A whole lot of games were shown at Gamescom Opening Night Live earlier, from PlayStation exclusive Erica to new details on Need for Speed: Heat and Gears 5, and so much more. You can check out mxdwn’s coverage of Gamescom Opening Night Live here. One announcement that stood out was for the sequel to the quirky space flight simulation game Kerbal Space Program.
Kerbal Space Program 2, as the sequel will be known, finds players once again at the helm of the spacecraft they’ve built, ready to assist Jeb Kerman and his crew into space. The trailer, while not showing gameplay footage just yet, does beautifully highlight both the beauty of space and the lighthearted nature of KSP. According to the game’s website, “Kerbal Space Program 2 has been fully redesigned from the ground up to meet the demands of modern and next-generation space exploration, all while maintaining the monumental foundations of the first game.” Also touched upon are some of the upcoming features including the long-awaited multiplayer gameplay functionality, brand new planetary colonies, and even interstellar travel for those who have traveled to Eeloo and back already in KSP.
Kerbal Space Program 2, in addition to a host of new features, will also see a new developer take the reigns of the series. The original Kerbal Space Program was developed and released by Squad in 2015. When the game was purchased by Take-Two Interactive in 2017, one of their subsidiaries, Private Division, hopped on to assist Squad with the game. Together they released the Enhanced Edition in 2018 for PS4 and Xbox One. According to the press release, Private Division has enlisted a new developer, Star Theory Games, for the sequel. “With Star Theory, we are able to build a new gameplay foundation that is exponentially larger and allows us to explore well beyond the solar system of the original game,” says Private Division Executive Producer Michael Cook.
While a change in developer may make long-time fans nervous, they can rest easy knowing that the Star Theory developers have put their all into the game, and are even working with the original team from Squad. Be sure to check out the Developer Story Trailer released in tandem with the game trailer to get a better sense of what KSP means to the people making it.
Kerbal Space Program 2 is slated to launch sometime in early 2020 on PC, Xbox One, and PS4.