Space Engineersis a voxel-based sandbox game that centers around exploration, survival, construction, and engineering. It was released in October 2013 by developers and publishers Keen Software House in Steam’s early access program. Since then, it has been fully released in 2019 and is currently available on Xbox and PC.
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Space Engineershas some of the mostin-depth building systemswhile boasting a truly open-world experience that players can enjoy with their friends or choose to take solo if they so wish. What’s more, is the sheer plethora ofmods available for downloadthat not only add small redesigns and QOL features to various ships and equipment but also introduce a bunch of new and interesting game mechanics.
Updated August 07, 2025 by Aldous Foster:Space Engineers has an active modding scene keeping players interested in returning to this great title. The mods on this list are still among the most popular available to players, but there have also been some excellent Quality of Life mods that have been released in recent years.
These mods can completely change the Space Engineer experience as entire aspects of the game become far more streamlined and enjoyable. Players should therefore read on to find out which mods they absolutely need to test for themselves.
14Build Vision
Beforechoosing a planet, players will want to downloadBuild Vision. This adds an accessible menu that provides more contextual information about builds. This can massively speed up build time and helps resolve any problems players find with their builds.
This allows players to view more information about the game around them and see and amend the properties of nearby blocks. This is a massive quality-of-life benefit that players will not want to ignore.
13Build Info
Build Infois one of the best quality-of-life mods forSpace Engineers. It provides a massive amount of information about the chosen block as well as several other helpful changes without needing to open up the full menu.
For example, this mod will instantly help the player find air leaks and can give information for block-specific data such as mount points. The number of ways in which this mod will help players cannot be overstated and it has certainly earned a spot as an essential mod that players should consider.
12ADQ - Quality Of Life
The entire ADQ collection is worth taking a look at, but players should at least takeADQ - Quality of Life. This is pretty much a must-have mod for any playthrough as it makes several small fixes and enhancements to the base game.
It provides quality-of-life benefits across the board with no downsides and should be in all players' load orders. If players are looking for similar mods, the rest of the ADQ collection is also great and enhances the game in a wide variety of ways from armor to the computer voice lines.
11Modular Encounter Systems
Over time, players may find themselves wanting to spice up their playthrough ofSpace EngineersandModular Encounter Systemsis the best way to do that. It adds more encounters, which can keep the player busy and help make the next playthrough different from the last.
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It also adds a behavior system for NPCs and is fully compatible with other NPC mods. With the changes to spawned NPCs andships, players will find themselves on a completely new journey.
10Crew Enabled
TheCrew Enabledmod addsall sorts of different NPCsthroughout the world ofSpace Engineersbringing some much-needed life into the world. The NPCs can vary between hostile and friendly adding to the various survival aspects that the game already has.
The Space Pirates may be by far the most enjoyable aspect of this NPC mod, allowing the player to raid outposts guarded by hostile pirates scattered around the universe. Players can also choose to populate their ships and bases with both friendly and hostile NPCs.
9Smooth Voxels
TheSmooth Voxelsmod adds some truly amazing terrain enhancements by smoothing out theland on planets, reducing the number of bumps and jagged edges. Not only does this mod seem to add graphical improvements toSpace Engineers, but it also allows players to use their rovers much more freely without the fear of flipping over or getting stuck on bumpy terrain.
Smooth Voxels can also be safely removed or added from the game whenever the player chooses, giving players complete control over this mod.
8Aerodynamic Physics
Aerodynamic Physicsadds a whole new feature toSpace Engineers, bringing wind to the game.This physics simulationadds drag forces, deflection forces, lift, and much more. It makes flying all sorts of different aircraft much more realistic and enjoyable, as well as gives players an actual incentive to create a more aerodynamic aircraft.
While the base game only required players to fight against gravity to fly their ships, Aerodynamics Physics adds wind resistance, bringing a whole new challenge for players to overcome and enjoy building against.
7MA Plasma Reactor
TheMA Plasma Reactormod gives players a very handy and easy-to-use reactor that converts plasma fuel into plasma gas. Not only does this mod look absolutely stunning, but it’s also extremely useful.
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After the plasma fuel is converted into gas, it can be transferred into plasma generators with the help of the plasma conduits, which in turn convert the gas into actual power. The whole system is quite intuitive and adds a whole new layer of depth to the game, giving players all sorts of new tools to play around with.
6Radio Spectrometry
TheRadio Spectrometrymod is a fairly massive quality-of-life improvement toSpace Engineers, giving players the ability to scope out distant asteroids and see what ores they are mostly made of. This mod can be very useful, especially when players are searching for specific ores and don’t want to travel extremely long distances for no good reason.
Another great part about this mod is the fact that modded ores are automatically added to the list of ores displayed by Radio Spectrometry, meaning players won’t have to worry about compatibility issues.
5Advanced Welding
Advanced Weldingis an awesome mod forSpace Engineers.It allows players to attach and detach blocks and objects from the grid anywhere in the game. This is especially useful when players want to transport certain objects like batteries since they typically lose their capacities when players grind them down.
Now with Advanced Welding, players can freely detach and transport all sorts of objects including batteries, without the fear of them losing their capacities or charges. On top of that, Advanced Welding is also great for when players simply need to realign or change the layout of their base.
