- End of Playtest - 12 August 2026
Hello, Wayfarers!The time has finally come! We have closed the Stars Reach playtest servers for the last time to prepare for our Early Access launch on August 18, 2026!The excitement at Playable Worlds Basecamp is high. Our team is hard at work putting the finishing touches on our debut Early Access build, but that’s only the beginning.What you see on August 18 is only our first step, with big updates planned for early in the Early Access process. Curious about what we’re cooking up? Check out our living roadmap on the Stars Reach website! For now, please know that you have our gratitude. We wouldn’t be where we are today without our community. Stars Reach is evolving based on your constructive feedback and thoughtful discussion. Thank you! We can’t wait to see you among the stars next week when Early Access launches on August 18, 2026.
- Playtest Close Reminder - 11 August 2026
Dear Wayfarers, This is your gentle reminder that Stars Reach playtest servers close in less than 24 hours. We’ll be going dark to prepare for Early Access, starting at 1:59 PM PT / 4:59 PM ET on Wednesday, August 12, 2026. You still have time to earn rewards via the Content Creator and Player Rewards programs. Wallpapers, Discord titles, in-game titles, and Stars Reach merchandise are up for grabs! For more information, click here! But don’t worry if you happen to miss out this week. The programs will resume after our Early Access launch and run through September 4, 2026 at 5:00 PM PT / 8:00 PM ET. Early Access begins on August 18, 2026, so you won’t have to wait too long to begin your adventure!We’ll see you among the stars!
- Servers Slammed - 10 August 2026
Hello, Wayfarers! This past weekend we tasked you with a very important mission. We asked you to participate in a major stress test of our server infrastructure. Today, we’re pleased to report…Servers… SLAMMED! Your help this weekend was vital to our preparations for a successful launch into Early Access next week. Thank you!!As a reminder, the Stars Reach playtest is ending in just a couple of days. You have until August 12, 2026 at 1:59 PM PT / 4:59 PM ET to jump on in and earn your incentives as part of our Playtester Rewards programs. Don’t miss your chance to earn wallpapers, Discord titles, in-game titles, and sweet, sweet Stars Reach merchandise!You’ve got two days left. After that, we’re dark for about a week before Early Access begins on August 18, 2026. To those of you participating in our \, thanks for joining us on this journey! Rest assured, the current campaign will reconv…
- The Starside AUG.07.2026 - 7 August 2026
Hello Wayfarers,Early Access is on the horizon, but the sun is shining in our latest update! Jump in and experience The Calm Before the Storm! This is our final playtest update before we close out the playtest and prepare to launch Stars Reach into Early Access on August 18, 2026.We're in the final stretch of playtesting, and we're going to need your help. Whether you've been starside with us recently or haven't been back for many solar cycles, now's the perfect time to jump back in and see everything we've been working on over the last few months.Want a glimpse of what’s coming next? Take a peek at our Living Roadmap to see some of the exciting features and systems planned for Early Access and beyond.Some things that have been added, updated, and polished over the last few months:A spiffy new character creator. Now you can tailor your in-game persona to stand out from the crowd.Dangero…
- The Last Playtest Hurrrah - 5 August 2026
Hello Wayfarers,Whether you’ve been starside with us recently or haven’t been back for many solar cycles, now’s the perfect time to see what we’ve been up to in Stars Reach.We just launched our FINAL update before we enter Early Access on August 18, 2026. And right now, you can get a sneak peek at some of the big features players have been eagerly awaiting. Some things that have been added, updated, and polished over the last few months:A spiffy new character creator. Now you can tailor your in-game persona to stand out from the crowd.Dangerous fauna now emerge from Makers. You’re going to want to destroy those, especially if they’re close to your homestead. Don’t let them get out of control, or you may find yourself with some unfriendly visitors.A complete user interface refresh makes interacting with Stars Reach’s systems much easier (and more pleasant on the eyes)!Crafting has receiv…
- Update 8.3.0 – Calm Before the Storm - 4 August 2026
Salutations, Wayfarers!This is it! We have reached the FINAL major update before Early Access launch on August 18, 2026!There’s a lot packed into the Calm Before the Storm Update, with improvements across the interface, crafting, exploration, combat, visuals, performance, and a whole cargo hold of bug fixes.Alongside the changes ready for testing, we’re sharing an early look at several larger systems still in development. These previews aren’t final, and details may shift as we test, tune, and gather your feedback. User Interface UpdatesUpdated Chat BoxWe're styling the chat box with our new UI look. It will also have changed functionality:ESC no longer maximizes/minimizes.The chat box will no longer auto-resize. If you’d like to minimize / maximize the chat box, you can press Ctrl-Shift-M. This is remappable in the options.The Minimized version of the chat box will show tabs and the in…
- Starside – July 30, 2026 - 30 July 2026
