Practical work: Kerbal 2 space program

Creators are looking way beyond this big star

“You don’t launch a game, you launch missiles” is pretty much the first comment I’ve ever received when I ventured into writing about games for a publisher. Good point and I’ve avoided that imagery in my lyrics ever since. If I had to make an exception to this rule, it would be for Kerbal Space Program 2. The game is intended as a space travel simulator with a physical approach, complete with green men. At the same time, it should be a fun game that doesn’t require you to immediately get a master’s degree in math. An impossible task, it seems.

Silence after the moon landing

The journey of the Kerbals in virtual space can be compared to how humanity has manifested in space so far. Immediately giant leap for humanity landing on the moon, everything since then feels a bit like a shutdown. A landing on Mars seems further away than ever. Whether it’s because we leave it to people like Elon Musk, I leave it in the middle. In any case, the development of Kerbal Space Program 2 follows a similar path.

The first part was a huge success. Anyone would have thought it would be great to shoot little green men like the Kerbals into orbit with physical precision, but studio Intercept Games did just that in 2015. Two expansions followed that expanded the options for them. players and something widened. After releasing the second Breaking Ground expansion, publisher Private Division announced that a Kerbal Space Program 2 was in the works.

Then it went silent for almost four years, and fans had no choice but to fire their crafted rockets into the air again in the first part. Until the beginning of this year. The game is finally on sale, but in early access. It has everything to do with Intercept Games’ plans for this second installment, which are about as ambitious as an actual landing on Mars.

slideshow

The game opens with a slideshow with good voice acting, which immediately gives the Kerbals more character. After this pleasant introduction, the question is what you will see because the game has strict minimum requirements. For the recommended requirements, manufacturers even recommend a PC that is not much more than a year old and not overdone at the moment.

When you assemble the first rocket, it immediately feels like the previous game, but you immediately notice that it’s much nicer. However, this also has the consequence that as soon as you bring the rocket to the launch pad, the game reverts to a slideshow if you don’t have the latest of the latest on your PC. The low frame rates can be explained by some optimization issues, but in a blog post written by the developer also that it is also a bit of the configuration of the second part. The game can simulate everything much more accurately, from gravity to fuel consumption, but it also requires a lot more computing power. Plus, everything looks a lot nicer, and your GPU has to work harder too.

In the galaxy far away

The launch can be a bit problematic, but the plans are clear. Kerbal Space Program 2 aims to take space travel simulation to the next level. The starting point is that it’s too much fun to be completely true to nature, but it feels like playing with real rockets.

These virtual experiences in space should this time go further than in the first part. In the literal sense when it comes to where you can travel. At the moment it is not yet possible, but it will be possible to travel between different star systems in Kerbal Space Program 2. In addition, there are also ambitions to activate the alien colonies and there are plans for the multiplayer. It’s clear that none of this will be ready in a week or a month, but we can’t wait to see what the end result of this special simulator will be.