Games Like Space Engineers

Space Engineers 2 is a sandbox about engineering and colonization where you build ships, stations, and planetary bases in a fully destructible world. Begin the story of Miro and Ivan Sokol, expand humanity’s foothold in the Almagest system, and fight to survive.

Why similar: Moddable 17.9% ★, Space Sim 13.3% ★, Building 9.8%, Space 9.6%, Sandbox 9.3%

Why You'll Like It: It is the direct follow-up, built around the same core fantasy of physically constructing ships, stations, and vehicles in a sandbox space environment.

Build and explore in a true space sandbox survival adventure. Construct mighty capital vessels, sprawling planetary settlements, and vast space stations in your galactic journey to discover the mysteries of Empyrion!

Why similar: Space Sim 15.7% ★, Space 9.4%, Co-op 9.1%, Building 9%, Survival 7.4%

Why You'll Like It: It closely matches Space Engineers with first-person survival, mining, planetary exploration, and custom-built ships and bases across space and planets.

Mine and craft your way to orbit, build your own starship and explore a vast, dangerous galaxy alongside your crew. For players who love a meaningful survival progression, a unique and elegant building system, and epic space-opera scale.

Why similar: Space 18.6%, Space Sim 18% ★, Building 17.8%, Sandbox 14.1%, Simulation 8.4%

Why You'll Like It: It focuses on building modular ships, stations, and vehicles that can move seamlessly between planets and space in a very Space Engineers-like sandbox.

Starbase is a hybrid voxel/vertex-based space MMO with a fully destructible and infinitely expanding universe, with a focus on building and designing spaceships and stations, exploration, resource gathering, crafting, trading, and combat.

Why similar: Space Sim 29% ★, Building 15.9%, Space 13.4%, Open World 13.2%, Sandbox 12.3%

Why You'll Like It: It offers deep ship and station construction with destructible space systems, resource gathering, and multiplayer emergent engineering problems.

Stationeers puts you in control of the construction and management of a space station to run by yourself or online with your friends. Complex atmospheric, electrical, manufacturing, agriculture, and gravitational systems require your thought and management at all times!

Why similar: Moddable 20.9% ★, Base Building 13.6%, Building 10.9%, Space 10.8%, Sandbox 10.1%

Why You'll Like It: It captures the hardcore engineering side of Space Engineers through detailed life support, power, automation, and survival on hostile worlds and stations.

Enter the creative paradise of Scrap Mechanic! Build fantastic machines, go on adventures with your friends and defend against waves of evil Farmbots in this imaginative multiplayer survival sandbox. With Scrap Mechanic’s powerful creation tools you can engineer your own adventures!

Why similar: Building 15.5%, Sandbox 12.3%, Open World 10.6%, Survival 10.5%, Physics 10.5%

Why You'll Like It: Its creative block-based building, physics-driven vehicles, co-op survival, and machine tinkering scratch a very similar sandbox engineering itch.

Interact with strange new worlds in a unique and tactile way, molding the environment itself as if it were clay in your hands. Build your base, master resource management, automate your production lines, and more as you unravel the mysteries of the universe, alone or with friends.

Why similar: Space 15.2%, Base Building 13.8%, Open World 12.4%, Survival 12.1%, Sandbox 10%

Why You'll Like It: It delivers co-op planetary survival, base building, terrain deformation, and vehicle crafting in a lighter but very compelling space sandbox.

Medieval Engineers is a sandbox game about engineering, construction and the maintenance of architectural works and mechanical equipment using medieval technology. Players build castles; construct mechanical devices and underground mining. There is an entire planet to explore!

Why similar: Building 20.7%, Sandbox 16.8%, Physics 13.3%, Open World 12.7%, Survival 8.3%

Why You'll Like It: From the same studio, it shares the same structural building and destruction feel as Space Engineers, just with castles and siege machines instead of spaceships.

Join a world where you design, create and pilot your own air sea rescue service. Release your inner hero as you battle fierce storms out at sea to rescue those in need.

Why similar: Base Building 17.6%, Sandbox 16.5%, Building 15.2%, Open World 12.4%, Physics 11.6%

Why You'll Like It: It is another highly systems-driven construction sandbox where you design complex vehicles piece by piece and test them in a physical simulation.

Over 1000 unique components allow you to build and command voxel vehicles from the deep ocean to outer space! Forge strategies, allegiances and fleets strong enough to destroy eight deadly factions of the planet and reign supreme. A genre-defying mashup of simulation, building, RTS and RPG.

