The Perfect Blend of Science and Slapstick

Kerbal Space Program is a space flight simulation game developed by Squad for computers and consoles. Players direct a nascent space program, staffed and crewed by green humanoid aliens known as Kerbals. KSP uses a realistic orbital physics engine, allowing for various real-life orbital maneuvers such as transfer orbits and orbital rendezvous. Three game-modes are available: career, science, and sandbox. In sandbox, everything is free and there are no consequences for failure, deaths, or destruction. It's typically used for constructing comically large, complicated, or expensive vehicles, or replicas of real-life vehicles like the Saturn V, Apollo program, Curiosity rover, or ISS. In science, your selection of parts must be expanded by conducting experiments in various environments on the home planet of Kerbin and other places in the solar system to gain Science points. Career mode is the most realistic, as it includes, funds, reputation, and contracts. Funds earned through contracts are what pays for all the parts, whereas in the other modes everything is free, and higher reputation gets better contracts. The space center buildings must also be upgraded in Career mode to improve functionality. 

I personally love KSP because it's a very nonlinear game. The way your game progresses is entirely up to you, as even in Career mode the "sandbox-ness" is through the roof. This contributes to its great replay value, since you can just put together a new spacecraft with different features when you go to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) and get a totally different experience flying it each time. The puzzle here isn't set by the devs--it's set by reality, and the limits of technology or your ability or design or even luck. If you want to reach the furthest planets or even make it out of the solar system, you can establish a system of orbital stations and tankers as gas stations to extend your range and chart every barren rock there is. Alternatively, if you're satisfied with zooming around just outside the Space Center in a little airplane, KSP lets you do that too.

 

Another element of KSP's ingenuity is that it isn't a dry, humorless simulation created for boring physics professors. It's actually really funny in its presentation, illustrated by the nature of the Kerbals themselves: they're a bunch of bumbling bobbleheads rated in-game by courage and stupidity. Kerbals bring a character to KSP, and turn the game into a perfect blend of science and slapstick.

One small problem is that the first several hours are harrowing--there's very little hand-holding, and the tutorial, while very helpful, doesn't do too much for the steep learning curve and complex user interface. While this is part of the realistic experience, it may turn away new players.

The first public version was released in 2011, and the game was released out of beta in 2015. Kerbal Space Program supports user mods that add new features or visual enhancements, and the more popular ones have received support and integration into the base game by Squad. People and agencies in the space industry have taken an interest in the game, including NASA, the European Space Agency, United Launch Alliance, and SpaceX's Elon Musk. A sequel is scheduled for 2022 release.