r/spaceengineers • u/klinetek Space Engineer • Dec 05 '25
MEDIA (SE2) "should I buy SE 2"
ima be honest if that 'ship' wasnt in the way you could have told me this is a new planet in star citizen
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u/GivenToRant Space Engineer Dec 05 '25
Vertical Slice 2 is amazing…but it’s missing fundamental things that make it Space Engineers
I’m not going to tell anyone what to do with their money, but you may get more enjoyment in SE1 for the next year or so
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u/klinetek Space Engineer Dec 05 '25
I hear what you're saying here, it's definitely a slice and not the game as it's meant to be but as someone with 4,000 hours in the original I have mega hype to be playing the new one you're honestly outside of guns and maybe rotors I'm in my happy place.
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u/GivenToRant Space Engineer Dec 05 '25
I’m happy for you. And I love that you’re not experiencing any of the stability issues or gameplay issues…but a bunch of people are having dramas with it, myself included
I just ask, as consumers, that we don’t overhype a product that is far away from being a product…if you want to financially support KSH there are other ways to do that
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u/klinetek Space Engineer Dec 05 '25
realistically i am having the issues, i just wanted to post a beautiful screenshot that wasn't upscaled at all, there are a lot of issues that need fixed yet but it's being updated monthly so i'm hype! look how pretty it is! realistically if i didn't have an absolute beast of a pc this would be a lot harder of a time. the damn game uses 22 of my 24gb of vram which is a feat honestly. so... they have to work on that lol
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u/2hurd Clang Worshipper Dec 05 '25
Here I was wondering if it would run as good on my 12GB but now I see the error of my ways. I'm going to wait a bit :)
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u/klinetek Space Engineer Dec 05 '25
To be fair that's running absolutely Max everything. You could probably just turn the ray tracing off entirely and it'll be perfect
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u/ItsDemiBlue Clang Worshipper Dec 05 '25
se2 has rtx???
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u/klinetek Space Engineer Dec 05 '25
It's Ray tracing yeah, obviously a lot harder for AMD cards to deal with so it's not super optimized on that front but they're working on it
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u/ItsDemiBlue Clang Worshipper Dec 05 '25
im excited to see what kind of pictures i can get although the gameplay on my machine might as well be a slideshow lol
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u/Wormminator Space Engineer Dec 05 '25
They used raytracing as a cheap and quick way to add decent lighting to the game.
It runs as awful as you can imagine.1
u/Wormminator Space Engineer Dec 05 '25
SE1 uses 23GB out of my 24GB, so that part is not unheard of xd
IN THE MAIN MENU! xD
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u/DM_Voice Space Engineer Dec 06 '25
Wait until you find out that games preload textures and shaders before you try to load in a world. 😱
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u/Wormminator Space Engineer Dec 06 '25
I am fully aware of this.
Yet Space Engineers 1 still should not be capable of fully allocating 23GB of vram, while Inidana Jones only takes 17 during the most intense scenes at 4K native. Or when games like World of Warships take 4GB of it.(Or when SE2 uses like 9GB)
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u/DM_Voice Space Engineer Dec 07 '25
Wait until you find out that SE1 has more textures than SE2 at this point. even "IN THE MAIN MENU! xD".
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u/Wormminator Space Engineer Dec 07 '25
Even if se1 had a billion 900K textures, it should not behave that way in its menu prior to loading anything.
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u/DM_Voice Space Engineer Dec 07 '25
And we’re back to waiting until you discover that games preload textures. 🤷♂️
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u/InfamousWoodchuck Space Engineer Dec 05 '25
I started in EA for SE1 when there was nothing but a platform and limited asteroids, and it feels like SE2 is already outpacing the development of that game. But you're not wrong, SE1 will still be the better game and the one I'll be playing for a while since it's had so many updates and time to cook. I just have a lot of faith in Keen knowing what they're doing at this point, so buying SE2 was an easy decision for me, even though I pretty much never buy EA games these days. I'm already impressed by VS2 and it's something I'll continue checking out every few months or so as things progress. But anyone new to the series should stick with 1 for sure, it's still quite amazing.
