Review of Space Engineers (2023) 

I got this game 3 days ago and can't believe I only just found it. It's like Minecraft, Banjo kazooi and red faction all in the one massive sandbox with some insane mechanics. This game is in my top 5 of all time already👏

The "Never Surrender" scenario is a good alternative for survival since you have an end goal. And with the reavers mod is even better! But yeah the video is very accurate.

Automation is gonna probably increase what they can do later with encounters, economy, etc.

One of the best Indie Games I‘ve ever played. I‘ve bought it back in 2014 and I have now more than 4000 hours in SE. This game has endless possibilities and a ton of mods, and especially the mods are the reason for me to start SE up almost every night. I‘ve spent most of my hours in SE building rovers, small grid aircraft and Player Made Weapons. I‘m working now for other 250 Hours on my first Large Grid Ship, an Orbital Assault Ship. My Version of the NACS Indianapolis from the Novel Series Frontlines from Marko Kloos. It currently has 8000 Blocks, the main features are 24 Kinetic and 24 Nuclear Space-to-Ground Missiles, 8 Large Grid Nuclear Torpedoes, a small Landing Bay for 2 small fighters and Hybrid Propulsion.

I enjoy survival more than creative, personally. Even without many mods other than a couple QOL mods. I think since there isn't a whole lot to do in terms of story or missions, I find earning my creation is more fun than anything. I just wish it had something more to do outside of building, pretty much my only gripe with the game

Yep! I have 9,000 hours into SE and you're spot on. To truly appreciate this game you have to be someone who doesn't rely on "quests" or point to point challenges, but rather is comfortable with the sandbox environment where the player is powered by their own creativity and imagination. That said, there are multi-player servers that are simply mind boggling in scope, and offer some really great game play with what is generally an older, less toxic, more friendly community than one might find in other games.

The Game itself and the DLC often go on sale for 50% off or more sometimes too, so if you are tight on money it's good to wait for a sale, but even without sale it's not too expensive especially compared to other games with paid DLC. Definitely more fun with mods and friends

Happy 10k Subs. Keep up the good work

If I could find a group of friends to play and learn with. I would hop back into the game. It's got one of the coolest building systems with how you have to have fuel, the use of conveyor systems is really fun too.

Awesome video but I do think a touch on mods would’ve helped a lot as the mods are incredibly well put together and are very impressive. I agree on all these points though. I also listen to this games soundtrack all the time :P

A very nice review. TLDR: love the game. and I hope you will too. I agree with most of Lunar's points. For me Creative is where it's at, I have created many ships for the workshop and I love creating a universe around the ships. Don't worry if your first ships is absolute trash at everything, you are not going to be prefect right out of the gate. I have found that it takes around 1000 hours before you start to feel like you are creating good ships. In my opinion this game is better then Minecraft in it's creative side due to all the tools and the Blueprint menu. but fails in survival. This game has taken over my life in a good way. 95% of my free time goes toward creating ships and lore.

I'm very glad that your brought up the survival aspect of Space Engineers. I really like survival as a primary aspect of a game and now I know that this isn't what Space Engineers is about. Economy/trading is also something I would enjoy, which turns out to not be the focus either. The base/vehicle building and resource management of this game seems pretty nice though. Thank you for this review. ❤

I would really like an aspect of colonization in this game. The crafting and core survival aspects are great but there simply isnt enough to do other than build cool stuff. Imagine Space Engineers crossed with Rimworld - the objective being to create a space-faring civilization or at least a faction with actual NPCs. Imagine a space port block that at certain intervals signals that a capsule of 1/5/10/20 people are ready to arrive (Maybe a separate block for ships vs static grids so it can be targeted to space stations and motherships), and it is your job to create facilities that enable them to survive while doing their "work." You could then look at what the benefits of maintaining this might be, but imagine this being the mechanism to having economy, contracts, random encounters? Is it asking too much to find enemy bases have progressed significantly (see Total Anhiliation) and have more settlers than you do, meaning you actually have a populated enemy base that you can go and Call of Duty the crap out of. Eventually send your settlers across space for something. you get the idea. Micro-objectives such as "send NPC1 to Mars" and you have to give them a ship legit capable of getting them there including enough food, fuel, oxygen, or send an NPC to space in which they can go and grab some rare resources for you, but its a contract and not a physical drilling operation a bit like MGS Phantom Pain (Send an NPC to Mars doesnt need to be a physical journey either - you create a viable ship which despawns and now only appears in a menu somewhere. Use projectors to replicate it as in current game). Send different types of NPCs, say a pilot and a gunman, if a gunman is onboard then the ship doesnt need ammo for the gun they are assigned to? Why does the economy system have to be a block rather than an NPC? Why dont factions have actual NPC avatars? It is such a great game because of its crafting system but there is a serious gaping hole if you dont have regular people to join you. It can remain a sandbox game while adding such features. Keen give me a job :D

