Astroneer's Megatech DLC escalates the space sandbox game to colossal size, and connects your entire galaxy together

I've got a lot of love for the likes of No Man's Sky and Space Engineers, but Astroneer strikes the perfect balance of space exploration and excavation that gets my neurons firing just right. It's one of the best sandbox games I've played, and I was overjoyed to see developer SES returning to it to craft new experiences. Ultimately, the more standalone format of Glitchwalkers wasn't really what I was looking for, but the new Astroneer Megatech DLC appears to be right up my interstellar alley, and it lands in November.

Where the first expansion pulled you into a separate region, new Astroneer DLC Megatech is more focused on delivering big mid-to-late game upgrades. The main feature is the ability to build megastructure projects across the space game. This has some wonderful ramifications for fans of Satisfactory-style automation, but it's also just a nice level of escalation that feels like a substantial milestone in your progress.

So what will we be building in Megatech? The first question is actually 'where,' because you'll be able to lay claim to a giant new celestial body called the Orbital Platform. This high-tech ring appears in orbit of your chosen planet, and you're even able to customize the look of the asteroid it's built around. With some of the additions that we'll talk about shortly, this could well become the hub for all your intergalactic operations.

The Biodome is one of those additions that makes you wonder why we didn't always have it, allowing you to cultivate and harvest all manner of alien flora. You're able to set up one per planet, and can automate your planting and gathering to generate whatever you're after, with additional modules expanding your facilities as you develop it further. The Museum, meanwhile, is the ideal spot to show off all of your fanciest tech and collected curios.

There will be more to discover in the paid expansion, of course, but some of the most fundamental additions are coming to all players for free in a parallel update. The Distribution Launcher System is your way to build megastructures, but it's the Intermodal Terminal that's the real winner. This is a game-changer, as it allows you to automate resource transfer between planets, and features three landing pads, integrated rail stations, and fueling slots to ensure that you can keep the flow going in the background.

SES also reassures players that Megatech "will be completely compatible with existing saves," so there's no need to start over. Much of what it adds is for fairly late in the progression, however, so if you are beginning a fresh playthrough then you'll need to work through a lot of the tech tree before you see the new features.

Astroneer Megatech launches Thursday November 20. You can wishlist it now on Steam if you want to be sent a notification when it releases.

We've rounded up the best building games for plenty more constructive choices, along with a rundown of the best gaming monitors to make them look fantastic.

Will you be coming back to Astroneer for the new DLC, or has another galactic crafter grabbed your attention? Stop by the PCGamesN Discord and tell us what you're playing.