No, I've dabbled with a number of other space themed games lately and I keep returning to this one. It is not like I look forward to playing all day, and then when I do, it is just so satisfying (aka. So far, my apex character has only experienced one death he inadvertently drilled down through the top of a cavern and dropped down a shaft at the bottom into a group of monsters - totally random and laughable in hindsight. My apex character foolishly spent some of the core fragments needed for the main quest while crafting volatile powder (presumably used in bombs), and so I'm on task to explore deeper in the world to find more. In Starbound, I have two characters currently in play: a human on casual mode (for experimentation - not used all that much, sad to say), and an apex on survival mode. FWIW, I have Terraria on my wish list and may pick it up when on a much better sale (target price ~$5, because I'm cheap). I'd say the two may be very similar with exception that Starbound has a space theme (possibly more and varied environments) whereas Terraria's theme seems a bit more earthly. While I have not played Terraria, I have looked closer at that game viewed through the lens of experience with Starbound. Some items need a surface on the back plane before they can be placed on the front plane (e.g., torches for lighting). constructs meaning, when building a shelter, you can place structural sections on the near and back planes, and just walls (or holes in the wall as windows) on the back plane. The same is true for constructing new environmental.
Not being familiar with this genre of game, I didn't realize that when mining, a left-click would extract resources from the near plane, and a right-click would extract resources from the back plane. So far, the game has been fun with a mix of relaxing exploration, farming (for food and resources), and combat (again, for food, survival, and resources). I read a beginner's guide on the official Starbound wiki, and previously unfamiliar bits of the suggested strategy boosted my survive ability on. I've been playing this a bit since the original post. I understand developers continue to work on the game to add features. Reviews are mixed, but they include in-development reviews so I take them with a grain of salt now that the game has finally been released. I know these options are important for some of you. Multiplayer and mods, apparently, are options and I've not explored them. Casual mode is much easier, but I suspect will get boring. especially when not knowing the tech tree or really much about the "rules of the game". I've been trying survival mode and it is very challenging. There are three difficulty levels: casual where you do not have to eat to survive, nor does death have consequences survival mode where you have to find or produce food to eat, and there is a penalty for death and hardcore mode where you have to eat to survive and death is permanent. meaning the game is a virtual sandbox with a complex crafting system where components are harvested from planets upon which you're able to teleport down from your ship. It is more like a cross between a 2D Minecraft, Terraria, and Stardew Valley. I normally am against side-scrollers, but the game is not completely one it has a vertical (depth) element, so the world has a side scrolling surface, but also veritical scrolling depth (i.e., 2D-planar).
It seems interesting enough to start a discussion thread in case anyone else finds it interesting as well. I only have a couple hours into it thus far, and I've started numerous characters (lot of character race/species choices with which to start off). It is from the same publisher as Stardew Valley ( recently discussed in this thread), and I'm hoping the game play doesn't disappoint as I delve into it. I picked up Starbound at GoG's Goodbye 2016 Sale for sale price of US$9.99 (normally $15).