Steam users have another free game to claim this September. Space Menace is currently available completely free to keep, giving PC players a chance to permanently add the sci-fi strategy game to their libraries without spending anything.
The promotion runs until September 23, 2026. Normally priced at $6.99, Space Menace becomes permanently tied to your Steam account once claimed.
You also don’t need to download or install the game immediately. Simply adding it to your Steam library before the deadline is enough to keep it.
What Is Space Menace?
Released in November 2022, Space Menace is a 2D top-down science-fiction strategy game developed by Only4Gamers.
Players begin their journey as a space captain with just a single ship. From there, the objective is to gradually build a larger and more capable fleet while exploring space, gathering resources and completing different missions.
Rather than controlling enormous armies from the beginning, Space Menace focuses heavily on gradually expanding your operation.
Players can take on freelance missions to earn resources and improve their fleet. Ships can also be customized with different equipment and loadouts, allowing players to experiment with how they approach battles.
The game combines several systems, including:
- Fleet building and management
- Tactical space battles
- Resource gathering
- Freelance missions
- Ship upgrades and customization
- Different equipment and weapon loadouts
- Seven Steam achievements
It’s a relatively small strategy game, but there is enough here for players interested in fleet management and space combat to experiment with.
The Developer Has Released More Games Since
Space Menace was the first Steam release from Only4Gamers, arriving back in 2022.
The developer didn’t stop there.
Space Menace 2 followed in 2025, expanding the series with another space-focused strategy experience. More recently, Only4Gamers released AstroDig in 2026.
These are still relatively small releases compared with the massive games that dominate Steam’s front page. Making the original Space Menace free could therefore introduce considerably more players to the developer’s work.
And when the normal entry price temporarily drops from $6.99 to absolutely nothing, there isn’t much of a barrier left.
Steam Reviews Are Mixed
There is one important thing to keep in mind before jumping into Space Menace.
The game’s Steam reviews currently sit at Mixed.
While its fleet-building, resource management and customization systems have attracted players, some reviews criticize the game for becoming repetitive after progressing far enough.
Once players have established a powerful fleet and become familiar with the core gameplay loop, the amount of variety can reportedly begin to feel limited.
That doesn’t necessarily make it a bad game, especially considering the current price of zero dollars. However, anyone expecting an enormous strategy game capable of providing hundreds of hours of constantly changing content should keep expectations realistic.
Space Menace is a smaller game with a relatively straightforward concept.
Free Makes Space Menace Much Easier to Recommend Trying
This is exactly where Steam’s Free to Keep promotions become interesting.
You don’t have to decide whether Space Menace is worth $6.99. You don’t even have to decide whether you’re going to play it today.
Claim it before September 23 and it becomes part of your Steam library permanently.
Maybe you’ll play it immediately. Maybe you’ll install it several months from now. Either way, once the promotion ends, players who claimed the game will still own it.
For fans of sci-fi strategy games, fleet management or smaller indie projects, it’s certainly worth adding to the library while the promotion is active.
Don’t Ignore Steam’s Smaller Free to Keep Giveaways
Steam’s free game promotions aren’t always given massive front-page advertising, particularly when smaller indie titles are involved.
That makes these giveaways surprisingly easy to miss.
Space Menace isn’t a major AAA release, but a permanent free game is still a permanent free game. Even if you aren’t planning on playing it immediately, claiming it takes very little effort and gives you the option later.
Space Menace is free to keep on Steam until September 23, 2026.
Once the deadline passes, the game is expected to return to its normal paid price.
