The Successor to Garry's Mod, S&Box Launches on Steam as F2P? What we know so far

The highly anticipated spiritual successor to the beloved Garry's Mod, officially launches on the Steam Store Page. Developed by Facepunch Studios and powered by Valve's Source 2 engine, S&Box aims to bring the sandbox genre into the modern age. With updated visuals, robust physics, and a suite of new tools for modders, the game promises to revolutionize community-driven content.

What S&Box Brings to the Table

Released in 2004, Garry's Mod has maintained a thriving community of players and modders who’ve used its tools to create everything from simple machinima to full-fledged games. But after two decades, many GMOD fans recognize the need for an upgrade—and S&Box seems primed to deliver. Powered by the same Source 2 engine used in games like Half-Life: Alyx, S&Box promises greater visual fidelity, smoother physics, and advanced tools that enable more complex modding capabilities.

VR and ActionGraph Visual Scripting: Interactive Experiences Without Coding

One standout feature of S&Box is its native Virtual Reality support, something that Garry's Mod did not have support for. This feature allows players in the sandbox modes, and developer created experiences to use their VR headsets in the entirely physicalized world S&Box offers, similar to how Alyx handled it's physics, since both are on the same engine.

The ActionGraph is S&Box's Visual Scripting system, which is designed to streamline complex interactions, ActionGraph allows users to build intricate interactive experiences within their levels. Triggering an animation, setting off a sequence of events, or crafting elaborate puzzles, ActionGraph handles these elements making it more user friendly to everyone.

Valve’s Hammer Editor: Now Even More Powerful and Customizable

Creating levels in S&Box is supported by Valve’s Hammer Editor, the same toolset behind games like Half-Life and Portal. Hammer’s powerful design suite is a game-changer for sandbox creators, enabling them to sculpt levels with precision and creative control. But Facepunch Studios has taken Hammer even further, making it fully moddable. This customization allows users to add new functionality, UI elements, primitives, and more, tailoring the toolset to fit their specific project needs. Paddymazz showed off the impressive animation capabilities that S&Box offers as seen below:

Cloud Assets: Access a Vast Library of Game-Ready Assets Instantly

One of the most transformative additions to S&Box is the Cloud Assets feature. In traditional modding workflows, creators must download or subscribe to assets manually, a process that can be cumbersome and time-consuming. With S&Box, Facepunch has eliminated this step entirely—now, creators can simply drag and drop assets from an expansive online library directly into their levels.

Cloud Assets enables instant access to a huge collection of textures, models, props, and more, allowing creators to build scenes and environments without the hassle of manual download. Anyone who has played Garry's Mod knows about the grueling first time load up into a server with downloading all of the assets, this streamlined approach lets creators focus on design rather than asset management, removing one of the biggest from Garry's Mod

Early Access Hopes and Price Concerns

The game’s Steam page has yet to reveal pricing details, but in the S&Box Discord Garry Newman revealed that the game is either going to be Free to play or $15-$20.

One reason for the debate between the prices and free to play, is that the Facepunch team is concerned about rapid adoption that could swamp S&Box when it's not fully ready yet, allowing hackers and other malicious intenders to harm the newly launched title.

Conclusion

As someone who grew up playing and watching Garry's Mod, clocking in 2,600 hours, owning servers, and playing all the awesome community created content, I am super excited for this spiritual successor to one of my favorite games growing up.