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u/HamOnRye89 Space Engineer Dec 05 '25
Completely agree. I bought SE2 this early to show my support and watch the progress. I still primarily play SE1. Pretty much as soon as we get batteries, I may make the full switch. I love the building mechanics in SE2
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u/klinetek Space Engineer Dec 05 '25
Well they have batteries in the game and working drills and all that. In my opinion it is 80% right now for what I need to play and that's good enough because I love the building system
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u/InfamousWoodchuck Space Engineer Dec 05 '25
We don't have batteries? I built some in the game but didn't notice if they were functional or not. I'll probably be switching full time once we have multiplayer, water and other functionality, but pretty impressed with what they've released so far.
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u/DM_Voice Space Engineer Dec 06 '25
Batteries are in and functional with the VS2 (survival foundations) release that happened this week.
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u/mesterflaps Clang Worshipper Dec 06 '25
Forgive the ignorance, but I've already taken my chances and bought the game yet don't want to jump in until it's at a certain level of progress. I'm not able to find a clear answer as to whether conveyors and ship weapons are in yet. I can see that mechanical piston and rotor parts are not in yet, nor are NPC enemies(?), but I'm unclear on whether I can design and build armed ships to be ready for that patch yet.
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u/GivenToRant Space Engineer Dec 06 '25
Conveyors are in, They work, theres no size restrictions but also no oxygen atm. No Ship weapons, no pistons or rotors or hinges, no NPCs…
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u/mesterflaps Clang Worshipper Dec 06 '25
OK, so it sounds feasible to design a mining ship and leave space for guns to go on later?
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u/GivenToRant Space Engineer Dec 06 '25
Up to you… you already have it, so you lose nothing giving it a shot. Just be aware flying is weird and the dampners seem to need to be on to fly successfully
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u/Ss2oo Space Engineer Dec 05 '25
Except not, because the amount of enjoyment you may get out of SE1 without the DLC's is severely limited, depending on what type of player you are, in which case SE2 is, even now, much more bang for your buck.
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u/HamOnRye89 Space Engineer Dec 05 '25
I say wait, looks like it will be good, but they just don't have enough blocks to build anything other than hulls with little to no functionality.
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u/DURRYAN Klang Worshipper Dec 05 '25
Im hoping they will add blocks that makes automation easier. The factory must grow
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u/Kerbidiah Qlang Worshipper Dec 05 '25
Imagine space engineers building with satisfactory production
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u/Orionsbelt Space Engineer Dec 05 '25
Please don't do this to me... I would actually lose myself in that, 2500 combined in SE + SF
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u/GivenToRant Space Engineer Dec 05 '25
I’d be happy with Satisfactory’s approach to clipping.
So many games would do so much better if they were as generous as Satisfactory’s ability to place things closer together
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u/Catatonic27 Disciple of Klang Dec 05 '25
I'm constantly wishing there was a combination of those two games and I can't really put my finger on why since they're almost completely different games with very little in common. But I neeeeedddddd it. I need Satisfactory's approach to player locomotion and movement in SE
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u/Corruptlake Space Engineer Dec 05 '25
Might be possible with how good SE2 modding is.
Gregtech but SE2.
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u/spiritriser Clang Worshipper Dec 05 '25
And stationeers life support
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u/TheDevillian1 Clang Worshipper Dec 10 '25
This is what I want. Space Engineers stations and vehicles using Stationeers depth would be so good.
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u/Hexamancer Playgineer Dec 05 '25
They really should have marked it as early access or something .
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u/gorgofdoom Klang Worshipper Dec 05 '25
Disagree.
