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If you're ready to explore the best sci-fi games, then you've come to the right place.
Here, we've brought together a top 25 ranking of the best sci-fi games that we'd recommend playing in 2026. From some of the latest new games that bring to life memorable sci-fi worlds, to all-timers that still hold up and deserve your time, there's all kinds of fantastic games out there to explore and try out if you're in the mood for something sci-fi flavored.
Whether you want to find love among the stars in some of the best RPGs with romance options, or you're looking to journey to a galaxy far, far away in some of the best Star Wars games, we've put our heads together as long-time fans of the sci-fi and some of the best space games to bring you options across all platforms and genres so you can find something to enjoy. It's also well worth checking out our ranking of the best sci-fi RPGs if you're looking for some futuristic role-playing goodness. But for all of the best sci-fi games you can play right now in 2026, read on to discover our ranking.
The 25 best sci-fi games, starting with...
25. VA-11 Hall-A
Platform(s): PC, PS4, Switch
Developer: Sukeban Games
In this visual novel slash bartending sim set in future San Francisco, you serve androids, cat girls and hackers, among others. Each of your customers comes to you with their drink orders and their worries, and thanks to great writing, your chats with the people on the other side of the bar do not only feel realistic but leave you thinking about modern life and the direction we as humans are taking.
Even though you only hear from the outside world in snippets, VA11 HALL-A's cyberpunk SF feels fully realized, it’s people grappling with many of the same problems we’re already dealing with now.
24. X-COM 2
Platform(s): PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One
Developer: Firaxis Games
The innovative X-COM style of combat as conceived by Julian Gollop is so popular it’s now a brand of its own, inspiring many other games. The theme of an alien invasion on the other hand is as classic as they come.
Films and literature have always made us want to become heroes who take on the intruders from up above, but X-COM turns that pretty simple premise into a highly tactical nail-biter that will have you invested in your squad not only because of the danger of losing the squad members with the best stats to permadeath but also because we humans get attached to the things we get to give silly names. X-COM 2 is bigger and not always better than its predecessor, but the War of The Chosen DLC’s campaign adds a lot to the fun. Read our XCOM-2 review for more.
23. Cyberpunk 2077
Platform(s): PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch 2
Developer: CD Projekt Red
As one of the best story-driven RPGs, Cyberpunk 2077 draws you into the neon-tined streets of the futuristic Night City where cybernetic augmentations and rival gangs are the norm, and danger lurks around every corner. As V, you find yourself navigating its mean streets as you desperately try to save your own sense of self from being erased by rocker Johnny Silverhand, who's hitched a ride in your head.
With plenty of role-playing goodness in store as you decide how you want to see out the story and shape your V, the sci-fi dystopian world of Cyberpunk 2077 just makes it all the more memorable. And with the excellent Phantom Liberty expansion rounding out the adventure, Cyberpunk 2077 is well worth stepping into if you're after a great sci-fi RPG.
22. Pragmata
Platform(s): PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S
Developer: Capcom
Capcom dropped a very welcome new addition to the world of sci-fi games with the release of Pragmata, which has been a runaway success for the studio for good reason. The action-adventure takes place in a near-future alternate reality and follows the journey of protagonist Hugh who finds himself sent out to investigate a remote lunar facility. But when things take a turn, an android called Diana comes to his aid, and the pair work together to try and find their way off the moon.
Taking control of pair, you fight against enemies controlled by a rogue AI. Blending together third-person shooting as Hugh with the unique hacking abilities of Diana makes for a satisfying dynamic in combat, with the hacks making foes vulnerable so you can then land more powerful hits. As we said in our Pragmata review, its level design offers up rewarding exploration, and the action and puzzle elements make this one sci-fi that's well worth trying out.
21. Into The Breach
Platform(s): PC, Switch
Developer: Subset Games
Into the Breach simply is a great turn-based strategy game for those who like to make difficult calls, you know from the beginning that you won't be able to make it out of a battle completely unscathed. The aliens that oppose you are too many, too ruthless, to allow you to win without making sacrifices, and there are simultaneously so many options for what to do next that you just end up staring at your mechs and oddly cute aliens for minutes at a time.
The endless nature of the game, made possible through time travel, makes you wonder whether you can ever truly win, but once you've funneled hundreds of hours into sessions, you've probably long given up on the notion.
