Space Engineers is a science-fiction survival and building game. This voxel-based game resembles Minecraft in its basic structure: players must mine resources and fend off enemies to survive in a hostile world but the real fun is building exciting and elaborate structures including space ships and space stations. Most of the action takes place in orbit but there are also explorable planets populated both by space pirates and dangerous alien creatures.

A sandbox in space

You can choose to play Space Engineers either in Survival mode or in Creative mode. Creative mode is pure sandbox: you have all the resources you need and what you build is constrained only by your imagination. In Survival mode you'll have to dig the resources you need to build out of planets and asteroids and you may find yourself in danger not only from enemies but also from running out of food water or air. Some resources are absolutely critical: run out of refined uranium for instance and you might find yourself without the power you need to refine uranium.

A canvas for would-be space explorers

If you like creative construction games but prefer spaceships to castles Space Engineers could be right for you. Like a lot of creation games it lacks characters and plot but that's not the important thing: the enjoyment comes from designing and building your own ships and space stations.