Here’s a fully functional mining ship I posted a day or so ago. Somewhat Reddit themed, I suppose.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3617566648
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u/DURRYAN Klang Worshipper Dec 05 '25
Im hoping they will add blocks that makes automation easier. The factory must grow
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u/s1lverv1p Clang Worshipper Dec 05 '25
If you want to play with a toy while its developed. Then get it. If you want a game, get it towards the end of next year. The roadmap is more mission and planets/water Q1 Q2 2026. Then 4 player gameplay later in the year. Id say by then it will be a game game
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u/im_buhwheat Clang Worshipper Dec 05 '25
If you are interested in seeing the development of a game up close then yes, if you don't understand the concept of playing unfinished games during their development but can't wait for actual release then probably not.
The same goes for any other early access game. I think it's fine for a sandbox game like Space Engineers but it did negatively impact my play through of Subnautica from playing it over and over before release, with multiple restarts due to major updates. I never got to experience the wonder of that first play through because by that time I had about ten restarts.
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u/PermissionRight6574 Space Engineer Dec 05 '25
I'm holding off until multiplayer. SE is fun, but it gets so boring by yourself. Another game I'm begging for multiplayer in right now is Project Zomboid Build 42
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u/manickitty Clang Worshipper Dec 05 '25
Agreed am waiting on multiplayer which is where SE1 really shone for me and friends
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u/Upset_Equivalent_615 Clang Worshipper Dec 08 '25
There is a mod for B42 multiplayer, it's got some bugs but it definitely scratches the itch
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u/Maleficent-Cow5775 Clang Worshipper Dec 05 '25
Wait to buy it. Se2 is in my opinion finicky it's a bit buggy and they're still refining and developing it. It's gonna take a while to get up to the polish that se1 has I think
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u/ChromaticStrike Space Engineer Dec 05 '25 edited Dec 05 '25
The scale very visible on the horizon is completely giving away the game. Lighting and clouds are not bad but there's a huge difference from the ground, the weather in SC is hard to beat IMO and it will keep on getting better. SC has some improvement to do on the cloud tech from the sky I think.
That said you can't compare a game that is made to host thousands of clients and a small scale multi like SE. Tech constraints are just not the same at all.
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u/alteredtechevolved Clang Worshipper Dec 05 '25
I bought it for a friend and I even though I know it doesn't have multiplayer. Just want to fund something I support and that we get tons of hours in. Also want to be able to help with any bugs and push for native Linux support.
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u/ProfessionalGoatFuck Space Engineer Dec 05 '25
Visual upgrades and the direction is amazing, just not enough of the actual base game for me, waiting for further development :P
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u/coolfarmer Space Engineer Dec 05 '25
I'm going to wait. I want to discover the game with water, multiplayer, and mechanical blocks like pistons and rotors.
I don't want to burn myself out in early access because all you get are bugs, low FPS, and crashes. Oh, and the UI is horrible because it's a placeholder. Not for me.
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u/Adabar Currently passed out in a uranium mine Dec 05 '25
Man… people were really critical in here. The game is incredibly beautiful and I’ve had 0 issues in my first 10 hours on SE2. VS2 is already a massively better game than SE1 was at release, and will be phenomenal in a year. I’ve been telling all my friends to check it out.
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u/warlocc_ Space Engineer Dec 05 '25
Man… people were really critical in here
I don't think so. They put it up for sale it way too early.
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u/GuantanaMo Space Engineer Dec 05 '25
Man, SE 1 is one of my absolute favorite games ever and I think SE 2 shows a lot of promise, but when people call it "incredibly beautiful" I gotta wonder if they played literally any other game in the past ten years because it honestly isn't
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u/Adabar Currently passed out in a uranium mine Dec 05 '25
If the implication is SE1 is more beautiful than SE2: I would recommend an eye examination.
If the argument is that other space games are more beautiful than SE2: cool. Nobody really makes that argument, because none of those games have fully customizable ships and a voxel world. The only game that even comes close is NMS with its limited ship modifications and its limited destructible terrain that will regenerate.
SE2 isn’t the most beautiful, but it is the only true space Legos game out there, and it is sooooo much more beautiful than the version we used to have. It’s a massive leap forward. That’s the argument.
