Space Engineers 2 Review Summary

Stunning graphics and visuals: The game features beautiful and high-quality graphics, with detailed designs and landscapes. Players consistently praise the visual improvements and the overall aesthetic appeal.

Enhanced building system: The new building system, including the combined large and small grid building, has been well-received. It offers more flexibility and ease of use, making construction more enjoyable.

High potential for greatness: The game is seen as having a lot of potential to become a masterpiece. Players believe it has a strong foundation and could achieve greatness with continued development.

Engaging and fun gameplay: Players find the game enjoyable and interesting, with fun missions and overall engaging gameplay. The game is praised for its playability and entertainment value.

Impressive development progress: The game is progressing amazingly with impressive development work. Players acknowledge the efforts of the developers and the advancements made in the game.

Lack of content and features: Players feel that the game lacks sufficient content and features, especially when compared to its predecessor. Many core features and tools are missing, making the game feel incomplete and unrewarding.

Severe performance issues: The game suffers from significant performance problems, including lagging, stuttering, and frequent crashes. Players report that the game is poorly optimized and experiences performance drops, especially with complex constructions.

Game-breaking bugs and crashes: The game is plagued with numerous bugs and crashes, making it unplayable for many users. Issues range from constant crashes to non-functional buttons and gameplay problems.

Early Access and unfinished state: The game is perceived as being released too early and is still in a raw, underdeveloped state. Players report that it feels more like an unfinished demo than a full game.

Auto-save issues: There are significant problems with the auto-save feature, including overwrites and read-only saves. Players need to save frequently to avoid losing progress.

Enhanced building mechanics: Players appreciate the improved building tools and mechanics, including the constructor tool and unified building grid. However, some find the controls clunky.

Progression and unlocking system: Players appreciate the progression system, including the tech tree and unlocking new blocks through contracts.

Ship and base construction: A significant focus is on building and repairing ships, as well as constructing bases. Players enjoy the creativity and engineering aspects of these activities.

Diverse mission types: Players engage in various missions, including flying missions, contract missions, and space missions. Some find the flying experience repetitive.

Alpha state feedback: Players acknowledge that the game is in an alpha state, indicating ongoing development and potential for improvements.

Poor optimization issues: Many players report that the game suffers from severe optimization problems, leading to lagging, frame drops, and overall poor performance even on mid-range settings.

Frequent crashes: The game is plagued by frequent crashes, with some players reporting crashes every few minutes, severely impacting playability.

Memory leak issues: A memory leak in the game causes significant performance problems, leading to high CPU and RAM usage.

Frequent freezes and stutters: The game experiences consistent stuttering and multi-second freezes, which significantly disrupt the gameplay experience.

Occasional FPS drops: Players encounter occasional FPS drops, which, while not constant, still affect the overall smoothness of the gameplay.

Support game development: Many players recommend buying the game to support its ongoing development and future improvements.

Highly recommended for fans: The game is highly recommended for those who love creation, curiosity, and cosmic tinkering, as well as fans of the first game.

Wait for further development: Several reviews suggest waiting for more features, patches, and updates before buying the game to ensure a better playability and content.

Recommendation for specific players: Recommendations tailored to specific types of players, such as those who enjoy engineering, space, and building.

Refund requests due to issues: A few players express dissatisfaction and mention they would refund the game if possible due to its current issues.

Community fair range: $15.00 - $20.00.

Game completion: 1500.0h.

Session length: 4.0h.

Endgame: 1500.0h.

The game has a steep learning curve and initial friction due to repetitive tasks and a lack of engaging content early on. However, once players complete the tutorial and initial quests, the game becomes more enjoyable.

Reported time to anchor: 2h.

Friction: Repetitive tasks; Poor onboarding; Tedious survival gameplay; Bugs that can delete progress; Redundant quests.

Immediate Gratification Seeker: Prefers games that are ready to play and enjoy immediately, without needing to wait for updates or fixes. Motivation: Seeking a complete and enjoyable gaming experience without significant issues or development delays. Stance: no buy.

Development Enthusiast: Enjoys early access games and providing feedback to developers. Motivation: Supporting the development process and being part of the game's evolution. Stance: buy.

Logistics and Automation Engineer: Enjoys building and managing complex systems, optimizing production chains, and automating processes. Motivation: Seeking a deep and complex gameplay experience focused on logistics, production, automation, and survival mechanics. Stance: sale.

Performance varies significantly across hardware cohorts, with higher VRAM configurations often reporting better but still inconsistent experiences. Lower VRAM setups struggle more frequently with stability and frame rates.

Windows 12-15GB VRAM: mixed. This cohort reports a mix of stable performance with occasional issues and significant complaints about optimization and frame rate stability.

Windows <8GB VRAM: negative. This cohort frequently reports poor performance, crashes, and stuttering, even on lower settings.

Windows 8-11GB VRAM: mixed. Experiences vary with some users achieving good performance with tweaks, while others report significant issues and poor optimization.

Steam Deck: The analysis of user feedback reveals significant issues with compatibility, stability, and performance on Linux and Proton. Users frequently report crashes, poor performance, and lack of controller support. Additionally, there are complaints about graphics quality, particularly with FSR. These issues collectively contribute to a frustrating user experience.

Linux and Proton: The game has a mixed reception on Linux. While many users report that it is playable with minor tweaks and runs well on their systems, there are significant issues with stability, crashes, and launch problems that affect a portion of Linux users. The sentiment that the developers do not adequately support Linux adds to the frustration. Overall, the game can work well on Linux but may require some adjustments and has notable issues for some users.

Monetization: The analysis of user reviews reveals a significant concern regarding the monetization practices of the game, particularly the frequent release of paid DLCs, even during the early access phase. While some players express support for the developers by purchasing DLCs, others criticize the focus on monetization over game development. The community's reaction to DLC releases and the expectation of more DLCs also play a role in shaping the perception of the game's monetization strategy.

External guides: The game suffers from significant technical issues, including memory leaks and crashes, which severely impact the user experience. Additionally, there is a notable lack of in-game information, forcing players to rely on external resources. The user interface also presents challenges, particularly in managing mods.

Add Simplified Chinese support: Players have requested the addition of Simplified Chinese language support to make the game more accessible to a broader audience.