Gratuitous Space Battles 2
Released Apr 2015
Have you ever wanted to be admiral of a huge, sprawling space battle-fleet of your own design? Ever wanted to design a fleet of battle-cruisers so powerful they can rip all who oppose them into space-dust? Ever wanted to build a battleship with purple rotating radars and 64 engines? Well we have good news for you...
39% positive · 309 reviews
Done
All announced content has been released
High confidence
Done
All announced content has been released
High confidence
Where to buy
Steam $9.99
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Evaluation
Gratuitous Space Battles 2 launched on April 16, 2015. The developer (Positech Games) shipped several patches in the months following launch, including a notable version 1.31 update on May 21, 2015 and a version 1.34 update on July 2, 2015 that added a new Campaign Mode. After that mid-2015 activity, all subsequent news posts from Positech Games on this game's Steam page have been announcements about entirely unrelated titles — specifically Production Line and Democracy 4. The most recent post of any kind dates to October 7, 2020, and it is purely a cross-promotion for Democracy 4's Early Access launch, with no mention of GSB2 content or updates. There are no unreleased DLC entries, no roadmap, and no developer statement promising future content for GSB2. The game shipped as a complete product and its post-launch update activity concluded in mid-2015.
Evidence
Version 1.34 patch added a new Campaign Mode — the last meaningful content update for GSB2, representing the end of active post-launch development.
Version 1.31 patch with new custom battle features and various bug fixes, part of the initial post-launch support period.
Media
Details
Developer
Publisher
Positech Games
Achievements
30
Platform
Windows, macOS, Linux
Controller
—
Steam Deck
Not rated
Players
Single-player · Multiplayer
About this game
Have you ever wanted to be admiral of a huge, sprawling space battle-fleet of your own design? Ever wanted to design a fleet of battle-cruisers so powerful they can rip all who oppose them into space-dust? Ever wanted to build a battleship with purple rotating radars and 64 engines? Well we have good news for you...
Gratuitous Space Battles is back! and it's approximately 50,000 times more gratuitous than before. A completely new ground-up rebuilding of the custom 'Gratuitous Engine' gives the game a completely new look, with beam-lasers 10x as 'beamy' as explosions 10x more gratuitous.
You now have complete control over the appearance of your ships, and can build them from a base hull and a bunch of adjustable visual components so you have control of both the composition AND the looks of your deadly starships. GSB2 retains the core gameplay of the original. This is NOT a standard RTS game, but a management/simulation game about building space fleets and giving them orders. You aren't the dumb schmuck who actually flies into battle and gets lazered. Leave that to those patriotic and keen young dudes from the outer-colonies. Nope, your job is as supreme commander in chief. Sit back at fleet HQ and watch the fireworks as you reduce the enemy to space-dust.
Using it's amazingly asynchronous multiplayer online 'challenge' system, GSB2 lets you put together a whole fleet and upload it, orders, formations and custom ship designs in one, up to a server where fellow GSB2 players can download it and pit their own fleets against it in glorious combat.
Some of the new features in GSB2:
Gratuitous Space Battles is back! and it's approximately 50,000 times more gratuitous than before. A completely new ground-up rebuilding of the custom 'Gratuitous Engine' gives the game a completely new look, with beam-lasers 10x as 'beamy' as explosions 10x more gratuitous.
You now have complete control over the appearance of your ships, and can build them from a base hull and a bunch of adjustable visual components so you have control of both the composition AND the looks of your deadly starships. GSB2 retains the core gameplay of the original. This is NOT a standard RTS game, but a management/simulation game about building space fleets and giving them orders. You aren't the dumb schmuck who actually flies into battle and gets lazered. Leave that to those patriotic and keen young dudes from the outer-colonies. Nope, your job is as supreme commander in chief. Sit back at fleet HQ and watch the fireworks as you reduce the enemy to space-dust.
Using it's amazingly asynchronous multiplayer online 'challenge' system, GSB2 lets you put together a whole fleet and upload it, orders, formations and custom ship designs in one, up to a server where fellow GSB2 players can download it and pit their own fleets against it in glorious combat.
Some of the new features in GSB2:
- Totally re-coded graphics engine for uber-explodiness
- Every ship in the game is built from a wide range of components that mean no challenge will have identical looking enemies. Huge scope for ship design.
- Super-clever lighting system and mega-parallax system makes for a more 3D, cinematic-looking experience, and more gratuitous effects.
- Built-in multi-monitor support. Runs fine (and looks lovely) at 5120 res and beyond.
- New classes of ship, introducing the Dreadnought, the destroyer and the gunship...
- Carrier modules now bring fighters into battle, and refuel them mid-battle. Knock out a carrier to upset those pesky fighter pilots.
- Steam achievements & trading cards at last!
- Formations now survive individual members being lost.
- New support beams allow ships to act as tugs, or mobile target-boost assistance vessels.
- Support for new weapons combinations such as radioactive plasma torpedoes.
- Built in 30 FPS mode for smooth video-capture for all you lets-play fans.
- unashamedly gratuitous GUI.
Are these done yet?
Last evaluated Jun 28, 2026
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