Kerbal Space Program 2 Early Access divides fans over performance issues, bugs, and more

Kerbal Space Program 2 key art showing kerbals avoe earth
(Image credit: 2K Interactive)

Kerbal Space Program 2 has launched in Steam Early Access to myriad performance issues and bugs, leaving its community less than impressed. 

Issues began last week before launch with the rollout of the recommended specifications to play the space sim. In short, even the minimum PC specifications are a tall order most folk won’t be able to match. Many players had believed that Kerbal Space Program 2 wouldn’t be too demanding, as the first certainly wasn’t.

“First and foremost, we need to apologize for how the initial rollout of the hardware specs communication went,” community lead Michael Loreno says in a Steam blog post. “It was confusing and distressful for many of you, and we’re here to provide clarity.

“The game is certainly playable on machines below our min spec, but because no two people play the game exactly the same way (and because a physics sandbox game of this kind creates literally limitless potential for players to build anything and go anywhere), it’s very challenging to predict the experience that any particular player will have on day one. 

“We’ve chosen to be conservative for the time being, in order to manage player expectations. We will update these spec recommendations as the game evolves.”

Things would only get worse from there. A day after the blog post, the game launched in Early Access to various performance complaints and bug reports. While Early Access games are often far from finished at launch, some fans found Kerbal Space Program 2 to be a bit too far from done.

Since its launch, Intercept Games has posted a list of known issues alongside some recommended workarounds. If you’re having problems, it’s worth checking it out while the developer works on its next patch.

New players might love Kerbal Space Program 2, but its veteran community is far from convinced.

Deputy News Editor

Iain joins the GamesRadar team as Deputy News Editor following stints at PCGamesN and PocketGamer.Biz, with some freelance for Kotaku UK, RockPaperShotgun, and VG24/7 thrown in for good measure. When not helping Ali run the news team, he can be found digging into communities for stories – the sillier the better. When he isn’t pillaging the depths of Final Fantasy 14 for a swanky new hat, you’ll find him amassing an army of Pokemon plushies.