Space Engineers 2 is an open world sandbox game set in the reaches of space within the Almagest System. Read our review of its early-access build to see what it did well, what it didn't do well, and if it's worth buying.
Everything We Know About Space Engineers 2
Space Engineers 2 Story Plot
As of writing, this Early Access version of Space Engineers 2 has no semblance of a plot as the story campaign mode is still under development and will come at a later date. However, Creative Mode is open for players to explore and get creative with. Become a pioneer space engineer in the distant Almagest system, a wholly new and uncharted world that serves as your canvas for creativity and discovery.
Space Engineers 2 Gameplay
As an open world sandbox game, the vastness of space is yours for the taking. Build anything you can possibly imagine with its variety of building blocks, as well as a new 25cm Unified Grid System with blueprint tools such as the snap-to-grid, paint tool, partial copy and paste and more that make creating much more streamlined. There are even powerful building tools that let you fix in the finer details of your spaceship or space station build, like the voxel hand, symmetry tools, and line or plane building, as well as a whole grid undo and redo for flexibility.
The game’s developers stated that the second installment will take everything they’ve learned from the first and reimagine it with a lot more depth and creative freedom. With that said, Space Engineers 2 will receive updates for improved mechanics, interface refinements, and multiplayer for the budding engineers out there, as well as a single-player campaign for adventure seekers.
Space Engineers 2 Release Date
Released on January 28th, 2025, Space Engineers 2 is now available to be purchased in Early Access on Steam for $29.99 USD. As an Early Access title, it is still in development.
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| $29.99 |
Space Engineers 2 Review [Early Access]
A Promising Gem, But Too Soon
I personally enjoy sandbox crafting games, and building houses and structures and whatnot to my heart’s content (or well, at least until my resources are depleted). While I’m not as creatively gifted as others, creating buildings and making it look nice somehow always gives me a sense of accomplishment. Creating and managing a space station in the vast expanses of space with virtually no limits sounded intriguing, and Space Engineers 2 looked like it fit the bill. Space Engineers 2 looks promising, and for sure will give longtime fans and newer fans an upgraded gameplay experience with all its new content…in the future. However, at its current state, it’s only giving the bare minimum compared to other Early Access games.
Enjoyable, But Limited Creative Mode
At this Early Access release, you are only able to hop into Creative Mode. Choose between further expanding on the Concordia Research Facility, or start off with completely nothing and build your way up from scratch. You can then begin creating your structures with the blocks in your handy-dandy toolbar, or open the Blocks menu to access more types of blocks such as stairs, walls, and even devices like the Antenna.
The building tools are great to use as well, which go hand in hand with the new 25cm Unified Grid System. In other creative sandbox games or crafting modes, some blocks and pieces sometimes just don’t fit together or won’t snap together the way you want it to be. More experienced players would even glitch together or use a type of trick just to put the said building pieces together.
Space Engineers 2 eliminates those frustrations with its new grid system, where blocks will fit in seamlessly together and even let players get into the finer details, making it much much easier to create intricate builds and structures. Even the patterns on these blocks will go on together perfectly, as if they’re cut from the same cloth. Controls are now refined for more precision in rotating objects and zooming in, ensuring that they fit where you imagined it to be on. Taking customization up a notch, you can also paint block by block to really color it the way you want, which is nice.
Besides building your space station, you can even build your own spaceship! Customize your ship just the way you like, dotted with Ion Thrusters to feel like you’re speeding along or make it as massive and wide as humanly possible. But if you’re not too tech-savvy with creating spaceships from little bits and pieces, the Concordia Research Facility has got you covered. Fly around and explore the expanse with any of the four ships available, either mining down little floating asteroids with your giant miner drills, or just chilling and basking in the sun. I had a lot of fun ramming the ships into each other—after all, as the store page says, "Creation and destruction never felt this good."
Despite all those fun upgrades though, it still feels like a glorified tech demo more than anything. However, keep in mind that this is the Alpha build—not even the Beta, and is but a tiny glimpse of what’s to come in the future, and such is quite barebones. Most of its building blocks and features are still locked behind development, thus making the Early Access build feel very empty.
Visuals Are Stunning
One thing it evidently did amazing though, is its graphics. The visuals are gorgeous, and the realism is striking. Even the most minute of details are rendered well, and look stunning even at lower graphics settings. Higher graphic settings may be able to fully make use of the game’s ray-tracing capabilities and further bring the realism up front.
May Be Intimidating For Newcomers
With Creative Mode being the only available game mode to play, newcomers might find it difficult to start if they haven’t previously played the first title. Once you boot up the game in Creative Mode, it just plops you right at the center of the space station (or the nothingness of space, if you decided to try and build from scratch) and…that’s it. No tutorial, no guide, no nothing. While there is a Help option in the menu, it doesn’t really give much guidance as to how to begin, making for a completely confusing start.
You’re free to explore the menu and the options once you find them (I accidentally found more of the building blocks by pressing I, as I thought it would bring out my inventory or such), but once you see them, they still don’t explain what they actually do. What are these reactors for? Why do they have terminals? Are these armor blocks the main foundation base? So many questions, but for them to make sense, you’d need to look up a guide to help you out.
If you’re coming from the first Space Engineers, it definitely has more complex building controls compared to its predecessor, but everything still feels familiar and right at home. Newbies, however, will have a difficult time adjusting to everything.
Still A Little Buggy
Of course, with the game still at its infancy, it’s bound to have some sort of bugs and glitches, as well as some optimization issues. While the visuals are amazing and of high quality, and the game performs really well for most of it, I did encounter some clipping issues, phasing through walls and getting stuck, unable to interact with anything. Nothing a quick restart wouldn’t fix but hopefully it would get patched out as more updates are released.
Unlimited Potential, Just Not There Yet
Space Engineers 2 looks superbly promising, with a detailed roadmap full of exciting content that’s soon to be added, as well as having constant communication and updates from the developers to make sure that everything is working as intended.
However, in its current state, it’s unfinished and not for everyone to enjoy, especially not for those who may not have had experience with the series. I would definitely recommend it to those well-versed with the game’s mechanics already, or have had similar experiences with other games, but as for me, I’ll be shelving this game a little while longer to wait for more of its content updates to arrive, and pick up the first Space Engineers first.
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Space Engineers 2 Product Information
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| Title | SPACE ENGINEERS 2 |
|---|---|
| Release Date | January 28, 2025 (Early Access) |
| Developer | Keen Software House |
| Publisher | Keen Software House |
| Supported Platforms | PC (Steam) |
| Genre | Action, Indie, Simulation, Strategy |
| Number of Players | 1-3 |
| ESRB Rating | RP |
| Official Website | Space Engineer 2 Website |
