History VideoGame / SpaceEngine

** Zigzagged with many unphotographed Solar System objects (mostly smaller giant planet moons, dwarf planets other than Ceres and Pluto, asteroids, and comets), however. While Uranus' larger moons and Triton receive semi-fictional textures, many of these objects are either given the wrong shape and/or color.

The game is available in Early Access on Steam, though older legacy versions are available for free on the main website. The game is, at the moment, only available on PC, though it does support VirtualReality play in addition to traditional mouse and keyboard.

%%* MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness: 5.5

* ArtisticLicenceSpace: Averted. Space Engine uses actual known space phenomena based on real life astronomy.

%%* SpaceDoesNotWorkThatWay: Averted entirely.

* ArtisticLicenceAstronomy: Averted. Space Engine uses actual known space phenomena based on real life astronomy.

* TheMothership: Intended to be implemented as the only ships capable of interstellar travel somewhere down the the line.

* MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness: 5.5

* SpaceDoesNotWorkThatWay: Averted entirely.

* AllPlanetsAreEarthlike: Averted, there are about as many deserts, oceanias, selenas, ice worlds, and titans, as there are terras.

** There's also a filter in the search system, which allows you to single out certain planets and systems within an imputed light-year radius. Very useful for finding habitable planets, black holes, brown dwarfs, and planemos (rogue planets).

* ArtisticLicenceAstronomy: Averted. Space Engine uses actual known space phenomenon based on real life astronomy.

** Averted for the most part, as the simulation provides very realistic examples of life arising on other planets, including subglacial life on "Europa"-like worlds. However, this is played straight with aerial life on gas giants; a hypothetical idea which got a lot of scrutiny from the scientific community for the fact that gas giants themselves are deemed too inhospitable for life, and thus, the least likely places to find life other than their moons. This is likely an artistic decision though just to include variety in places to find life in.

* AsteroidThicket: Averted, while there are many asteroid belts, the asteroids are spread pretty far apart.

* SpaceIsNoisy: Also averted almost entirely, the only sounds in the software are the background music, and active ship engines (but only when the player is personally piloting said ship)
* StandardSciFiFleet: Artificial spacecraft are currently divided in 6 classes: "Astronaut", "Probe", "Shuttle", "Planetship", "Starship", and "Station". It has currently no actual effect on gameplay other than sorting them in the build menu, as each parameter of the craft can be specified freely.

Currently, the simulation is still in beta, and is being offered for free on its main website for anyone to test out. Although as of now, it's only compatible with the PC. A Steam release is planned for sometime in the future, as well as [=MacOS=] and Linux versions later down the line.

* ALongTimeAgoInAGalaxyFarFarAway: Set in a randomly generated universe with no Earth.

** Averted for the most part, as the simulation provides very realistic examples of life arising on other planets, including subglacial life on "Europa"-like worlds. However, this is played straight with aerial life on gas giants; a hypothetical idea which got a lot of scrutiny from the scientific community for the fact that gas giants themselves are the least likely places to find life other than their moons. This is likely an artistic decision though just to include variety of places to find life.

Space Engine is a WideOpenSandbox Universe simulator being developed by Vladimir Romanyuk, where you can explore thousands upon billions of stars, planets, moons, galaxies, and other celestial objects. The simulation offers a wide variety of both real life catalogued objects, and procedural-generated objects to explore to your liking, and other features that are currently available include being able to command and pilot spaceships for realistic space flight.

* BinarySuns: Binary, triple, and multiple star systems are plentiful in Space Engine, so you'll very likely find planets orbiting those stars and experience multi-sunrises and sunsets, not unlike the famous scene in ''Film/ANewHope''.

* AlwaysNight: Planets orbiting black holes and planemos (rogue planets without a star to orbit around) are permanently enshrouded in darkness. This even extends to tidally-locked planets where one side is always facing away from the star and never sees sunrise. However, it is still possible to explore the pitch-black landscapes by rising the "ambient lighting" parameter in the settings.

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: Averted for the most part, as the simulation provides very realistic examples of life arising on other planets, including subglacial life on "Europa"-like worlds. However, this is played straight with aerial life on gas giants, a hypothetical idea which many astronomers and biologists highly disagree with or are very skeptical about the chances of it ever happening in real life. The simulation tries to justify this with Panspermia, where life is brought over to the gas giants by asteroids, comets, or other planets rather than arising on the gas giants themselves (Abiogenesis).
** Adding to this, life can also be found in the most unlikeliest of places, such as on planets that orbit brown dwarfs and white dwarfs.

* BinarySuns: Being a universe simulator, it's expected that you would run into binary, triple, and even quadruple star systems. Standing on a planet's surface and watching a double sunset reminiscent of the famous scene from ''Film/ANewHope'' is a treat worth for your eyes.