Best Science Games on Steam
Games involving scientific ideas, research, experiments, discovery, or education.
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1Portal 2 - The "Perpetual Testing Initiative" has been expanded to allow you to design co-op puzzles for you and your friends!
Apr 18, 2011
In this game, you can…
- hit a chapter title that literally says "this is the part where he kills you" as the game turns it into a set-piece
- bounce across chambers with repulsion gel, build insane speed with propulsion gel, then paint walls to make new portal surfaces
- play co-op where each robot has its own portal gun, and your solution can break the bridge your partner is standing on
- wake up from long-term stasis, get guided by a friendly AI, and then have the main villain come back online
- use portals to redirect lasers, light bridges, and tractor beams through moving machinery to power your way forward
- chain portals to fling yourself over pits, launch cubes onto buttons, and keep extending the same trick into bigger gaps
- replay co-op stages for least time and least portals, racing friends as they knock you off the leaderboard
- drop into community-made test chambers and keep getting brand-new puzzles long after the story ends
2Portal - Portal™ is a new single player game from Valve. Set in the mysterious Aperture Science Laboratories, Portal has been called one of the most innovative new games on the horizon and will offer gamers hours of unique gameplay.
Oct 10, 2007
In this game, you can…
- fall into a portal to build speed, then explode out the other across impossible gaps.
- watch a simple cube become a lifesaver when it blocks a deadly energy ball for you.
- solve fights without shooting by redirecting enemies and danger through portals and props.
- place a blue portal and an orange portal to make an instant entrance and exit.
- use portals to turn a drop into a slingshot, launch onto a ledge, grab a cube midair, and land on a button before a hazard triggers.
- hear an AI narrate and taunt you the whole time, like the facility is watching and lying.
- tip over a turret that looked terrifying and it just collapses and stops.
- rip pieces off the final boss, carry each one to an incinerator, and repeat the cycle three times to finish it.
3Kerbal Space Program - In Kerbal Space Program, take charge of the space program for the alien race known as the Kerbals. You have access to an array of parts to assemble fully-functional spacecraft that flies (or doesn’t) based on realistic aerodynamic and orbital physics.
Apr 27, 2015
In this game, you can…
- spot a tiny gray dot in the sky, zoom out, and discover there's an entire star system to explore.
- dock engines onto an orbiting space station to turn it into a ship, then fly it to a gas giant and tour its moons.
- build and fly totally different vehicles from the same parts: rockets, planes, rovers, shuttles, and even boats.
- build a rocket, reach orbit, then realize you have to learn moon navigation next.
- turn a stranded moon mission into learning docking, then snowball into landing on another planet and returning.
- send ten separate rescue planes to the same crash site, then finally pull off a pickup after hours of attempts.
- build a relay network of satellites, run experiments from orbital stations, and mine resources from a moon base.
- land on the moon with your kid after they hit the separation buttons, turning the mission into a hands-on moon lesson.
4The Outlast Trials - Red Barrels invites you to experience mind-numbing terror, this time with friends. Whether you go through the trials alone or in teams, if you survive long enough and complete the therapy, Murkoff will happily let you leave… but will you be the same?
Mar 5, 2024
In this game, you can…
- get hit with hallucinogenic chemicals and start seeing a skeleton in a black suit while you're still being hunted.
- run twisted objectives like destroying evidence, electrocuting the snitch, refueling generators, and hauling boxes through hostile maps.
- roam a shared hub between trials, decorate your room, and challenge people to chess or arm wrestling.
- hide in lockers or trash bins, hold your breath, and wait out patrols.
- inspect doors for wire traps, then sprint for another exit mid-chase when the one you picked is rigged.
- wear night-vision goggles that run on batteries, then hunt for a recharge while the lights go out.
- revive teammates through chaos, with one person repeatedly pulling the whole run back from collapse.
- bring different tools to heal, see through walls, blind enemies, stun them, or pop locks so the team can improvise roles.
5SPORE™ - Be the architect of your own universe with Spore, an exciting single-player adventure. From Single Cell to Galactic God, evolve your creature in a universe of your own creations.
Dec 19, 2008
In this game, you can…
- start as a microscopic cell, eat your way bigger, and end up running a spacefaring empire.
- design a species from scratch, then watch those body choices change what you can do in every later stage.
- spend days befriending the Grox, succeed, and trigger a galaxy-wide dogpile because everyone else wants you dead.
- try to befriend another creature by dancing, get laughed at, and decide to make it extinct instead.
- build a tribe, craft tools, equip weapons and instruments, and either conquer neighbors or win them over socially.
- take over a planet in vehicles, pushing conquest through military, economy, religion, and trade.
- reach space and get an explorable galaxy of star systems where you can trade, conquer, and hunt for artifacts.
- create your own missions and custom adventures with an in-game editor and play them like mini campaigns.