20. Tacoma
Platform(s): PC, PS4, Xbox One
Developer: Fullbright
Sci-fi games often assume that the practices in place now will be in places many many years from now, their effects exacerbated. That’s true for the depiction of the gig economy in Fullbright's walking simulator Tacoma. As someone hired by an intergalactic insurance company, you find yourself on the spaceship Tacoma, puzzling together what has happened to its crew via the ship computer’s last recordings.
Fullbright games shine thanks to consistently great dialogue. It's a feat that even in a game with a fairly short runtime, you will come to care so much for characters you can’t even see, learn about their pasts and their dreams and thus start to root for them. For how it efficiently does a lot with seemingly little, Tacoma is one of the best narrative games out there, and definitely some of the absolute best the walking sim genre has to offer. Read our Tacoma review to learn more.
19. Detroit: Become Human
Platform(s): PC, PS4
Developer: Quantic Dream
Developer Quantic Dream uses its patented lightly interactive gameplay in a story about the rebellion of household androids in the near future. Detroit: Become Human impresses with its immense number of possible outcomes, both to the ending of the game and the relationships of characters among each other, but also to hundreds of seemingly small decisions.
It's a gorgeous game with a cast that's sure to give you the feeling of playing an interactive movie that the studio was going for. If you want to see what our verdict was at release, check out our Detroit: Become Human review.
18. No Man's Sky
Platform(s): PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S
Developer: Hello Games
The pull of No Man's Sky is pretty easily explained – sheer freedom. With its procedurally generated planet, there's always something new to explore, and a plethora of crafting options will have you boldly go where no man has gone before in order to collect and refine ores and flesh-eating plants.
If you haven't played the game, now is the best time to do so, as many big updates have made No Man's Sky into something much more intriguing than it was at launch, and now accommodates both the need to just relax and take a few nice screenshots and to get into wild battles with the local fauna. Read our No Man's Sky review here to see what we thought of the game at launch.
17. Stellaris
Platform(s): PC, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S
Developer: Paradox Development Studio
To play Stellaris is to make a pretty large commitment – you haven't played a 4x grand strategy game before, there's a steep learning curve to deal with, and once you're comfortable, there are just heaps and heaps of DLC to keep you playing. But the beauty of this game lies just in that love for detail. Once you've painstakingly built a colony on a planet and watched your civilization grow, you don't want it to perish at the hands of invaders, and you do want to ensure their success across the galaxy.
Stellaris shines especially because it puts a lot of stock into your species and their individual behavior, and because it uses Total War-esque crisis events for the endgame to keep things balanced.
16. EVE Online
Platform(s): PC
Developer: CCP
Much like Minecraft, EVE Online is one of those games that show how massively creative a gaming community can become. It's almost a possible version of our future, as players are dropped somewhere in space and need to engage with the virtual society and economy to keep the game running.
The most well-known part of EVE Online however, are likely the large-scale intergalactic wars in massive spaceships. Its completely communal nature has garnered EVE a lot of attention outside of traditional gaming spaces – it's been discussed as an experiment of human self-organization and exhibited at the MoMa in New York and the V&A in London, citing player's social achievements.
15. Nier: Automata
Platform(s): PC, PS4, Xbox One
Developer: PlatinumGames
It doesn't get more sci-fi than robots fighting a proxy war for the glory of mankind, but Nier: Automata goes deeper than that. If you're looking for a game that discusses similar topics as Detroit: Become Human with a little more depth (but similar amounts of drama) and you enjoy challenging action and bullet hell combat, Nier: Automata is unmissable. Don’t let the anime look fool you – the subjects of morality and autonomy are handled with great care, all within the package of a great action title. Check out our Nier: Automata review to learn more.
14. Marathon
Platform(s): PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S
Developer: Bungie
Some of the creators behind Halo and Destiny brought a fresh and intense multiplayer extraction shooter to the fray with Marathon. Set in a stylish sci-fi setting with a techno-dystopian edge, you play as a mercenary that takes control of an artificial body known as a Shell. With the objective of exploring a lost colony known as Tau Ceti IV, you set about scavenging the map for loot. But in this dark world full of enemies, unexpected dangers, and rival players, survival is the name of the game, and you have to fight your way to get safely extracted.
As we explored in our Marathon review, the FPS supports a host of different playstyles with an assortment of Marathon Runner Shells to choose from that each have their own suite of abilities. And the sci-fi backdrop its set against just makes the shooter action and high stakes PvP matches all the more engaging, with a cyberpunk-infused dystopian feel as you navigate the dangers of the colony on behalf of corporations. If you're after a sci-fi game of the online multiplayer variety, Marathon is worth a shot.
13. Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader
Platform(s): PC, PS5, Switch 2, Xbox Series X/S Developer: Owlcat Games
Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader is one of the best CRPGs around right now, and it's sci-fi setting only serves to make it all the more memorable. Taking on the role of a newly appointed Rogue Trader who sets out in the uncharted systems in the Koronus Expanse in space, you command your own voidship alongside a cast of companions. As an isometric experience with turn-based combat, there's a satisfying level of strategy that comes into every fight you engage in, with room to customize your protagonist as one of several different classes within the grimdark universe.
If you've never played a Warhammer game before and you're interested in exploring this sci-fi setting, Rogue Trader is a great approachable place to start, but it's equally enjoyable if you're longtime fan. With plenty of mystery propelling you forward, all of the choices you make will have impactful consequences – right down to where you choose to go and do first as you navigate the Expanse.
12. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
Platform(s): PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S
Developer: Respawn
A list of sci-fi games is nothing without one of the absolute evergreen franchises of the genre. While there are a lot of Star Wars games, and many of them have something going for them (Knights of the Old Republic!), they do look their age. As the follow-up to Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor builds on what came before and improves just about everything, with Cal coming back as a more confident Jedi who has relearned the ways of the Force and what it means to harness that power.
The result is more agile traversal and combat with added dimension. With more weapon options at your disposal (including dual-wielding lightsabers), and a story that's well worth experiencing, Survivor is a fantastic adventure set in a galaxy far, far away. Learn more in our Star Wars Jedi: Survivor review.
11. Outer Wilds
Platform(s): PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One
Developer: Mobius Digital
Games are about exploration, about traversal, and about uncovering secrets. Seldom has a game captured the feeling of giddy discovery as well as Outer Wilds. You go out to uncover the history of a prior civilization in your little solar system, because solving the mysteries they themselves were working on it the only way to save everything you've come to know from certain doom. That may sound very stressful, but a weird tranquility sets in wherever you're creeping through a cave on the hunt for left-behind messages or meet a previous explorer on his lonesome near a campfire.
Ironically, sometimes you need exactly what Outer Wilds doesn't endorse – patience. Some pathways can only be found if you’re willing to let the planets and their carefully thought-out physics do their thing, and sometimes the journey can get lonely. Stunningly, that makes the payoff even bigger when you find a hint and the hunt for your ancestors suddenly looks promising again.
10. Doom (2016)
Platform(s): PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One
Developer: id Software
Do you like "badass demons, big guns and moving really fast?" According to executive producer Marty Stratton, that makes Doom the game for you. It's also a staple in sci-fi games, aka the genre in which everything in our future that can go wrong will go wrong. (Listen, just don't harvest energy from Hell and you’ll be fine.)
What you get is an incredible visceral, fast-paced shooter that doesn't really have any comparable competitors out there. Doom is a raw power-trip of an FPS with satisfying shooting that everyone can get into. Check out our Doom review for more.
9. Returnal
Platform(s): PS5
Developer: Housemarque
Returnal sees you take on the role of Selene, who crash lands on a shape-shifting world that is continuously changing. As you fight to survive in this strange landscape that's home to ancient civilization, death means starting over and beginning the journey anew.
As a roguelike, you'll be faced with a variety of challenges to overcome and you'll never quite know what you'll go up against next as the world changes with every attempt. The procedural world and the endless cycle find a perfect home in the sci-fi genre. Read our Returnal review for more.
8. Dead Space (2023)
Platform(s): PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S
Developer: Motive
Dead Space made a comeback in a big way in 2023, with a remake that was completely rebuilt for the latest hardware. Upgrading the classic sci-fi survival horror experience starring engineer Isaac Clarke, the enhanced visual fidelity and sound heightens the tension like never before and truly brings the setting of the USG Ishimura to life.
The modernized version still stays true to the original vision, but it also packs more scares and new tricks to keep it feeling fresh for those who played the 2008 release. Dead Space really is sci-fi horror at its best. Check out our Dead Space review for more.
7. Alien: Isolation
Platform(s): PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One
Developer: Creative Assembly
Game adaptations of films are often questionable at best (and vice versa!), but with this survival horror game, Creative Assembly delivered proof that it can be done if you know what makes the source material so beloved. More than thirty years after its release, Ridley Scott’s Alien is still terrifying. If it’s not broken there's no need to fix it, so it made sense not to change the original idea and simply put players in the shoes of a character, in this case Ellen Ripley’s daughter Amanda, hiding for her life.
