It was written by Roger Keating and Ian Trout of SSG of Australia and published in 1983 for the Commodore 64 and then the Apple II in 1985.

The player commands a home star in the galaxy, and then expands to form an interstellar empire by colonizing far-off worlds, building powerful starships, and researching new technologies.

Graphics are minimal, yet the tactical and strategic elements provide countless rich combinations for colony development and interstellar warfare.

In the development phase, players work on planetary production, deciding what each planet will produce that turn.

In the movement phase, players have the option to send ships to other star systems to explore, colonize, or conquer.

[1] Computer Gaming World in 1983 found Reach for the Stars quite user-friendly and enjoyable, with the single flaw of a lack of notification of natural disasters, which could not fit onto the disk space available.

in 1986 called the game "a particularly fine simulation of galactic exploration, combat, and conquest", noting that players needed to balance several different priorities to succeed.

[3] The Macworld 1988 Game Hall of Fame named Reach for the Stars runner-up to Trust & Betrayal: The Legacy of Siboot in the Best Role-Playing Game category, calling it a "well-implemented" scenario of economic empire building in outer space.

[16] A series of books was written in 2018 by the game company Greentwip, called Interstellar, Anatomy and The Garlan Wars.

This happened after Greentwip's founder got deep into the story and proposed to give a better and linear approach to all the species that the game aims to deliver to the player, in order to become a better "pure Sci-Fi" experience.