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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Space Engineers 2 Review [Early Access]
A Promising Gem, But Too Soon
I personally enjoy sandbox crafting games, 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 them look nice somehow always gives me a sense of accomplishment.
Similarly, 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. It 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, in its current state, there's not much to do, and it’s only giving the bare minimum compared to other Early Access games.
At this Early Access release, players are only able to hop into Creative Mode. You can choose between further expanding the pre-built Concordia Research Facility map, or starting off with completely nothing and building your way up from scratch in empty space. You can then begin creating your space station structures or spaceships 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.
Enjoyable, But Limited Creative Mode
Space Engineers 2’s Creative Mode is the Early Access’ core highlight. The building tools are great to use, working hand in hand with the new 25cm Unified Grid System, which is customizable to a T. Smaller-sized blocks will snap on seamlessly onto larger ones, letting you combine them anywhere and in any orientation, unlike other creative sandbox games or crafting modes where some blocks and pieces sometimes just don’t fit together or won’t snap together the way you want them to. More experienced players in the previous game would usually glitch them together to make them perfectly—in Space Engineers 2, there’s no need for those special tricks anymore.
Space Engineers 2 eliminates those frustrations with the new grid system, where blocks fit seamlessly together, making it much, much easier to create intricate builds and structures. Even the patterns on these blocks will align themselves perfectly, as if they’re cut from the same cloth. Controls are also now refined for more precision in rotating objects and zooming in, ensuring that they fit where you imagined them to be. Taking customization up a notch, you can also paint each block individually to really color it the way you want, which is nice. The system also kept some features from the previous title, such as line and wall building, copy and pasting built structures, and the ability to attach pasted blueprints onto existing grids or structures.
Besides building your space station, you can even build your own spaceship! You can even customize your ship just the way you like, whether you want to dot it with Ion Thrusters to speed you along or make it as massive and wide as humanly possible.
But if you’re not too tech-savvy with creating spaceships from technically scratch, the Concordia Research Facility has got you covered. If you’re interested in manning your own intergalactic vehicle, there are several spaceships readily available on the Concordia space station, ranging from small rock miners to a huge red ship right on the station for you to test out…or destroy.
And whenever you’re not crafting or building, you can fly around and freely explore the expanse of space, either mining down little floating asteroids with your giant miner drills or just chilling and basking in the sun. Personally, I had a lot of fun ramming ships into each other—after all, as the store page says, "Creation and destruction never felt this good."
Despite all these fun upgrades and features though, it still feels like a glorified tech demo more than anything. There is only one mode available to play, and all you can really do in its Creative Mode is build, build, and build some more. However, keep in mind that this is an Alpha build—not even a Beta—and is but a tiny glimpse of what’s to come in the future, so it’s 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 amazingly, though, was its graphics. The visuals are gorgeous, and the realism is striking. Even the most minute details are rendered well and look stunning even at lower graphics settings. Zooming into the blocks on the space station or the spaceship reveal intricate detail, from the grooves to the lining of the wires.
Higher graphics settings may be able to fully utilize the game’s ray-tracing capabilities and further bring the realism up front.
Lacks A Tutorial For Newcomers
With Creative Mode being the only available game mode, newcomers might find it difficult to start if they haven’t previously played the first title. Once you boot up the game, it just plops you down 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 on how to begin, making for a completely confusing start.
You’re free to explore the menu and the options once you find them, but even when you encounter something new, don’t expect any explanations to appear. For instance, pressing "I" will show you a library of building items that you’re free to mix and match at your leisure, but none of them explain what is what, where it can possibly be used for—nothing at all. What are these reactors for? Why do they have terminals? Are these armor blocks the main foundation? So many questions, but to make sense of them, you’d need to look up a guide to help you out.
But if you’re coming from the first Space Engineers, despite its features allowing for more complex building controls compared to its predecessor, everything will still feel familiar and right at home.
Still A Little Buggy
Of course, with the game still in its infancy, it’s bound to have some bugs, glitches, and 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, such as phasing through walls and getting stuck whilst becoming unable to interact with anything. Nothing a quick restart wouldn’t fix, but hopefully, it gets 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 constant communication and updates from the developers to make sure that everything is working as intended.
However, in its current state, it’s certainly not for everyone to enjoy, especially 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 those who have had similar experiences with other games, but as for me, I’ll be shelving this game for a little while longer to wait for more of its content updates to arrive and will pick up the first Space Engineers, instead.
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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 |
