Best RPGs Where You Can Travel Between Planets

Posted by By our-little-miss-is-home February 14, 2025 6 Views 12 Min Read
Best RPGs Where You Can Travel Between Planets
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Remember that feeling of booting up Final Fantasy 7 on the PS1 for the first time or perhaps jumping into an MMO like World of Warcraft? RPGs have allowed players to explore for ages and the technology keeps getting better and better. It’s not just about exploring one world now as galaxies can be fully rendered on the PS5 and beyond.

Split image of protagonists from No Man's Sky, The Outer Worlds, and Borderlands 2

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It’s not like space or planetary exploration is a new concept in video games though. They just look better on modern consoles. It’s time to go through RPGs that use space travel and planet selection in their experiences and rank how well each aspect is incorporated into the other.

8

Rogue Galaxy

Level-5 Goes Intergalactic

Rogue Galaxy is the last original PS2 game that Level-5 put out and it was ambitious. Players assume the role of explorer Jaster who gets roped into joining some space pirates for a new adventure. Players will start on a desert planet and then just when it looks like players can select a new planet from the galaxy map, their galleon-like spaceship crash lands in a jungle. The real galaxy map will eventually open up, but it’s a bit linear for the first few hours of the game. That said, planet exploration will be pretty straightforward as planets are more like dungeons than open-world environments.

7

Kingdom Hearts 2

Connecting Between More Disney Worlds

Kingdom Hearts 2 is a big improvement over the original as it added more worlds to explore, for one. Some of the new Disney-based planets included Port Royal from Pirates of the Caribbean and Beast’s Castle from Beauty and the Beast. This is one of the rare examples that includes ship-based combat in-between planets too. Once a new world is discovered, the space combat becomes optional but thanks to the quality of life mechanics, the Gummi Ship was just as fun as the land battles so most players engaged with them anyway. Planet exploration was more linear and worlds could be completed in a matter of hours so it was short. Still, there was a nice variety for Disney fans to enjoy.

6

Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack In Time

The Last Hurrah For Space Exploration

The Ratchet & Clank series began with space exploration with many planets to traverse albeit in a linear fashion. The RPG elements were expanded in the second game with Ratchet able to level up his health and guns.

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There was also space combat for the first trek similar to Kingdom Hearts 2’s design. Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time is the last big entry to include space combat and it was a drastic shakeup. Players could more freely explore space on their way to planets where they would engage with good old-fashioned platforming and it’s a shame the latest entry, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, wasn’t as open with the ship.

5

Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic

The Best Game Based Off The Films?

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is a BioWare classic that many hold up as the best game based on Star Wars. Taking place thousands of years in the past, BioWare was able to explore the universe without having to worry about continuity like knowing about Dark Vader’s whereabouts. That said, players will traverse familiar Star Wars planets like Tatooine and Kashyyyk so there is still plenty of fan service. The planets felt big at the time on the original Xbox, but exploration is more limited by today’s standards. There are no space battles to speak of nor do players have to watch their ship soar from planet to planet as it’s all menu-based.

4

Mass Effect

Explore Moons With Your Rover

The Mass Effect trilogy is about traversing foreign worlds, meeting new species, and blasting enemies with guns and psychic powers. Of the three, the first game has the most space exploration between areas. Players can use their ship to travel to stations, planets, and moons. Some of them can be explored with a vehicle called the M35 Mako. This moon buggy can scan rocks and gather suitable materials for players. It was a divisive element in the game that was removed in sequels and some fans missed its inclusion.

3

Borderlands 3

Many Vaults Are Waiting

Borderlands 3 changed things up just enough to make it feel like it’s not the same old gameplay and story setup. Players could still choose between four heroes with assigned classes in Borderlands 3. They were all Vault Hunters too but the big twist was the ship, Sanctuary 3, which was a HUB for activity. It could take players to distant planets to find a plethora of Vaults.

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Most games before this focused on one planet and a single Vault to open up. Borderlands 3 took a more direct dungeon-crawler approach to its Diablo-inspired loot design, inviting players by themselves or with a group of friends to explore this galaxy for treasure.

2

Destiny 2

Go Ghosting With Friends

Destiny 2 launched in 2017 and it’s still being supported by Bungie in terms of content. Destiny 2 planets and campaigns have come and gone as Bungie has added more content and switched things around. Like most entries on here, players could select planets and then their customizable ship would head there. Exploration was limited to certain zones, some planets more than others, so it never truly felt like open-world game. That said, the variety of biomes was amazing and they are still jaw-dropping to this day. For example, Venus is a colorful treat while the Earth’s Moon is cold and foreboding.

1

The Outer Worlds

A Familiar RPG But In Space

The Outer Worlds feels like Fallout: New Vegas which makes sense given that it was developed by Obsidian Entertainment. The Outer Wilds had all the elements of a classic RPG from them including companions, dialogue trees, and inventive combat thanks to the weapon variety. Players could customize their ship and then blast off to a variety of players with open-world exploration. The process was automatic and while there was plenty to do on said planets, a lot of them felt unfinished due to the nature of the game’s story. This was essentially the Old West for humanity as things were still being colonized. The Outer Wilds was successful enough to have a sequel greenlit and maybe space exploration will be expanded upon.

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