Hello, Wayfarers!We’ve got big news for you this week. START THE COUNTDOWN! EARLY ACCESS LAUNCH IS COMING! Today we announced that Stars Reach will enter Early Access on August 18, 2026!We’ll be launching with three options to take your first steps among the stars. If you’re just interested in the base game, we’ve got you covered with a $29.99 option. However, if you want to support us (and get yourself some cool cosmetics and early unlocks for two upgraded tools), we’ll have additional tiers for purchase! You’ll be able to purchase the Firstlight Pack ($29.99), the Voyager Pack ($49.99), and the Cosmonaut Pack ($79.99), each offering increasing rewards and cosmetics.As part of this announcement, we’ve published a demo walkthrough video narrated by Raph Koster. This footage was captured from the build we used in June when meeting with press and creators in Los Angeles. Now you can see e…
- The Starside - JUL.24.2026 - 24 July 2026
Hello, Wayfarers!Now that you’ve had time to stretch your legs after The Great Wipe, we’re excited to gather your feedback about all the new updates! Keep those bug reports coming in! Each one helps us build a better experience for our Early Access launch!Members of our community have already been hard at work honing their building skills. In fact, one of the community builds is the home of this week’s Community Event: Trivia “Night”!On Sunday, July 26, 2026 at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET, come on down to Chef Jerek’s House of Kebabs on Velogas IV and test your Stars Reach knowledge! We’re told there are going to be prizes!You can join us to participate in game, but we'll also be hanging out in the Discord \, and on \ as well!Just portal over to Velogas IV! You can’t miss the place!Chef Jerek welcomes you! They serve our favorite kebabs in the galaxy!More Coverage Means More Fun!We’re delighted…
- The Starside - July 17, 2026 - 17 July 2026
Hello, Wayfarers!Welcome to your new galaxy! As promised, we have completed The Great Wipe, and your first steps from here on out come with new systems, visuals, and more!There’s a lot to take in, so we’re hosting a Fireside Chat on Saturday, July 18, 2026, at 10 AM Pacific. Come join us as Raph walks through the biggest changes, highlights some things you’ll want to know, and teases future updates on our road to Early Access launch.Missed our Most Recent Community Event? We’ve Got You Covered!Last week, we hosted an event with our community to tour the planets and some of the greatest builds from before The Great Wipe. We know that some of you wanted to be there but couldn’t join us.Our team recorded the event so you can get your last look at the galaxy as it was. The Coverage Keeps on Rolling In!We’ve also got some new press coverage to share with you! ArticlesI have no idea if Stars…
- Community Event: The Final Tour Before The Wipe - 10 July 2026
Greetings, Wayfarers!Join us tomorrow at 10:00 AM Pacific on the "Auditorium" voice channel in discord or you can watch the stream on the Official Stars Reach Twitch for another Community Event as we tour the worlds and showcase everything you've built. We'll be exploring player creations, capturing footage, and celebrating the incredible creativity you've brought to life before next week's wipe. Hope to see you there!
- Exterior Decorating - Update 8.1.5 - 10 July 2026
Salutations, Wayfarers! Buckle up! The next update is a BIG one. We’ve been building to this moment for quite some time, and we’re going to need your help to kick the thrusters to make sure she’s spaceworthy! We’re publishing this update next week!We have a large number of updates to share with you, covering the brand new character customization system, a major evolution of our user interface, new fauna types, changes to our creature spawners (you can see them now!), a number of control and movement improvements, and a ton more!With next week’s update, we’re also hitting the reset button. That’s right, the Great Wipe is happening. This is your final warning to grab screenshots and video of your best creations. After the update, we’re all starting from zero, beginning with giving your toon a brand new look. To set expectations, this is an intermediate step toward our vision for a number…
- ROLEPLAY GUIDE: SKWATCHI - 25 June 2026
SKWATCHI PHYSICAL DESCRIPTIONSkwatchi are the “big friend shaped like a bear-shaped boulder” species: big, hairy, and built like they could carry a crate of ore up a mountain without breaking stride. They’re generally the tallest and bulkiest of the garden species, with a vibe that reads slow-and-strong rather than quick-and-slick. In play, sell them as heavy-footed (in a good way), warm-blooded, and physically confident—someone who looks like winter is just a minor inconvenience.HOME PLANET, HISTORY, AND CULTURESkwatchi come from Chedderath, a mountainous, glaciated world with brutal weather and long distances between people. That environment hard-baked their whole social philosophy: small settlements survive only if everyone stays connected, so Skwatchi culture prizes “beneficial interactions”—checking on neighbors, doing favors, making sure nobody gets iced out socially or literally.…
- History Retold - 24 June 2026
Salutations, Wayfarers! We have continued to battle with the space otters in the wiring with this update and solved many of our stability issues we have been seeing from the last updates. We are eager to see how the changes have improved the stability and look forward to your feedback.Stability and performanceFixed a bug causing movement prediction to fail for players with latency above ~100ms. This was the source of significant movement input lag, which was noticed by many players during this last period. We also are testing several more fixes to server stability. We cannot know whether we have found all of the issues causing crashes, but we addressed several and have our fingers crossed that server stability improves visibly. This stability issue was also resulting occasionally in very long load times (because you were trying to travel to a server that had just gone down) so hopefully…
- The Starside - June 18, 2026 - 19 June 2026
