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Welcome to our regular gameplay impressions and video post where we record our first 10-30 minutes with a new game, and provide some general impressions on that early play through. Today’s game is: Space Engineers from publisher Keen Software House.

Ever since Minecraft burst onto the scene and generated a huge amount of revenue across close to a dozen different platforms, copycat developers have tried their best to duplicate that success. And while some have come close, most Minecraft-ian titles have failed to set themselves apart from the brick-based title in any new and exciting ways.

Space Engineers, on the other hand, looks to be exactly that: a fresh twist on the basic ideas of Minecraft, only blown out to include a world of possibilities. Essentially players are given a blank slate and tasked with building either a space ship or a space station. My perspective:

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Although the tool set, which offers options for large ships or small ships, included with Space Engineers could use some work, as you can see from the video above this is already a polished experience. Moreover, the creation tools allow players to craft any space vessel their heart desires, from Mass Effect’s Normandy to the massive Nostromo from Aliens.

Alongside a free form creative mode, Space Engineers also includes a more involved survival mode that requires players (flying solo or with friends) mine for minerals and convert those minerals into useable elements before building. At the same time, the player(s) must also contend with disaster situations like meteor storms.

As we mentioned, Space Engineers is already a polished experience, but Keen House Software is continually improving the game’s feature set and creation options. This week they are adding a few additional options to the game including:

Although our video only runs 30-minutes, both Game Rant Editor-in-Chief Robert Keyes and myself ended up playing Space Engineers for several hours, trying to create dozens of different ships (big and small) with intricate interiors and weapon systems. We don’t know where exactly Keen is hoping to go with the game, but the potential is certainly there for massive space battles.

And therein lies Space Engineers’ biggest success: it’s endlessly addictive in much the same way Minecraft is. The game is well worth checking out now, but we can’t wait to see what it looks like when it exits Early Access.

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What do you think of Space Engineers? Does it look like a game for you? Let us know in the comments below.

Space Engineers is available now for $19.99 on Steam

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Follow Anthony on Twitter @ANTaormina