Soft Science Fiction

The opposite of Hard science fiction when what is really meant is any science fiction without the restrictions of "hard" science.

If one were to brave the impossible challenge to devise a comprehensive overview of genres in fiction, hard sci-fi would be a subcategory of science fiction, not its opposite.

A possible way to describe it is "a story where the science is informed by the fiction." Or in simpler terms, it is Sci-Fi with Space Magic, Mumbo Jumbo and things that will rape physics from back and forth. Due to this, Soft Sci-Fi dominates the market in comparison to Hard Sci-Fi, this is not that surprising since the amount of sci-fi authors who has a degree in physics could be counted on two hands.

Settings with SSF elements

• Warhammer 40,000 is of course one of the quintessential Soft Sci-Fi, with the blatant 'Space Fantasy' genre being pasted everywhere, the very nature of the Warp, medieval style buildings, flying cathedrals and tanks that came out of World War 2. That's of course not counting the constant rape of physics and the square cube law with the very idea of Titans walking the battlefield without tripping over from their own weight.
• Star Wars is Warhammer 40k's more fantasy cousin (I know, an impressive feat on its own), filled with the Force (not counting the midichlorian bullshit from the Prequels), super death lasers that can blow up planets and its 'Once upon a time' setup for the movies which makes it like an adult fairy tail more than Sci-Fi. Further examples of Star Wars ignoring physics includes sound in vacuum, constant usage of thrusters without a care for fuel efficiency and heat management, nonsensical artificial gravity and a vast array of aliens that look conveniently humanoid. Also known for its supposedly legendary fandom rivalry with Star Trek due to them both having "Star" in the title.
• Doctor Who has the ridiculously powerful Time Lords, the constant rape of physics, its blatant ignorance of the space-time concept where space and time are one and the same and ignoring common sense logic like how an egg should NOT gain more mass when it develops. Heck the fluff even states that the Timelords erased the concept of magic from the universe itself! And that is not even getting into the nitty-gritty of narrative issues as DW conveniently ignores paradoxes or contradictions. Definitely considered as the more fantastical and noblebright (In comparison) cousin to the Xeelee Sequence.
• StarCraft being a WH40k look-a-like has plenty of physics raping space magic bullshit, what with the whole concept of psionics and the Zerg's improbable biological adaptations that even the Tyranids may find blazingly fast.
• Halo at first may seem like Hard Sci-Fi, what with the modern firearms and vehicles still being used in the 26th century, but that is just a facade since Halo is one of the most blatant franchises that has no concept of physics and juvenile science. The list includes 400 meter long ships weighing as much as air, Covenant 'plasma' not being actual plasma at all, anything from the Forerunners and the very presence of the Flood and Precursors essentially raping physics and biology in the ass at full force.
• Star Trek is an extremely egregious example. Almost all alien species conveniently look like humans in makeup and can interbreed with humans and eachother. There are 400 different types of made-up particles and radiations and space-time anomalies (Read, Bullshit) that do whatever the plot needs them to do; some make you age quickly, some shrink you, some put you in a Groundhog Day time loop. In an episode of Voyager they were able to resurrect a guy who got vaporized by an atomic bomb by using the transporter to put all of his atoms back together (atoms that were miles apart and had been floating in the atmosphere for centuries). And let's not even get to the tech which would make a physicist cry. The reason why it's so egregious than say, Star Wars, is because Star Trek tries to portray itself as Hard Sci-Fi when it clearly is not. This can make Star Trek ironically, more dishonest in its sciences, whereas Star Wars never even attempt to portray itself as scientifically accurate. For fuck's sake, this is where the term technobabble came from!
• Dune is one of the quintessential Soft Sci-Fi and is possibly the progenitor of the whole 'Space Magic' thing. No surprise since Dune was what influence the Force from Star Wars and half of the damned feudal things in 40k. We have the titular Spice melange which is the magic ingrediant that makes FTl possible, energy shields that somehow blow up with the force of a nuke when hit with a laser, giant fucking worms, psychics and the whole Navigator schlick and much, much more.
• Starship Troopers is also more on the softer side. Like Halo, don't let its militaristic story-telling fool you. Whilst it is commended that Heinlein gave birth to the whole power armour concept which is indeed on the harder end of the scale, most often than not, Starship Troopers do not really delve deep into how the Cherenkov drive works (Whilst Cherenkov radiation exist, it isn't one notable for being an FTL drive), how it generates artificial gravity on their ships, nor how the Arachnids properly operate on a biological scale. The film version makes it even worse with psychics and sound in-vacuum. To be fair, Starship Troopers do indeed showcase less physics raping examples than most.
• The Culture of Ian Banks is as soft as ice cream. Whilst not as painfully rapey as Doctor Who, it is considered as Star Trek on steroids. From A.I.s with ridiculous reaction speeds to weapons harnessing the energies found in the 'space between universes'. The Culture doesn't really give a shit about even the most elementary of scientific accuracy.