Well, if you liked Mass Effect, you should check KOTOR 1, 2 and TOR.

Next, Star Citizen will give planets some real attention:

But it will also have lots of combat. Both in space and fps.

Elite Dangerous promised landing on planets and getting out of the ship, but might not be so detailed.

No man's sky will all about alien planets

Thanks Goomitch!

Yeah, I know about No Man's Sky (though if they are really going to deliver remains to be seen), and KOTOR, but indeed I have yet to play them, very well reminded! I had read a lot about Star Citizen but had not seen footage of the planet side, I though it would be mostly about space combat, so it's very good to know!

However, all that is very recent or yet to be released. Aren't there any classics that fit the description for me to check out?!

If you want a good planets exploration game, i'll suggest you "Starbound" ---> playstarbound.com/  :haha:

If you want a good planets exploration game, i'll suggest you "Starbound" ---> playstarbound.com/  :haha:

Indeed Starbound fits the bill, JohnS! I had forgotten about it.

Any other suggestions? Games where visitable planets have civilizations, buildings and people seems rarer too, especially where free roaming is available.

You might want to try Star Trek Online.  If your expectations are low enough, it's a pretty great game, but you should prepare for your senses to be bombarded with ridiculous vanity items.

Frankly, the idea of being able to freely travel between planets as well as explore their surfaces has been a pipe dream for a long, long time, and even now it hasn't really come to fruition yet.  I'm not sure there's much on the horizon either, I don't exactly get the impression there will be much to do on the surface in either Elite or Star Citizen, when those games have first person implemented.  I'm a lot more cynical about No Man's Sky than either of those, most of what we hear and see makes it sound like it will be a pretty cool tech demo, but nothing I've heard about the actual gameplay makes it sound encouraging, and of course they've shown absolutely nothing meaningful.

I also recently bought Parkan 2 on Steam because it was absurdly cheap.  Haven't loaded it yet, but reviews seem to indicate it's nothing too great.

Wow, looking back on that post it seems incredibly pessimistic... I don't know, play STO, it's cool and it's free.

However, I find that most (or none?) of the space games actually give planets their due attention. The most I see is what Freelancer (I used to hang out in certain sectors because I loved the look of the planet's surface), ASCII Sector, Vega Strike, and some others do, which is the star port of each planet or station, where you can buy stuff and get new jobs at the bar. You see, if that is different and has a different feel in every place, I already get much happier. However, I loved Mass Effect because of it's lack of space combat in exchange for LOADS of planet terrain and cities to be explored, with people you could talk to, from different places and races, with their own cultures and background. THAT is what floats my boat. Maybe I'm more of a "space opera" kind of guy, I don't really care for labels, but the fact is I don't see games like that around. 

As in more Space adventure games than the normal space trading or combat games?.

Precursors, plenty of Bug and unfinished, can be bought on GamerGate and check the thread about it here http://spacesimcentral.com/ssc/forum/29-the-precursors/

Theirs a few older games from the early 90s like MegaTraveller 1&2, Planets Edge and Sentinel Worlds also that "Perry Rhodan" game but it is a Point & click adventure game also The last dynasty which has a myst like game added to it.

Just thought of a couple of others, Bat 1&2 look for the CD version of bat 2 as it adds some features not found in the disk versions also Captain Blood and it's bonkers sequel Commander Blood.

I'm following this project:

http://planetexplorers.pathea.net/

it is on steam on early access so their are developing it but seems very interesting...anyone is playing with it?

No man's sky seems to be the best!

I'm following this project:

 

http://planetexplorers.pathea.net/

 

it is on steam on early access so their are developing it but seems very interesting...anyone is playing with it?

 

No man's sky seems to be the best!

Remember seeing the Kickstart for it but I think it is just set on one planet.

No Man's Sky is a game with a Wow effect, it would be superb if brought to PC :haha:

A space exploration program (which is free without limitations) would be Space Engine, it's not a game because it doesn't contain missions or combat, but the last versions have implemented some space ships to travel around and land on planets which you can explore.

I haven't gone much through it yet (currently I'm focusing on Ad Astra to refine my reflexes, Starpoint Gemini 2 and X-Rebirth), but I know it's a huge galaxy where celestial bodies are generated by the engine, also very detailed for ground textures. Give it a try.

XenonS

Hi, I only just joined but I too am on the quest for such games. 

I am currently playing a rouge like called Prospector, its like ASCII Sector but slightly better in terms of that rewarding feeling you get when you find a planet that has some abandoned ruins or other weird structure on it that you can enter and explore

There is another game like it called Approaching Infinity  that is a lot more polished in terms of game production but it lacks the hard Sci-fi elements that I like in Prospector, namely really looking at a planets read outs before you land on it to see if the atmosphere is going to be too to corrosive for your low suit to handle or if there are just too many pools of liquid ammonia to make it do-able to explore. It also has a great range of planets, including those with breathable atmosphere and alien trees / bushes / grasses that you can scan and sell the data for at a space station. 

The other thing I like about Prospector that is lacking in Approaching Infinity is that you can talk to any intelligent life forms you come across and not just shoot everything you see. Also the wildlife is interestingly varied and sometimes hostile / sometimes not. That gives it a much more realistic feel to the planets I think. Plus the planets are always evolving and sometimes earth quakes, meteor strikes or lava from volcano can stop you returning to your ship. Another cool concept is if you have launched a satellite before landing then you can remote pilot the ship to land at a new are you can get too (can also shoot the ships weapons remotely at the horde of killer aliens that are chasing you!) 

anyway I hope more people can come up with suggestions and add them here 🙂

I know it's an old thread but wanted to add some of my own opinions to this.

Empyrion - Galactic Survival : Game starts you off on a planet where you need to survive. Late game allows you to build ships, leave the planet and explore a solar system. They plan to do more than one system.

The game has many feature, I have spent a long time playing it. Very impressed so far.

Some other mentions:

Spore

Evochron Legacy

Rodina