All that matters is that the experience is never wasted. If we can reach space, we can reach our closest planetary neighbor. If the satellite can get up there, maybe an astronaut can. If you get there, then maybe we can put a satellite even further. If you manage to break the world's speed record, you're ready to try reaching the upper atmosphere and recording how the air is up there. You advance simply by being bold enough to try reaching a little higher, making your species' sphere of influence just a little larger with every attempt. Although all your scientists and pilots are little green men, the game is intrinsically human.

What KSP values above all is perseverance. As far as I can tell, the game never stops, and an entire solar system waits out there to be explored. But it is most certainly a teacher that wants nothing more than for you to find enlightenment.Īs such, trying to nutshell Kerbal Space Program isn't a matter of straightforward 'You win if you get here' goals. Failure is a teacher here, one that challenges you and doesn't compromise by handing you all the answers. Making a mistake never felt like a punishment, as if the game had placed an insurmountable obstacle in front of me and laughed as I flailed wildly at it.

The game surpasses that categorization because of that sense of constant discovery and innovation. But for all the things that feel brain-bending and sciencey, there's still a mild sense of approachability, like the fact that trying to plot a flight path that puts you in orbit with a different planet is essentially a really touchy and precise game of Bop It. For one thing, no matter how serious things get, you're still playing in a world of little green cartoons, which the game never really reconciles with its overwhelming physical realism the further along you go. It doesn't really cover it to say that Kerbal Space Program is a space sim.

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