What can you do in this game?

[Degekstuh87]

Can you crash planets into eachother? can you upgrade stuff? I really am curious ab. this game. but is it a game?

[G4L4CTIC N]

I would call it a piece of useful art in its current form. It flirts with game concepts, meaning you can take control of a ship, sorta, but its more of a planetarium experience. I'm still fumbling thru it but so far I have not tried to crash things

[Eindoppelwhopper]

No. Its an Exploration Engine, not a game. Its not universe Sandbox.

[Alaskan Glitch]

It is similar to Universe Sandbox in that it uses N-Body Newtonian mechanics and can procedurally create stars, planets, moons, asteroids and other objects that do not really exist. Including allowing you to create your own textures.

However, in its current version Space Engine is more of a planetarium than a game. You can turn off all the procedurally generated objects and only include real-world objects in your universe.

With version 0.990 you can now create your own scripts to create tours of your favorite locations. If you wish, there are also various types of spacecraft you can use to complete this tour. Think of Carl Sagan's "Cosmos" tour, and it is very similar. You get to see nebula in full 3D, not just as the image is captured by Earth-based telescopes.

Also unlike Universe Sandbox you can explore the entire universe, moving from one object to another in space, without having to load a separate file for each nebula or stellar cluster that you visit. It is much more immersive in that regard.

The visuals are the key component to this "game," in my opinion. If you have a 4K capable monitor and video card, or if you are into VR, then you can capture some amazing images. All of the planets (plus Pluto) are available as 4K images as free DLCs for Space Engine. You can also use the 4K images that NASA provides.

[Lone Starr]

no, its better than a game, its a universe simulation