Space Engineers 2 News

Space Engineers 2 Dev Diary: February 5, 2026

This week’s playtest was quick, we looked at improvements on the turrets – now they have proper collision and placement shapes, and the projectile trails work correctly. Rocket launcher was implemented to our internal build – the aiming and reload animations are work in progress. But it’s fun to blast everything around – I always enjoy destroying stuff.

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Interior turret concept art (if you really like gaming concept art, check out our Pioneer Edition):

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3365540/Space_Engineers_2_Pioneer_Edition/
Area welding got improvements too – we added visualization of blocks that are within range and will be welded when you press the mouse button. I am thinking whether to show a consistent 25cm grid or adapt it per block size in the vicinity.

We are in the last finalization weeks of VS2.2 so everyone is converging, and trying to not diverge and delay the release. After the code freeze, we have some more weeks for bugfixing, and then release of VS2.2, and start working on VS2.3, which should bring new changes to colonization meta loop, contracts, new types of contracts, and more.

We also held a biweekly all-team presentation, so I could see the almost final version of our weather system. There’s rain, smoke particles, and grass is influenced by the wind, and what’s amazing, it is volumetric, in a sense that if you are inside, the weather doesn’t get to you – no rain indoors! I don’t know if this makes you happy, but my heart was happy from seeing it.

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I’ve been getting a lot of questions and pleas lately to show more progress on mechanical blocks and wheels. So here you have it. I had the chance to review our current work on wheel suspensions, and it’s really nice to see them coming together. You can see the latest progress in the footage below.

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And the Rotor block, first in the VRAGE3 editor: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/m1P03L8XMiE

And first shots of rotor spinning in-game: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/GGfamYk6sIY

I also want to share a first look at our planetary ring visuals. This is still very much “Programmer Art” – that’s what our art team calls all the prototypes that haven’t received their attention yet 🙂. What I enjoy about planetary rings is how they add scale and atmosphere without needing any explanation. You can see them directly from the surface, and they give planet Verdure a much more otherworldly feel.

From here, the rings are moving to the art team for a proper visual pass. I’m really curious to see how far they can push the look once they get their hands on them.

We also reviewed the game analytics and Steam reviews, to better understand what SE1 veterans and also new players say about SE2, but also what their behavior says. The positive is that people trust us and have high confidence in SE2’s future and direction. The negative, but fixable, is that the survival is still just basic, contracts are not much fun or replayable. These were expected results, and we will improve it in the next iterations, this is just temporary and not a surprise. We are simply releasing what we have, instead of waiting for the final product, so obviously we have to give you unfinished things from time to time.

Question to you: How do you feel about planetary rings as a visual feature in Space Engineers 2?

Full Blog Post: https://blog.marekrosa.org/2026/02/mareks-dev-diary-february-5-2026/

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Space Engineers 2 Dev Diary: January 29, 2026

This week on the regular playtest, we reviewed a bunch of smaller but important things.

We did some animation changes on weapons and tools. Right now the motion is a bit too pronounced when you look around – it feels like the weapon or tool is lagging behind the crosshair. So that’s something we’ll be addressing and tuning down.

Asteroid rings are already in our internal build of the game. From a distance, you see them as a kind of foggy ring. As you get closer, the fog disappears and you start seeing individual asteroids. There’s one big ring around Verdure, and it’s also visible directly from the planet’s surface, which adds a nice large-scale geographic element to the world.

The loot system is already in. During FTUE, contracts, or encounters, you’ll be able to find loot here and there. Datapads are in as well – you can find them and read short snippets of background lore.

The killing field around Delfos is in too. When you get too close, you start seeing dust and fire-like cloudy particles all around you – even inside interiors. This danger goes through obstacles, so if you don’t escape in time, it will kill you and destroy your ship. It’s meant to feel unavoidable and hostile.

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Speed particles are being improved. They look like a star field that fades in once you cross the safe speed (72 km/h), and they really help with the sense of speed and motion.

Customizable controls are in – you can rebind keys. I’m not 100% sure yet whether this covers absolutely all use cases players care about, or more like 90%, but we’ll ship it and then collect the feedback. We are also adding a separate Tools Volume settings – so you can make your mining experience as quiet (or as loud) as you wish.

Automated turrets are in. If you set them up correctly, they start shooting enemy grids, and suddenly it already feels much more like a real game. One thing that’s not done yet: the collision shape for the turret. Right now you can place them extremely close to each other, and it looks… funny. That will be fixed.

Trading blocks are in, so you can buy and sell items. Block actions via the toolbar are in progress. We already saw programmers demo it – pressing numeric keys to turn on lights, open doors, etc. Still being wired up properly, but it’s clearly coming together.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
We’re also improving mission scripting in the FTUE (first-time user experience, roughly the first 1–2 hours). The goal is to avoid situations where the game tells you to do something you can’t actually progress – for example, “bring 1000 iron to a cargo container” when the container already has it, but the mission logic doesn’t register it. These kinds of dead-ends should not happen anymore.

