s&box, Garry’s Mod Successor, Launches on Steam April 28

Facepunch Studios has confirmed that s&box — the spiritual successor to Garry’s Mod — will arrive on Steam on 28 April 2026. A price has not yet been announced.

The release date was reported by PC Gamer on 1 April 2026, and the April 28 date is confirmed. s&box has been in development since 2020, with public developer access opening in 2021. Pricing remains pending, though Facepunch has historically shipped Garry’s Mod at a low price point — the original has sold over 20 million copies, largely on the strength of that accessibility.

What s&box Is

s&box is a sandbox game built on Source 2 — Valve’s updated, heavily modified engine — developed by Facepunch Studios, the same studio responsible for Garry’s Mod and Rust. Like its predecessor, s&box is designed around player-created content and community-built game modes rather than a fixed campaign or objective structure.

The concept is essentially Garry’s Mod rebuilt from scratch on a modern engine with updated tools and expanded capabilities. Community creators building game modes can access Facepunch’s C# scripting API, which replaces the Lua-based system from the original. s&box currently has over 23,000 wishlists on Steam.

How It Differs From Garry’s Mod

Garry’s Mod was built on Source 1 — the same engine as Half-Life 2 and Counter-Strike: Source. That engine is over 20 years old. s&box on Source 2 opens up significantly more graphical and physics fidelity, larger environments, real-time global illumination, and more complex game mode construction. The C# scripting API available to community creators is substantially more capable than the Source 1 toolset.

The core experience — spawning props, building contraptions, playing community-made game modes — remains the same philosophical premise. Garry’s Mod will continue operating on Steam; Facepunch has not announced a sunset date for the original.

Will s&box Replace Garry’s Mod?

No. Facepunch has not announced a sunset date for Garry’s Mod, which will continue running on Steam. s&box is the next-generation platform, not a replacement that switches off the original.

The SEA Garry’s Mod Community

Garry’s Mod has a substantial player base in Southeast Asia, particularly among players who grew up on the sandbox game and the broader Source engine modding ecosystem. The game’s community has produced game modes — Trouble in Terrorist Town, Prop Hunt, DarkRP — that have been played extensively across the region.

s&box represents the continuation of that creative tradition on updated tools. For players who have put hours into community game modes on Garry’s Mod, the arrival of s&box on Steam is the first point at which it becomes practical to transition to the newer platform with a fixed launch date attached.

April 28 on Steam

The game will be listed on Steam. The lack of a confirmed price is the only outstanding variable — Facepunch’s communication suggests they will announce pricing closer to launch.

Given Facepunch’s track record with both Garry’s Mod (low price, massive install base) and Rust (early access to paid launch), the pricing approach for s&box is not fully predictable. Players who want to track it should wishlist the game on Steam now, which will trigger a notification at launch regardless of the final price point.

28 April 2026 is the confirmed release date. s&box has been in development for five years. Facepunch expects to launch into a community of players already familiar with the tools.