Just a question, what are the pc requisites for SE?

I really think to improve SEs survival component, they should take a few pages from stationeers books and make proper base and ship construction have a bit more of an impact on your survival (such as dangerous decompression and hydroponics). Also adding more threats on planets is a good idea I think

I think you pretty much covered it. Seems like I do a lot of Special Projects lately i really haven't been doing any survival. And when I do survival definitely mods my recent one I did small grid only

The soundtrack for S E really grabs your attention its great

Vanilla survival is really fun, but i agree it can get a little bit repetitive, that's why i love the Industrial Overhaul mod, it really puts more engineering into SE, making you need to progress through various machines and mostly requiring you to build an entire industrial complex to get to late game stuff, i think it's waay more fun and challenging than having the assembler doing all the job for you. Slap the daily needs mod for a food, water and rest system and you have a pretty solid survival experience. For those that hate mining such as myself the ResourceNodes mod makes mining a bit more like an RTS.

Survival is really fun when there is rp. There's this series that a guy named the Xp gamers, and he does. It's pretty cool

I love planets myself as I thoroughly enjoy using rovers and designing experimental vehicles etc. That others dont

As the previous event coordinator for a multiplayer server, I can testify that the potential is only limited by your imagination. I have created evens like a scrap race to build and race rovers, a naval domination mode (nearly completely automated) where you battle in naval boats in the water while trying to dominate POIs, a recreation of Facility in Golden Eye 007 with a complete deathmatch mode, land/sea/air warzone mode, a mech warrior team deathmatch, and so much more! it is insane what can be done with the right idea.

I think the only aspect of the game that I genuinely dislike is the character weapons, rifles are better at dealing structure damage than rocket launchers and fighting peer to peer instead of ship to ship feels clunky and boring. I dont think that peer to peer should be a main focus of the combat but should definitely be improved on so it is at least viable.

I've bought the game early 2014 and somewhat liked it but it was way too early in developement for me. After many years of being forgotten in my library I stubled acros it and wondered what had changed. This video really inspired me to give it a shot again.

Hopefully with this new automation dlc comming SE will get more love than ever!

The only DLC pack you really need for full functionality in the base game is Warfare 1, since, for some reason, Keen decided to lock a unique and useful block for CQC behind that DLC. Luckily, if you don't have it, but you have a friend who does, you can simply ask them to place it down. Also, you can turn up the challenge by turning on "enable wolves" and "enable spiders" These are hostile entities that exist on the Earth-Like and Alien planets respectively, and are the only true NPCs in the entire base game, as everyone else are AI controlled ships.

DLC only really matters if you're playing on a public server. Almost everything in DLC has an equivalent mod in the workshop. If you're playing single-player or on a server that you run yourself, you're good. The DLC just allows players who want fancier looking ships to use them on virtually any server. I bought all of the DLC. I voted with my wallet for the game's continuing development. The only reason we're getting this next update with the advanced blocks is due to the sales of DLC.

Is there a good amount of ai in this game? Like if I made a base or decided to be a space pirate, will there be enemies o plenty or is that mod heavy

Great review. Thank you

I feel like there is a lot that can be done to improve it, but I'd compare the survival to Minecraft's survival. The only difference is the dynamic interactions in either one and the fact that SE doesn't stick to bloxels. What I'd think would really improve survival, though, is just adding more planet-specific resources, adding reasons to explore them, as well as more planets/revamps of current ones that make them even further distinct, as well as real survival mechanics. Currently we have -Earth -Earth but red -Earth but desert with a big ravine -Earth but big and slimy -Earth but red without water -Moon -Moon but red -Moon but ice Pertam is a big step in the right direction, giving it a defining feature, but we need more. Plus, again, the planet-specific resources.