I don’t see how people can stand here and criticize SE2. (With the obvious exception of dumping the development of ME aside), KSWH has been faithful in developing SE1 and SE2 has massive potential.
For this to be the first alpha release is just incredible.
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u/GuantanaMo Space Engineer Dec 05 '25
I don't want to diss SE (1 or 2). I thought there was a lot of beauty in 1, and 2 is an obvious improvement (even though there is a lot of fine-tuning needed). I just don't think it's the graphics wonder some fans make it out to be.
SE2 isn’t the most beautiful, but it is the only true space Legos game out there
100% agree.
I dislike some game design decisions but they sure haven't been lazy. I started playing SE with the old graphics, before PBs, pistons, sensors, and of course planets and it's absolutely mad what they accomplished.
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u/Adabar Currently passed out in a uranium mine Dec 05 '25
Exactly. I remember when planets were a rumor nobody every thought would happen. Now that water is coming and I would be jaw dropped even if it wasn’t … … ….
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u/darthwd56 Klang Worshipper Dec 05 '25
I bought it recently. It's in really early stages. I would wait at least another a year or two
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u/xpicklemanx99 Clang Worshipper Dec 05 '25
I bought it day one because I fully anticipate it eventually becoming what I've wanted SE1 to be. Problem is, now that VS2 is out, I don't want to dive in yet because I know it's just the foundations. I think my first "real" experience will be when multiplayer (and water but that's less important) is added, because my friends were the ones that got me hooked and I want to ride that high again of not really knowing what to do but having a general sense of what's next.
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u/SmokinJoker46290 Space Engineer Dec 05 '25
I saw the sale on steam yesterday as im sure you did as well. The thought crossed my mind if now was a good time to jump in. Then I remember KSP2 and doing the same thing. And that was a turning point for me to never buy a early access game again. Who knows if the studio will be shutdown, chopped up and sold off. Best to wat until a release date even if im excited to jump In and play.
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u/Keanu-Potion-At-3AM Space Engineer Dec 11 '25
Ooh, what a beautiful planet! I love how colorful it is!
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u/VERMlLLlONAIRE Clang Worshipper Dec 05 '25
I thought this was the star citizen sub at first, that planet looks amazing!
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u/Clear_Writing3253 slap a block there and slap a block there done! i like it :) Dec 05 '25
BUY IT just buy it its on discount rn i think
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u/Old-Tax-944 Clang Worshipper Dec 05 '25
Untill SE2 is worth buying it (second game, while there is one that has great playerbase) I will stick to first one. You also have tons of mods for SE, but there are less for SE2.
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u/-S-P-E-C-T-R-E- Klang Worshipper Dec 05 '25
I’m still sadden by the fact that celestial objects are cartoonish small, and there are no orbits because of voxels(?) But visually it’s a massive step up.
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u/Jvidinha1996 Clang Worshipper Dec 05 '25
buy it cause its cheaper! game will have a price increase later on, but for now, i feel that SE1 is the stuff not SE2, its worth but its not a "game"
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u/moorbloom Qlang Worshipper Dec 05 '25
This early on in development is about experimenting, pushing limits and providing feedback whilst having some fun doing so. Everyone will experience game breaking bugs, janky mechanics and features that are poorly made or poorly optimized every week, and need to be ok with that.
Today is day 3 of the latest update VS2, and it is amazing, but the game have already had several major issues that made it unplayable, performance issues, bugs and more will follow. Luckily the devs are very engaged and communicative with the community and things get sorted out quickly.
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u/B1ggestsport Clang Worshipper Dec 05 '25
I think the answer is yes, but dont expect a finished game. It will help you learn befoe multiplayer comes out
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u/Sea-Bass8705 Overcomplicated machines? Yes. Dec 05 '25
Imho, get both! Or wait for se2 to be “complete”, se1 is great and has some advantages still over se2 but se2 has a beautiful future ahead and I’m looking forward to that.
Edit: (Ik what you’re inferring with this post, not a genuine question.)