Why similar: Building 19.2%, Sandbox 17%, Physics 14.7%, Space 14.3%, Survival 12.5%

Why You'll Like It: It emphasizes intricate custom vehicle design, resource use, and combat engineering in a sandbox that rewards technical creativity like Space Engineers does.

A procedural co-op space sandbox where players can build their own space ships out of dynamically scalable blocks. Fight epic space battles, explore, mine, trade, wage wars and build your own empire to save your galaxy from being torn apart by an unknown enemy.

Why similar: Space Sim 27.5% ★, Space 13.9%, Building 13.8%, Sandbox 13.2%, Open World 10.9%

Why You'll Like It: It lets you build and customize ships block by block while exploring, fighting, and expanding through a large sandbox galaxy.

Build the ultimate vehicle and explore a vast open world filled with challenges and adventure. Play solo or team up with friends in multiplayer to conquer the toughest obstacles. With a thrilling campaign mode and endless creative possibilities, Trailmakers is the ultimate sandbox for adventurers.

Why similar: Space 21.9%, Building 13.2%, Sandbox 12.2%, Physics 11.1%, Open World 10.6%

Why You'll Like It: It turns modular vehicle building and physics experimentation into a playful open-world co-op sandbox with constant engineering iteration.

Interstellar Rift is an open world starship simulator with an emphasis on ship construction and multi-player interaction. Survive in a hostile galaxy with your own custom designed and constructed starship. Invite other players to join your crew or fight them across the galaxy!

Why similar: Space Sim 25.5% ★, Building 12.6%, Sandbox 11%, Space 10.8%, Open World 10.4%

Why You'll Like It: It combines ship and station construction, survival systems, and space exploration in a first-person sandbox built around player-made vessels.

In Kerbal Space Program, take charge of the space program for the alien race known as the Kerbals. You have access to an array of parts to assemble fully-functional spacecraft that flies (or doesn’t) based on realistic aerodynamic and orbital physics.

Why similar: Space Sim 20.3% ★, Space 17.8%, Moddable 15.3% ★, Sandbox 12.4%, Physics 10.3%

Why You'll Like It: It is one of the best pure space-engineering sandboxes on Steam, rewarding experimentation with realistic ship design and physics.

TerraTech is an open-world, sandbox adventure game, where you design and build your own creations through a mix of crafting, combat and discovery. Design vehicles from a huge library of blocks. Scavenge, craft and buy new parts to survive and become the ultimate planetary prospector.

Why similar: Building 22.3%, Sandbox 18.3%, Open World 15.2%, Multiplayer 9.9%, Survival 9.6%

Why You'll Like It: Its snap-together vehicle building, resource harvesting, and open-world exploration make it a strong fit if you enjoy designing machines for practical use.

TerraTech Worlds is an open world, build-craft adventure game, set on an uncharted alien world. Play solo or with friends, explore your surroundings, craft unique vehicles, construct automated bases, and battle your way through hazards and enemies to harness the power of your environment

Why similar: Base Building 18.1%, Building 13.3%, Sandbox 13%, Co-op 12.4%, Open World 11.2%

Why You'll Like It: It blends survival, co-op exploration, mining, and custom vehicle construction in a way that feels like a more accessible planetary cousin to Space Engineers.

Survive and colonize Mars in a highly technical, open-world sandbox game. Build and upgrade your base, discover new regions, conduct mining operations, retrieve water, generate oxygen, grow crops, and fix broken parts.

Why similar: Base Building 16.2%, Space 13.3%, Sandbox 12.9%, Building 12.6%, Open World 11.7%

Why You'll Like It: It leans into realistic Mars survival with detailed base building, power management, mining, and vehicles for a grounded sci-fi engineering experience.

Satisfactory is a first-person open-world factory building game with a dash of exploration and combat. Play alone or with friends, explore an alien planet, create multi-story factories, and enter conveyor belt heaven!

Why similar: Base Building 24.4%, Building 13.5%, Open World 13.3%, Co-op 12.5%, Sandbox 11.3%

Why You'll Like It: Although planetside rather than spacefaring, its first-person construction, logistics, and co-op industrial problem-solving appeal strongly to Space Engineers builders.

