This Is Not SE... - Empyrion Galactic Survival In 2024

Vote here for an LSG playthrough of this absolute gem!

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I've been playing Empyrion Galactic Survival since it's pre-alpha days, which I can tell you is quite sometime ago. I have watched this game slowly evolve from a clunky, visually uninspiring, limited world sized game (one solar system) into true one of a kind gaming gem. As of now, it features a near endless universe, with one to many galaxies (see Reforged Eden mod) with both an enormous and beautiful variety of planets with different types of environments scattered with hundreds of points of interest featuring everything from trading, combat, exploration and horror (see the Legacy). On top of that, space itself is treated as an environment which is split into multiple maps which technically are infinite but in practise are around a hundred km across on average. All detailed, all living and breathing with their own POIs, stations, asteroids, anomalies and ships. And what makes with all the more impressive is that besides the planets, moons and asteroids, everyone else is made up of the same blocks the player uses to build with. The POIs are blocks, the stations are blocks, the ships are blocks (besides the Drones). Everything you interact with in game is buildable in someway by the player. And even if it's a restricted block, then that's what creative mode was invented for. :) Truly this game is a quite large in scope. I can not to my knowledge name a single game that come anywhere near to the complete experience of a open sandbox space constructing voxel survival game that also includes such a details survival mechanism along side a decent multiple vehicle combat system. Yes some have come closer than others but all feature polished one or two aspects of what this game has in total.

While the game does have it's issues, and trust me as someone with 3000+ hours in game I know what I am talking about. It does indeed offers something for every type of player. The game is about to release it's first paid DLC after coming up to a decade of free development, and I for one will happily help support the developers by purchasing it (my personal choice).

As for people thinking of giving the game a go. Do it, it's low price, yet high re-playability means it's a literal no-brainer. I amongst many other content creators have made hundreds of hours of videos playing this game and keep returning to do so again. And one extra added bonus, this game is both single and multiplayer and can be changed between the two modes with a little tweaking. So what's not to love!

this is gunna sound weird, but this looks like original Halo with the remaster for its graphics

I bought it but never could get into it, but not for any real reason. Nice to see it is still doing good in 2024.

I hear good things about the systems in this game. But I can't get past the visual style.

in SE if you lost survival kit, you almost doomed. In EGS you have nothing at the start, but you can deal with it. In SE if you want a big armored ship, you have to find tons of resourses. If you want huge armored ship in EGS... Well.. You see that Zirax drone armored station with lots of turrets? Thats your ticket for a ship, just prepare for a war.

Space Engineers physics (evolved with higher fidelity and post Klang... as if that will ever happen)... Starship EVO block scaling... Empyrion survival, environmental immersion and sense of a "living" world (even if faked)... a Distant Worlds style living galaxy... with KSP orbital motion... and (maybe) some Flight of Nova simulator aspects and SpaceBourne II style AI voiced NPC interaction... THAT would be a game actually WORTH Star Citizen level funding

You keep mentioning the solar system... were you unaware of the fact that the vanilla game has 10000 separate star systems? The Reforged Eden mod gives you 25000 systems

I like and play both.

The things I liked least about it were the very slow speed cap and the lack of being able to crash a ship

one thing about the water, there is a purpose for it

using one of the water extractor and oxygen extractor it is needed to be place over the water

another thing is that under the water there are the usable crystals for warping to another sector


plus showing this game in creative does shows this game in a disservices way and not showing what a full survival what it should really look like

'Solar System'

Wait until LSG discovers the galaxy map.

Empyrion not only got a Solar System it got a whole Galaxy with thousands of Systems! Each filled with several Planets and Moons!
You can land on everyone! You can gather Ressources from the Surface, hunt Animals, cut Trees ans Bushes, Mine Ressources , Build Stations, Small and Large Ships. Talk and Trade to the Npc living in the POI! You can fight Enemy Npc in their Stations and some weird Animals others.
Follow Questlines, from different Factions, Trade and Buy Materials and Ressources. Explore for Researchpoints.
You get a Progression Tree, you have Handheld Weapons, Oxygen and Hunger is a Thing. You can Grow your owne Food and make yourself Meals and Medicin and Halth Packs.
You have to Deal with enviromental Influences from Cold or Heat or Radion and can counteract it with Suitboosts, Medicine or raw Food, it uses up your Oxygen while diving and also while you breath in the pressurised interior of your ship.

