I’ve said it before when reviewing game releases for this month of February, I’ve been waiting years for this to arrive Kerbal Space Program 2. I’ve spent far more hours on its predecessor over the years than it seems reasonable to admit, and with both the official expansions and the thousands of mods published by the community, I still feel like I could put in many more hours and the experience would still be more than positive.

The genre of space simulators (I mean the realistic or reasonably realistic ones) is not a particularly broad market, it has never had a triple A that leaves us open-mouthed and feeling ready to throw the curriculum into the game. the real world space agency. In general, they tend to be simpler (some strongly border on archway) and in general, all tend to simplify the model, so that they are accessible to the largest possible public. All of this is clearly understandable, sure, but some of us crave a more “real” experience.

The first Kerbal Space Program was a revolution in that sense, because he was quite a few steps ahead of what existed in the genre so far. It’s not really a realistic experience, but it was the most realistic experience yet, so it provides a unique experience. Difficult, after a certain point (links in space still give me nightmares), but incredibly satisfying in accomplishing the goals we set. I still remember the first time I stepped onto the surface of Muna and my hair stood on end.

From the very beginning, Kerbal Space Program 2 faced an even bigger challenge than making its first Muna (Muna is, as you may have guessed, the name of the Moon of the planet Kerbin, where the Kerbals live), and that is to satisfy KSP players while attracting new players. The bad news is that they still have a long way to go to get both points, the good news is that they are pointing in the right direction. And the summary is that I see lights and shadows.

We have to remember that Kerbal Space Program 2 debuted just a few hours ago, in Early Access mode, that is, in beta mode and with a “reduced” price compared to what the final version will have. However, here I find the first “but” experiences, 49.99 euros seems more than an exorbitant price for a recently launched beta version and in which there is so much work. It is true that we can see this as a saving, because with the arrival of the final version the price will increase, but in reality we will pay fifty euros for the work that beta testers (paid) study seems more than excessive.

Anyway, I decide to bite the bullet and checkout. I’ve said before that I’ve been waiting years for Kerbal Space Program 2, so I decided not to wait, go to checkout and start to see if the wait was worth it, or since it’s still in beta, if the wait is worth it, grief. But then I come across another important detail, the technical requirements of the game:

Like Flight Simulator, it doesn’t require you to have FMS to enjoy the experience, Kerbal Space Program 2 should not require a NASA computer to play. 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 there is still a lot, a lot to optimize. Again I remember that I know we are talking about Early Access, but then again I remember that we are also talking about a game that they sell for 50 euros and again I see a clear imbalance.

Although I think my previous experience can lead me directly to building and piloting a new ship, I think it’s better to enter the training center first, as it will be the gateway for everyone who takes their first steps in Kerbal Space Program 2 .without playing the original title. The improvements at this point are amazing. Or rather they want to be as there are now a lot 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 the ship (pitch, roll and yaw) or what the phases of the ship consist of up to their basic components and their functions.

So, whether you’ve played KSP or this is your first exposure to the series, I highly recommend starting there. Admittedly, there is still work to be done, but there seems to be a fairly clear and complete plan in this regard, so this part will only get better in the future.

After going through some tutorials I decide it’s time to jump into building my first ship, which is about time. And at this point I’m confirming something I’ve already seen in the tutorials, and that’s it improvement both in the number of available pieces and in their organization. In that regard, it has to be said that KSP was a bit of a disaster, but without a doubt they put batteries into the Kerbal Space Program, which in this beta stage already has many more elements to build the ship we want, and also shows them much more clearly and in a more orderly manner.

With the assembled ship comes the critical point, the start. So let’s go to the platform and as you can also see once you start the tutorials, the graphical improvement is more than obvious. And at this point, I don’t just mean that everything looks nicer, more than substantial improvements are also in the interface and in the way information is displayed during the flight. However, this is where the lack of optimization is most noticeable, as the framerate drops sharply, which is not highly recommended if you’re manually controlling your ship’s flight.

In short, this first contact leaves a feeling in me the good work has just begun. Good ideas and good intentions keep popping up, and what we’re seeing so far has quite a few positives, but there’s still a lot of work to be done before it can be considered complete. Perhaps, and more considering its starting price, something more polished should have come, especially with regard to optimization, but the studio will have to give a certain amount of faith to see what they are capable of now that Kerbal Space Program 2 is already on sale and must be getting a lot of feedback.