With the recent release of the Mass Effect Legendary Edition, many players have been clamoring for even more exciting sci-fi experiences. While the Mass Effect Legendary Edition (which features completely enhanced versions of the original trilogy) will certainly have countless hours of engaging fun, there are also plenty of other great sci-fi games to keep on your radar.
From more traditional sci-fi-based RPGs to sci-fi multiplayer looter shooters to some creepy horror in space, this broad genre is full of expansive options for all player types. Mass Effect is known for its epic storytelling, fantastic dialogue encounters, and some truly memorable set pieces. The sci-fi games that follow will satiate that sci-fi gaming craving when you just want a bit more.
10 Star Wars: Knight of the Old Republic
Star Wars: Knight of the Old Republic might be one of the closest gameplay experiences you can have when looking for a Mass Effect adjacent game. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is a massive and completely in-depth sci-fi RPG filled to the brim with character choices, dialogue options, battle parameters, and narrative arcs.
The story here centers around a galactic and seemingly unending battle between the Jedi Knights and the Sith. Star Wars fans especially will get a kick out of this game because of the incredible amount of powers that can be utilized as well as being able to customize your own lightsaber, all the while traversing various planets and biomes.
9 The Outer Worlds
The Outer Worlds is a truly expansive single-player sci-fi RPG offering centering around various factions all vying for power. You play as a customizable character who wakes up many years later following an accident that left your colonist ship lost in space. As you explore Halcyon, you will encounter an assortment of companions that can aid you in your mission to reclaim the galaxy.
The Outer Worlds has a heavy emphasis on RPG elements, specifically numerous dialogue choices and decisions that will ultimately shape the outcome of your story. The gameplay in The Outer Worlds is filled with diversity. As you explore different planets, colonies, and settlements, you can complete main missions and side quests in order to fully flesh out the experience.
8 Dead Space
Dead Space is easily one of the best gaming experiences centering around horror in space. While not similar to Mass Effect in terms of the RPG layers, Dead Space will appeal to fans of sci-fi due to its emphasis on space exploration. The protagonist, Isaac Clarke is brimming with character nuance and is someone that most players will become attached to throughout the course of the game.
Isaac Clarke is trapped and lost in space aboard the USG Ishimura, an utterly derelict and creepy bastion of darkness. It’s a game about one man’s survival, battling his own demons and that of the necromorphs, alien-like creatures that hunt and stalk Isaac’s every move.
7 Cyberpunk 2077
Cyberpunk 2077, while controversial due to its less-than-stellar launch, still manages to be a highly immersive experience. Set within the open-world of Night City, your character, V, is seeking a very special and unique implant that potentially holds the key to immortality. Night City and its inhabitants are obsessed with body modifications and glamour.
The story in Cyberpunk 2077 and its subsequent characters are focused on power and how to wield it in order to control parts of the metropolis in which they reside. This game is all about choice and narrative consequences with each interaction shaping how the player’s story pans out.
6 System Shock
System Shock is a classic 90s action-adventure experience that takes place in first-person. This cyberpunk and sci-fi tinged adventure focuses on SHODAN, an omnipotent and horrifying AI, completely determined to take control of Citadel Station. As a nameless hacker, your job is to understand every aspect of this all-powerful AI in order to take it down for good.
The organization leading the charge to wield the power is TriOptimum Corporation. As a hacker, the player has the ability to access emails, data discs, and security systems in order to piece together just how SHODAN has gained this amount of control. While not as open-ended and expansive as the Mass Effect series, System Shock provides an alternative sci-fi adventure for those who like cyberpunk horror.
5 Destiny 2
Destiny 2 is one of the biggest modern sci-fi games and although it focuses more on multiplayer action, there is still a lot to love for any genre fan. While the first Destiny may have been underwhelming and lackluster in terms of narrative and diverse gameplay, the sequel amped it up by providing a more comprehensive in-depth structure for fans eager to dive back into this universe.
The sheer scale of Destiny 2, especially when it comes to action setpieces and explorable planets, is staggering. For players that love both action and narrative, Destiny 2 really shines. Featuring a highly cinematic story around the guardian saving the solar system from impending darkness, Destiny 2 offers a beefy platter of content for its players.
4 Elite Dangerous
Elite Dangerous is a unique game in the sci-fi realm because first and foremost it is a realistic flight simulator set in the far reaches of space. New players to the game might be put off at first due to an extreme barrier of entry, including the act of taking flight from the ship bay. Elite Dangerous prides itself on all-encompassing immersion from the moment-to-moment cockpit controls to exploring starfields.
In theory, Elite Dangerous is a purely open-ended game so sci-fi genre fans can constantly dip back into the Milky Way to continue their adventures. The game also features a plethora of space fighting due to it being focused on online multiplayer experiences. In essence, Elite Dangerous can be viewed as a space opera MMORPG.
3 Outriders
Outriders is a solo or multiplayer sci-fi epic set on the planet Enoch. The original universe created for this game is full of darkness, despair, and destruction, yet at its core, is a narrative about banding together with companions to seek out any glimmer of hope. While Outriders may not have the expansive universe-based exploration filled with tons of spaceships, it does provide a focused sci-fi experience.
Outriders is all about moment-to-moment action. Each charter has his or her own unique powers with a plethora of weaponry being available for all classes. As one of the story’s outriders, players can expect to travel through Enoch’s vast forest, slums, shantytowns, and cities. Outriders might be smaller in planetary-scale but it makes up for it with a tight gameplay loop.
2 Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order
Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order is one of the finest sci-fi action-adventure games, especially for fans of the genre. Players have been clamoring for more single-player, story-based Star Wars experiences more so after the multiplayer-focused Star Wars Battlefront gamed dominated the gaming landscape. Here is exactly where Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order delivers in spades.
Following our hero, Cal Kestis, who has unfortunately become a target of the galactic empire, he must now survive on the run while learning about his true goal, to rebuild the Jedi Order. Cal is armed with a customizable lightsaber as well as a whole host of unlockable and upgradeable Jedi powers. Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order is a game that stands above with a focused story and tight gameplay.
1 No Man’s Sky
No Man’s Sky is a massive, freeform, open-universe space epic where players can get lost for countless hours. Although No Man’s Sky failed to deliver upon its initial launch due to overpromising and under-delivering, the team at Hello Games have worked incredibly hard to fulfill those dropped elements, turning it into a fully-fledged epic space adventure.
No Man’s Sky, while not having the same type of narrative structure as the Mass Effect series, instead offers players countless ways to freely explore an ever-expanding universe. From crafting to base building to harvesting to researching, No Man’s Sky really has something for every type of sci-fi genre fan.
NEXT: 10 Sci-Fi Games That Only Make Sense On A Replay
