The Planet Crafter: Magnetaris DLC Launches December 8 for $9.99 With Magnetic Storms, Co-Op Sharing, and a Free Steam Playtest
French independent developer Miju Games has officially announced The Planet Crafter - Magnetaris, the third paid expansion for its open-world survival and terraforming hit. Set to launch on December 8, 2026 for $9.99 / €9.99 on PC (via the official Steam store page) alongside all platforms where the base game is available, this new chapter drops players onto an uncharted world battered by electrical storms and volatile magnetic anomalies, with a free early playtest already live on Steam.
A Storm-Ravaged World Governed by Magnetic Anomalies and Lightning Rods
Following Planet Humble in October 2024, the industrial cleansing expansion Toxicity in November 2025, and the recent free Skeo Moon update (v2.103), Miju Games co-founders Brice and Amélie are once again shaking up their terraforming loop. In Magnetaris, Terraformers land on a brand-new planet slightly smaller than the original Planet Prime and comparable in scale to the Toxicity map.
While Toxicity challenged players to purify an environment ruined by heavy industry, this new frontier revolves around surviving and harnessing extreme electromagnetic hazards. The landscape is scarred by glowing purple anomaly domes, floating rock formations, and relentless electrical tempests. Restoring balance to the ecosystem requires researching and constructing specialized magnetic machinery built specifically to stabilize the planet's core fields.
According to Miju Games' official development notes, the planetary hazards directly impact base building: once players reach the "Magnetic Storms" terraforming stage, lightning strikes become an active threat to surface infrastructure. Pioneers will need to erect lightning rods around their habitats and power grids to shield their equipment from electrical surges, adding a tense environmental defense layer reminiscent of the weather harvesting mechanics coming in Frostpunk 2: The Surge on December 14.
Sentinel Corp Lore, Single-Copy Co-Op Sharing, and Dual Save Options
Beyond its new technological tree, Magnetaris expands the overarching narrative surrounding Sentinel Corp. Across its distinct biomes, players will uncover abandoned settlements and logs left behind by a surprisingly large human population that fled the planet abruptly. Investigating these ruins will reveal what originally drew so many expeditions to the magnetic wastes and reconnect players with familiar characters from past missions.
True to its player-friendly philosophy, Miju Games confirmed two major quality-of-life features for launch:
- Single-Copy Multiplayer Co-Op: Just like previous expansions, only the host player needs to own the $9.99 Magnetaris DLC for an entire co-op group to join the session and experience the full planet together at no extra cost.
- Fresh Start or Interplanetary Travel: Players can either start from scratch on a brand-new save file by selecting "Magnetaris" at the main menu, or travel directly to the new world from an existing endgame save using the interplanetary departure rocket once their first planet is complete.
How to Join the Free v2.200 Steam Playtest Right Now
If you want to test the new mechanics ahead of the busy December 2026 video game release calendar, Miju Games has already opened a free public preview via update v2.200 on Steam's development branch.
The studio is rolling out the test in three phases: Step One is live right now and unlocks roughly 50% of the final planet so players can experiment with the opening biomes, magnetic items, and lightning rod defenses. Step Two will gradually add the remaining biomes over the coming weeks until the full map is testable, before Step Three marks the official paid launch on December 8. Before switching branches in Steam's Betas tab, the developers strongly advise backing up your save files and removing all active mods to avoid compatibility issues.
My Take
At $9.99 for a full-fledged planet campaign where only the host needs to buy a copy for the whole co-op squad, Miju Games continues to set the gold standard for indie post-launch support. In an era where survival games routinely charge $20 for cosmetic building sets, Brice and Amélie are delivering a third distinct world with genuine mechanical teeth. Forcing players to wire up lightning rod defenses once the Magnetic Storms stage kicks in is a clever way to disrupt our usual terraforming muscle memory, and opening half the expansion for free testing on the Steam dev branch a month early shows tremendous confidence in their craft.
SEO consultant for over 20 years and digital entrepreneur, Charles "Grimtag" is the founder of Pro-Gamer.gg, Retrocharting.com, and Gamescharting.com. A competitive gamer, streamer, and retro game collector, he has worked in the video game industry for over 15 years, notably as a consultant for leading game price comparison platforms. Passionate about real-time performance data and gaming technology, he analyzes competitive esports, gaming hardware benchmarks, and creator workflows on Pro-Gamer.gg with an authentic player perspective.