A space survival open world terraforming crafting game, designed for 1 to 10 players. Alter the ecosystem of an inhospitable planet to render it habitable for humanity. Survive, gather resources, and build your base. Then, generate oxygen, warmth, and pressure to create a brand new biosphere.

Why similar: Base Building 19%, Building 14%, Space 13.3%, Co-op 12.8%, Survival 12.3%

Why You'll Like It: Its first-person survival, resource gathering, and steadily expanding planetary bases make it a great fit for players who enjoy the calmer building side of Space Engineers.

No Man's Sky is a game about exploration and survival in an infinite procedurally generated universe.

Why similar: Space 21.2%, Open World 18.1%, Space Sim 16.7% ★, Survival 11.6%, Sandbox 11.1%

Why You'll Like It: While less mechanical, it offers the same fantasy of surviving, building bases, piloting ships, and exploring a huge universe alone or with friends.

The ultimate space sandbox. Participate in epic fleet battles, form alliances, strive to dominate entire galaxies and harness the universe’s resources for your industrious empire or the destruction of others. Customise your experience, the universe is yours!

Why similar: Space 22%, Sandbox 17.4%, Building 13.1%, Open World 12.4%, Space Sim 11.2% ★

Why You'll Like It: It is an older but still very relevant ship-and-station building sandbox centered on block construction, space exploration, and multiplayer creativity.

Build physically simulated rovers to transport awkwardly shaped cargo across the rugged terrain of Mars. Earn funds, unlock new parts, and use your ingenuity to help the Martians establish a new home. Playable solo or in online co-op!

Why similar: Space Sim 23.8% ★, Co-op 18%, Building 13.2%, Sandbox 12.2%, Physics 10.9%

Why You'll Like It: Building physics-based rovers to haul cargo across Mars captures the trial-and-error engineering joy that makes Space Engineers so satisfying.

Factorio is a game about building and creating automated factories to produce items of increasing complexity, within an infinite 2D world. Use your imagination to design your factory, combine simple elements into ingenious structures, and finally protect it from the creatures who don't really like you.

Why similar: Base Building 26.2%, Sandbox 14.3%, Moddable 13.5% ★, Survival 8.5%, Building 8.3%

Why You'll Like It: It nails the engineering mindset of designing efficient systems and scaling production, even if it trades 3D ships for top-down factory mastery.

Design and simulate the starships of your dreams! Command your ship or fleet in epic battles and manage your crew while exploring a dangerous galaxy. Play alone or with friends, test your ships in online PvP, and let your imagination reach for the stars!

Why similar: Space Sim 27.6% ★, Space 16.5%, Building 16.2%, Survival 11%, Multiplayer 8.3%

Why You'll Like It: It focuses on designing functional starships room by room and system by system, with engineering choices directly affecting combat and performance.

Command the Nimbatus and craft drones out of hundreds of different parts. Survive unknown threats in a fully destructible, procedural universe, compete against other players in different arenas or enjoy complete creative freedom in the sandbox.

Why similar: Space Sim 25.8% ★, Space 12.7%, Building 10%, Sandbox 9.2%, Physics 8.2%

Why You'll Like It: Designing and testing custom drones in a physics-based space sandbox delivers a concentrated dose of engineering and experimentation.

Your journey to building a vast space empire begins behind the controls of a single ship. Explore the stars, trade goods, fight battles, build stations, buy and equip ships, and command fleets in a living, fully simulated universe that reacts to your decisions.

Why similar: Space Sim 26.1% ★, Moddable 16.4% ★, Space 12.8%, Sandbox 12.4%, Building 8%

Why You'll Like It: Its open-ended space sandbox lets you build stations, manage ships, and carve out your own industrial presence in a living galaxy.

Embark on a space voyage with your ragtag crew of civilians in search of a new home. Build spaceships tile by tile, create optimal gas conditions, manage the needs and moods of their crew, encounter other space-faring groups, and explore the universe in this spaceship colony simulation.

Why similar: Space Sim 19.5% ★, Base Building 14.4%, Space 11.2%, Building 11.1%, Sandbox 10.6%

Why You'll Like It: Building and maintaining a functioning spaceship while managing crew, resources, and survival mirrors Space Engineers at a more strategic, colony-sim scale.

Survive in outer space! Together with your immortal chicken, discover the truth behind your sudden spaceship crash. Craft tools, pilot vehicles, and even control space stations to survive and explore the wreckage.

