Easily the best news of Gamescom 2019 for me was the completely-out-of-left-field trailer for Kerbal Space Program 2.
And it's a dope-ass trailer, based on a dope-ass fan trailer.
It's important to note here that this is not gameplay footage, however there are plenty of pre-alpha gameplay renders out in the wild that don't look bad at all (considering it's pre-alpha).
The original KSP is no-question one of my favorite games, and I consider it one of the most important games of all time. Through a massive series of explosions and failure the game taught me the base rules of rocketry and orbital mechanics, and I can bearly even read. The game is a wonderful sandbox of giving you the parts and the physics and essentially saying, "Okay, now go do something."
While not necessarily the largest fanbase, KSP's is incredibly loyal. The first game launched in its first incarnation in 2011 by Squad, and the past 8 years haven't been slow for the game. Kraken-nerfing, Take Two takeovers, reshuffling the entire staff, and more have been in the long history of this game that was originally started by two people in Mexico. The sequel is not being developed by Squad but instead by Star Theory, and with that comes the question of "Can they pull it off?" Short answer: it looks like they probably can.
This team is clearly passionate and by all accounts they know what makes the game great. This is pretty apparent within just the cinematic trailer with epic landscape shots interlaced with hilarious, unexplained chain explosions (Trust me, this is pretty much half the game). Star Theory knows what's important for KSP, and all that's left to see is if they can execute it. On their own end, Star Theory says:
The team behind Star Theory Games are skilled video game developers as well as lifelong fans of Kerbal Space Program, with multiple members of having played 2000+ hours of the original KSP. The principal engineer even has a background in the aerospace industry. Their skill set in combination with a deep understanding of what makes this game great has led to the creation of an amazing sequel we know you’ll love to challenge yourself with! If you’d like to learn more about the amazing team behind Kerbal Space Program 2 be sure to watch the Developer Story video.
What's beyond space?
The biggest question on a lot of people's minds was, "What will be in a sequel that can't be done in the first game?"
Will they finally put something on Dres?
It's a very valid question, as the first game has a literal entire solar system to explore. Star Theory has responded with, to put it in short terms: "More solar systems." Which, fuck yeah, but it doesn't end there. The game will double-down on colonization on these new worlds, eventually even allowing them to have their own space programs to launch missions from. And in addition to new parts and visuals (of course), Star Theory is promising to continue the massive mod support for the game. Perhaps most excitingly, KSP 2 will have multiplayer, though we don't yet know to what extent, or how it will work with things like time warps. I will continue to follow this closely, and in the meantime if anyone needs me I'll be continuing to try to get my mission to Eeloo home.
