Star Atlas

Star Atlas is a space strategy and combat game built on Solana by the studio ATMTA. This page covers the crypto game; star-chart books and an astronomy app share the name. Players own ships, land and resources as tokens, and trade them in a player-run economy set in a far-future galaxy called Galia.

Star Atlas comes in three pieces. SAGE is a browser strategy game whose rules run on the blockchain. Holosim is a free version of it that needs no crypto. A 3D client, built in Unreal Engine 5, is on the Epic Games Store.

As of October 2026 the full game is still unfinished. The 3D client is in early access and the next version of SAGE is in public testing. ATMTA is also moving the game to z.ink, its own chain, which is still in testnet.

Star Atlas gameplay: how the game and its economy work

Star Atlas is a game about owning and running a fleet. You pick one of three factions, buy or earn ships, mine and craft resources, and trade them with other players. Every ship and resource is a token in your wallet, so you can sell it on the open market.

The game is set in the year 2620. Galia is split between three factions: MUD (humans), ONI (an alliance of alien races) and Ustur (androids). Each faction controls its own region of the map, and The Block's report on the 2022 DAO launch describes plans for faction-level DAOs that set taxes in their regions.

Trading runs through the Galactic Marketplace, ATMTA's on-chain market program, where ATLAS is the main currency. ATMTA also sells limited batches of ships directly at prices it sets, which it calls Open Market Operations. Ships are not cheap: when ATMTA restocked in October 2026, it listed the Armstrong IMP at about $1,680, per Aephia's newsletter #252.

SAGE Labs and SAGE C4: the on-chain strategy game

SAGE is the part of Star Atlas you can play for real stakes today. It is a browser game. Its rules and game state live in Solana programs, which are the blockchain's version of apps. You send fleets to mine, craft at starbases and scan for SDUs, a lootable resource. All you need is a normal Solana wallet and a ship.

ATMTA lists the SAGE programs on its developer hub. They include Player Profile, Cargo, Crafting and the Galactic Marketplace. Outside builders use them to make dashboards, bots and rental tools.

The next big version is called SAGE C4. Its public test realm runs on the z.ink testnet, according to Aephia's June 2026 newsletter. Phase 3 of the test began on 8 September 2026, per newsletter #247. Work still in progress that autumn includes:

• a "Democracy Module" that lets POLIS holders vote on regional fees;
• reusable ship parts sized by tier, in place of parts made for one named ship;
• a new Claim Stake screen for picking land plots on a 3D planet.

Aephia's newsletter #251 gave no date for the next test reset. Three pieces still blocked it: Claim Stake economics, starbase destruction and Council Rank.

What is Star Atlas Holosim, and is it free?

Holosim is the free way into Star Atlas. It is a browser strategy game that copies SAGE's fleet and faction gameplay with the blockchain parts removed, so you need no ships, wallet or fast PC to play. It is a test bed: ATMTA tries new SAGE features there before they reach mainnet.

Holosim entered public testing on 8 June 2025 at holosim.staratlas.com, per PlayToEarn. Season 1 followed that August. It came in chapters, with prizes for top players.

If you are curious about Star Atlas but don't want to buy anything, start here. You'll learn how fleets, mining and faction contracts work before you spend money on ships for SAGE. The limit is that Holosim progress has no market value, because nothing in it is a token.

Star Atlas UE5 client on the Epic Games Store

The Unreal Engine 5 client is the "AAA" part of Star Atlas: a 3D game with ship combat, racing and on-foot shooting. It is listed on the Epic Games Store as an early-access build. For now it is a set of separate modes, and the open world is unfinished.

ATMTA first put a pre-alpha demo on Epic in September 2022, The Block reported. That demo let players view their ships in a hangar called the Showroom. It has since grown into a set of modes on the Volant Station map: dogfights, a race track and time trials, with dozens of ships you can fly.

In October 2026 ATMTA showed a working multicrew mode. One player flies while others man the gun turrets. Multiplayer in the wider Galia world is on hold until ATMTA can sync terrain between players, per Aephia's newsletter #252.

z.ink: Star Atlas's own SVM chain

z.ink (also written Zink) is a blockchain ATMTA built to run Star Atlas. It uses the Solana Virtual Machine (SVM), so Solana wallets, tools and programs work on it, but it runs as its own network with its own validators and its own ZINK token.

ATMTA announced z.ink in August 2025 and aimed to launch mainnet that December. It pitched the chain as a home for fully on-chain game systems like Star Atlas. That date slipped. By mid-2026 z.ink was in public testnet, with a bridge to Solana and developer docs live. In October 2026 the docs list a testnet and no mainnet.

