First Factorio expansion takes us to the stars in Factorio: Space Age

Grab your space suits, because Factorio is heading to space. Developer Wube Software revealed in a blog post today that the first expansion for the popular factory-building game would be Space Age.

According to Factorio found kovarex, Factorio: Space Age will continue the player’s journey after launching rockets into space at the end of the base game. Players will discover new worlds with their own unique challenges and exploit their resources. In doing so, new technological advances will be found. Furthermore, players will be able to manage their own fleet of interplanetary space platforms.

It’s been three years since Factorio officially released, and over seven years since its Early Access release.

The popular factory building simulation title has over 133,849 total Steam Reviews with a 96% Positive rating.

A familiar direction for Factorio: Space Age

Hardcore Factorio fans will find the Space Age expansion pretty familiar. One of the most popular Factorio mods is the Space Exploration mod. As you might expect, this mod also takes you to space. In fact, the original creator of that mod, Earendel, is now part of the Wube Software team and is working on the Space Age expansion.

According to Earendel, despite the comparisons, the expansion will have plenty of reason for those who have and haven’t played the mod to give it a try. Earendel believes Space Exploration is more targeted at challenge-seekers, while Space Age targets all Factorio players. While all the challenges of the Space Exploration mod can take 150-100 hours or even more to figure out, Space Age is a more streamlined and fast-paced experience between 60-100 hours.

As a big Factorio fan, I’m happy to see any content being released. I have just over 650 hours played so far—which are casual numbers to some—and would love to put in more. I’ve played the Space Exploration mod so obviously the overlap is concerning. But as an actual expansion, Factorio: Space Age can do more feature-wise than a mod can. Don’t get me wrong, the Space Exploration mod is fantastic at what it does. But, some of the more clunky things such as piloting ships can be more streamlined in Factorio: Space Age.

While there is no solid release date for Factorio: Space Age, kovarex explains that their current release window is about one year from now. However, players interested in the expansion can look forward to weekly posts detailing its development progress.