Moonbase Alpha vs The Lab
Moonbase Alpha is an open-world puzzle game from Virtual Heroes (2010) while The Lab is an FPS puzzle game from Valve (2016).
What each one is
Steam files Moonbase Alpha under Open-World and Puzzle. In contrast, it files The Lab under FPS and Puzzle.
NASA has once again landed on the lunar surface with the goal of colonization, research, and further exploration. Shortly after the return to the Moon, NASA has established a small outpost on the south pole of the moon called Moonbase Alpha.
Welcome to The Lab, a compilation of Valve’s room-scale VR experiments set in a pocket universe within Aperture Science. Fix a robot, defend a castle, adopt a mechanical dog, and more. Still not sold? It’s free!
At a glance
| Moonbase Alpha | The Lab | |
|---|---|---|
| GamingPickz Score | 7.7/10 | 7.7/10 |
| Steam rating | Very Positive (91%, 12,875) | Overwhelmingly Positive (95%, 6,671) |
| Critic aggregate | No aggregate | No aggregate |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Install size | — | — |
| Steam Deck | playable | unsupported |
| Released | 2010 | 2016 |
| Developer | Virtual Heroes | Valve |
Prices and Steam ratings are read live and move over time.
Moonbase Alpha vs The Lab, point by point
Each facet side by side. A round is marked won only where a figure settles it; feel and "which is better" carry no mark, because no number we hold decides them.
Genre and premise
Moonbase AlphaOpen-world puzzle gameThe LabFPS puzzle gameWhat each is filed as. Each game describes itself in full above; we do not judge a premise.
How it plays
Moonbase AlphaSpace, Simulation, Free to PlayThe LabFree to Play, Action, First-PersonThe tags players apply most, in order of votes. A read on feel, not a verdict.
Reception
Moonbase AlphaScore 7.7 · 91% on SteamThe LabScore 7.7 · 95% on SteamThe GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment, critics and popularity, computed the same way for every game.
Content and scale
Moonbase Alpha12,875 reviewsThe Lab6,671 reviewsReach and footprint, not quality: more reviews or a bigger install is not a better game.
Price
Moonbase AlphaFreeThe LabFreeRead live from Steam and subject to change.
On a Steam Deck
Moonbase Alpha ✓PlayableThe LabUnsupportedValve's own Deck compatibility rating.
Moonbase Alpha takes 1 of the marked rounds to 0. That is only what a number can decide, not which you will enjoy more.
The two on the grid
Compare the whole catalogueMoonbase Alpha and The Lab on the axes the GamingPickz Score is built from, on the full 0 to 100 scale so each dot is its real position. Change either axis to compare them on any measure.
2 games have both
Players. The share of Steam reviews marked positive, pulled toward the catalogue average in proportion to how few reviews stand behind it. A game with 200 reviews moves a long way toward the average; one with 200,000 barely moves at all. Without this a title sitting at 100 percent on nine reviews outranks Half-Life 2 at 98 percent on 278,000.
Popularity. A blend of two things that are not the same. Audience is how many people wrote a Steam review, which is a floor on how many played it. Reach is how many language editions of Wikipedia document the game, which is cultural footprint rather than sales. A game can score high on one and low on the other: a huge free-to-play title has audience without reach, and a landmark console exclusive has reach without a Steam audience at all. Where both exist they are averaged; where only one does, that one carries it.
- PC
Every point links to that game's entry. The value map and the reception map are fixed views of the same data.
How positions are decided
No paid placement, no favouritism, live third-party data
- Placed by the published method, not by us. Every coordinate is computed from the axis definitions and weights printed on this site. Nobody moves a point. See the axes.
- Nothing here is paid for. No sponsored placements, no promoted slots, no arrangement of any kind affects a position. If that ever changes it will be labelled and sit outside the ranking.
- No favouritism, including our own. The 16 games we have written full reviews of are scored by exactly the same formula as the other 1,510, from the same third-party inputs, and they land where it puts them. Our own opinion of a game does not enter its coordinates.
- A position is not an endorsement. It says how a game was received and what it costs, not that we recommend it. Where we do recommend something, it carries a written review with a name on it.
- Fetched from live third-party data. Player sentiment from Steam, critic aggregates as published on store pages, prices checked hourly, attention from Wikipedia. Each figure carries its source and the date it was read, and we do not adjust any of them.
Which to pick, by what you want
- Better on a Steam Deck: Moonbase Alpha (playable)
What they have in common
Both are tagged by Steam players with:
SimulationFree to PlayMultiplayerFunnyMemesStrategyAdventureSandbox
Where they differ
SpaceOnline Co-OpOpen WorldWalking SimulatorCo-opRealistic
VRActionCasualFamily FriendlySci-fiFPS
Tags players apply to one game and not the other.
Difficulty and who each is for
By the tags players apply, Moonbase Alpha is middle-of-the-road on difficulty. The Lab is relaxed, easy to pick up.
System requirements, side by side
| Moonbase Alpha | The Lab | |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum GPU | — | NVIDIA GeForce® GTX 970 |
| Minimum CPU | — | Intel® i5-4590, AMD FX 8350 equivalent |
| Minimum RAM | — | 4 GB |
| Install size | — | — |
Can your PC run them? Check each against your own kit: Moonbase Alpha · The Lab.
Accessibility features
Steam store pages declare 0 accessibility features for Moonbase Alpha and 0 for The Lab. A declaration is a floor, not a review.
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Common questions
How different are Moonbase Alpha and The Lab in scope?
Moonbase Alpha has drawn 12,875 Steam reviews. The Lab has drawn 6,671 Steam reviews.
Is Moonbase Alpha or The Lab better?
By the GamingPickz Score, Moonbase Alpha rates higher (7.7 to 7.7). That is a composite of player sentiment, the critic aggregate and popularity, not our taste. "Better" also depends on price, length and platform, which the table above lays out.
Which is cheaper, Moonbase Alpha or The Lab?
Moonbase Alpha is cheaper right now at Free, against Free. Prices move, so this is read live from Steam and can change.
Do you rank one above the other for a fee?
No. Neither game, nor anyone else, pays for placement or a verdict here. The order and every figure come out of the same public data the rest of the site uses.
Related comparisons
How we compare, and what we will not do
The GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment (adjusted for sample size), the critic aggregate and popularity, computed by the same code every ranked list on this site uses. The Steam rating label is Valve's own, reconstructed from the positive percentage and review count. Prices are read live. We do not write an opinion of which game is "better": we report the numbers and say which wins each measurable question above.