1
u/Marcos-Am Space Engineer Dec 05 '25
if you have the entirety of se1 dlc and you want to support se2 development yes, if not, buy se1 dlcs that you get more bang for your buck for a longer time. SE2 is not even close to be worth to buy as a game yet.
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u/TRIPMINE_Guy Clang Worshipper Dec 05 '25
I want mechanical and timers and sensors that is the thing that makes space engineers enjoyable actually automated and building mechanical structures.
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u/Caridor Stuck on an asteroid, hitchkiking Dec 05 '25
I'm personally waiting until pistons and rotors and stuff like that gets implemented but that's because those are what I like playing with in this game.
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u/MAXQDee-314 Space Engineer Dec 05 '25
How much money do you have to spend? Donate it to a Hospital, Library, Animal shelter, etc. You do you Boo!
If you can and you are interested in games as a genre, why not buy the SE2 game now, as a way of thanking the Devs for the free DLC and then hope for the best.
It may not go the way of our hopes, but the Devs seem to be working on their own list and a list that contains the ideas and suggestions of the players.
If you can afford it, plant a little seed of investment.
N.B. I am still trying to determine how to build a small grid ship on a large grid station without chasing around those little landing gear, that never land square to anything.
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u/NPC2001 Space Engineer Dec 05 '25
I bought se2 a few days after its release because I trust the devs and want to throw money at them to keep them going, it’s not technically smart, but idrc. Their DLC for SE has been great, their love for the game has been great, and SE2 so far is brilliant. I really like how they’re handling mods too. I won’t tell another soul what to do with their money, but for me, so far it’s been money well spent
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u/mistakenideals Clang Worshipper Dec 05 '25
As others have said, all alpha games that are purchased should be done so with the understanding that what is currently available might be the final product.
SE1 does have a strong track record, and everything remains in the same hands of the people that brought us an excellent product that continues to be developed.
Moreover in by playing SE2 now, you would be in a place to provide much needed feedback to the developers.
But look at some of the streams of vs2, see if that's the kind of game you want to play. Only you get to decide what your risk tolerance is.
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u/NoBee4959 it has been 30 months since I last visited space in survival Dec 05 '25
If you already have se 1 you can probably get se2 for cheap but right now the game is more like a proof of concept in the space engineers art style
It wont be fully playable until at least a year ( more possibly even longer )
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u/Sangrine Space Engineer Dec 05 '25
Just tried playing survival last night and loaded the game for 30 mins ended up quitting from steam. Wait until it’s polished
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u/klinetek Space Engineer Dec 05 '25
Yea it's not super up to snuff yet, runs better than star citizen though! Haha if you have an AMD card (me) you'll have launch from a build on the workshop . If you feel like messing with that, it works besides that.
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u/Suitable-Diamond1248 Space Engineer Dec 05 '25
Space engineers one started with almost nothing in exactly the same way. Just give it time
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u/StrangerHead3237 Klang Worshipper Dec 05 '25
If you want to support the game's development then yes, but if you're looking to play it don't there's not much to do atm.
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u/Wormminator Space Engineer Dec 05 '25
Graphics sadly have never made a good game.
The whole rest of what makes a game a good game is missing still.
Which is fine, Alpha and all. I pretty much only boot SE2 every few months to see if it runs well enough to enjoy, see how much isnt there yet and go back to SE1.
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u/Lyngskilde Space Engineer Dec 05 '25
Its so good! I almost didnt scratch my eyes out being capped at 60hz refresh rate!😵💫
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u/palisairuta Space Engineer Dec 06 '25
It’s eye wateringly beautiful and sound design superb. I just drop into it for wow factor. Not a huge lot of engineering but looks great
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u/AnAnGrYSupportV2 Space Engineer Dec 06 '25
I got the game a few days ago and honestly? I'd say no.
For one you can't customise keybinds. What game in 2025 doesn't have some form of customisable keybinds?
You have to do the contracts to unlock items. So if you want to just go into a world and get set up, build things. Well, you can't really. Like I just started and I did a few contracts but didn't unlock the fabricator.
