Factorio is going to new planets in its “Space Age” expansion, first details revealed

Wube Software, the makers behind the massively popular factory building and management title Factorio, is finally ready to give a glimpse of its next project. Since Factorio’s full launch in 2019, the studio has been working on a mysterious expansion, and now, its first details have been shared.

The expansion’s name, Space Age, describes its new additions quite well, with players being tasked with exploring space and settling new planets. Those who have finished a successful Factorio run will know that the ending entails blasting off into space, and Space Age picks up right from there to offer even more things to discover, research, build, and fight off.

After building space platforms to support traveling to other planetary bodies, players will be able to land on the four brand-new planets in the expansion. Each of these will feature a “unique theme, resource, challenges and gameplay mechanics” per the studio, as well as fresh enemy types to fight back against.

Those who pick up the expansion will see some technologies and items being rebalanced to be available later in the tech tree. This affects things like artillery, cliff explosives, Spidertron, highest tier modules, and several equipment upgrades being unlocked from new planets instead of the starting map.

Fans of the franchise game who have dabbled in user modifications may remember the ” Space Exploration” mod that has a similar premise. Wube Software has also confirmed that the sole developer of that mod, Earendel, is now a part of the studio and is working on the expansion as well.

There is good news for those sticking to the base game too, with many improvements from the engine upgrades under the hood for the expansion trickling down. Dubbed version 2.0, this update will include things like “the ability to control train systems better, better blueprint building, better flying robot behaviour and many more.”

As for when can fans expect Factorio: Space Age, the studio says it is confident that a release will happen “in about a year.” To make the wait more bearable, weekly updates on the expansion’s development, its content, and other factors will be published on the developer blog.