6Abiotic Factor - Abiotic Factor is a survival crafting experience for 1-6 players set in the depths of an underground research facility. Caught between paranormal containment failure, a military crusade, and chaos from a dozen realms, the world’s greatest minds must survive against the universe’s biggest threats.
Jul 22, 2025
In this game, you can…
- step through portal equipment and end up in completely different worlds hidden inside the facility.
- plug your crafting stations into the facility's power grid, then deal with your whole base going dark when the building shuts down at night.
- poop in a bag, forget the toilet, and cook it into soup.
- start as a scientist scavenging your way out of a collapsing underground research facility.
- turn pens into ammo and build weapons and armor out of office supplies.
- build a base almost anywhere, like turning a break room into a shelter with filing cabinet barricades and a full kitchen.
- move your entire base across the facility using handcarts, forklifts, SUVs, trams, ropes, and teleporters.
- raise skills by doing them, like sneaking near enemies to train stealth or carrying heavy loads to build strength.
- eat radioactive alien meat to fix hunger, then become a hazard to your friends unless you wear a rad suit that slows you down and makes you thirstier.
7The Talos Principle - The Talos Principle is a first-person puzzle game in the tradition of philosophical science fiction. Made by Croteam and written by Tom Jubert (FTL, The Swapper) and Jonas Kyratzes (The Sea Will Claim Everything).
Dec 11, 2014
In this game, you can…
- record your actions, then work alongside your replayed past self in real time to solve puzzles one body couldn't.
- scan real QR codes you find on walls with your phone and read messages left behind in the world.
- carry objects out of their puzzle areas and combine them across levels to uncover hidden stars and secret rewards.
- wake in ancient ruins run by futuristic machines, while a god-voice in the sky orders you through trials and bans the tower.
- make a second you, then coordinate switch holds and item handoffs across time to finish a room in sequence.
- reach secret areas by deliberately breaking level assumptions, using the environment in ways the intended solution doesn't require.
- sneak past turrets, drones, and roaming mines by blocking lasers and jamming devices instead of fighting.
- ignore a hard room, explore elsewhere for sigils, then come back later and finish it with new insight or tools.
- answer personal questions at computer terminals until the puzzle game turns into an interrogation about whether you're human.
8Universe Sandbox - Create & destroy on an unimaginable scale with a realistic physics-based space simulator. Explore the beauty of our universe and the fragility of our planet. Use science to bend the laws of gravity, collide planets, boil away oceans, fire epic space lasers, and customize your universe.
Aug 24, 2015
In this game, you can…
- turn Earth into a star, crash it into the Sun, and erase the solar system in two days.
- place two black holes on opposite sides of Earth and watch them fight over it, then feed your custom solar system to the winner.
- turn Pluto into a world-eater, shred Jupiter into orbiting fragments, then ram the result into the Sun until it becomes a nebula.
- throw extra moons into Earth's orbit so they collide, explode into debris, and the fragments finish the planet off.
- make a banana as heavy as the Sun, then use it to blow up Earth on repeat.
- build a solar system from scratch, add moons and rings, then watch everything reshape itself under gravity in real time.
- remove all CO2 from Earth to trigger a full snowball planet, then warm it back up by shooting the Moon into it.
- crank a star's mass until it collapses, then watch it explode into a supernova you can observe step by step.
9STEINS;GATE - Developed by 5pb. and Nitroplus, STEINS;GATE was awarded Famitsu magazine's coveted annual Game of Excellence award and was voted one of the most emotionally charged “tear-inducing games” ever made, in a Famitsu poll. It is a gripping and moving Visual Novel, which has already spawned manga and anime adaptations.
Sep 8, 2016
In this game, you can…
- send mail through a hacked microwave to change the past.
- steer the story by answering or ignoring calls and texts instead of picking from a choice menu.
- load saves and tweak tiny phone interactions to chase alternate endings like you're running causality experiments.
- reply to an email subject and quietly lock yourself into a different route without realizing it.
- read detailed time-travel science and conspiracy threads until the logic starts feeling dangerously plausible.
- start with goofy lab hangouts, then watch your gadget tests spiral into conspiracies and world-line disasters.
- reach alternate endings that diverge from the anime even if you think you already know the whole story.
- live inside the protagonist's inner monologue as his mad-scientist act collapses under real fear and loss.
10Timberborn - Humans are long gone. In a world struck by droughts and toxic waste, will your lumberpunk beavers do any better? A sandbox city-building game featuring ingenious animals, vertical architecture, water physics, and terraforming. Contains high amounts of wood.
Mar 12, 2026
In this game, you can…
- build a dam so high you flood half the map and most of your village.
- dig canals and blast new channels with explosives to create artificial lakes that carry you through week-long droughts.
- replace most of your workforce with robot beavers that run factories and mines 24/7.
- build dams that turn droughts into a non-issue.
- stack buildings into a vertical city that can box itself in until you can't even place roads.
- reroute a river and watch your power die, your farms drown, and the overflow hit your colony from a different direction.
- start a new district that can starve while your main city is overflowing with supplies one tile away.
