I already told it when reviewing the game releases for this month of February, I’ve been waiting years for the arrival of Kerbal Space Program 2. I have spent many more hours on its predecessor over the years than it seems sensible to admit, and thanks to both the official expansions and the thousands of mods published by the community, to this day I have the feeling of that I could still dedicate many more hours to it and the experience would continue to be more than positive.
The genre of space simulators (the realistic or reasonably realistic ones, I mean) is not a particularly wide market, it has never had a triple A that has left us with our mouths open and with the feeling of being ready to throw the curriculum in a real world space agency. In general, they tend to be simpler (some border strongly on the border with arcadeland) and in general, all tend to simplify the model, in order to make them accessible to the largest possible public. All of this is clearly understandable, sure, but it makes some of us yearn for a more “real” experience.
The first Kerbal Space Program was a revolution in this sense, since it was quite a few steps ahead of what existed up to now in this genre. It’s not a realistic experience, really, but it was the most realistic yet, thus providing a unique experience. Difficult, after a certain point (couplings in space still give me nightmares), but incredibly satisfying in completing the goals we set for ourselves. I still remember the first time I stepped on the surface of the Muna and my hair grew like spikes.
Kerbal Space Program 2 faced, from the very beginning, an even greater challenge than making your first Muna (the Muna is, as you may have deduced, the name of the Moon of the planet Kerbin, where the kerbals live), and it is to satisfy KSP players and, at the same time, attract new players. The bad news is that there is still a long way to go before both points can be scored, the good news is that they point in the right direction. And the summary is that I see lights and shadows.
We must remember that Kerbal Space Program 2 has debuted just a few hours ago and it has done so in Early Access mode, that is, in beta mode and with a “reduced” price compared to what the final version will have. However, this is where I find the first “but” of the experience, 49.99 euros seems to me a more than excessive price for a recently launched beta and in which there is so much, so much work to do. It is true that we can see it as a saving, because with the arrival of the definitive version the price will go up but, really, paying fifty euros to do the work that the beta testers (paid) of the study seems more than excessive.
Anyway, I decide to bite the bullet and checkout. I have already said that I have been waiting for Kerbal Space Program 2 for years, so I have decided not to wait, go to the checkout and start checking if the wait has been worth it or, since it is still in beta phase, if the wait is worth it. the sorrow. But then I come across another important detail, the technical requirements of the game:
In the same way that a flight simulator does not require you to have an FMS to enjoy the experience, Kerbal Space Program 2 shouldn’t require you to have a NASA PC to play it. I understand that we are in 2023, and I also understand that we are talking about a game that tries to simulate realistic physics, but I think that there is still a lot, a lot of optimization to be done. Again, I remember that I know we are talking about Early Access, but again I remember that we are also talking about a game that they are selling for 50 euros, and again I see a clear imbalance.
Although I think that my previous experience can lead me directly to building and flying a new ship, I think it is better to access the training center first, since it will be the gateway for all those who take their first steps in Kerbal Space Program 2 without having played the original title. The improvements at this point are amazing. Or, rather, they aim to be, since there are now many more tutorials, they are much better documented than in KSP and they instruct the new player in everything they need to know, from the three movements of a ship (pitch, roll and yaw) or what the phases of a ship consist of to their basic components and their functions.
So, whether you’ve already played KSP or if it’s your first contact with the series, I highly recommend you start there. It is true that there is still work to be done, but there seems to be a fairly clear and complete roadmap in this regard, so this section will only improve in the future.
After completing some of the tutorials, I decide that the time has come and I jump into building my first ship, which is about time. And at this point I confirm something that I had already seen in the tutorials, and it is improvement both in the number of pieces available and in their organization. In this regard, it must be said, KSP was a bit of a disaster, but without a doubt they have put the batteries with Kerbal Space Program, which in this beta phase already has many more elements to be able to assemble the ship we want, and also shows them in a much clearer and more orderly way.
With the ship assembled comes a critical point, the launch. So let’s go to the platform and, as you can also see as soon as you start with the tutorials, the graphic improvement is more than evident. And at this point I don’t just mean that everything looks prettier, there are also more than substantial improvements in the interface and in how the information is displayed during the flight. This is, however, where the lack of optimization is most noticeable, as the frame rate plummets, something not particularly recommended if you are manually controlling the flight of your ship.
In short, this first contact leaves me with the feeling of good job just started. Good ideas and good intentions are constantly coming through, and what we can see so far has quite a few positive points, but there is still a lot of work to be done until it can be considered complete. Perhaps, and more taking into account its starting price, something more polished should have arrived, especially with regard to optimization, but the studio will have to be given a margin of confidence to see what they are capable of doing now that Kerbal Space Program 2 It’s already on sale and they must be getting a lot of feedback.