Mission scripting in a sandbox game with a fully destructible environment is… hard 😃

One last edge case we’re trying to avoid is when a player visits a mission area early, unknowingly messes it up, and later comes back when the mission actually needs it – but now it’s impossible to complete because key grids are missing. One possible solution is to spawn almost invisible safe zones around such areas, which you’d only notice when very close, and which would prevent changes. That’s our last-resort, nuclear option. We’ll try everything else first.

I’ve also been looking at our planned GPS expansion, which is a good example of how VS2 really served as a foundation. VS2 gave us the base systems, and now we’re going back and making each of them deeper and more feature complete. GPS is one of those systems that you don’t always notice at first, but once you rely on it, every small improvement matters.

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Right now, the team is working on new GPS features. I really like how practical these changes are. You can for example add a GPS marker directly from your current position, paste markers from the clipboard, and organize everything into GPS groups.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

We’re also working on a WIP indication for newly unlocked blocks. The idea is simple – when you get access to a new block, the game should clearly tell you that something new is available. I personally find this important for feedback and progression. You immediately know that your actions unlocked something, instead of discovering it much later by accident. The visuals for this are still work in progress, but the underlying logic is already there.

You might remember that some time ago I mentioned our early cloud experiments. Since then, we’ve been pushing this area further, especially while working on new planetary visuals. As we add more worlds to the game, it becomes clear that clouds are not just decoration – they are a powerful tool for shaping mood, scale, and overall atmosphere.

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Lately, we’ve been experimenting with a different approach to planet visuals, including the idea of permanent fog. I find this especially interesting for planets that are meant to feel hostile, mysterious, or oppressive. A constant layer of fog changes how you navigate, how far you can see, and how safe you feel at any given moment.

Our cloud system gives the team a lot of control. We can tweak cloud height, density, color, and layering, and combine them in ways that dramatically change the character of a planet. Subtle adjustments already make a big difference. A low, dense fog can make the surface feel claustrophobic and dangerous, while higher, broken cloud layers can emphasize scale and openness. I really enjoy seeing how the same terrain can feel completely different just by changing the atmosphere around it.

This is still very much an experimental area, but it’s exciting to see how far we can push planet identity using clouds and fog alone.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Question to you: What visuals are most important to you for creating a strong planet atmosphere and mood?

Full Blog Post: https://blog.marekrosa.org/2026/01/mareks-dev-diary-january-29-2026/

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Space Engineers 2: Verdure's Moon - Palatine

Did you know planet Verdure has a moon? Its name is Palatine. The strange similarities between our Earth in the Solar System and Verdure in the Almagest system continue even here. Palatine looks surprisingly close to our own Moon, with its barren surface, crater patterns, and quiet, airless horizon.

Maybe that is just a coincidence. The universe is full of circular rocky bodies without an atmosphere, shaped by billions of years of impacts and erosion. But still… the resemblance is hard to ignore.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
Seeing Verdure and Palatine together will add another layer of familiarity to the Almagest system, almost like looking at a distant echo of home. And at the same time, it opens up new possibilities for exploration, contracts, and storytelling.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3642798269
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Space Engineers 2 Dev Diary: January 22, 2026

Today in our SE2 playtest, we focused on VS 2.2 progress: planets (new Byblos biomes), the first drivable wheels prototype, and a few early encounter scenarios. Later, we did a longer sound review session for VS 2.2 with our sound designers.

[h3]VS3 – Planet Byblos Biomes & Rocks[/h3]
We now have Byblos in multiple looks: snow, volcanic, desert, and a mossy/green biome. We also tested a new set of rock types and sizes – from small (~0.5 m) up to large formations (5 m, and even 15 m).

We decided not to use the biggest rock formations for now. Our rock tech is designed for smaller rocks (up to ~5 m), which fracture and break apart at their own granularity. Very large formations are better handled as voxel terrain or voxel boulders, which are built from voxels and can be drilled and destroyed at voxel-level detail. Mixing those two systems at large scales doesn’t make sense yet, so we’re sticking to voxel terrain for big formations for now.

One of the most striking Byblos biomes is the Volcanic Biome. The team is building massive volcanoes that can reach up to 2 km in height, and the scale is impressive. This is a hostile environment – dry, unstable, and almost completely devoid of life. There is no vegetation here, the conditions are simply too harsh.

These regions are placed mostly in tropical to subtropical areas, and in some places they break into arid, savanna-like islands with yellowish rock formations. I really like this contrast. It feels raw and alien, yet still grounded. There is also the possibility to find sulphur in these areas, which opens up some interesting gameplay questions for later.

The same volcanic structures take on a very different character in the Snow & Ice Biome. Here, the volcanos are covered in snow and ice, with no vegetation at all. These regions are found closer to the poles, where temperatures drop dramatically. Because Byblos has a very high water level, the shoreline can sometimes form small lakes that freeze over. I find this especially interesting visually – familiar volcanic shapes, but transformed into something cold, quiet, and almost lifeless.

Then there is the Moss Biome, which might be my personal favorite so far. It uses the same volcanic base shapes, but they are partially covered with moss. Vegetation here is minimal – just small patches of moss clinging to the surface – but it completely changes the mood.