I have apparently owned this game since 2016 but barely played it, and had no idea half the things you just mentioned were included. I've played Empyrion, NMS and practically every other game like this you could think of for hundreds of hours. No idea how this one passed me by. Thanks for your review, looks like I need to take another look at this one.

I have about 2000+ hours put into the game and I've only been playing since 2020. in my opinion the game needs: (Vanilla game only no mods) 1.) Human NPCs and AI NPCs other than just dogs and spiders 2.) (Hopefully coming in the next update) More aggressive enemy ships 3.) Quests or Missions outside of contracts 4.) Incentives to reach the other planets. 5.) More planets. 6.) Performance friendly direlects and wreckages off and on planets 7.) SPRT bases on surfaces of planets that you can attack or even get attacked by 8.) More friendly blocks for 1x2s >.> I'm sure I could say more and I know there are mods for this but a lot of the mods I have seen are severely outdated OR meant for hardcore masochists (looking at the reaver and corruption mods). Keen gives us all these cool guns to build and play with but we literally have pretty much 0 reason to use them. Obviously there is the multiplayer aspect and proper game play is to engage with enemy players or make alliances with other players. But for those who don't have an interest in PvP, PvE side is very lack luster. Just my thoughts.

Great content as always!

Bro all you gotta say is “you like No Mans Sky?” And boom perfect explanation

Good video, you should have mentioned the mod support too though. I routinely play with several mods including those that add more survival features. 10700 hrs and counting 🙂

Se is a fantastic game for designing and building ships. The hard part is find a way to use them. Single player lacks a sense of direction. The basic survival experience is pretty fun in a coop setting, but the game really shines on a multiplayer server with pvp or at least pvp zones.

ok, so its been a few days and automotans beta out, so redo for when automotans fully releases? please?

Thank you! I’m still on the fence about it as it’s coming to PlayStation but it’s definitely up there with “I’ll play this eventually” 😊

I play SE for totally different reasons than most people, and my mates never understood this. I only build land vehicles, artillery, factories and bases. I Never build ships (except hovercrafts, if you wanna call that a ship) Bought this game years ago, played with mates on our own survival server. Never played creative. The feeling of setting up a complete factory with sorted refineries and a 8 assembler setup within some days, just is really dopamine giving. And from there on i build a base and a vehicle printer. Unfortunately my mates don't play anymore so at the moment i play solo survival, so i'm thinking of joining a factions server. I think playing SE on a PVP/multiplayer server fills up the void that survival SE gives you when you have setup your bases and vehicles. And honestly, this game is amazing for people like me that have ADHD or similar. I always have tons of ideas for new things or want to improve old things. Your brain is your limit.

Thanks for the video. I’m definitely going to pick up this game today.

1600 Hrs in and now I am starting my first bigger vessel (4-crewed destroyer incl. hangar and landing pads) in creative mode. I will make it single grid for printability (gosh how much I would love projectors accepting multiple grids). I am really struggling though and wondering how people get their ideas for such awesome detailed designs. If anyone has some advice for me I would really appreciate it, I want my vessel to look cool in the end.

I think pvp meta is gonna change with automatons, big ships get to their sides small drones with one or two railguns and kamikaze drones.

The learning curve is pretty steep but I’ve slowly been learning the controls and how the game generally operates. Wish there were some NPCs to have around but I still have many more hours to get into the game lol

Great review i'd say

I've been playing about 2 1/2 years and just passed 6300 hours in, so this game has sucked up my life..... For sure its my favorite game by far. I discovered mods and it has added so much more to this game for me that im always looking forward to seeing what new mod has hit the workshop. The survival aspect for this game though is severely lacking but it can be somewhat helped with some of the mods that add survival mechanics. Overall I pretty much agree with Lunar about SE.

