a game that gives you an actual incentive to explore without ruining the satisfaction of finding a great place to settle and make it your base of operations.
you don't really have any reason to create a home base on games like starbound, and while Elite: Dangerous has an enormous galaxy to explore, there's nothing really out there for you except pretty sights.
if there was a game focusing on exploration that had like... i don't know, procedurally generated lore or something like that, that would probably be my game of the year. something new and exciting to see at every world you visit, whether it be an amazing view, some resources, or a great building opportunity. see, if starbound had something that required or encouraged players to start building outposts and bases on planets, that would make the game so much better. but as of right now, you can literally fit everything you would ever need right on your spaceship and only exploit planets for their resources to... better your ship... to go visit more planets which you can mine stuff up on or find cool loot? i mean, what's the point of exploration if the places you're exploring aren't really special?
