Screenshots & trailers
Review sentiment over time
Weekly positive-review rate (green) and review volume (bars). Dashed lines mark significant patches; the amber line is the start of the current scoring window. Hover the dots to see what drove a dip or a jump.
How this score was computed
The VGC Score is a weighted blend on a press-comparable 0-100 quality scale. Steam approval rates are first calibrated (95% positive on Steam ≈ 89.5 quality, since Steam approval skews high). Press and tracked creator reviews each count ~2x a player review and share one cap against player evidence (creator buy/skip calls pool into an approval rate, calibrated like Steam approval); all-time sentiment is capped and halved (it's context, not verdict); reviews of the current build carry the most weight when a fresh patch anchors the window; and a 'typical game' prior keeps small samples from pegging the scale. Because press reviews and Metacritic user aggregates describe the launch build, their weight decays as the game ages (3-year half-life after a 1-year grace). That's how a game that launched rough can outgrow its old reception once updates win players over. Reviews under 2h playtime (the refund window), non-Steam activations, and free copies are downweighted.
| Component | Positive | Quality (0-100) | Weight (pseudo-reviews) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Press reviews (OpenCritic) | – | 82 | 17 |
| All-time Steam reviews | 84% | 78 | 1000 |
| Metacritic user ratings | – | – | 0 |
| Post-patch Steam reviews (trust-weighted) | 80% | 74 | 3000 |
| Calibration prior (typical game) | – | 72 | 50 |
Scoring window: since the last significant patch (Apr 3, 2024) · 300 reviews sampled · 3031 total reviews in window · weighted 193.7 up / 66.4 down · computed 2h ago · full methodology →
Press & Creators reviews (14)
Individual verdicts from outlets we track: scored reviews first, most trusted outlets first among them. The small badge is each outlet's trust score: how well its scoring history aligns with players.
- 80
“Stranded: Alien Dawn is a very well-made survival-building strategy game that places a strong emphasis on the composition of your group of survivors, their skills, and the appropriate division of tasks. It’s clear that the game is still in development, as evidenced by some minor technical glitches. Even so, however, even in its current early access phase, it is a very well-made title that will definitely delight every fan of the genre.”
read full review ↗ - 70
“Stranded: Alien Dawn offers a rather advanced management experience that will please many fans of the genre, even if it doesn't reinvent anything. The tutorial is almost too comprehensive, but does a good job of preparing you for your game. Neophytes may find the numerous management elements a little confusing. The developers have provided sufficient content, even if the variety of the bestiary is rather limited. While the overall atmosphere is rather successful, the same cannot be said of the console gameplay, which is rather difficult. I strongly advise you to play the PC version, which is much more enjoyable.”
read full review ↗ - 85
“Stranded: Alien Dawn is an excellent game in the style of RimWorld, but with a better chosen graphic style. It's a fun survival fight with different objectives based on each scenario. Thanks to the individual settings, it is suitable for players of any maturity and skill level. It's just strange that the survivors don't need water.”
read full review ↗ - 70
“Whether being completely cut off from civilisation is a fantasy or a nightmare to you, Stranded: Alien Dawn includes everything from base building as hunter-gatherers, to rediscovering technology and eventually making a successful escape, or setting up a rugged military base. It's just a bit limited in terms of thematic variety, and needs a little more work on the console controls and UI, but constructs a compelling sci-fi take on the survival management sim genre.”
read full review ↗ - 86
“A survival colony builder that generates stories of triumph, disaster, and white-knuckle rescues.”
read full review ↗ - 100
“Stranded: Alien Dawn excels at being a game like Rimworld, but charts it own course, marks its own innovations and breaks out of the mould set by the former. I’m really glad this came to the Xbox and it’s now one of my favourite games in this genre, I can’t wait to see what happens post-launch, because this feels like Stranded has a very bright future both on PC and console.”
read full review ↗ - 80
“Stranded: Alien Dawn is a great experience for those looking to get into the Survival/Strategy genre, even if a hardcore fanbase won’t like the lack of options in crafting, character generation, and random events.”
read full review ↗ - 85
“Stranded: Alien Dawn is a well-focused survival game with choices that have meaningful and lasting impact. While it could stand to have a few more scenarios, what's on offer will keep you busy for dozens of hours, and that's just your first playthrough!”
read full review ↗ - 80
“Stranded: Alien Dawn is a good survival and strategy game. The project allows to manage a settlers team in an unexplored planet with a lot of gameplay possibility and it's pretty enjoyable even playing with a controller.”
read full review ↗ - 82
“Stranded: Alien Dawn is an enormously varied survival sim and base builder, that has been remarkably well-adapted for consoles and stuffed to the gills with content, features, and options. This is as welcoming or as hardcore a survival experience as you want it to be.”
read full review ↗ - 80
“Stranded: Alien Dawn makes one small step for man and one giant leap for survivor sims-kind.”
read full review ↗ - 85
“Stranded: Alien Dawn borrows from RimWorld and The Sims, but meshes the borrowed elements into something both unique and immensely rewarding.”
read full review ↗
Gaming Professors
Geeks & Com
SECTOR.sk
TheSixthAxis
PC Gamer
Games Xtreme
CGMagazine
GamingTrend
Spaziogames
Xbox Achievements
Impulsegamer
God is a Geek…and 2 more tracked reviews.
Patch history
- Stranded: Alien Dawn | Update 9Apr 3, 2024significant · resets scoring window
- Stranded: Alien Dawn - New Patch Now AvailableDec 14, 2023significant · resets scoring window
- Stranded: Alien Dawn - Robots and Guardians DLC and Free Update Out Now!Nov 7, 2023significant · resets scoring window
- Stranded: Alien Dawn - Free Update Deep DiveOct 30, 2023significant · resets scoring window
- Stranded: Alien Dawn - Jungle Update Out Now!Jun 29, 2023significant · resets scoring window
- Free Jungle Update Coming 29 June to Stranded: Alien DawnJun 22, 2023significant · resets scoring window
- Stranded: Alien Dawn - Patch v1.00.230505May 19, 2023significant · resets scoring window
- Stranded: Alien Dawn 1.0 Is Out NowApr 25, 2023significant · resets scoring window
- New Military Outpost Update Coming 25 April 2023Apr 13, 2023significant · resets scoring window
- Stranded: Alien Dawn - Sow and Sell Update Out Now!Mar 28, 2023significant · resets scoring window
- Sow and Sell Update Coming 28 March 2023Mar 20, 2023significant · resets scoring window
- Patch v0.40.230302 Out now - 09.03.2023Mar 9, 2023
- Tame and Train Update Out NOW!Jan 24, 2023significant · resets scoring window
- Stranded: Alien Dawn - Tame and Train Update Coming 24 January 2023Jan 17, 2023significant · resets scoring window
- Dunes and Moons Update Out NOW!Dec 1, 2022significant · resets scoring window
- Dunes and Moons Update Coming 1 December 2022Nov 24, 2022significant · resets scoring window
- Patch V0.11.221102 Out Now - 03.11.22Nov 3, 2022
- Stranded: Alien Dawn is Out Now in Early Access 🚀Oct 12, 2022significant · resets scoring window