The sheer amount of stuff you can do is staggering. In the two years since the 2D craft-’em-up’s official release - and a full five years after it first hit early access - developer Chucklefish has only added more, putting out three significant updates that have introduced beefy new features like the chance to terraform planets, to upgrade weapons, and - crucially - to go fishing. A wing that I’m planning to fill with chickens, of course.Īt launch, Starbound offered a huge web of possibilities, from humble farming to exploring the galaxy.

They love electrical wool, too, but it’s the metal chicken that’s allowed me to give my bipedal mech a better drill arm, as well as giving me the funds to buy a few bars of tungsten and add another wing to my starship.

The penguins at the spaceport pay loads for batteries, you see. Every day I teleport down to my little farm, collect all the wheat and cotton and kiwi fruits that have grown overnight, and fill my pockets with double-As. Do you want to have a look? No, seriously, she’s next to the electrical sheep, and she’s a proper money maker. I’ve got a robot chicken in the shed that parps out batteries.

Update Night is a fortnightly column in which Rich McCormick revisits games to find out whether they've been changed for better or worse.