Space Engineers 2 News

Space Engineers 2 Dev Diary: November 6, 2025

We’re getting very close to the VS2 release, and right now my main focus is finishing the remaining tasks – bugs, polish, small fixes, everything that needs to be done before we can call it stable.

On Wednesday (yesterday), we had around 360 open tickets, but as you can see from this chart, we’re closing about 50 per day. That’s possible thanks to our large team of roughly 70 people, where work can be nicely parallelized.

Another big priority is testing – finding and fixing bugs as fast as possible. We’re also doing playtesting – going through the FTUE, contracts, encounters, and meta loop, to see if it’s actually fun.

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VS2 is “just” the introduction of survival, so it covers only the basics. I think it already feels fun in parts, but the real fun will come in future updates – when we add NPCs, more engineering mechanics, challenges, objectives, combat, and exploration.

We have first working subgrids in VS2 – doors!

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VS2 will include a small but very handy feature - your suit light can turn on automatically in dark areas (it works the same way as auto light in your car; and you can set it to: always on, always off, automatic on). It’s a simple quality of life improvement that makes caves, night missions, and shadowed interiors much easier to explore.

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Sound design is nearly complete. The last step is to fine-tune the audio mix for the FTUE voice-over, so the dialogue between Miro (the player) and Ivan can be clearly heard even when music or other sounds are playing.

We also spent time polishing the UI, animations, and visual effects, making the whole experience as smooth and immersive as possible. But keep in mind – this is still only VS2, and a future polishing milestone will take it even further.

Just to recap, VS2 is about adding planets and introducing the foundations of survival – backpack building, projection building, colonization progression, contracts, and encounters.

It’s still an alpha, but it’s already starting to feel like the game I’ve always wanted Space Engineers 2 to be.

Question to you: How do you usually play Space Engineers – with full sound and music, just sound effects, or completely silent?

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Space Engineers 2: Designing Colonization

Our colleague Gerd Fankhaenel, Space Engineers 2 Design Lead, shares new details about the upcoming Colonization feature:

The VS2 Update will introduce the base colonization systems and the first Almagest sectors (with more to come later!)
Players will begin their journey as early explorers, completing engineering contracts to repair and build structures that form the foundation for future settlers
In these early stages of development, players can use a fast travel network of “jump lanes” between space stations to move quickly through the Almagest system - but you can also fly freely anywhere without any loading screens
A new map will track colonization progress, display resource distribution, and feature a fog of war to encourage exploration and discovery

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https://steamcommunity.com/games/1133870/announcements/detail/571520295825834023 https://steamcommunity.com/games/1133870/announcements/detail/547875215768553486 https://steamcommunity.com/games/1133870/announcements/detail/547875215768553599

Space Engineers 2 Dev Diary: October 30, 2025

[h3]VS2 – Planets & Survival Foundations[/h3]
One of the small but important things we’re working on is improving how the game communicates with you. For example, we’re adding an onscreen indication of what you mined or grinded - and the exact amounts.

It’s a simple change, but it makes a big difference. The idea is the same as with the Unlock screens I showed in the last dev diary – moments that announce your progression and milestones. These kinds of cues help make the world feel more responsive.

We’re continuing to apply this lesson across the board – better communication from game systems towards the player. The goal is to make sure the game always lets you know what’s happening, without you having to guess or check logs and inventory screens.

VS2 will also introduce the base systems for random encounters. At first, these will be non-dynamic and non-AI – simple handcrafted damaged ships, smaller stations and points of interest to bring more life to the world.

This is just the base of the whole future encounter system. You can expect broader themes, combat scenarios, and truly dynamic NPC encounters in updates down the road. Step by step, we’re moving toward a universe that feels less static and more reactive – where every playthrough can surprise you.

You can see some of our first experiments with random encounter systems here. These screenshots show our encounter templates – handcrafted prefabs that the game will later insert into the world, on planets, or among asteroids.

So if you notice a patch of grass floating in space – don’t worry, it’s part of the template testing process, not a new type of cosmic meadow.

Lately, I’ve been finishing the voice-over work for the VS2 Survival intro cutscene and the FTUE (First Time User Experience). Both feature a dialogue between Miro (the player) and Ivan, and sometimes Miro as the narrator. I really enjoy this process – giving personality and emotional tone to the story that frames the gameplay.

