10 Classic Sci-Fi Games — From Space Invaders to Outer Wilds
Ten space and sci-fi games that left a big mark on gaming history, in release order, with what each one introduced, based on verified facts.
Video games and space have been inseparable from the very beginning. Spacewar!, considered the first video game played on computers in multiple locations, was itself a duel between two spaceships. Created in 1962 by Steve Russell and colleagues at MIT for the DEC PDP-1 computer, the game had a simple structure — steer your ship, which is pulled by a star's gravity, and hit your opponent — yet it influenced many games that followed.
In this post, we introduce 10 classics that came after it and each expanded the stage of space and sci-fi in their own way, in order of release. This isn't a ranking but a list chosen so genres and eras don't overlap. Years and developers are limited to what we confirmed through public sources such as Wikipedia.
The 10 Games at a Glance
| Year | Game | Developer | Genre |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1978 | Space Invaders | Taito | Fixed shooter |
| 1984 | Elite | David Braben, Ian Bell | Space trading and combat |
| 1994 | Super Metroid | Nintendo | Exploration action |
| 1998 | StarCraft | Blizzard Entertainment | Real-time strategy |
| 1998 | Half-Life | Valve | First-person shooter |
| 2001 | Halo: Combat Evolved | Bungie | First-person shooter |
| 2007 | Mass Effect | BioWare | Action RPG |
| 2008 | Dead Space | EA Redwood Shores | Survival horror |
| 2012 | FTL: Faster Than Light | Subset Games | Roguelike strategy |
| 2019 | Outer Wilds | Mobius Digital | Exploration adventure |
1–2. Space Invaders and Elite: The Start of Arcades and 3D Space
Space Invaders (1978)
Space Invaders, released by Taito in Japanese arcades in July 1978, is a game where you shoot rows of descending aliens with a cannon that moves left and right. It's regarded as the work that first established endless gameplay and the framework of the "fixed shooter" genre.
Designer Tomohiro Nishikado drew inspiration from sci-fi works such as the novel The War of the Worlds, the anime Space Battleship Yamato, and the film Star Wars. To use what was then new microprocessor technology, he had to build the hardware and development tools himself. The game's success became a catalyst for the growth of the entire arcade industry.
Elite (1984)
Elite is a space trading game created by David Braben and Ian Bell and released for the BBC Micro computer in September 1984. With no fixed storyline, you travel between star systems in a single ship, trading, fighting pirates, and raising your combat rating with the goal of becoming "Elite."
It was one of the earliest home computer games to use wireframe 3D graphics with hidden-line removal, and thanks to its open-ended structure it's considered the starting point of the "space sandbox" genre. It was ported to almost every home computer of the time.
3. Super Metroid: Sci-Fi Action Built on Exploration
The Metroid series is Nintendo's action series in which bounty hunter Samus Aran explores alien planets. The first game came out on the Famicom (NES) in 1986, and Super Metroid, released on the Super Famicom in 1994, greatly expanded the formula with new abilities, an automap, and a deeper story.
The structure of gaining abilities that open previously inaccessible paths, then revisiting areas you've already passed to find secrets, created the subgenre known as "Metroidvania," together with 1997's Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Samus is also known as one of the early iconic female protagonists in gaming history.
4–5. The Two Giants of 1998: StarCraft and Half-Life
StarCraft (1998)
Blizzard Entertainment's StarCraft is a real-time strategy game in which three races — the Terrans (humans), Zerg, and Protoss — battle in the Koprulu Sector on the fringe of the galaxy in the 25th century. It was highly praised for its balanced design, even though the three races' units and playstyles are completely different.
In South Korea in particular, its multiplayer became hugely popular, giving rise to a culture of sponsored professional players and teams competing in televised tournaments. It's always mentioned when people talk about the origins of today's esports.
Half-Life (1998)
Half-Life, Valve's first game, is a first-person shooter in which theoretical physicist Gordon Freeman escapes the Black Mesa Research Facility after an experiment accident floods it with alien creatures. Sci-fi writer Marc Laidlaw handled the story.
