Moonbase Alpha is a NASA-funded simulation from 2010 where you repair a lunar outpost after a meteorite strike. Solo play works offline. The tasks are methodical: fix the oxygen, restore power, manage your time before the base fails. It is not a polished commercial game and it was never trying to be. What it is, though, is a functional free sandbox that runs offline without complaint and offers something genuinely different from every other entry on this list. I ran it on a mid-spec laptop with no issues. Game quality is modest, but for curious sandbox players who want something that costs nothing and works without Wi-Fi, it earns its spot at the bottom of this ten.

Overview
About Moonbase Alpha
NASA has once again landed on the lunar surface with the goal of colonization, research, and further exploration. Your goal in Moonbase Alpha is to restore oxygen to the colony established on the moon by repairing mechanisms along the oxygen supply after a devastating meteor impact.
Story setup
NASA has once again landed on the lunar surface with the goal of colonization, research, and further exploration. Shortly after the return to the Moon, NASA has established a small outpost on the south pole of the moon called Moonbase Alpha. Utilizing solar energy and regolith processing, the moonbase has become self-sufficient and plans for further expansion are underway.
In Moonbase Alpha, you assume the exciting role of an astronaut working to further human expansion and research. Returning from a research expedition, you witness a meteorite impact that cripples the life support capability of the settlement. With precious minutes ticking away, you and your team must repair and replace equipment in order to restore the oxygen production to the settlement.
Team coordination along with the proper use and allocation of your available resources (player controlled robots, rovers, repair tools, etc.) are key to your overall success. There are several ways in which you can successfully restore the life support system of the lunar base, but since you are scored on the time spent to complete the task, you have to work effectively as a team, learn from decisions made in previous gaming sessions, and make intelligence decisions in order to top the leaderboards.
Reference
At a glance
- Released
- July 6, 2010
- Platforms
- PC
- Genres
- Simulation, Sports, Strategy, Adventure, Indie, Action
- Play modes
- Single Player, Multiplayer, Co-op, Online Multiplayer, LAN Multiplayer
- Age rating
- ESRB E
- Time to beat
- 1 hours
- Multiplayer
- By platform
Media
Screenshots
Click any screenshot to view it full size.
Playtime
How long to beat
Player-reported completion times for Moonbase Alpha.
- Typical
- 1hoursStory plus some extras
Playing together
Multiplayer by platform
How Moonbase Alpha supports playing with other people, broken down per platform.
| Platform | Local | Online | LAN | Split-screen | Co-op campaign | Drop-in/out |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PC | No | Yes, up to 6 players | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
- Supported (a number is the player cap)
- Not supported
- Not documented for this platform
Content
Age ratings
How rating boards around the world have classified Moonbase Alpha. Open a board for its content descriptors.
ESRBE
Also in our guides
Often listed alongside Moonbase Alpha
Titles that appear in the same guides on this site. Grouped by where they show up, not by recommendation.
Coverage
Featured in our articles
This game appears in 1 article on this site.
#10
Game data and imagery provided by IGDB.com
