Moonbase Alpha's appeal is restoring a lunar base's life support under pressure after a meteor strike. If dividing tasks and coordinating with others sounds right for you, weigh $0.00 at Steam against a session for up to six players; single-player is also listed. English is the stated interface language, so factor that into your choice.The 90% positive rating across 12,869 reviews can help put $0.00 at Steam in context.
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90%Steam Reviews12.9K reviews
Released: Jul 6, 2010
Space · Simulation · Free to Play · Multiplayer · Online Co-Op
Steam·Platform:Steam·United States Steam official priceFreeBuy now
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Price History
Past 36 months · Updated daily
Historical Low~ $0.002023-09Current Low Across Stores~ $0.00SteamAt its historical low now
Prices cover Steam and 39 authorized stores; only legitimate offers are counted. The chart shows weekly market-wide lows and Steam's official price across the past 36 months.
01About Moonbase Alpha
After a meteor strike disables a lunar outpost's life support, you take the role of an astronaut repairing equipment and restoring oxygen production. Use robots, rovers and tools wisely: time pressure and coordination shape this rescue mission.Single-player and multiplayer modes are listed for the Steam Windows version.The description specifies co-op teams of up to six over LAN or the internet.Listed interface language: English.Player rating: 90% from 12,869 reviews.
Credits
Developer
Virtual Heroes · Army Game Studio
Publisher
NASA
Steam player reviews
90%positiveVery Positive12,869 Steam reviews
Lowest recorded in 36 months
$0.002023-09-04 · SSteamBase game · same records as the chart above; USD history, not a regional Steam low.
Language support
Language
Interface
Subtitles
Audio
English
Yes
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Steam PC edition data · 2026-10-16
02Before you buy
Play modes
The Steam Windows version lists single-player and multiplayer, including co-op. Its description specifies teams of up to six over LAN or the internet.
Language
English is the listed supported interface language. Controller support and full-audio details are not provided.
03Frequently asked questions
What is the objective?
After a meteor strike damages the base's life support, astronauts must repair equipment and restore oxygen production.
Are there different solutions and maps?
Yes. The description mentions multiple ways to succeed and several maps for teams of different sizes.
How is success scored?
Completion time contributes to the score, and successful scores can appear on leaderboards.
Popular Steam reviews
Native-language selection · 10 reviews
Selected helpful reviews in this language show both recommendations and criticisms. This selection does not represent the overall positive rating; opinions reflect the version reviewed.
RecommendedSteam player
>Opens steam
>Nothing to do
>Moonbase Alpha
>Gets friends in skype call
>Playing game
>Repairing lunar equipment only so that we don't die
>Spamming aeiou
>And sometimes y
>NASA makes better games than EAShow moreShow less
1.2 hours at review1,367 people found this helpful
Not recommendedSteam player
admit it, you downloaded this purely because of the text-to-speech gimmickShow moreShow less
0.7 hours at review152 people found this helpful
RecommendedSteam player
NASA games= Better than EAShow moreShow less
15.5 hours at review493 people found this helpful
Not recommendedSteam player
2014.12.07
NASA should have taken more content from the 1974 tv series Moonbase alpha (MA).
The game was released on July 6, 2010, as a free download on Steam. (http://store.steampowered.com/app/39000/)
It was supposed to be a tech demo/simulation to test ideas to be used in Astronaut: Moon, Mars and Beyond, NASA's massively multiplayer online game (successfully kickstarter funded August-October 11, 2011 where they were looking forward to a matching government tax credit matching all donations up to $700,000 with an additional 500K. But that is a different mia issue.)
With a mixed reception, MA is an exercise in text to speech functionality and repetitive gameplay where one to six people try to shorten the time it takes to accomplish the repair O2 mission. One person can do it in 30 - 40 min, the curent record time is like 6 min (likely he had five other people helping get that time.)
No obvious way to submit bug reports in this four year old game: hacking of audio files to intentionally irritate fellows on the map, intentionally obstructing completing the mission with no way to kick the person besides a password protected instance, and mouse click that subdues the game to task bar...
Not sure what NASA/Army Game Studio has been doing on this for the last four years (the Unreal 3 engine MA uses came out in 2004. UE4 came out 2012) but they have not really put effort into updating this MA exercise.
As a free game and only 1.1GB install, it is a fun passtime, you can even compete against another team for fastest completion time... sabotuers not withstanding!
141211
There are ALOT of problems they REFUSE to address much less correct:
hackers can insert code disrupting the game or irritating fellow players, often the game forces to task bar on mouse click, wasting time especially in timed matches getting the game back to full display, they REFUSE to allow bug reports indicating they have no intrest in problems four years after they released the game.
Apparently Moonbase alpha was just a proof of concept to get money (kickstarter + govt matching funds) for the "astronaut" mmo (e.g. they have abandoned that game's web page http://www.astronautmmo.com/) even though they got almost twice the $ pledged they were goaled for... THREE years later still no actual Astronaut mmo released. They took the $ and ran. "Astronaut: Moon, Mars and Beyond™, the official NASA MMO video game depicts the year 2035, with realistic environments and missions! "
this has been an ongoing scam since befor 2009 when it was titled Starlight: the NASA themed MMO http://www.stumbleupon.com/to/s/1TRruMShow moreShow less
45.1 hours at review52 people found this helpful
RecommendedSteam player
Tried playing the game seriously, got called a Lesbian
10/10Show moreShow less
3.4 hours at review396 people found this helpful
Not recommendedSteam player
I thought there was cheese here. There is no cheese. I am dissapoint.Show moreShow less
5.9 hours at review50 people found this helpful
RecommendedSteam player
An immersive and challenging simulation of life on a lunar outpost.
9/10
aieouShow moreShow less
1 hours at review387 people found this helpful
Not recommendedSteam player
A game in which you have more fun with the chat system, than the game mechanics.Show moreShow less
7.7 hours at review18 people found this helpful
RecommendedSteam player
My experience with this game involved a troll running around unplugging everything because as he said, "The pipes need to be FREE!"Show moreShow less
20 hours at review349 people found this helpful
Not recommendedSteam player
Cant run people over with the moon roverShow moreShow less
0.1 hours at review17 people found this helpful
Source: original Steam user reviews. Helpful votes are an archived snapshot, not live data. Last collected: 08/15/2026.
Steam against a session for up to six players; single-player is also listed. English is the stated interface language, so factor that into your choice. The 90% positive rating across 12,869 reviews can help put $0.00 at