Distant Worlds: Universe
Skip · Strategy · 2014
Steam Deck UnsupportedThe verdict
SKIP IT.
It scores 29, under the fair line, at $29.99.
- Length
- 6.4h
- Value
- $4.69/hr
- Reviews
- 75% positive
Watch this gameOne alert when it is worth buying.
Minimum on the Steam store: 1 GB of memory, minimum 1024 x 768 resolution, 32 bit, 1 GB of storage. Windows only.
Distant Worlds is a vast, pausable real-time 4X space strategy game. Experience the full depth and detail of turn-based strategy, but with the simplicity and ease of real-time, and on the scale of a massively-multiplayer online game.
What drives the score
How to read this
Grades run S to D, read from the buyer's side. ▲ marks a lift, ▼ a drag or a dock, ? an input we do not have, • a fact this genre's score does not use. How the grades work
The value story
The lowest price on record is $2.99, set in February 2022. 73 discounts in the 12 years on record. They run about 75 percent off, roughly 6 weeks apart.
It is pricier than 97 percent of its genre. Among the games that feel like it, NEBULOUS: Fleet Command ($29.99, scores 35) beats it on value, while it beats Galactic Civilizations IV ($39.99, scores 21).
This site sampled 233 of its Steam-purchase reviews; 4 were written by buyers who refunded it, sampled from reviews written May 2020 to July 2026. Inside the two-hour refund window, 27 percent of the 230 reviews written there were positive, against 75 percent overall, and those are 16 percent of everything written about it.
The drop-off
41% start to <1% rarestNo achievement in this game marks the ending, so there is no finish rate. The curve runs from the most-unlocked achievement to the rarest, and its shape is where players stop. Steam global achievements
Players
7 players online when we last checked, on Sep 30, 16:48 UTC.
Player counts from the Steam Web API.
What players say
Pros: -Detailed 4X -Shipbuilding -Ship Salvaging -Ship Boarding -Piracy -Tax (evasion) -Automation -Well optimized -Affordable on sale -Will run on a potato. Cons: //Good luck getting this game to work. You need a DX 11 install from 2016 that doesn't work anymore. Assuming you can get that from old depreicated links in 10-15 year old posts from the Slytherin fourms, the remainder now relies on you to actually...
I was feeling nastalgic about stars! the other day and I started to do some looking around. This game filled that itch. Lots of depth but you explore it at your own pace. I keep coming back to this one.
my son likes the tech progression but its very complicated for a 12yr old but he found videos and it was much easier. one of his favs.
Steam reviews, mixed to match its Steam ratio and rotated daily. Opinions are theirs.
Cite this score
Distant Worlds: Universe scores 29/100 on the BANG Score (a skip) as of Oct 2, 2026. The BANG Score rates what a game is worth for the money. Via Steam BANGERS. https://steambangers.com/game/261470/distant-worlds-universeReviews set the ceiling, and price against real length moves the BANG Score inside it. How it works, and where it is weak → Steam reviews as of Sep 26, price as of Oct 1.
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