Kerbal Space Program 2 will take flight in 2020—here’s the first trailer

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  • The game’s logo from its trailer.
  • The trailer is a pre-rendered cinematic with many shots inspired by famous space films.
  • There’s also this allusion to Apollo 11, but…
  • … things go goofy pretty fast, as also happens in the game.
  • The trailer features glimpses of your standard rocket-building concept…
  • … but you can build colonies too. Notice this one is collapsing a little bit—that’ll happen.

During the Gamescom opening night livestream, game publisher Private Division released a new trailer revealing and announcing Kerbal Space Program 2, a sequel to the popular 2015 physics-based spaceship construction and spaceflight sim. Kerbal Space Program 2 will be released in the first quarter of 2020.

We’ve included the trailer below. Set to music by M83, it’s a pre-rendered cinematic that humorously juxtaposes dramatic spaceflight documentary tropes with the characters and frequent accidents of the game.

Newly announced features include “new planets to explore, new technologies to traverse the stars, and the ability to establish colonies, all rooted in real-world science,” according to Private Division’s press release. Additionally, the sequel will bring multiplayer to the franchise, and players will be able to build “without the constraints of planetary gravitation for the first time,” which should allow for more elaborate constructions than were possible in the previous game.

Kerbal Space Program 2 cinematic announce trailer

The game will not be made by Mexico City-based Squad, the developers of the original Kerbal Space Program. Squad is also an interactive marketing agency and is not directly involved in the making of this sequel; some of its former game-development talent was hired by Valve in 2017. Also in 2017, Take Two Interactive acquired the rights to Kerbal Space Program. Kerbal Space Program 2 publisher Private Division—which also published the enhanced edition of the first game—is a publishing label of Take Two that is focused on independent games that are smaller than the parent company’s usual fare.

The new developer behind Kerbal Space Program 2 is Star Theory Games, a Seattle-area independent studio that formerly went by Uber Entertainment. According to Private Division’s press release, “Star Theory Games is comprised of a team of engineers and designers with aerospace specialization who have worked on a variety of titles including Monday Night Combat, Planetary Annihilation, Microsoft Flight Simulator, and more.”

Kerbal Space Program 2 will be released first on PC in spring 2020 for $59.99, with PS4 and Xbox One versions to follow shortly.

Listing image by Private Division

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