I'm watching a very negative video about the $350 million crowd funded game, "Star Citizen" and I'm thinking it looks really cool.
But while Star Citizen may be a con, there has to be some great space games out there. What would you recommend?
SC might be really cool if it's ever finished. In the meantime, I'll be waiting over here placing bets how long it takes before it either comes out or collapses under it's own weight.
I'm not even convinced it's a con either. I think Chris Roberts wants this game to come out and be amazing, but he's totally incapable of doing so the way it's set up and he either doesn't realize it or is hoping somehow it'll all turn out well in the end. So basically some of the worst scope creep I've ever seen, a ridiculous whale dependent funding model that is somehow still raking in money and overall incompetent management from Roberts and the upper management at CIG.
Though if it turned out to be a scam, I wouldn't be shocked but I would have think Roberts would have run off with the cash by now if that was the case.
But since you asked for it.......My personal favorite Space game is Kerbal Space Program due to it's freedom to build and fly spacecraft/aircraft/etc and excellent modding community and attention to actual orbital mechanics and such. Now with that being said, it occupies a special niche due to it's emphasis on interplanetary rather then interstellar transport and deals with either current or relatively near future tech. So no (intentional) FTL drives or infinite fuel sources in the base game(but there are mods that can scratch some of that itch for you) and only the one solar system exists(modeled on our own, but at a smaller scale which still requires possibly months of in-game travel to reach). It's also occasionally janky consider it's origins as essentially a side project for the dev team that turned into a full scale game(the publisher? It's a Mexican website/MM design company of all things. Some of the devs were making this on their off time before the company got behind supporting the development) and a number of QoL features have slowly be patched in previously being available by mod only(such as flight automation and craft inventory).
It's often compared to having virtual Legos to build with, an orbital/aeronautical physics sandbox solar system and the freedom to do what you want and explore. Not really a story or endpoint but there is a game mode with objectives to meet if you need the structure to drive you(where you need to manage finances, work up a tech tree and perform contract missions to earn money and research points). Otherwise, it's like minecraft but with craft/base building on a solar system level.....kinda.
There are even madlads who have built their own naval vessels and submarines using the parts in the game, because someone realized that certain parts are buoyant and thus will float on kerbals oceans, so now there's a sub-community of the fandom that has apparently turned the game into a naval design/combat game as well(not a good one, but considering these are spaceship parts they're exploiting it's still kinda impressive).
It's totally not for everyone and that's why I rarely mention it, but it's something a bit different then a lot of the other space sims out there. Especially if you like the idea of simulating the Space Race, the Space Shuttle Program, etc which most games really don't even bother with. Sure there's games like Orbiter but Orbiter is harder to get set up and running and apparently it's even more slanted to the realism side of the scale....also without being able to design the craft, which is one of KSP's major draws.
I'm more then happy to talk it up if you're interested but otherwise I'll leave it here. Or message me so this doesn't become KSP: the thread.