Hello, Wayfarers!It’s been a wild couple weeks, and we can’t wait to give you the full download! We just got back from Los Angeles, where we met with press and creators attending Summer Game Fest. It was simply unbelievable to finally get to share what we’ve been working on, giving media and creators a chance to go hands-on with Stars Reach and experience a guided tour given by Raph himself! But don’t take our word for it (we’re ALWAYS excited about what we’re working on). Instead, check out what members of the press are saying about their first encounter with Stars Reach!Stars Reach could be the second coming of the sandbox MMO, with player-built cities and 40+ Star Wars Galaxies-style professions to give me hope (PC Gamer)“The thing that really gives me hope are the things that Koster says players are already doing with this sandbox-level freedom—for example, one of playtesters' large…
- World Gen System – Behind the Devs with Sean Grady - 17 June 2026
How do you create an infinite variety of worlds while keeping each one unique, believable, and fun to explore?In this episode of Behind The Devs, we sit down with Sean Grady to take a closer look at the new World Generation system coming to Stars Reach. From massive mountain ranges and strange alien landscapes to erosion, topography, wildlife habitats, and biome distribution, we're pulling back the curtain on how planets are being built for Early Access.Everything shown in this video is a work in progress and subject to change.Some of the footage was recorded on internal development servers used for testing experimental terrain generation, topology configurations, status effects, vegetation placement, wildlife behavior, and other systems. What you're seeing is not necessarily a finished planet, but a preview of the types of worlds our generation's technology can create.
- Into The Clouds - 15 June 2026
Hello, Wayfarers! We’re putting the finishing touches on our next update, tightening the bolts and patching the hull. Our primary mission for the update was to resolve the stability issues that were introduced in a recent update. We’ve identified a number of the problems and cleaned them up. Plus, we’ve got a fresh coat of paint on our gas and water effects, chat bubbles, and some handy quality-of-life tweaks. Beware of low-hanging, heavy fog. Visibility may be diminished... and you never know what could be lurking out there.Updated Visuals for Gas and WaterWe’ve introduced a brand-new gas rendering pipeline, bringing sharper visuals, smoother rendering, and improved performance across the board.Reworked gas and liquid rendering for smoother visuals and improved volumetric rendering performance.Added procedural noise to gas rendering, creating more natural detail around planetary surfac…
- Stars Reach Early Access Announcement - 3 June 2026
Hello, Wayfarers!Today, we have some big news for you! But first, let’s take a two minute pause to watch something together…That’s right, friends! Stars Reach is coming to Early Access this summer. We’ll have a lot more to share about this in the coming weeks. To kick things off, Raph Koster will be in Los Angeles this weekend to chat with journalists and creators, share insights about the development process, and give the media its first hands-on opportunity with Stars Reach. We expect that coverage will start rolling out throughout next week (but some might start popping up over the weekend). We’ll share a roundup once the dust settles.In other news, we are about to start welcoming new Wayfarers back into the galaxy! Playtest invites will be reopening in the next couple of weeks. If you want to jump in and play with us, sign up here.Last bit of exciting news, we’re also now keeping th…
- From A Certain Point of View - 27 May 2026
Hello, Wayfarers!When you log into this week’s playtest, you’ll notice a new coat of paint and polish on some user interface elements. We’re continuing to make updates for functionality and consistency, so expect to see more of this in the coming weeks.We’ve made updates to the initial login experience, including new artwork and a better layout that will support additional monitor aspect ratios. (We know there are some ultrawide fans out there!)Login Screen and MOTDWe have opened up the ability to access the options screen before you log into the game, which will help smooth out the experience for those that need to make some tweaks before loading in. We’ve also added Message of the Day capabilities, so we can surface important information as soon as you reach the login screen. And, if you ever need to find us out in the world, we’ve made that easy with the addition of prominent social…
- Fighting Bosses, Flying Saucers, and Puzzle Leaks - 22 May 2026
This community stream was a bit more intense than expected, with all those monsters and bosses… Good thing we had some leaks to play with as well!
- A Glitch in the Sim - 21 May 2026
Hello, Playtesters!As some of you have noticed, we ran into some issues at the end of last week’s test. Our simulation didn't save correctly, which has affected a number of things. Any building that included Instanformer Blocks, was built in or around terrain that was excavated, or involved the placement of resources likely did not get stored. There is, unfortunately, no way to recover these things. We're currently investigating the issue and will be taking steps to prevent this from happening in the future. If this created a major impact to your character, please file a ticket in Discord. We’ll do our best to take care of you, but we can't make any guarantees. We continue to be grateful for your support in playtesting. We know that it's exciting to get an early look at an in-development game. And we're also grateful for your understanding that we’re rapidly iterating on the Stars Reach…