In Alien: Isolation, everything just works together to transport you straight into the film, from the art direction to the story and of course the brilliant AI of the alien we all… love? Check out our Alien: Isolation review here.
6. Prey (2017)
Platform(s): PC, PS4, Xbox One
Developer: Arkane Studios
Science fiction wouldn't be the same without alternate timelines to change the course of the human race. In Prey, the failed assassination of John F. Kennedy accelerates research into space, leading to the establishment of the Talos I, an intergalactic research station built to examine the Typhon, a newly-discovered alien race. As numerous examples have already shown, researching potentially deadly aliens all alone out in space is generally a really bad idea, but Prey is more than another solid first-person shooter.
What makes it so interesting is the thoughtful approach to a well-known subject, asking you to make moral choices that can lead to different, equally stunning outcomes. Fans of Arkane's Dishonored likely know what type of storytelling to expect, if you're looking for something both chilling and surprising you can’t go wrong with Prey. Check out our Prey review for more.
5. The Bioshock Collection
Platform(s): PC, Xbox One, PS4, Switch
Developer: 2K / Irrational Games
Bioshock is a classic among the sci-fi games with an alternate timeline. For once you're not going into space, but deep underwater in order to explore Rapture (or the lofty heights of the steampunk city Columbia in Bioshock: Infinite), a city that ate itself.
The series is thrilling, from battles with mutated drug addicts to its consistently dark, surprising story that stands among the best for the shooter genre. While it's not for the faint of heart, no one's ever made such an intriguing mix of philosophy and horror before or since. For more, here's why the Bioshock Collection is worth playing.
4. Mass Effect 2
Platform(s): PC, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PS4, PS5
Developer: BioWare
10 years on, the saga of Commander Shephard and their crew is still one of the best and most engrossing sci-fi RPGs out there. And with the Mass Effect Legendary Edition bringing the second entry in the stellar trilogy back with enhanced visuals and improvements, now's a great time to experience Shepard's space-faring adventure for the first time, or all over again. It's imbued with the soul of Star Trek – a close-knit crew ventures out into space to solve political tensions, eventually coming across an alien threat.
Mass Effect features epic shootouts in space, but thanks to great writing it shines more for its characters. Getting to know your favorite and romancing them has become just as important as the action, if not more so. Fighting evil and smooching aliens – what's not to like? Mass Effect 2 also has the best story of the series, and it works even if you haven't played the first one. Read our Mass Effect 2 review here.
3. Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Platform(s): PC, Xbox One (backwards compatibility)
Developer: Eidos Montreal
The prequel to the original Deus Ex from 2000 paints a fascinating vision of our future, in which human augmentations have become the norm. This is a game about interesting societal conflict between those in favor of augmentations and those who aren't, and it's asking you to pick sides frequently.
Your decisions have lasting consequences not just in conversations, but also affect your surroundings. How you choose to augment protagonist Adam Jensen to unlock new paths and skills adds a Metroidvania quality to game progression, and you always have multiple ways to solve situations in this dark, but lovingly realized version of our future. Check out our Deus Ex: Human Revolution review for more.
2. Portal 2
Platform(s): PC, Xbox One (backwards compatibility), Switch
Developer: Valve
Some ideas are just perfect for games, and Portal 2's teleportation gun testing facility was just great for a plethora of challenging puzzles. The variety Valve came up with is still astounding, and since then the game's community has added so much of value to Portal 2 in form of additional levels and fan games.
Portal 2 is also one of the few puzzles that doesn't skimp on a really fun story, complete with great voice acting. Simply put, this is an evergreen, and by now the portal gun has become a piece of pop culture history.
1. Half-Life 2
Platform(s): PC, Xbox One (backwards compatibility)
Developer: Valve
It's OK to admit that Half-Life 2 has aged a bit, but only if you look at it from a purely visual standpoint. Once you play this first-person shooter, if you haven't already, you'll realize that a lot of the aspects that make other games on this list great originated with the Half-Life franchise. It was the pinnacle for graphical achievement at the time, and still stands out for its great environmental storytelling, and it engagingly tells the by now tried and tested story of the alien invasion.
It also gave you a lot of freedom for a game at a time. Simply put, if you like great shooters and want to know more about their origins, or simply play one of the best games that still holds up, play Half-Life 2.
Here's all the upcoming PS5 games and upcoming Xbox Series X games to keep an eye on for more out of this world experiences on the horizon