Why similar: Space 22.6%, Base Building 21.1%, Sandbox 17.3%, Survival 16.2%, Open World 9.6%

Why You'll Like It: It delivers first-person space survival, scavenging, crafting, and environmental hazards for players who enjoy the harsher survival side of Space Engineers.

You’ve fled your home, only to find yourself lost in space with a damaged ship. Your only option is to beam down to the planet below, repair your ship and set off to explore the universe...

Why similar: Sandbox 21%, Space 15.7%, Survival 13%, Building 11.7%, Open World 11.2%

Take control of your own starship and blaze your trail in an ever-changing galaxy. Master the arts of combat, mining and trade or venture out into the unknown across a 1:1 scale universe.

Why similar: Space Sim 38.7% ★, Space 19.5%, Open World 13.8%, Sandbox 6.5%, Multiplayer 6.3%

Create & destroy on an unimaginable scale with a realistic physics-based space simulator. Explore the beauty of our universe and the fragility of our planet. Use science to bend the laws of gravity, collide planets, boil away oceans, fire epic space lasers, and customize your universe.

Why similar: Space 20.8%, Sandbox 20.1%, Space Sim 16.2% ★, Physics 15.2%, Realistic 8.6%

Equipped with cutting-edge salvaging tech, carve & slice spaceships to recover valuable materials. Upgrade your gear to take on more lucrative contracts and pay your billion credits debt to LYNX Corp!

Why similar: Space 22.5%, Space Sim 21.4% ★, Physics 15.4%, Sandbox 14%, Simulation 7.9%

Besiege is a physics building game about constructing medieval machines to annihilate armies, obliterate castles and overcome challenging obstacles. Conquer the campaign or skirmish with friends in Multiplayer!

Why similar: Moddable 26.4% ★, Building 13.2%, Sandbox 12.6%, Physics 11.3%, PvP 9.9%

StarRupture is a first-person open world base-building game with advanced combat and tons of exploration. Play alone or in a group on this sublime and ever-changing planet, extract and manage resources, create your complex industrial system and fight off hordes of alien monsters.

Why similar: Base Building 19.8%, Co-op 14.3%, Survival 13.4%, Sandbox 13.3%, Open World 13.1%

Kerbal Space Program 2 is the sequel to the acclaimed space-flight simulation game Kerbal Space Program. Enter the next generation of space adventure with exciting new parts, stunning visuals, fully revamped UI and Map View, and rich new environments to explore.

Why similar: Space Sim 17% ★, Moddable 14.2% ★, Space 11.7%, Building 11.1%, Sandbox 10.5%

Mine asteroids, salvage space debris, design your own small or massive spacecraft using individual functional components, complete missions, and engage in battles against enemies in a vast galaxy with realistic physics based on orbital mechanics or in a classic physics mode.

Why similar: Space 27.3%, Space Sim 20% ★, Sandbox 16%, Building 10.7%, Simulation 10.4%

A base-building open-world survival shooter that replaces your typical base with a giant drill. Alone or with friends, explore an island plagued by eruptions, upgrade your drill, and fight robots to uncover what's been hiding beneath the surface.

Why similar: Base Building 15.3%, Open World 12.6%, Survival 12.6%, Building 11.9%, Sandbox 11.2%

Planet Explorers is an open world sandbox adventure RPG game set on a distant planet. The game uses a new OpenCL calculated voxel system to allow players to change the terrain in any way, create new objects such as weapons, vehicles, objects, and do it anywhere.

Why similar: Sandbox 24.7%, Open World 19.8%, Survival 14.2%, Building 13.4%, Multiplayer 10.2%

Wage war across entire solar systems with massive armies at your command. Annihilate enemy forces with world-shattering TITAN-class units, and demolish planets with massive super weapons!

Why similar: Base Building 19.6%, Building 15.3%, Space 14.4%, Co-op 13.5%, PvP 12.4%

Bring to life anything you can imagine from rockets and airplanes to cars and more. Automate them with a visual programming language. Explore 3D planets and make your own. Share your creations online. Complete contracts, conquer milestones, and unlock technology in the newly added Career Mode.

Why similar: Space Sim 19.8% ★, Moddable 16.9% ★, Building 10.7%, Base Building 10.6%, Space 8.7%

Guide a group of space settlers trying to establish a base on a remote planet. Grow food, collect energy, mine resources, survive disasters and build a self-sufficient colony in a harsh and unforgiving environment.