For VS2, the voice lines introduce players to the world of Almagest and set up the relationship between the two brothers. In future vertical slices, we’ll expand this further as new mechanics are added – wheels, water, NPCs, and more – adapting the narrative as the universe grows.

Examples from intro cutscene (before the Survival starts) – !!! SPOILER ALERT !!!

Example from Survival / FTUE:

Speaking of cutscenes – our Art Lead Natiq is running motion capture experiments for our character animations and cutscenes. These are early tests, but they already make a huge difference in our workflow and how fast we can create all the needed animations.

Here you can see examples of entering and exiting the Cryo Pod – captured with full body motion to make every movement smoother, more natural.

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[h3]After VS2[/h3]
Me and the teams are already planning our releases after VS2. We will share an updated roadmap together with the VS2 release.

[h3]VS3 – Water[/h3]
We’re testing proper water propellers inside the game - and they work now! Still without any fine-tuning, but it’s exciting to see ships actually moving through water for the first time without any “cheated” thrusters.

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Question to you: Where’s your sweet spot before in-game notifications stop helping and start feeling like noise?

Full Blog Post: https://blog.marekrosa.org/2025/10/mareks-dev-diary-october-30-2025/

https://steamcommunity.com/games/1133870/announcements/detail/547875215768553486 https://steamcommunity.com/games/1133870/announcements/detail/547875215768553599 https://steamcommunity.com/games/1133870/announcements/detail/496083733499084820

Space Engineers 2: Birth of a Planet

Up next on our roadmap is Vertical Slice 2, introducing two brand-new planets to explore - Verdure and Kemik. It also lays the foundations for the future Space Engineers 2 survival experience, featuring the first draft of colonization and mission systems.

Let us introduce you to Jan Trauske, the lead of our amazing Art Team!

He will share some of the secrets behind how we created our new planets and brought their unique look and atmosphere to life.

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Space Engineers 2 Dev Diary: October 23, 2025

[h3]VS2 – Planets & Survival Foundations[/h3]
Let’s sit down and talk for a while about how survival building will work in Space Engineers 2.

You will be placing an animated projection of a block instead of its lowest build state. This makes planning and building feel much closer to creative mode – more intuitive and accessible for everyone.

And that’s not all. This system opens up a whole new level of creative possibilities in survival mode – including mirroring, copy/paste, modular blueprint building, and even undo & redo!

Here you can see SE2 projection particle effects – a small WIP preview of what we are refining right now.

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Unlock screens will appear to announce your progression, giving a clear sense of achievement as you advance through the game.

We are constantly optimizing and tuning LODs and grid performance – the goal is simple: keep large builds smooth without losing visual quality.

Our SE2 Art team is refining Delfos to become a true brown dwarf – adjusting its color and light scattering to give it that deep, warm glow and massive sense of scale.

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In VS2, you and your grids will have the option to fast travel between major space stations. This will let you move through the Almagest system before you gain access to high-tech jump drive technology.

Of course, the old way of slow traveling everywhere – without any loading screens – is still there for those who enjoy the journey.

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More tree physics testing and tuning:

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And it’s not just trees that are fully destructible – we now have exploding rocks too!

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Single trees can be great for savanna biome – but I always wanted more. Here are our first tests of full forests on Verdure.

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[h3]After VS2[/h3]
Me and the teams are already planning our releases after VS2. We will share an updated roadmap together with the VS2 release.

[h3]VS3 – Water[/h3]
You can take a look at block permeability testing here – water is pouring through a grinded block. It’s an important step toward making our water simulation behave more intuitively, following how players naturally expect water to react.

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Our water also got less uniform shore foam:

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Overall, water visuals are already looking better and better! Each new tweak makes the surface movement, reflections, and color feel closer to what you’d expect from real water.

Question to you: Why does the flora on Verdure look so much like Earth’s? Who planted it when the first Bering colonists arrived just ten years ago, and how could it have spread across the entire planet?

Full Blog Post: https://blog.marekrosa.org/2025/10/mareks-dev-diary-october-23-2025/

https://steamcommunity.com/games/1133870/announcements/detail/496083733499084820 https://steamcommunity.com/games/1133870/announcements/detail/505090299391901840 https://steamcommunity.com/games/1133870/announcements/detail/505089031138182432