First of all, I really enjoy this game because it reminds me of spacebuild maps in gmod.

Getting started in space engineers is a bit too confusing, The UI is chaotic at times, It takes several hours to understand how everything works, This is something they need to work on so beginners don't instantly ragequit.

Having said that, building itself is easy and I have so far only played surival mode. In creative it feels like minecraft. In survival you need specific components to build a block.

Ships need Energy to power Thrusters, Gyroscopes and other usefull components.

What I want to see in the future is a better reason for defending a base, some kind of real enemy or random invading enemys would be nice cause right now the only reason to build big ships is if you want a mobile base.

If you don't mind having no goal and setting your own I can recommend buying this alpha. If however you feel stranded when given only the tools you should wait and come back later, I think this game will be great once it has more features.

EDIT:

I keep the recommendation here but I gotta add that I don't expect anything anymore from this game, The features they add are nothing that would suggest that there will be any kind of gameplay loop besides mining and building.

There is almost no PvE and a real reason to build anything is missing too. If you enjoy building than this game will be good for you.

Check out Stationeers on Steam which i think will become much more than Space Engineers ever was.

This is probably one of the best Advanture/RPG/Graphic Novel's I have ever played. It's like reading a book that is interactive and changes every playthrough. Highly Recommend.