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Kerbal Space Program 2 early access review: a catastrophic re-entryFailure to launch
Failure to launch
Oh no, poorKerbal Space Program 2. The extremely anticipated sequel to everyone’s favourite rocket-buildingspace exploration gameis a hot mess. A list of bugs longer than a Saturn V reads like a terrible medical diagnosis: quivering periapsis, unpredictable methane leakage, late-stage separation anxiety, loose payloads, non-stop burning, and sensitive nodes.
Kerbal Space Program 2 Early Access Launch CinematicWatch on YouTube
Kerbal Space Program 2 Early Access Launch Cinematic
You’ll eventually start dropping terms like delta-V, Hohmann transfers and the Oberth effect into polite dinner conversation. The first time you touch down on the Mun without any fatalities is one of the greatest feelings in games – you’ll stare fawningly at your tin can lander, sitting there peacefully on the regolith, as if it were your own newborn, metal child.
Over the years, KSP1 became more complex. It evolved from a simple sandbox into a full campaign, with science gathering, contracts, resources and tech trees. You can populate your solar system with a network of solar-powered comms satellites, linking together remote orbital space stations and beaming a constant feed of fresh data back to your space centre. Mod-support transformed the game’s visuals and added a library of player-made parts to choose from. It is a giant, weird, and not-always-welcoming game.
But while the original game still exists, a full-price Early Access version of KSP2 was always going to be a tough sell, no matter the condition it arrived in. Setting aside that all-new features like multiplayer and interstellar travel aren’t implemented yet, the sequel is missing many of the basic features found in the original game. There are no missions to undertake, so you’re limited to the “make your own fun” of the sandbox. There are fewer parts to build with. Aspects of the physics simulation just aren’t here either. There are heat shields, for example, but they’re pointless as ships don’t actually heat up on re-entry.
Image credit:Take-Two Interactive
Sadder still is that this version of KSP2 is so foundationally shaky it actively discourages you from attempting to build anything too ambitious or complex, in case the game vaporises your efforts on a whim. There’s no sense of achievement when the odds you’re up against aren’t to do with mastering the complex physics of interplanetary space flight, but the game’s own half-finished code. A Kerbal Space Program that pours cold water on your ambitions hardly feels like a Kerbal Space Program at all.
Shoved out of the Early Access airlock before it could put its EVA suit on, Kerbal Space Program 2 is in need of a rescue mission.
