Start Your Engines: Space Engineers On Early Access

Do you want to be an engineer? I can understand if you don't really feel like it's your cup of tea - especially if you'd rather be a professional tea brewer. But what about a space engineer? Well of course you're saying yes now. Space makes everything better, except breathing. Happily, Space Engineers would rather suck the life from your lungs via the good old-fashioned method: time. It wants all of your hours, and it looks like it could well offer some pretty tantalizing reasons to hand them over. But skepticism is still healthy, especially in the wake of developer Keen Software House's lackluster Miner Wars 2081. Steam Early Access, then, offers a chance to see if Space Engineers is really on the right track.

The playground of NASA-inspired science and rock-'em-sock-'em-crash-'em physics porn is now available on Steam Early Access for $14.99. It's currently in alpha, so beware of creepy crawly space bugs.

"Space Engineers is in alpha stage of development - this means that the game is still under development and will be improved on a regular basis through updates that add and polish features and content, optimizations and bug fixes."

"This initial release on Early Access focuses on core mechanics: building in creative mode, physics simulations and destruction. Additional features will be released in following updates."

Features like multiplayer, sound effects, weapons, survival mode, and much improved animations are planned for the future. For now, however, it's a bit barebones.

If you're still interested in suiting up and diving in, Keen's released a tutorial video to help get you off the ground. You can already build ships and stations, which is more than can be said for most other games. Or real life. Unless you're an actual space engineer, in which case why are you eyeing a game about your career? Get some other hobbies! Diversity is the spice of life. Take up space tennis or space knitting or space drug addiction or something. Don't be afraid to explore.