Thank you for the revuwe. At this point i won't bay it becous i need something als but i am planibg to bay it at some point. I have been wathing your video's regulary with has also made the game look more and more fun. I am already loking forward to your next video.

I registered my very first account on steam just because I was interested in this game based on what I saw on youtube.

Space Engineers, Empyrion and Icarus need to have a little baby game.

Not having any need to go to a planet has always been a bummer. There should be resources only available in planets, at the very least.

1000 hours in still one of my fav games

I bought space engineer's and all but two dlc for the ps4 when it came out and it's the only game I play have bought other games for ps4 but never got around to playing them every time I turn the ps4 on I end up playing space engineers its a great game

Man I was so excited to get this after watching countless hours of gameplay prior to the Xbox launch. I bought it at launch….to this day I still have not learned how to play it. Honestly watching hours of tutorial videos on my phone (don’t have a pc) while trying to play is not appealing. At all. Indeed I’ve installed it today and just can’t quite wrap my head around the cumbersome controller controls and what to do. I stubbornly want to only play and learn the game in survival and eventually, slowly construct a big ship and leave the planet. I’ve done the scenarios on the base game which I feel doesn’t really help me with survival, which was basically what attracted me to the game to begin with (in a solo role play sort of way) haha In any case, I feel I’m my own worst enemy when it comes to learning this game. Great video though man. Going to have a go now.

I really want to get this game, but I can only play it on the Steam Deck, which I’m not sure it’ll run well

When SE2 comes out, I'd absolutely love it if they had actual celestial orbital dynamics. To have planets, moons, and asteroids moving in real time will require plotting courses while avoiding collisions. I know SE1 cannot currently do that, but that's based on the code and hardware stemming from 2015-ish and forward.

I fully agree, and, yeah, the music is great.

6:10 Fortunately (or unfortunately) I play paradox games, so I'm used to this.

I like bulding ships (most of them look like bricks but im gonna finaly build something nice) but after I build them there is not a lot you can do with them in vanilla. Economy espacly contracts need litle rework. There is little point to make money other then buying uranium ingots or truster componet to get platinium. Also exploring space and planets are lacking. After landing looking araound for 1h and you can back home. If there where colonys with npcs or something to search as mini story as main story in No Man Sky that you follow someone trace so game give you reason to go out help one npc blow up another etc. Nothing fancy just enought to give little push to have feeling "what is behind another corner". I know space is big but you should be able find something or someone.

I bought this game way back when it was fresh in early access and had fun messing around in creative mode. Now I wonder, if its worth coming back after all those years. :)

I bought this game in early access. So it was dirt cheap for me. I've also purchased all of the DLC to support the dev's. This is a great game!

So can you travel to different systems without using mods?

Finnaly bought the game, but so many DLCs 😵‍💫 are any DLCs that you recommend? One or two, i like to play with mods, and enjoy survival games alot, played hundreds of hours in such games like conan exiles or ark. Now i want to try SE, and im afraid if i buy just the base game i will not get all the content

standing at 3.8k hours. The only thing I wish Keen would do is to give us tools to better handle our own servers. Currently we're heavily reliant on Torch and Nexus, and you need a strong background in managing server software to get those things running properly with required plugins to make a highly entertaining and stable server. Which is why there's only 3 or 4 of such servers. Me and 4 others have been working on a simple Vanilla+ (QOL mods only) server, but after diving into the meat of what is needed - we're in at 4 months of work.

Do another one after the next update 🔥

I have no issues with the amount of DLCs. Compared to other games out there this game is small on the amount. I just started over a year ago and the biggest challenge was getting started. After I figured out how good this game is I bought every DLC because for the price this is a steal

I really hope we get same in-game enemies, like the Modular Encounter does in the base game. On console we don't even have the option to have such and it's just boring sadly. I could make a fighter ship and use it on what? Trees? ..

any good discord multiplay server ?

Reminds me a lot of that one no man sky

Goosebumps

Could you run over the dlcs and tell people which ones I worth buying with a limited budget I’ll probably buy them all but I’m just asking cause I won’t buy like 1 or 2 of em

Is there anything to do yet?

