Goofy builder-crafter Space for Sale is about developing 'prime real estate on unexplored worlds'

Space for Sale - Early Access Trailer - YouTube Space for Sale - Early Access Trailer - YouTube
Watch On

A new indie will send you to space to explore new worlds and then plop down little housing developments on them. Space for Sale is a humorous take on the survival crafting base builder from developer Mirage Game Studios. Your job is to explore and develop little worlds, either solo or in two-player cooperative mode, by figuring out where the resources are, what's the best home site to work on, and which of the locals are dangerous.

The dangerous locals are what provide friction for your little comedic adventure in space real estate. Some of the plants explode, weird little monkeys steal from you, or significantly worse, but you have to deal with it because your job is to hunt down useful resource sites to make into amenities—whether that's a mine for raw materials, an algae-skimming device for food, or a hot spring for a water park.

Mirage Game Studios previously made Little Big Workshop, a game where you grow a small garage manufacturing business into a full-on fabrication factory-for-hire. That was published by HandyGames, but Mirage is self-publishing Space for Sale.

The developers note that the current early access release is a bit limited on breadth of stuff to do, focusing instead on the core gameplay. "Throughout the Early Access period we expect to add a lot of content; such as planets, biomes, creatures, projects and new clients. Beyond that, we also expect to improve the game balance and polish the game in general," they said.

The short demo, out now, establishes the very basics of how Space for Sale works. You get plopped down on a planet, establish a few little settlement centers, and bring in your first colonists. From there you have to find resources to exploit with development sites, all the while scanning the local flora and fauna for bonuses and rare crafting bits. It's a bit slow but I found it charming enough—the weird aliens that move into your residences especially so.

One of the little tenants promised to kill me last when its species conquers the galaxy. "You are a good realtor," it says. Thanks buddy! I think!

You can find Space for Sale on Steam for $20, though it's 20% off until August 13. The developers intend for it to stay in Early Access for at least six months. 

Contributor

Jon Bolding is a games writer and critic with an extensive background in strategy games. When he's not on his PC, he can be found playing every tabletop game under the sun.

Read more
An asteroid mining operation
Exploit asteroids for resources using automated mining equipment as they hurtle through your space-claim in Astronomics
Obenseuer
This brutalist life sim gave me a free tenement block to renovate, but my mushroom addiction kept getting in the way
Old school spaceships shoot at each other in Approaching Infinity
Here's a quirky little space sim crossed with traditional roguelike
A spacecraft flying near the sun in Elite: Dangerous
Elite Dangerous just implemented an entire system colonisation mechanic, in case you really want to get off this planet
doctors treat plague-stricken peasants in the medieval-ish city-builder Nested Lands
Nested Lands is a 'brutal' survival city-builder about guiding villagers through a plague-infested world, and you can play its open alpha right now
One of Repo's player characters, resembling a yellow pedal bin with googly eyes, encounters a skeletal, open mouthed face with glowing yellow eyes.
An $8 cooperative horror game is rocketing up Steam's top sellers list: 'Never occurred to me Lethal Company was missing physics until I played this'
Latest in Survival & Crafting
An April Fool's Day Palworld game concept about dating Pals
From Palworld movies to Palworld TV shows: 'Everyone under the sun pitched us every idea you can imagine,' says Pocketpair's communications director
Pacific Drive Endless Expeditions spring 2025 update trailer still - a sexy, tricked-out 1980s station wagon being blasted with magic healing electricity
Pacific Drive developers change their mind: A year after refusing to give it mid-run saves, it's getting mid-run saves
minecraft diamond level sword
Minecraft's never going free-to-play because as it stands it's 'the best deal in the world'
New shaders in Minecraft following Minecraft Live 2025
In the year of our lord 2025, Mojang is finally adding shaders to Minecraft, making reflective lighting and water effects more accessible for all
A dried ghast, a ghastling, and a friendly ghast all smiling
The latest Minecraft Live uncovered the tragic truth of the Nether's most bothersome mob, which has unlocked new levels of guilt
Three mobs in their regional forms in Minecraft Spring to Life update
Minecraft Spring to Life update: everything you need to know about the newest drop
Latest in News
A female Zoi making two hearts with her fingers.
Following 24 hours of Denuvo-based backlash, Inzoi is taking a surprising step and removing it entirely: 'We want to sincerely apologise for not aligning more closely with player expectations'
Assassin's Creed Shadows promo image
Ubisoft scores a legendary ratio against Elon Musk on his own platform—which hopefully marks a final end to all the Assassin's Creed Shadows' culture war nonsense
Tzarina Katarin Bokha, the Ice Queen of Kislev
Total War: Warhammer 3 rolls out a cool Kislev overhaul, changes befitting Tzeench’s magic, new projectile units and creakier skeletal horses
An image of a golden first place award from Geoguessr
'We're actually getting GeoGuessr on Steam before GTA 6': the Google Street View puzzler arrives on Valve's platform this April
Napster client circa 1999
Former music-pirating platform Napster to be reborn rather ironically as a metaverse for musicians to connect with their fans after $207 million deal
The snazzy red and black HyperX Cloud Alpha wireless headphones float in a teal void. The microphone is attached to the headset.
The best wireless gaming headset is now even better in the Amazon Big Spring Sale, boasting a more than $50 discount