

Kerbal Space Program is literally rocket science, and I felt like I had to go to school just to learn how to play.


After being utterly confused when selecting New Game, I spent more than three hours in the separate tutorials and the KSPedia (an encyclopedia of everything there is to know about playing Kerbal Space Program) before jumping back into the actual game, and I still felt like I had only scratched the surface. It’s a difficulty spike of unreal proportions that begins the moment you boot up the game. Let me be clear: there is a massive learning curve, to the point where it’s not so much a curve as it is a wall. Don’t even think about just jumping into the game without some training. The game’s inherent complexity bleeds into the modified DualShock 4 control scheme, and instead of modifying the game to fit with a controller (like one might expect from a dedicated console development), they simply built overly complex control inputs that are short of intuitive. Despite preening that was was a from-the-ground-up development for consoles, Enhanced Edition still feels like an awkward port. I was surprised to learn this after I had been playing (or at least attempting to play) KSP Enhanced Edition. As someone who doesn’t play games on PC, and missed the boat on the first Kerbal Space Program console release, this was my first hands on experience with the game. Kerbal Space Program Enhanced Edition replaces that original console release, developed from the ground up for consoles to fix the many issues it had. It was ported to consoles in 2016, but was reportedly a buggy mess with poor optimization. It’s been in public release since 2011, then entered beta in 2014 before receiving a full release in 2015. KSP is notorious for being an exceptionally accurate representation of the many physics and factors involved with space flight, even attracting the attention of NASA and Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Kerbal Space Program is a physics-based space flight simulator that boasts a silly exterior, yet hides layers of complexity underneath the faces of these adorable alien beings.
