After 2000 hrs. +, my buddy who got me into this game is no longer with us... we had a lot of great moments together. There are some limitations to what you can build but over a great game, the updates make it even better! And a even better community! I hope Space Engineers 2 comes soon!

My friend got me this game and initially I found it incredibly boring, to the point where I only played about 2.5-3 hours before going back to something else.

I've started playing on a local server with said friend again, after he showed me some mega-builds he did and I am definitely having more fun than I initially did. However, I really cannot imagine playing this solo.

The initial 5-10 hours just seems to be mining out tons and tons of rock, to smelt down into usable materials like Iron, Nickel and such. Yes, there are ore veins scattered around, but they require digging far deeper into the ground to get to, especially for the likes of Cobalt (also need an Ore Scanner). You might compare this to Minecraft, but at least there, there's mobs and stuff around, making the world feel alive, whereas in this game, you're the only speck of DNA outside of a few trees and some grass on the entire planet.

Talking of the first 5-10 hours, this game has basically no tutorial, for how complex it gets, outside of a text-box in the corner telling you to press a few keybinds. This does at least get you introduced to the jetpack and basic set of 3 tools, but that's about it, from what I can tell. There are plenty of reviews here suggesting to spend a couple of hours watching YouTube guides on "best first steps", which says enough really.
The UI is also generally very clunky and not intuitive. Want to build something? Tap G, select something and... oh great, it replaced my drill on the hotbar (repeat 30 times); Yes, you get given a silly amount of hotbars, but why force me to put everything on hotbars when I might only want to build something once? If you don't have to do this, refer to the tutorial issue.

Does the game get better after this initial 5-10 hours though? Well, that's going to depend on each player's preferences. The main bulk of the gameplay loop will be mining the ~10 or so resources this game has on offer, then refining them, then creating the different building components, to then make more stuff, to be able to build bigger bases/ships/vehicles, or whatever you want. In this sense, I'd argue it's more akin to Factorio or Satisfactory, than it is to Minecraft, although obviously it's not a "factory game", so don't expect 10 mile-long spaghetti to process iron into dark matter or something.

Aside from the mining, this is where the game is only limited by the player. Want to spend 100 hours+ making a ginormous space frigate, go for it. Want to make some cool-looking planet rovers, go for it. Make a little fighter ship to go hunt Pirates, go for it, just be prepared for retaliation. Or maybe, you want to make a city on a planet and spend hundreds of hours on that, again, go for it.
However, this too is not without fault, as the physics engine in this game can get a little... wacky to say the least. I had it multiple times where my laughable little platform with a couple of wheels, combined with a couple gyroscopes decided it wanted to fly 100 metres in the air and perform about 50 somersaults, completely defying gravity and the laws of physics, just because I hit a 30cm hole in the ground at about 12m/s. Or, when base-building, you'll love to hate that blocks change rotation every 1cm you move and need to be rotated with (default) INS/DEL/HOME - yes, those keys!
As a little addendum, I'll also say that the lighting engine this game uses can also look terrible at times.

Unfortunately, Steam doesn't offer an option for "recommend in some cases" or "maybe", so for me I'd say "not recommended", unless you are playing with friends. It's just not a game I could play solo without getting very bored, very quickly.

P.S: As apparently people have been commenting on negative reviews with things like "you have no say, you haven't even played 100(0) hours yet" and other such tripe, all I'll say is that if a game requires 100 hours to "get good", or learn the intricacies, well, it's not going to jump out to most people as a "must play".

I hate this game; my life was torn asunder.

I got a new job, was fired for unscrupulous reasons, got a girlfriend, was dumped, then got an even better job.
Shortly after, my computer burned in a massive house fire, but I had to save my game before all hell broke loose.
I kept playing this game on a crappy laptop I bought for $100 at a garage sale, just so I could continue my vicious and damned addiction.

I started living in a friend's basement for a while. A few weeks later, I got an offer to rent a new house, with purchase options available.
A month later, while commuting to work, I was hit by a truck, broke all four bones in both legs, and fractured a few more in my feet.
Of course, I brought the damn laptop to the hospital to keep playing Space Engineers.
I would play with friends until my crappy mobile data ran out or I passed out from the morphine, as the pain was unbearable.

A few months later I recovered, got back to my (new) place, got a girlfriend, got married, and then got divorced. Life goes on.

Space Engineers does not, and I love it.

Just felt I should say this here after so few hours played.
The sandboxing, crafting, building, creativity, and survival aspects are top-notch.
I mastered none of those skills and cried many times while playing because of my incompetence.

I’d do it all over again. 11/10.

Buy it.