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AETHUS on Steam
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Explore a vast underground world to mine and craft hundreds of items while building up your modular Outpost on the surface, to prospect for gems, refine resources and farm hydroponic crops in this top-down sci-fi survival-crafter where the story always provides a reason to dig deeper.
AETHUS is a survival, base building and story rich game
developed and published by Pawsmonaut Games.
Released on March 06th 2026 is available on Windows, Steam Deck and Steam Machine.
It has received 2,057 reviews of which 1,934 were positive and 123 were negative resulting in a rating of 9.0 out of 10. 😎
The game is currently priced at 13.99€ on Steam with a 30% discount.
The Steam community has classified AETHUS into these genres:
Survival
Base Building
Story Rich
Crafting
Mining
Exploration
Narrative
Sci-fi
Building
Sandbox
Female Protagonist
Resource Management
Top-Down
Action-Adventure
Adventure
Space
Automation
Singleplayer
Open World Survival Craft
Strategy
Here is the detailed breakdown of supported languages for AETHUS:
| UI | Subtitle | Audio | |
|---|---|---|---|
| English |
Media & Screenshots
Get an in-depth look at AETHUS through various videos and screenshots.
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System requirements
These are the minimum specifications needed to play the game. For the best experience, we recommend that you verify them.
Windows
- OS: Windows 10
- Processor: Quad-core Intel or AMD 2.5 GHz or superior.
- Memory: 8 GB RAM
- Graphics: AMD RX-6000 series or newer / Intel® Arc™ A-Series Graphics Cards or newer / NVIDIA RTX-2000 series or newer.
- DirectX: Version 11
- Storage: 4 GB available space
- Additional Notes: Try the free demo to judge performance if you're unsure! Progress carries over to the full game.
Steam Price & Best Deals
User reviews & Ratings
Explore reviews from Steam users sharing their experiences and what they love about the game.
So I'm in my early 50's and know just how hard it is to find a good game. Aethus is better than a good game, it's an absolute cracker. Enthralling to the end, I couldn't wish more luck to the sole dev behind the game. If you enjoy mining, building, terraforming and talking drones then this is probably a really good game for you to check out. Well, I'm dropping in for a quick edit. I now have almost 500 hours in Aethus and have done 4 complete runs of the game, the latest purely to build. I've noticed a few comments stating that this is not a builders game and that is untrue. The trick with Aethus is to complete the game and open all of the buildables and take a real good look at all of them. This game contains some of the most interesting build pieces I've ever seen. Not the moduable buildings. The rock pieces. The gems and meteorite. Have a good look and see what you have available to build with. Swing them about a bit, maybe turn the snap lock off for a look and as usual use your imagination.
Sometimes you're just in the mood for a nice, laid back game that you can chill and relax in, and actually complete without spending an ungodly amount of time on it. Aethus ticked all those boxes for me. Aethus is a story-driven base building, crafting, and adventure game. The core gameplay involves mining minerals, using those minerals to build up your base, and then crafting things in your base which let you explore to greater depths. All of this is driven very nicely by the story. Aethus can be compared very favorably to Subnautica. Aethus has a much more involved plot though, which is welcome. Aethus also doesn't have the fear factor or monsters of Subnautica. There are no enemies in this game to kill you. You can still die, but the threats are all environmental. One of the things I enjoyed most about Aethus was the plot and the voice acting. It was really, really well done. It's also very slow-paced, in a good way. Characters have conversations and get to know each other. They tell jokes to each other. It's not all, "Meave! Your next mission objective it to go do XYZ!" The plot takes its time. The voice actors take their time. This just makes the game relaxing and fun to play. The game also doesn't lead you by the nose, which I enjoyed. The plot definitely tells you what you should be working on next... but there is no huge arrow guiding you for you to literally follow to the objective like so many games do nowadays. The game just tells you where you should go. It's up to you to explore and get there how you want to get there. Or... don't get there. Explore elsewhere and mine resources to build your base some more. In terms of criticisms, there honestly are not many. This was a fun game. In terms of pacing, I think the middle section of the game slowed down a bit, and started to get a bit monotonous. I pushed through it though, and then it picked up and got interesting again. The only other part that I occasionally had issues with was navigation. By mid-late game you have discovered quite a few different areas of the game... but then the plot will tell you to go do something at location "Tau". Well... which one was Tau again? It can be easy to get confused. This is a slight quibble though. At a regular retail price of $20.00, this game is worth the money. I completed it in just a bit over 30 hours.
