Construction Simulator Spaceport Expansion Review: To Space and Beyond!

Welcome to our Construction Simulator Spaceport Expansion review! The Spaceport DLC expansion to Construction Simulator adds a new location, campaign and contracts as a separate part of the main game. Launched on 21 November 2023, it was developed by weltenbauer. Software Entwicklung GmbH and published by astragon Entertainment.

I was blessed to play Construction Simulator Spaceport Expansion for review on the PlayStation 5. Since the launch, I’ve been busy with campaign missions and contracts, some of which you can watch here below. Join us as we share our experience with you.

Disclaimer: I received a free PS5 code for my Construction Simulator Spaceport Expansion review, but this doesn’t change my opinion of the game in any way. It’s a fun game to spend hours constructing buildings.

Construction Simulator Spaceport Expansion Review Section 1: Story and Location

I’m sure by now many of you knew my Construction Simulator Spaceport Expansion review would begin with the story. As an author, the plot and quests will always be my favourite parts to analyse, and I often think of what story elements I would have added and which ones I like. Be that as it may, here’s what you can expect.

New Spaceport Location

One of the most exciting parts of the new Construction Simulator Spaceport Expansion is that it provides a brand new location for you to explore and construct. It’s not a massive space, and it looks like the lower part of a country or island. With only a few streets to explore, you won’t have to worry about travelling long roads to get to your destination, with or without using fast travel.

Starting a New Company

To access the Construction Simulator Spaceport Expansion, you can’t load up your old saved games or company. First, you’ll need to start a new game while selecting the character profile you want to use. From there, you’ll need to create a new company to gain access to the new map. In the game mechanics part of my review, I’ll explain which elements remain the same and which ones differ.

Discovering Essential Buildings

Your first self-appointed mission should be to drive to all the question marks on the Spaceport map to discover them. This will save you time later when you want to fast travel or instantly buy new materials for your projects. Fortunately, you’ll receive a company vehicle the moment you complete the construction of the Base Camp.

New Campaign Missions and Side Contracts

Here’s where the fun begins. While it may seem obvious, I wanted to include it in my Construction Simulator Spaceport Expansion review. There are two new campaigns: “Science and Technologies” and “Economy and Spacecraft”, and then you have the massive Finale for the ultimate final mission. Together with the smaller side quests, these will lead the way for increasing your finances and developing the end-game spaceport.

How Long is the Construction Simulator Spaceport Expansion?

How long you’ll play Construction Simulator Spaceport Expansion depends on how quickly or well you complete missions. You will easily spend between 40 and 50 hours, if not more, from creating your company to completing that final campaign quest. Just look at some of our Twitch livestream videos and see how one main quest can take up to three or more hours. You definitely need a lot of time on your hands.

Construction Simulator Spaceport Expansion Review Section 2: Gameplay Mechanics

Next up in my Construction Simulator Spaceport Expansion review is a discussion of the gameplay mechanics. This section answers the question: What is it like to play the Spaceport Expansion of Construction Simulator, often expressing my experience with the new quests, locations, and jobs. I’ll also show you which elements remain the same from the base game and the ones that start over or diver.

Learning How to Play

The tutorial is basically the same as the base game. The button allocations, functions and actions are clearly displayed on the screen. Also, you can access the Manual in the menu to learn how to perform specific actions or complete some tasks. If all else fails, you can do what I do and watch a YouTube video on the topic.

Building the Base Camp

Before you can accept the main campaigns, you will need to build the base camp. This will be your company’s site on the new map. This is also called the Opening Campaign in the campaign menu. It was exciting completing this site for my Construction Simulator Spaceport Expansion review, as it gave me a sense of ownership and empowered me to complete the other missions. 

It’s also a great way to become used to the gameplay mechanics if you’re new to construction simulation games.

Starting Campaign Missions

Once you’re done with the base quest, you’ll unlock the first missions of each campaign. You’ll have to do them in sequential order, completing one to open the other. The ultimate goal is to amass enough funds and vehicles to afford the Finale, the final Spaceport mission. If you don’t have enough funds to buy resources for a mission, you can take out a loan. 

However, this was never an issue for my Construction Simulator Spaceport Expansion review. I always had enough income and capital. The main missions are fun and engaging, and it all leads to the hype of the Finale.

Using Side Contracts for Quick Funds

Another way to quickly gain more money is to do the side contracts. You don’t really need all that much to complete the tasks, and you can build a steady flow of revenue to fund the huge campaigns. I mostly did these for fun for my Construction Simulator Spaceport Expansion review, as I like to do a mixture of main and side quests to increase my vehicles. The map might be small, but there are sufficient contracts to go around.