At the May 2026 town hall, CEO Michael Wagner said having SAGE C4 ready for the z.ink mainnet launch is "paramount". He described a three-to-four-month launch window once the team trusts the C4 test. He also showed a testnet ZINK claims portal. Five percent of each allocation is claimable at once and the rest vests over time.

For you as a player, this means SAGE C4 and the assets you use in it will live on a new chain. You'll need to bridge assets between Solana and z.ink.

ATLAS vs POLIS: the Star Atlas tokens and DAO

Star Atlas has two tokens with different jobs. ATLAS is the in-game money: you spend it on ships, fuel and crafting, and you earn it from play. POLIS is the governance token: you lock it to vote in the Star Atlas DAO on the game's direction and treasury.

The DAO launched in July 2022. POLIS uses a vote-escrow model. You lock tokens for up to five years, and the longer the lock, the more voting power you get, per The Block's DAO launch report.

The DAO has an elected council. Its fourth election closed in September 2026 and seated all three candidates, according to Aephia's newsletter #247. Their term runs until July 2027. Prices and liquidity for both tokens are on the token pages linked above.

Who Star Atlas suits

Star Atlas suits players who enjoy spreadsheet strategy and trading more than action, and who are happy to play an unfinished game. SAGE rewards planning fleets, reading markets and working with a faction. It is a poor fit if you want a finished space shooter, or if you can't afford to lose what you spend on ships.

The path in has three steps. Try Holosim for free. Move to SAGE with a Solana wallet and a starter ship once you understand the loop. Download the Epic client if you want to fly in 3D.

POLIS holders who want a vote in a game economy are a second audience, and developers can build on the published SAGE programs. If you are new to Solana wallets, practise with small amounts first, because a single ship can cost over a thousand dollars.

Is Star Atlas legit, or dead? Risks to weigh

Star Atlas is a real, active project, and the main risk is time. In October 2026 ATMTA was testing multicrew combat and preparing the next SAGE C4 test reset. But the full game has been in the works since 2020, and z.ink mainnet is about ten months past its December 2025 target.

The studio has had hard years. ATMTA held $16 million on FTX when the exchange failed, Decrypt reported. It got back less than half by selling its claim. In July 2023 it laid off about three-quarters of its staff.

On security, ATMTA's program security page says each program is checked in-house and "fully audited by third parties" before release. It names no auditor and links no report. Kudelski Security became Star Atlas's security auditor of record in 2022, but the deal did not list which programs it covers. The docs also don't say who can upgrade the SAGE and marketplace programs. Check that on a Solana explorer before you put in large sums.

The z.ink bridge adds its own risk. Its docs say an operator runs it: the operator locks tokens on one chain and releases them on the other, so you have to trust that operator. At the May 2026 town hall, Wagner said the team could not yet afford an outside audit of the bridge. Both tokens also trade thinly, as the token pages show, so large trades can move the price.

Star Atlas vs Star Citizen and other alternatives

Star Citizen is the bigger and more playable space game today. Star Atlas is the one where you own your assets on-chain. Star Citizen comes from Cloud Imperium Games. It has had a playable multiplayer alpha for years, and you buy its ships with regular money. Star Atlas gives you tokens you can trade and an economy run on-chain, but its 3D game is further behind.

Pick Star Atlas if you care most about the economy and owning your ships. You'll spend most of your time in SAGE's browser strategy while the 3D game catches up. Pick Star Citizen if you want to fly and explore a large world now.

On Solana, Aurory is another long-running game with its own token. If you like the idea of a chain built for games, Sonic SVM is another SVM network to compare with z.ink.

Star Atlas team and history

ATMTA has built Star Atlas since 2020. Michael Wagner is its co-founder and CEO. The game has stayed on Solana through the 2022 crash and the studio's cuts. The z.ink move keeps it on Solana's technology while moving SAGE C4 off Solana's main network.

Key dates:

• 2021: ATLAS and POLIS token sales.
• May 2022: Kudelski Security named auditor of record.
• July 2022: the DAO and a new Galactic Marketplace launch.
• September 2022: first demo on the Epic Games Store.
• 2022 to 2023: FTX losses and deep layoffs.
• June 2025: Holosim opens for public testing.
• August 2025: z.ink is announced.
• Mid-2026: z.ink public testnet, with the SAGE C4 test on it.
• September 2026: SAGE C4 test Phase 3 and a new DAO council.

For more on the thinking behind the game, our summary of Wagner's Solfate podcast interview covers on-chain game logic and the open IP model.