Exept the Physic Simulation who often frustrates Players in SE it is the absolutely better game! Because it got something to do in it.
Yes it is with the rudimentary colision Physic more a Arcade Like style.
But you realy dont want to get Enemy Weapons Fire to damage and destroy your Blocks and half of your Ship.
You dont want your Generators, or Fuel Tanks to explode in a chain reaction. Yea you want to build your Ships to have Blocksepatio for Area Damage, You want to build it for redundancy. You want your shields! working, Your Thruster strong enough to dodge incomming Missiles.

And yes its also Multiplayer with your Player Faction and Piece or War against your Friends.
You can Trade trugh the Universe and in the Systems.

In Empyrion you have something meaningfull to do with your Char! From the first Second! With your bare hands gathering basic Ressources till the last wehre you fight realy Hard Npc in your Enomrous Warship. All while also running arround in your Char on Food driving a Story further.

I was Playing SE for a While. The Escape From Mars Scenario feeled the most as a real Game. But after 1780h in the game and Building some Stuff and also in Multiplayer it was not rich enough filled with content to play exept destroying and building blocks and grids^^

In Empyrion i have still not reached the endgame and still not played Multiplayer.. but i enjoy it realy hard.
There are some Scenarios who convert the Game more or less to give you a Storyline or other gameplay. Like Reforged Eden, Lost Mia, (Stargate) Atlantis, Star Salvage.

I am now crossing the 3000h mark in EGS and still have Fun! Still Playing and still sometimes just starting over again for fun.
Still not reached the mid and endgame contend.. but i have Time do do it some day...

On Feb 9th there will be the first payed DLC for EGS with a complete new Storyline and a interresting New Faction.

Oh and did i mention you have full Steam integration with the Workshop? You can buidl your Bases, Ships and Small Vessels in Creative mode and share them (or your Survival creations) with friends or Strangers. Just one Mousclick and you can spawn them into your Game.
and you can texture Blocksurfaces.. you know.. interior other as exterior^^ you can change your thrustercolors and have glowing textures.. you have different materials to build your blocks from who change the mass and strenth of the blocks...

so mutch to do, so mutch to see, so mutch to play and enjoy in this game..
Space Engineer compared to Empyrion is nothing more as a boring Physic Tech Demo for the Game Engine with lot of Clang happen when something went wrong in the calculations.
SE Is lacking all the soul and features of a real game for the players.. Empyrion is lacking only the Collision Physics.. i cen live without and see over the funny arcade style sometimes..
Because i can take my Gun, Step out of my pakred ship, running down my boarding ramp to engage some nasty Npc if i want.. or build my Homebase on a wonderfull Island in a tropical Paradise.. or in a Lava See or on Ice Planets or just in Orbit...

oh and did i mention.. there is liquid Water in the Game?
Water you can dive into it?

Yea.. beat all that SE^^

to call SE an engineering game, it is a little bit of a stretch, yes it has engineering elements, but very limited (for example, the propulsion calculation is applied to the center of weight regardless of where the thruster is positioned - that is the reason why you can build a ship with only one thruster in the corner of the ship, and it still flies, if the physics were applied correctly, as in KSP 1, the ship should enter an uncontrollable spin in the given situation) SE is a game first and engineering second. if you want an example of an engineering game, GearBlocks is a good one and KSP 1 (if you like space)

Im just going to say this: If Empyrion had subgrid mechanic with pistons and rotors and ability to walk on moving ship, I would be probably playing Empyrion Galactic survival.

awesome introduction to the game.... taking notes

Space engineers has better building
Emperyion has a better environment

its not space engineers.....its better

Empyrion looks like it runs VERY poorly and that base not loading in until you were basically standing on it... that's not good at all.

SE its more fun if u play a lot of pvp or pve with ur designs and u are learning from this. Empyrion is ok with pve but pvp sucks... there iis
no optimization... fighting with more than 3-5 ships in pve causes masive lags. I like both games but i would say SE is better

This looks like an exact rip off of SE, except you can see the asteroids before you hit them lol

I own both, but I prefer SE. The caveat is that I rely on multiplayer to provide “content” for SE.

I want the solarsystem and Universe system in Space Engineers- that would be great. A vast universe to play and jump to, with the SE engine and Possabilitys.

Reviews of this game seem pretty bad on steam. They recently really took a hit when they announced their DLC when so many parts of the core game still needs work. LSG was this a paid video... cause it kind of seems like it.

i didnt hear him mention it in the video but it's also not just one system, there's a galaxy to explore with factions, alien races, missions, make allies and enemies, trade with an intelligent native species. It's cool if you can get over the clunkyness of the controls.

its def a underated game to check out!

