead, Valheim's successor is opting to adopt a little Mass Effect into its DNA, providing a vast, complex, and hopefully enjoyable sci-fi RPG experience unlike any other. Unsurprisingly, this tactic has worked rather well, as this new survival title is quickly climbing the Steam wishlist ladder.

Valheim's immensely successful 1.0 launch skyrocketed it to even greater heights, resulting in a game that feels as if one could play it forever and still only scratch the surface. Yet, as great as Valheim is, one may eventually find their mind wandering in search of new experiences, and, fortunately, one of its key developers has a new project on the way that looks perfect. Titled Starpath, this new space survival sim is the latest game from Valheim's lead engineer and designer, Jonathan Smårs.

Unlike Valheim, which sees players craft armor and weapons to venture out into the wilderness in search of loot to plunder and enemies to kill, Starpath wants to completely immerse you in the astronaut experience. It lets players design, build, and upgrade their own spaceship, which they'll then need to use to navigate the vast expanse of space in a desperate bid to survive. In Starpath, it truly is just you (and potentially friends) against the harsh vacuum of space, making it a space survival sim like no other.

Starpath really wants to pit space itself as the true villain, with players needing to do everything they can, including charting a suitable course and not simply ambling off without first preparing, in order to survive. The initial launch on Steam will allow players to fly through space, scan planets, gather resources, discover new technologies on abandoned ships, and so much more. Smårs also plans to allow players to land seamlessly on planets at a later point, something that will surely appeal to No Man's Sky players.

Starpath, like Valheim, could become one of the best open-world survival games of all time. It certainly has a lot going for it: the retro aesthetic, offline and online modes, and complex sim features coupled with streamlined gameplay all appealing to as broad an audience as possible. At the very least, its 90,000+ wishlists (and counting) showcase a demand for this kind of experience and that Starpath is resonating with fans. This looks to be the ultimate survival game for fans of Mass Effect and Valheim, granted you don't mind the claustrophobia and existential dread of space.

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