I wanted to leave this more as a message to the devs than anything else. I’m the kind of player that usually comes to games like this because I want to explore. Let me run around, gather materials, punch trees, pick up stones, build something, and get lost in that loop for a while. That’s the game I enjoy. That’s the itch I’m always trying to scratch. Full transparency, I’m also a little biased here. I spent years working with some amazing people from the UK, Scotland, and Ireland, and something about Aethus hit me on a level I really wasn’t expecting. It had a personality and a feel to it that pulled me in way more than I thought it would. Usually, a game like this is something I’d follow, maybe take a chance on, maybe even finish, and then never think to write a review for. But this one made me want to stop and say something. No, this isn’t some massive AAA, next-gen graphical showcase, and honestly that didn’t matter to me. What mattered was that it was genuinely fun. It had charm. It had heart. It felt like something made by someone who cared about what they were making, and as a player, that comes through. So to the team: the work you put into this mattered. It landed (to me). It connected. And I just wanted to make sure you heard that. I had a genuinely good time with this game, and I hope you get the chance to make another one.
Hell yes, I recommend it. You, random Steam reader, might see these tags and think "oh, another buildy-crafty-grindy-don't die" small game....and shrug, and move on. There's a lot of those. I get it. They can be dull, mechanical and samey. But hear me out: this isn't one of them. It really, really isn't. It's BETTER, especially if you crave an interesting and tangled storyline. The thing is: AETHUS may start out feeling a little overly familiar, but that feeling fades as your story and the story of the world upon which you find yourself opens up, bit by bit. As you explore and progress, crafting and mining become less THE mechanics of the game and more the means to an end, because what compels you to do either of those things - what pushes you forward - is a story, and Aethus does a great job with that. I can only think of one other survival game that drew me in this much, and that's The Long Dark. It's a very different game than Aethus, to be fair, but both games made me care. They made me curious. (I also love No Man's Sky but I do not consider the story its strong point.) A forgotten overgrown path, faintly illuminated, but one buib stands out, flickering, When i saw that, I stared for a moment and smiled at the difference that made to the atmosphere. 1-2-3-4. I laughed when I came across this, given the point in the game in which you encounter it. The world's worst password, in a place where ridiculous passwords would have been an especially terrible idea. Hubris is a word that you will hear in this game, and 1234 is the perfect password for hubris. If anything, the demo - while I appreciate it - barely scratches the surface of what the game really is, and what lies ahead. (Give it a chance all the same.) The bottom line: Aethus punches above its weight class and the craziest part is one developer and a very small team made it happen - no AI, no bollocks. He's a former AAA dev? I believe it, and I mean it as a compliment, because it has elements of what I once expected from a good AAA title, where the story still mattered, where the details still mattered, where people THOUGHT about how things looked, how they sounded, with intelligent scripts and thoughtful progression. AETHUS has heart, and it was clearly built with integrity - from the solid voice acting and atmospheric light and sound effects to a subtle but perfect soundtrack, thoughtful story and attention to detail. I played on standard, and felt it was generally balanced and comfortable. There will be a learning curve perhaps in the deeper areas until you get the lay of the land but it will come quickly. Remember that the game also has numerous settings from changing how you mine (click vs hold) to difficulty settings if you get in a bind, and you also unlock various items that allow you to improve how you mine/filter different materials to make the time inside the base, and outside of it, more efficient. The critiques, as I do have a few: If I were to assign a weak point, it's the camera: Definitely something that took getting used to and even later in game could be a bit frustrating (almost got me killed once, haha), though I hesitate to go into details because I don't want to risk spoilers...I'll just say that sometimes I would prefer that we be able to scroll out a LITTLE farther, and see from a LITTLE higher, than we currently can do in more...unstable regions where we need to...make relevant connections? Sometimes rocks would take over my entire field of vision. I couldn't confirm things I needed to confirm. Let's put it that way. (Sidenote: if ever possible, it would be great if we can see our O2 and heat/rad status even when building in said unstable regions, even if it was a simple bar graph in the corner while building underground?) Linux/Bazzite specific: I had no play issues and only noted two quirks, which may or may not have been rectified at the time of you reading this review: 1) If you try the demo first, it is possible that the demo will not automatically transfer your save over to the full version of the game. I solved this by just moving that save file into the full version's saves folder. 2)I encountered some issues with the two cinematic cutscenes black-screening, with only the "skip" visible. I chose to just view them directly from the files in the game contents folder. Having finished the story, I'm now going to just relax and play with the base for awhile. Thank you, Pawsmonaut, for making a damn good game, in a damned good way.
