Astroneer is a single-player and multiplayer sandbox survival game. Set in the 25th century during an age of interplanetary exploration, the game casts the player as an astronaut exploring distant worlds. With limited tools and resources, the player’s goal is to survive, gather materials, and establish bases while uncovering the secrets of the solar system. There is no fixed narrative path, but the exploration of alien planets, the discovery of ancient structures, and the pursuit of new technologies provide a loose framework for progression.

Gameplay revolves around harvesting resources and shaping the environment. Using the Terrain Tool, players can dig, deform, and collect soil and minerals directly from the ground. These materials fuel crafting, research, and construction. Oxygen and power are vital survival mechanics: the astronaut must remain tethered to oxygen sources or portable supplies, while all devices and vehicles require power management through generators, solar panels, or batteries. There is no dialogue system or morality component, and no hostile NPC enemies.

The crafting system enables players to create workstations, vehicles, and modular base structures. Printers allow raw resources to be refined into larger equipment, while crafting recipes dictate how new tools and modules are assembled. As the player gathers rarer materials and researches alien artifacts, increasingly complex machines and base systems can be built. Vehicles such as rovers and shuttles expand mobility, enabling exploration of caves, mountains, and other planets.

Progression is tied to exploration and research. Scattered artifacts and alien technology can be analyzed in research chambers, unlocking new crafting blueprints. Players must balance time between mining resources, powering bases, and traveling to new planets, each of which has distinct biomes, hazards, and materials. Survival depends on managing these demands efficiently, as environmental dangers such as storms, suffocation, or falling debris threaten progress.

The multiplayer mode allows several players to share the same world, combining efforts to build bases or explore. The modular construction system supports experimentation, letting players customize the layout and appearance of their installations. Environmental shaping can also be used for functional purposes, such as building ramps for rovers, or purely for aesthetic designs.