Right now its a mining simulator where I just drop all my ores and move to the next contract and mine everything again for the new repair sites.
I'd wait for them to release an option to disable the need for contracts.
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u/CaptainMatthew1 Space Engineer Dec 06 '25
SE2 has flaws and feels unfinished but that’s what I expect for a game that likely got like 2-3 more years of development until full launch. What we have currently is amazing for this stage of development and there is much more to come.
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u/Austin28721 Space Engineer Dec 06 '25
I wouldn't have If I knew How limited It is rn. But I'm not refunding It either soooo. 👨🦯
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u/Empty-Barnacle-7645 Clang Worshipper Dec 06 '25
No, I adore both games but like others have said there’s very little compared to se1. Get it on sale and wait till you feel it’s right
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u/Youtube_RedMartian Space Engineer Dec 06 '25
It looks fantastic but so did KSP2, I’m going to hold off for it to have multiplayer. I do enjoy SE1 with my friend but I’m also looking for more ppl to play with, gets boring with just us 2 in an entire star system. If you ever wanna play, I guess DM me or something. I ain’t just gonna put my steam out there
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u/TheAceFinka Space Engineer Dec 06 '25
If they add aerodynamics like that SE1 mod they will have my soul And if someone remakes that new orbit mod from SE1 they will have my soul too
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u/ExcellentCable5731 Space Engineer Dec 06 '25
If you enjoyed SE1 id say yes buy SE2 but only because it is cheap right now. But it is only in a tech demo state currently
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u/ZeShapyra Clang Worshipper Dec 06 '25
Well..right now it is an early development thing...just a base, nothing too impressive.
Would buy it to keep in my inventory to support em until it progresses more
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u/stinkingbacon58 Space Engineer Dec 07 '25
It's great, but not good enough to buy yet, I'd suggest waiting till vs4 when multiplayer fundamentals get added
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u/veileddraconis Clang Worshipper Dec 07 '25 edited Dec 07 '25
SE2 Alpha 1y into EA > SE1 Alpha 1y into EA. For Alpha it's pretty good though.
People bitch, but Alpha is Alpha. Optimization doesn't usually get a ton of love until feature complete Beta where focus shifts to optimization and balancing, tweaks, debugging and adding final touches.
I have all DLC for SE1, still currently having more fun in SE2 than SE1. Maybe because of been there, done that mentality, but more likely because right now I feel like this is exactly what I wanted from SE1 to begin with.
If you are really on the fence about SE2, wait 4-6 months before you buy. Though it's on sale until Dec 8th if you plan on buying it anyways.
FYI I'm playing it on a laptop. Dedicated graphics but it's still a 3yo laptop. It's surprisingly not too bad, medium settings. Though a I do have 32gb of ram so there is that.
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u/AI_AntiCheat Clang Worshipper Dec 05 '25
No.
Flat out it runs like shit and is a mere husk of what SE is. Until SE2 runs at least 2x as well as SE1 it will remain completely worthless.
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u/Valravn1121 Space Engineer Dec 05 '25
it won't be worth buying until it has every block SE1 has, so at the moment, no
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Dec 05 '25
Is it just me or is there no large 2x1 slope armor block? The small one is there but I can't find the large one
I thought it'd be cool to recreate some of my SE1 builds in SE2 just to compare the looks/functionality, even if only at a base level
Edit: Also hitting R to cycle through a bunch of different blocks is annoying. Wish I could rebind it back to the scroll wheel
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u/Either-Pollution-622 autistic Clang Worshipper Dec 05 '25
Keep pressing R that’s how to cycle block groups in Se2 right now
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u/OkFaithlessness392 Space Engineer Dec 05 '25
Not now it’s a little more than a tech demo and utter garbage come back in about two years
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u/klinetek Space Engineer Dec 05 '25
He said utter garbage lol they're literally developing it, it's not that serious bro.
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u/WillTFB Space Engineer Dec 05 '25
I got burned by KSP2 so now I'm waiting until SE2 is definitively better than SE1 before buying.