The game is a sequel to Solar (2009), and features most of the same key gameplay elements of its predecessor, expanded and polished considerably.

It was developed over ten months and includes a score composed by sound designer and musician JP Neufeld.

Solar 2 received mainly positive reviews from video game journalists, scoring 72 out of 100 on aggregate website Metacritic.

It was awarded the first prize at the 2011 Microsoft Dream Build Play competition, and was among the video games showcased at the 10th Penny Arcade Expo.

[2] The game takes place in a borderless and randomly generated universe, filled with asteroids, planets, stars and planetary systems.

They appear on planets sufficiently big to store life, and are represented by a variety of ships of different size and attack power.

[2] All the spaceships in the map are controlled by the game's artificial intelligence (AI), and they will constantly engage in combat against enemy ships, asteroids or planets to destroy them.

"[6] Solar, released in 2009, became a commercial success; it sold 30,000 copies and allowed Watts to work full-time on its sequel.

However, given that the original game was developed using the Windows-only XNA platform, he expected the ports to be ready sometime before the end of the year.

[1] However, the game won the US$20,000 first prize at the 2011 Microsoft Dream Build Play competition,[17] and became a finalist at the 2011 IndieCade festival.

[18] Solar 2 was also among the ten indie video games showcased at the 10th Penny Arcade Expo, held in August 2011.

[19] IGN's Gord Goble criticized the difficulty of the missions but praised the game's soundtrack, which he called a combination of "new age-meets-Alan Parsons Project-meets-Pink Floyd-meets-2001: A Space Odyssey audioscape.

[1] Graham Smith from PC Gamer was also critical of the missions' difficulty, although concluded that it was "a good price for a universe.