These areas appear in temperate regions, roughly between the 45° and 65° parallels. Sulphur can also be found here, and visually we’re taking inspiration from places like Iceland and Greenland. I think this biome hits a really nice balance between harshness and subtle life, and I’m curious to see how players will feel exploring and building in these areas.

I also want to share a bit more about the Underwater Biomes on Byblos, because this is one of the areas that keeps surprising me every time I look at it. The scale alone is something we don’t usually get to explore in games like this. The underwater terrain goes down to roughly -20 km of altitude, which creates a strong sense of depth and pressure the deeper you go.

What I find interesting is how the team is splitting this space. Roughly 60% of the underwater areas are relatively shallow water, while the rest drops into a deep abyss. There are also so-called blue holes – vertical shafts that connect shallow water directly to the abyss below. These transitions create moments where you suddenly realize how far down the world really goes, and I think they have a lot of potential for exploration and future gameplay.

Shallow water areas are full of underwater flora, which helps the environment feel alive and readable. Deeper down, things change. Vegetation disappears, the terrain becomes more barren, and the space starts to feel empty and quiet in a very different way. There are also many underwater caves. In theory, these caves should connect to cracks leading into the abyss, but right now we are hitting few technical limitations there. This is something we’re aware of and want to improve over time.

We are also toying with the idea of adding crystals in the deep underwater areas. When there is no vegetation at all, the environment can start to feel unfinished, even if it is “technically correct”. Completely empty terrain just looks strange. The crystals can give us visual anchors – points of interest that break the monotony, add scale, and make the deep ocean feel intentional rather than empty.

I really like how they subtly guide your eye and make even the darkest depths feel worth exploring.

[h3]VS2 Update[/h3]
Wheels (VS 2.2 → VS 2.3 direction)
The goal for VS 2.2 was simple: get the first playable wheels prototype into the game, then learn what works, what feels wrong, and what’s missing – and only then decide how far we push it in VS 2.3.

The good news: driving already feels surprisingly solid. Steering works, suspension feels good, and you can feel the weight and grounding of the vehicle.

What’s still missing / needs improvement:

Wheel visuals are not finished yet (including shadows).
Braking is not implemented properly yet.
Acceleration needs tuning (stronger / more responsive).
No particle effects yet (dust, skid, etc.).
No wheel/vehicle sounds yet.
Camera needs improvement: add some “spring” so it reacts with the vehicle and feels more dynamic.

Cargo Ship Encounters
We also looked at early cargo ship encounter situations. Still very early, but the direction is: make these encounters feel like real “events” in the world, not just spawning a thing. More on this once we have them in better shape.

Sound reviews for VS 2.2
We reviewed a lot of sounds today: gatling gun, pistons, rotors, and especially wheels rolling. The main theme of the feedback was: make things feel heavier and more physical – you should feel tire contact, weight transfer, and the “mass” of the vehicle. We also reviewed weather sounds (rain), the area welder (hand tool and block tool), and UX sounds for trading (buy/sell, sector progress) and looting.

It’s funny how often my feedback ends up being: “It’s good… but please make it more bad / evil.” 🙂

I also spent some time reviewing our latest drilling animations, and this is one of those details where feel really matters to me. Operating a heavy drill should not look or feel effortless. I want more umpf in it – more weight, more resistance, and more believable body movement. The character should clearly react to the tool, not just hold it.

The team is pushing toward more logical physicality in the animation – stronger stance, clearer shifts in balance, and movements that reflect the force and vibration of heavy equipment. Even small changes in posture and timing make a big difference here.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
Question to you: What kinds of biomes would you personally love to explore in Space Engineers 2?

Full Blog Post: https://blog.marekrosa.org/2026/01/mareks-dev-diary-january-22-2026/

Please join us for Space Engineers 2 Developer Livestream!

🚀 Friday, January 23rd, 6 PM UTC
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Image Credits: Patrol by nondepressedweabo

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Space Engineers 2 Dev Diary: January 15, 2026

The fighter cockpit has an interesting history. It originally started as a mod on the SE1 Workshop, and it became so popular that we eventually added our own version to the base game, with the full blessing of the mod author. I always enjoy moments like this, where something born in the community becomes part of Space Engineers for everyone.

Here are the first concepts of the fighter cockpit for SE2. You can see the whole journey, from the initial black and white silhouette sketches, to the rough and more refined interior studies, and finally to the early visualizations of how the finished model might look.

It is still work in progress, but this is exactly how a block begins its life in SE2 – one line, one shape, one idea at a time.

I realized we never showed you the small version of the piston, which is coming in VS2.2. Bit by bit, VS2.2 is taking shape and it will bring the tools that survival engineering really needs.

And finally, let me show you our new stackable Wind Turbine. This block has been designed so you can place one turbine on top of another, creating a seamless look and a continuous wind blade motion across the entire stack.

To me it already feels satisfying to build with – even in this early form. I am really looking forward to seeing what kind of towers and engineering solutions you will create with this.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
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Question to you: What block would you like to see return next?

Full Blog Post: https://blog.marekrosa.org/2026/01/mareks-dev-diary-january-15-2026/

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