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I Crashed 47 Rockets Before I Reached Orbit
I have been playing KSP since 2015 when I bought the original for $20 during a Steam sale. The first game hooked me so badly that I once woke up at 3 AM with a fully formed idea for a more efficient transfer burn to Duna and spent the next two hours building and testing it in-game. I failed. The rocket ran out of fuel halfway there. But I learned something, and that is the KSP experience in a nutshell.
When KSP 2 was announced in 2019, I was hyped. When it launched in early access in February 2023 for $50, I bought it on day one without hesitation. Then I crashed 47 rockets in my first week and loved every single second of it. Every explosion taught me something — staging was wrong, thrust-to-weight ratio was too low, I forgot to add solar panels and ran out of power mid-burn. The game punishes you for every mistake in the most satisfying way possible.
This review comes after 60 hours of playtime spread across six months from early access through the 2024 updates. I have built massive space stations with artificial gravity rings. I have landed crewed missions on every planet and moon in the Kerbol system. I have sent a probe to another star system. Here is what I actually think after all that time.
What KSP 2 Gets Right
The physics engine is noticeably better than the original
In the original KSP, the joints between parts always felt a little wobbly. Large ships required dozens of struts and autostrut settings to hold together during maneuvers. KSP 2 fixes this at the engine level with a new joint system. I built a 400-part mothership in month two — a fully reusable interplanetary vessel with detachable landers and fuel tanks — and it flew without any wobbling or flexing. That was a huge relief because my first attempt at a large ship in KSP 1 literally tore itself apart on the launchpad after I applied full throttle.
Interstellar travel changes the entire game
The biggest new feature that separates KSP 2 from its predecessor is interstellar travel. The original game was limited to the Kerbol system with its one sun and a handful of planets. KSP 2 adds entire other star systems to explore. I sent a probe to the Debdeb system in month three. The travel time took about 45 minutes of real time at maximum time warp. When the probe finally arrived and I saw a binary star system for the first time with two suns orbiting each other, I actually said “wow” out loud to my empty apartment. That moment alone was worth the $50 purchase price.
Colony building adds real endgame purpose
In KSP 1, I built bases on the Mun and Minmus because I wanted to, not because the game gave me a reason. KSP 2 changes this completely. You build colonies to produce resources like fuel, materials, and machinery. These resources let you construct new ships directly off-world instead of launching everything from Kerbin. I set up a mining and refining colony on Minmus in month four. It took me about six hours to get everything working properly — resource chains, power management, life support. When my first orbital shipyard started producing fuel automatically from mined asteroids, I felt a real sense of accomplishment that KSP 1 never gave me. The colony parts snap together with a magnetic connection system that is much more intuitive than KSP 1’s finicky docking ports.
What Frustrated Me
Performance is still an issue after patches
I run a Ryzen 5 5600 with an RX 6600 and 16GB of RAM. KSP 2 at launch in February 2023 was nearly unplayable — I was getting single-digit framerates with any ship over 200 parts on the launchpad. Six months later after several patches, performance has improved significantly but is still not perfect. I get noticeable stuttering with ships over 400 parts, especially during physics-heavy maneuvers like atmospheric reentry. I had to turn down the physics delta-time setting in the configuration files to keep things smooth during my Duna aerobraking maneuver. If you have an older CPU, you will struggle with large builds.
The tutorial is worse than the original game
KSP 1 had a built-in training mode that taught you orbital mechanics step by step — how to achieve orbit, how to rendezvous, how to transfer between planets. KSP 2 replaced this with a series of disconnected mission scenarios that assume you already know how to build a functional rocket and navigate the map screen. I introduced the game to a friend in month five. He gave up after three hours because the tutorial did not explain how to use maneuver nodes or read the navball. I had to sit next to him for an hour and walk him through the basics. That should not happen in a sequel that costs $50.
Missing features compared to KSP 1 with mods
EVA construction — building and repairing ships from outside — is not fully implemented yet. Neither is the promised multiplayer mode. The science and tech tree systems are simplified compared to KSP 1 with fewer experiments and a shorter progression. I was hoping for more depth, not less. Some features that KSP 1 players got from mods like MechJeb and Kerbal Engineer are still missing from the stock game. These missing pieces make KSP 2 feel like a sidegrade in some ways rather than a true leap forward.
Is It Worth $50 in 2024?
If you loved the original KSP, yes — the interstellar travel and colony systems are genuine improvements that add meaningful endgame content. The physics engine is better, the visuals are stunning, and the sense of discovery when you reach a new star system is unmatched. But if you have never played KSP before, start with the original game. It costs about $10 on sale, has more total content with mods, and has a proper tutorial that teaches you the basics. Come back to KSP 2 in another year when more features are implemented and the performance issues are fully resolved.
TL;DR
- Interstellar travel is the killer feature — seeing a binary star system is an unforgettable gaming moment
- Colony building gives KSP real endgame content that the original sorely lacked
- Performance has improved since launch but still struggles on older CPUs with large ships
- Tutorial is genuinely bad — do not start here if you are new to the series
- Physics and visuals are better than KSP 1, but some features from the original are missing
- Worth $50 for veterans, but newcomers should start with KSP 1 at $10 on sale
- I crashed 47 rockets in my first week and enjoyed every single explosion
— Rand, SpaceGA Space Games