Grow Your Company

As with the base game, you’ll need to expand your growing company. There are tasks to complete to establish it from Small to Medium. Unlike the base game, however, there is no Large option. That makes sense when you consider that the location for the Construction Simulator Spaceport Expansion isn’t huge. The upgrades for Small and Medium enterprises are sufficient.

Start Over with Vehicles

Sadly, you won’t carry over your vehicles from the base game to the Construction Simulator Spaceport Expansion. Remember, you have a new company now, which means starting over with your assets. I recommend leasing the more expensive ones at the start while you build your financial assets until you can afford to buy them. My general rule is to save up to 1 million credits, buy vehicles until I have just over 500,000 left, and then rinse and repeat.

One tiny glitch that carries over is during fast travelling. When you use this function, your vehicle sometimes crashes with other objects or bounces around for some reason. Fortunately, you just need to wait a moment for the game to come right or simply reset the vehicle manually.

Renewed Milestones

As with the vehicles, you’ll need to start over with company milestones. Head over to the Company menu and then Milestones. Do yourself a favour and study the requirements for a bit. Eventually, you’ll just unlock these while playing, but some of them may just need your focus if you don’t spend time buying or transporting specific resources. 

Retained Skill Points

If you decide to reuse a profile from the base game or other DLC, you’ll carry over your skill points. However, should you decide to make a new one for the Construction Simulator Spaceport Expansion, you’ll need to start over. I continued with the same profile for my review, which meant I had more chance to upgrade my final skillpoints.

Exciting New Structures

With the new map and location of the Construction Simulator Spaceport Expansion come new buildings to erect. They are definitely different from the other DLCs and specifically relate to the construction of the spaceport. Some of the larger buildings are more challenging, and your crane won’t even be able to help you. This is where the mobile crane comes into action, saving the day.

Construction Simulator Spaceport Expansion Review Section 3: User Interface, Graphics and Sound

We’re almost at the end of my Construction Simulator Spaceport Expansion review. Now, let’s talk about the user interface elements, what the new locations look like, what it’s like dealing with the NPCs, and the sound quality.

Beautiful Vistas

The one beautiful aspect I enjoyed was admiring the views from the crane while lifting heavy objects. While you will see some of the splendour on a PS4, the PS5 outshines in terms of graphics and performance. The draw distance extends quite far, which means you’ll have a stunning view all the way around from your crane.

New NPCs

We have some new NPCs to chat with regarding the contracts. It’s clear that the developers went to a lot of trouble to make them look good, but some of them sometimes look awkward. Out of all of the characters I met for my Construction Simulator Spaceport Expansion review, your own avatar looks the best when playing the game. Still, it’s a decent effort for a game where the main focus is construction.

Travelling Around the Island

If you’re tired of building, head into your vehicle and just drive around. Some areas remind me of my home town, Vredenburg, in South Africa, with the same fields and lonely buildings here and there. It brought back a sense of nostalgia that will have me driving around the town for a bit longer than is needed.

Same Menus As Before

Since Construction Simulator Spaceport Expansion is built on the same system as the base game, it should be no surprise that the menu items are the same. It is a DLC, after all. Still, there isn’t really any need for improvement, as the menu works perfectly well for the designed purpose and looks great.

Sound and Voices

As we near the end of my Construction Simulator Spaceport Expansion review, I’m pleased to report that we have excellent voice acting and music once again. You don’t need to read walls of text, and soothing songs are in the background to keep you company while constructing. You’ll also have the standard vehicle sounds when working, including the famous Wilhelm scream when you fast-travel and your vehicle doesn’t spawn properly.

Construction Simulator Spaceport Expansion Review: Final Verdict

So, is the Spaceport Expansion of Construction Simulator worth buying? As a long-time CSim fan who’s been around since the very first game on the Nintendo Switch, I can certainly say yes. Any gamer who enjoys constructing buildings and facilities for hours will thoroughly enjoy this new iteration in the series, which joins the space race. While I would have loved a taller crane for some of the missions, I was able to get by with my SANY mobile crane vehicle. I definitely look forward to future DLCs for the game! 

Please note, while I played the game on PS5, the Spaceport Expansion is also available on Steam for PC and on Xbox.

In case you missed it, here are my other Construction Simulator reviews:

• Construction Simulator PlayStation Base Game
• Construction Simulator SANY Vehicle Pack

Also, be sure to check out our YouTube videos on some of the main quests, such as the construction of the Airport!