Why similar: Base Building 24.9%, Space 20.3%, Survival 14.4%, Building 8.8%, Space Sim 8.7% ★

A spaceship building and universe-exploration game. Collect resources, expand and grow your fleet, and conquer your personal galaxy. Stellar ambience by Peaks.

Why similar: Building 26.4%, Space 25.4%, Sandbox 20.9%, Strategy 7.4%, Open World 7.4%

Explore endless Universe and create the most efficient constellation of colonies. Build conveyor systems to automate production. Take care of Astronauts and their needs! Establish new colonies as part of intergalactic simulation.

Why similar: Base Building 19.5%, Space Sim 16.5% ★, Space 14.2%, Building 11%, Sandbox 8.8%

Over 20 years of legendary space battles! Explore a massive living universe of danger and opportunity in a challenging and highly rewarding space adventure. Fight, trade, build, and connect with a universe driven and shaped directly by players.

Why similar: Space Sim 25.5% ★, Space 13.1%, Open World 10.7%, Sandbox 9.9%, Co-op 9.5%

Build the most efficient intergalactic factory in space simulation strategy game Dyson Sphere Program! Harness the power of stars, collect resources, plan and design production lines and develop your interstellar factory from a small space workshop to a galaxy-wide industrial empire.

Why similar: Base Building 22%, Space 18.9%, Building 14.3%, Space Sim 13.3% ★, Open World 11.3%

The Last Starship is a 2D space construction game where you design and upgrade your starship. Choose your path: pirate hunter, miner, engineer, spacebus driver, and more, whilst exploring vibrant star systems. Enjoy a growing sandbox world, with regular free updates. Your cosmic adventure awaits!

Why similar: Space Sim 24.2% ★, Base Building 15%, Space 13.1%, Building 12.2%, Sandbox 12%

Explore a world of creative building, interactive machines, and gears - lots of gears. Build all things mechanical: cars, trucks, cranes, tanks, gearboxes, engines, clocks, anything you can think of. Test your creations to destruction in challenging scenarios, and share them in the workshop!

Why similar: Moddable 29.8% ★, Building 18.9%, Sandbox 15.4%, Physics 14.5%, Open World 8.4%

In Spaceflight Simulator, you will get to build your rockets, plan launches and flights, attempt landings, deploy payloads and explore new worlds.

Why similar: Space Sim 29% ★, Space 14.9%, Sandbox 14.6%, Moddable 8.9% ★, Building 6.2%

Build airplanes by snapping parts together, designing wing sections, and attaching engines. At any time, you can strap yourself into the cockpit and see how it flies with realistic physics. If you're not in the mood for building, over 100,000 airplanes are available to download for free.

Why similar: Moddable 26.5% ★, Building 16.3%, Sandbox 15.6%, Physics 13.9%, Open World 11.8%

GRAV is a sand box experience where you explore a multitude of planets, hunt strange alien creatures, build and defend outposts, craft weapons and armor, and attempt to survive against other players in a hostile environment.

Why similar: Base Building 19.6%, Survival 17.9%, Open World 15.8%, Sandbox 14.6%, Space 11.9%

Astrometica is a space exploration and base-building survival game. After a catastrophic event, explore vast space, gather resources, build bases, and uncover cosmic mysteries. Use advanced technology, craft tools, and discover new blueprints to survive and thrive in the unknown.

Why similar: Space Sim 35.3% ★, Base Building 15.7%, Space 14.8%, Survival 14.1%, Open World 14%

Build a civilization of real people, working together to advance society and stop a meteor, all without destroying the ecosystem in the process.

Why similar: Base Building 19.2%, Building 18.8%, Sandbox 17.5%, Open World 13.3%, Survival 11.9%

Experience true combat gameplay in a massive military sandbox. Deploy with a wide variety of single- and multiplayer content, a massive arsenal of modern weapons and vehicles, and limitless opportunities for content creation. Authentic, diverse, open - Arma 3 sends you to war.

Why similar: Moddable 15.7% ★, Multiplayer 13.4%, Realistic 13.1%, Open World 12.8%, Co-op 11.9%

Gather resources, craft components, build vehicles, and code their logic in a physics-driven engineering sandbox and full scale space sim.

Why similar: Space Sim 19.4% ★, Moddable 15.7% ★, Building 10.9%, Space 10.5%, Sandbox 10.4%