Anyone else kind of sad that a lot of WeaponCore mods are no longer compatible with the latest version of the game?

It's still the best space building sandbox games out there. I prefer sandbox games but Keen will be looking at updating survival and exploration in the future

nice

Bro this is like No Man’s Sky and if Trailmakers had a child.

Will they expand on the PVE parts of this game?

all they need to do is fix the graphics and add more detailed particle effects. so, the ambiance is the biggest ick for me. but this game has so much potential it looked good. for a game that has been out as long as it has it really has no excuse to be looking like an early beta

No mention of klang

Can you play alone or do you have to be online?

9 years and 8000+ hours, i am desperatly needing more end game content at this point, bu, i do still love my Space Engineers! It has ruined my social life though! lol!

The best part is not having to buy a new computer because your old one is still fine even though it can't handle Vulkan-1.

Empyrion vs Space Engineers? Comment below.

I remember there was a video displaying a boeing 747 mod, It was my introduction to the game. And man am I happy. I still can't find it. Please help, his/her pfp had a picture of a cat, and it was uploaded near new year in 2018.

The one thing the game lacks imo, is random hostile encounters in space, which can be fixed with mods. I want to be a space Pirate!

When is the god damn update

I was one who didn't like the survival side. Gave up on the game and went to stationeers. If you want survival, you'll have it!!!! They're both incredible games for slightly different audiences. Space Engineers has lag, Stationers has programming :)

are you playing on low graphics?

I got this game back when it had been out for about a year, and I wasn't thrilled with it. It was very bland, with color only being in the design of the ships you made. And with the only activity being to drill asteroids and build space ships, I got tired of it pretty fast. But lately, I've been in the mood for an adventure building game with light survival; something I can boot up and lose myself in without feeling like It's a chore. I was shopping around, but I suddenly spotted this in my list and thought... huh. Time to try again? Your video gave me some good input, but as you said... the amount of dlc has me wary. How much of the game am I going to miss out on without getting all the dlc?

I have a little over 5K hours and have played it since 2018ish. My largest issue with the game is that despite it being in full release for years now they still treat it like it's in early access both in the fact there's game breaking bugs that have been in the game since day 1 that they have no indication of even being bothered to fix as well as the fact they're still adding basic functions like the economy and warfare updates years after the fact, which they said was going to be added to the game before full release but got packaged into DLC releases instead. Keen gets significantly far more good will from the community then they deserve IMO. The game is good but the developer is functionally incompetent.

I just wish there was more of a "game" here and less of a sandbox, I bloody love making ships and designing stuff. Just theirs nothing to solve really. I dislike PVP theres not really any NPCs to fight, environmental factors to overcome, resources come easy once you get a basic mining ship. The epic scale of this game and the building system demand content but there is little to none to be had. I wish I could take Empyrion and this game and make them one. That would be my dream game, Space eng with stuff to do other then build. I want to take what I built and use it. That epic gravity powered Launcher, A huge carrier, Mega trade ship, A working mech. All of it is just hey fly it around for a few mins and get board, move on to next build project.

I really dont get why they dont populate the planets with enemy bases and wrecks, they already do it in space

It's a shame that it is only silver on protondb, I would have bought it.

its great game i had it seens it was beta

Engineering, space, and it's speedrunable probably. Basically, heaven for the person in the spectrum.

Indeed as you said, the base game is kinda boring without a end-game, but, there are over 500k mods on the workshop, so you can make survival gameplay as hard as you wish... Daily needs water mod Industrial Overhaul/ Eden's Wrath Engeneering Modular Encounter System with his dozens of submods to go pew pew So, with the cost of an average Tesco meal, you have a game as big as you want it to be.

Epic game so awesome

I just want them to make playing on Xbox more enjoyable, because me and my friends can’t really play with each other because the lag is super bad

Surprised it doesn't have proper career and science mode.

The graphics look like the Nintendo 64 but I hope I they up the graphics a bit but I'll still get it

4000 hours goddayum

I’m a big No man’s sky fan looking for a ne game I would enjoy too.Asking whoever reading this, Would you recommend me this game?

It's a shame it's only silver on protondb... I would have bought it...