and released in early access on February 24, 2023. The game will be playable on PC, Xbox One, and PS4.Like its predecessor, KSP2 places the player in charge of the Kerbals' nascent space program as they begin to explore the planets and moons beyond Kerbin. New mechanics included in KSP2 include multiplayer, expanded colonization mechanics, and even interstellar travel.
The announcement trailer for the game can be found here. Development vlogs, feature showcases, and other pre-release materials can be found on the official KSP YouTube channel.
This game contains examples of the following:
- Ancient Astronauts: The plot of the game involves the Kerbals exploring their solar system and searching for messages and artifacts left behind by a mysterious precursor race.
- Alien Sky: The new planets and star systems include some weird and wonderful vistas, such as Rask & Rusk, binary planets tidally locked to each other so the same side is constantly facing the other; Ovin, a ringed super-Earth with the arch of the rings visible from the surface; and Marble, an icy moon with a blue-white atmosphere and a massive gas giant hanging overhead.
- Asteroid Thicket: Some planets, such as Ovin, have ring systems with thousands of rocky or icy fragments clustered together.
- Building Is Welding: There's a spray of sparks whenever a part is added in the VAB, as if it had just been welded on.
- Call-Back: The cinematic trailer is a homage to Shaun Esau's "Build, Fly, Dream" trailer for the original game.
- Explosion Propulsion: Two kinds of nuclear pulse drives are planned: an Orion Drive propelling itself using nuclear bombs, and an inertial confinement fusion rocket that uses lasers to detonate a pellet of fusion fuel. Both types can be seen in the official trailer.
- Fictional Counterpart:
- As in the first game, many of the Kerbolar system's planets and moons correspond with those of our own: Moho for Mercury, Eve for Venus, etc.
- Dres has been reworked into a counterpart for Iapetus, possessing an equatorial ridge and a black-and-white surface.
- And Pol, one of Jool's tiny moons, is now analogous to Io, being a volcanic sulfur world with a yellow surface and high radioactivity.
- Settling the Frontier: While this was possible to an extent in the first game, the developers have made plans to implement new construction and in-situ resource utilization mechanics to make building off-Kerbin bases more complex and fulfilling, including the ability to create custom launch pads for building spacecraft anywhere.
- Tidally Locked Planet: Rask and Rusk are a pair of binary planets that are locked to each other. The sides facing their partners are partially molten due to the tidal forces.
