Marek’s Dev Diary: December 4, 2025

It is 3 days after we released the most important update since SE2 launched and we are still overwhelmed. Thank you for the warm welcome for Vertical Slice 2. Planets, Colonization and Survival Foundations is where Space Engineers 2 finally turned into a real survival game – planets, progression, story foundations, and the first version of core systems all working together.

And I have to thank both our SE1 and SE2 teams for their hard work. These past months were intense for everyone. VS2 touched almost every part of the game, so artists, programmers, designers, testers, audio, production, and support all had to push together. Watching both teams help each other, share ideas, solve blockers, and keep the whole project moving was inspiring. None of this would exist without their dedication.

Seeing SE2 through player videos, I am realizing how beautiful it actually is. I spend so much time deep in development that I mostly see the issues, the bugs, and all the unfinished parts. Watching players explore the planets, fly through the clouds, and build their first bases gives me a completely different perspective. It reminds me why we are making this game in the first place.

Players already discovered how to turn on water in Space Engineers 2 – unofficially, since water is planned for VS3 in 2026.

What you can expect now are daily hotfixes over the next few weeks. The whole team is watching your reports closely, and your feedback is already helping us fix issues at a very fast pace. Thank you for every ticket, screenshot, and video you send us. Please continue using our Support Portal – it really makes a difference and helps us track everything properly.

After the new year, we will move to the next steps on our roadmap. This means new sectors, expanded contracts, and more varied and fun objectives as additional gameplay systems come alive. VS2 is only the beginning. If you take a look at the roadmap, you will see how the survival and colonization experience will grow piece by piece.

I think that now most of you have a much clearer understanding of why we released VS1 earlier this year. It gave us the chance to test and polish our new building systems with the unified 25 cm grid, blueprints, modding, and the Steam Workshop – all essential for survival projection building you can now enjoy.

We have a plan, and it is clear that many of you are excited about it. We feel very honored by your trust, and now it is on us to deliver. What you are testing in VS2 are just the cornerstones of the full features that will come later.

Let’s take one example – Area Welding – coming in VS2.2. The 25 cm unified grid system gives you much more freedom and detail for your creations, but it also means it would be far too tedious to weld every single block one by one. Area Welding is the natural next step. The new grid gives us the precision, and Area Welding will give you the tools to actually build with that precision in a practical way.

Music Competition

We are excited to announce the winners of our Space Engineers Music Contest. This year we received an unbelievable 252 music tracks from our community composers! Join us on Friday, December 12 at 6 PM UTC, when we will reveal the winning tracks and celebrate the incredible creativity of our community composers. Thank you to everyone who submitted their work – the level of talent this year was truly inspiring.

We also revealed our new plushie astronaut and I have to say, I think he is really cute. It is always a special feeling to see Space Engineers come to life in forms outside the game.

Together with the plushie, we released new posters of Kemik and Verdure, and I love how they capture the atmosphere of both planets. These small things make me happy, and I hope they bring a bit of joy to your gaming space as well.