
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.
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About

You are Maeve, ex-mining engineer for the Astral Resource Corporation - ARC - a galactic megacorp that profits by draining entire planets of their resources.
As you take on your own mining claim, you'll explore the remnants of a doomed science expedition and the abandoned facilities they've left behind as Maeve strives to build a stable life of her own, outside of ARC’s control.
Armed with nothing but her basic mining equipment, tales from her beloved grandad, and her loyal AI drone companion, can you unravel the mystery of an incredibly powerful new element and uncover the dark secrets that the corpos would rather keep buried?

Use the simple but powerful modular building system to create your own mining operations hub filled with dozens of types of refining, processing and crafting stations.
Grow plants, raise fish and prospect for gems in your cozy habitats which you can decorate with almost any item you come across.


Descend underground and use lasers, explosives, drills and more to gather hundreds of different resources from your mining claim then refine them and craft new tools for exploration.
Upgrade your suit and mining drone companion to explore deeper and further into the world.


Built from the ground-up with story at its heart, uncover a dystopian corporate conspiracy and decide how far you’re willing to go for the truth.
Story is not an afterthought in AETHUS - there's always new narrative to drive you forward.



Looking for a laid-back exploration experience? Maybe a hardcore survival challenge? Want to mix and match?...
Use the available Game Modifiers to set up your perfect game settings, then adjust them at any time while playing.



AETHUS was created by Pawsmonaut Games - a solo-indie developer based in Edinburgh, Scotland.
I am self-published, self-funded, and fully committed to old-fashioned ethical game development.
No use of generative AI, no early access, no microtransactions or battle passes.
This game contains effects that may make it unsuitable for people with photosensitive conditions.
Player discretion is advised.
Genres
Stats
All-time low is the lowest price we've recorded for this game since we started tracking it.
Languages: English**languages with full audio support
Engagement
Hours played at review time, across 48 reviews with recorded playtime.
Reviews
Themes across 48 recent reviews and how positive each mention is. A keyword signal, not full sentiment analysis.
positive critical· bar length = how often the theme comes up
Reviews
Tutorial was meh. Once completed, a cutscene started and the most heinous abomination of an atrocity attacked my eyes. The main character looked okay in the portrait and everywhere else but... that thing... it scarred me. Whoever is responsible for condoning this art style ... no that is not right... war crime. That's better. They should be ashamed. I never refunded a game faster.
Great game, looking forward to more from these guys
Fun. Chill game. Good times.
Incredible game. This isn't a genre I tend to play very often, but I got recommended and really enjoyed the experience. The plot and voice acting is incredible, and even though a lot of the quests can be distilled to collect resources, build items, use items to open new areas, it really felt like an immersive world where the progress was always exciting to experience. Looking forward to future games by Pawsmonaut!
Love it. Story is great. More like a adventure than a survival game. Slow paced, no stress. Some grinding, but later on a little automation. 9 out of 10.
A real gem. Great story. I also love how the game breaks the mold by going for real Scottish accents, which is just so unique in SciFi, but it makes the characters all the more "real". Some of the resource drops are placed where you no longer need them, and there's definitely some grind. But its flaws are easily overlooked.
I really enjoyed this one - end game was a little tedious - but what end game isn't. A+
Loved it! Took me a bit to get used to the unusual controller settings, but after that, everything went smoothly. Spent a lot of hours just listening to my audiobook with only dialog audio on, just grinding out those resources. Story reminded me a bit of how I felt while playing Subnautica, pretty deep, well thought out, but not in your face all the time interrupting the gameplay. Very well written!
Its a casual survival, base building, mining game with a rich story and increases the complexity and story right till the end without being oppressive. The game offers every part of itself as a kind of 'decide your own difficulty' which was pretty interesting. I went with the normal play through and took my time. I would warn anyone that doesn't like story or narrative elements, you know who you are skip button mashers, to avoid this game, the story requires you read some messages and listen to dialog as objectives at times as well as puzzle solve which will drive you nuts. For those that love story time and lore with their games get Aethus now.
Great little game! There are a couple of points that get a little tedious, but over all it's worth the $20 for the story alone.
Related
Related
Trends
Concurrent players on Steam, sampled daily since tracking started.
Audience
Estimated from the language of this game's reviews — a proxy for where players are, not official Steam demographics.
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