Empyrion has a DLC scenario coming on Feb 6. It's called The Dark Faction DLC.

Been playing this game for years, and I think you summed it up well. It has the world content that SE lacks, but it lacks the hardcore physics and engineering that SE excels at. I wish these two games had a baby so I could play that instead of dealing with the limitations of them both. For whatever reason, Keen refuses to make their worlds and solar systems more interesting, which always makes me get bored of SE quickly (as much as I love it).

empyrion is very cool, love both games

I agree with you Arron that Empyrion:GS is a unique game in itself, similar to Space Engineers yet still vastly different.
In my many years of replaying through Empyrion, I've come to notice several key differences between them, take for example the endgame goal playing SE (it doesn't really have one but) it's essentially a strategy/simulator, find the best vehicle/base design that works for you to stay one step ahead of your enemies, so you can use there resources to your own gain.
While Empyrion takes a more Tower defense/Survival approach, as you have on going body requirements that needs sustenance you'll need to find a way to fulfill those needs, while your main end goal is to setup a superior defense to fend of the hostile forces that raid your bases, while your factions reputation is on hostile terms of engagement with the other alien factions out there.
Of course this is merely my opinion so take it as you will, but these two games may seem similar in many aspects yet they are still two different games based on there core game-play style.

Empyrion's big advantage over SE: you actually get to USE the things you build.

pls go try the mod reforge eden and the new reforge eden atlantis

Since I didn't see it mentioned enough, I've heard the gargantuan Eden Reforged overhaul in the workshop is THE way to play through the game.

This is a great game, Add this mod ( Reforged Eden) and you have a sweet mama covered in honey 👍

If it wasn't for the early 2000s assets, and bad overall art-style (although not everywhere) I would play this game more, but I really can't it feels like a mush up of bad and cheap unity assets slapped in a project.

does any Empyrion player know if it has much of a modding community or if mods are even possible? SE + mods can be so many things, so many directions to choose. Makes a huge difference, even while we wish Keen had included XYZ in vanilla !
And Emp sounds like a colourful game.

Please, please, start survival/exploration series!!!

to be fair, the physics in SE are not that great either. SE has a better simulation of gravity but thats basically it. empyrion on the other hand at least offers integrity for base building. SE you build 1 block on the ground of a planet and from there you can build in all directions, as high as you want, as far as you want, it will never break on its own. cant do that in Empyrion on a planet. the building will just collapse if its not connected to the ground

ah yes, Ark but in space aka - trash.

Building in Space Engineers feels like an accomplishment.
Building in Empyrion feels like an arcade game.

SE can absolutely learn from Empyrion however.

I enjoyed both games, but the wildlife in Empyrion creeped me out. I don't know why survival construction games are so much more terrifying than survival horror.

This looks kinda like a better version of Starmade...

Maybe there could two versions of Empyrion, where if you have VR Head set, the VR version becomes more sophisticated.while the non VR Version is the base system you see here.

The thing i want to take from Space Engineers is mostly the concept of UP being manipulatable. I love messing with gravity generators, and while i do make my ships traversible in planet gravity, i make them truly shine when using generators.

In empyreon, i actually like the coding "space" they saved by not being such a physics powerhouse, giving the player something to actually DO. challenges to build around. Survival elements, reasons to visit other planets, ect.

Neither game really delivers on the genre they are trying to be fully. Funnily enough, what they lack, Starfield has. A gameplay loop.

When i played Starfield, i had this gameplay loop of;

1:selecting a job(delivery, pirate bounties, ect) from the pub.
2: travel to the new planet to complete the job.
3: talk to the locals and to a single on-planet side-quest.
4: return to the pub and repeat.

Say what you like about Starfield, and i DO agree with you. But in some ways, i had a more satisfying experience with it than with either SE or Emperion. And i feel that it's something both games can improve upon. Building is more fun when you have objectives to complete.

I started playing again with the reforged Eden mod. Definitely recommend trying the mod.

both games are amazing, I have played through both several times. EGS needs more control of turrets but the story, PVE interactions and combat is fun. The best feature is being able to go into the player creations and build them by putting them into the builder and drop in in your survival games. so you have to mine for the supplies to build it but BOOM base or ship. SE is better for me for building my own ships, EGS ship building can be complicated to balance.

I hate this game its complete trash. SE is wayyyyyy better.

Doesn't look too bad SE's engine has to be superior in every way.

Yes please switch to this se has always been boring sadly

I've played a lot in EGS few years ago. Nice story, scary missions, sweet rewards, freedom. Very good survival game on Unity.