Its approach of not breaking the story with cutscenes, letting players follow the narrative through scripted scenes without ever losing control, was hugely influential. It won more than 50 PC "Game of the Year" awards, and standalone games like Counter-Strike were born from fan-made mods.
6–7. Halo and Mass Effect: Space Epics of the Console Era
Halo: Combat Evolved (2001)
Halo, developed by Bungie and released by Microsoft for the Xbox on November 15, 2001, is set in the 26th century and follows the augmented soldier Master Chief, alongside the AI Cortana, as he fights the alien alliance known as the Covenant. The secret of "Halo," a ring-shaped artificial world, is at the heart of the story.
It started as a real-time strategy game, changed to a third-person and then a first-person shooter, and ended up as an Xbox launch title. It's credited with setting the standard for first-person shooters that play comfortably on a console controller, and it sold more than 6 million copies worldwide.
Mass Effect (2007)
BioWare's Mass Effect is a sci-fi action RPG released in 2007 as an Xbox 360 exclusive. As Commander Shepard, the player confronts the "Reapers," an ancient race of machines threatening the galaxy.
It introduced the "Dialogue Wheel," which lets you pick conversation options from a circular menu, and it was widely loved for a trilogy structure in which earlier choices carry over into later games. Its richly detailed setting, with many alien races and their histories and politics, is especially praised.
8. Dead Space: Horror Aboard a Spaceship
Dead Space, released by EA Redwood Shores in 2008, is a survival horror game in which engineer Isaac Clarke tries to survive aboard a mining ship overrun by creatures called "Necromorphs." Creator Glen Schofield drew inspiration from Resident Evil 4 and the films Event Horizon and Solaris.
Its core rule was "strategic dismemberment," where you have to cut off limbs rather than aim for the head to bring enemies down, and it boosted immersion by displaying information like health and ammo on the protagonist's gear rather than as an on-screen overlay. Its active use of the silence and sound of space for horror is also frequently mentioned.
9–10. FTL and Outer Wilds: New Universes Opened by Indies
FTL: Faster Than Light (2012)
FTL, from the two-person indie team Subset Games, is a roguelike in which you must cross eight sectors in a single ship while being chased by a rebel fleet. Positioning crew, distributing power, and managing weapons and shields happen in real time with the ability to pause. If your ship is destroyed, you start over from the beginning.
It raised 20 times its goal on Kickstarter and is considered a landmark success story for video game crowdfunding. After its September 2012 release, it created the trend of "spaceship management roguelikes."
Outer Wilds (2019)
Outer Wilds, developed by Mobius Digital and published by Annapurna Interactive, is about exploring a small solar system where the sun explodes every 22 minutes and everything resets. Repeating the time loop, the player investigates the ruins of the vanished alien race, the "Nomai," to uncover the cause of the loop.
It began as director Alex Beachum's master's thesis project, then grew into a commercial game after winning the Seumas McNally Grand Prize and the design award at the 2015 Independent Games Festival. What sets it apart is that you progress not through new equipment or abilities but solely through "knowledge you've gained."
Why Space and Sci-Fi Games Stay Beloved
Put these 10 games side by side and some common threads emerge.
- The rules are the setting. As with Spacewar!'s gravity or Outer Wilds' 22-minute time loop, the sci-fi premise becomes the game's rules themselves.
- They were stages for testing new technology. From Elite's 3D graphics to Half-Life's scripted sequences and Dead Space's display approach, sci-fi has been a great backdrop for trying new forms of expression.
- Small teams can build big universes. Elite and FTL, each made by two people, and Outer Wilds, which began as a graduate project, are examples.
If you want to enjoy sci-fi settings in short mobile games, Keke Studio's sci-fi tower defense GRID DEFENSE: GRID WAR and RICOSHOT: Golf Puzzle, a 3D golf puzzle where you bounce a ball toward the hole in sci-fi spaces, are also worth a look.
