Engineering sandbox Plasma launches in early access, bound to make your brain hurt

Engineering sandbox game Plasma has launched on Steam Early Access, giving players a chance to flex their programming skills and creativity. If you don't have any... it should give you ample opportunity to get some training done.

The game, which is the first game from indie developer Dry Licorice, has released to positive reviews from users who praise it as a toybox for the technically minded. It's a tad more complex than your typical sandbox game, so prepare to bounce off if you've not got a taste for that particular style of problem solving.

According to Plasma's Steam page: "Plasma is a creative engineering playground where you can build any device you can imagine. Bring to life your own amazing robots, factories, arcade machines, giant rampaging spiders, whole game worlds, and things that don't even have a name yet, then share them with the community."

Plasma releases at an interesting time, where the industry is dead set on providing an increasing arsenal of complicated tools for players to mess around and create with. It immediately reminds me of those strange and wonderful few who created calculators and other complex machinary in Minecraft, who you can bet will feel right at home in a game built to challenge even their knowhow.

With games like Plasma, Fortnite's new Unreal Engine 5 creative mode, and more coming out we may just be entering a new golden age for user-created projects. A new generation of kids and curious adults creating the wildest things inside different games, sharing them around and inspiring others to do the same. Even if you're like me and kind of useless at the whole programming thing, spectating from afar is sure to be special.