Just finished the game and am not disappointed in the ending. This game is a great story-driven survival crafting game with a well balanced gameplay loop. There is s a bit of grind as with all survival/crafting games, but this is really well balanced and the dev has put a lot of thought into the huge amount of quality of life features. The story was engaging, exploration rewarding in the reveals, and managing the environmental hazards was challenging at times without being overbearing (no enemies to shoot here, just a hostile environment). I'm really impressed this was from a solo dev, straight to release, no AI generated slop content with great performance and clearly decent QA testing. The few remaining bugs were stamped on by this solo dev very soon after release with a hotfix schedule that shames pretty much every larger studio out there and shows true dedication to the craft. Would recommend for anyone looking for a chilled, well-crafted story driven experience.
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Frequently Asked Questions
AETHUS is currently priced at 13.99€ on Steam.
Yes, AETHUS is currently available at a 30% discount. You can purchase it for 13.99€ on Steam.
Yes, AETHUS received 1,934 positive votes out of a total of 2,057 achieving a rating of 8.96.
😎
AETHUS was developed and published by Pawsmonaut Games.
Yes, AETHUS is playable and fully supported on Windows.
No, AETHUS is not playable on MacOS.
No, AETHUS is not playable on Linux.
Yes, AETHUS is playable on Steam Deck, though it might require a few minor tweaks. Make sure to check the Steam store page and community feedback on ProtonDB for exact compatibility details.
Yes, AETHUS is playable and fully supported on Steam Machine.
No, AETHUS does not support VR.
AETHUS is a single-player game.
Yes, there are 2 DLCs available for AETHUS. Explore additional content available for AETHUS on Steam.
No, AETHUS does not support mods via Steam Workshop.
No, AETHUS does not support Steam Remote Play.
Yes, AETHUS is enabled for Steam Family Sharing. This means you can share the game with authorized users from your Steam Library, allowing them to play it on their own accounts. For more details on how the feature works, you can read the original Steam Family Sharing announcement or visit the Steam Family Sharing user guide and FAQ page.
You can find solutions or submit a support ticket by visiting the Steam Support page for AETHUS.
Data sources
The information presented on this page is sourced from reliable APIs to ensure accuracy and relevance. We utilize the Steam API to gather data on game details, including titles, descriptions, prices, and user reviews. This allows us to provide you with the most up-to-date information directly from the Steam platform.
Additionally, we incorporate data from the SteamSpy API, which offers insights into game sales and player statistics. This helps us present a comprehensive view of each game's popularity and performance within the gaming community.
Last Updates| Steam data | 26 October 2026 00:16 UTC |
|---|---|
| SteamSpy data | 23 October 2026 03:46 UTC |
| Steam price | 26 October 2026 19:17 UTC |
| Steam reviews | 20 October 2026 09:49 UTC |
If you'd like to dive deeper into the details about AETHUS, we invite you to check out a few dedicated websites that offer extensive information and insights. These platforms provide valuable data, analysis, and user-generated reports to enhance your understanding of the game and its performance.
- SteamDB - A comprehensive database of everything on Steam about AETHUS
- SteamCharts - Analysis of AETHUS concurrent players on Steam
- ProtonDB - Crowdsourced reports on Linux and Steam Deck AETHUS compatibility
Game modes
Features
Online players
48
Developer
Pawsmonaut Games
Publisher
Pawsmonaut Games
Release
06 Mar 2026
Platforms
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