Space Engineers, one of the best space games on PC, is finally leaving Early Access after more than five years and 200 updates. The stellar sandbox will reach 1.0 on February 28, accompanied by a major survival overhaul. It will be one of the biggest overhauls it's seen and, according to Keen Software's Marek Rosa, Space Engineers will evolve from a sandbox into a game.
The update will bring with it new blocks, including hydrogen engines and wind turbines, a progression system that will help orient new players, a new spawning system and scenarios. The latter, says Rosa, is a feature's he's particularly proud of, giving players new challenges to overcome. The game will launch with two of them, but more are planned. You can see more of what's heading to Space Engineers here.
Leaving Early Access is apparently just the beginning of Space Engineers' journey (five years is a long time to get ready) and additional scenarios, blocks and more are in the works. "We’re going to take Space Engineers to exciting places when it comes to gameplay, immersion, and challenges," says Rosa.
It's been quite a long time since I last played Space Engineers, but it's still provided me with lots of entertainment. Messy co-op was where it shined, and my fondest memories are of building weird space robots and smashing them into my buddy's weird space robots to see who would win. Many of them sadly ended up hurtling into the void of space after the collision. Thanks, physics!
I'm looking forward to smashing more things in space come February 28. And judging by the many update videos, I've got a lot of catching up to do.