Thirteen years ago, Space Engineers launched into Steam Early Access and handed players the tools to build whatever they could imagine. Keen Software House is marking the anniversary with a gift for every owner — and a look at what’s coming next for both games.
On October 23, 2013, Space Engineers launched into Steam Early Access. Thirteen years later, the game is still building, still experimenting, and still discovering what happens when engineering tools are put into players’ hands. The anniversary, Keen says, belongs to everyone who has been part of that journey — the veteran who remembers a first flight with the Red Ship, the builder sharing a first blueprint, the modder solving a problem nobody had thought to tackle, and the friend who says “you have to try this game” and then spends the evening helping a new Engineer get off the ground.
An anniversary gift: the Ancient Engineer
To celebrate thirteen years, Keen is bringing a familiar face into a new chapter. Everyone who owns Space Engineers will receive the “Ancient Engineer” character skin in Space Engineers 2 as an anniversary gift. Inspired by the familiar appearance of the original game’s Engineer, the suit lets players carry a little of that history into the sequel — whether they’ve been engineering since 2013 or joined the community more recently.
For Engineers ready to explore both games, the Space Engineers 1 and Space Engineers 2 Steam bundle brings the original sandbox and its evolving sequel together in one package.
Warfare 3 is coming to Space Engineers
The original game isn’t standing still. Warfare 3 is bringing new reasons to rethink how players design, defend, and fight with their creations: guided missiles and heavy torpedoes, countermeasure flares, EMP weaponry, and Jump Detection will expand the decisions that shape a battle. These gameplay additions are coming in a free update, alongside the optional Warfare 3 Pack, and Keen’s reveals are already underway with weekly previews showing more of what’s coming.
Space Engineers 2: Hostile Encounters
Meanwhile, just a few days ago Keen released Space Engineers 2: Hostile Encounters, bringing combat NPCs to the sequel for the first time — including the Renegades and the heavier Boatmen. These enemies bring new challenges to a world where players can engineer battlefield solutions, damage structures, and destroy the cover around them. NPCs can navigate player-built spaces, take cover, respond to threats, and fight both Engineers and their creations.
Alongside character-combat improvements and new blocks such as the Interior Turret, Hostile Encounters is another major step forward for Space Engineers 2’s engineering sandbox. It remains an evolving Early Access Alpha, and Keen stresses that player feedback continues to shape what comes next.
Thirteen years is a milestone, not a finish line. Keen is continuing to develop Space Engineers while building the future of Space Engineers 2 — the next chapter doesn’t erase the first. It grows from everything the team and community have learned, built, and experienced together.