Rematched in Space

Back in early 2019 I wrote a blog entry comparing the original Kerbal Space Program to SimpleRockets 2.  In that post I came to the conclusion that KSP had more features, but also a number of legacy issues.  Whereas SR2 represented a fresh start with much cleaner code and a few design innovations.  Well, a lot has happened in the last two years and now there's Kerbal Space Program 2 along with Juno: New Origins.

In a way this franchise rematch is reverse of what came before; KSP2 is the game in early access while Juno: New Origins is feature complete.  I'm not sure why the name was changed from SimpleRockets 2 to Juno...maybe it had something to do with the fact that the game isn't so simple anymore.

To get into specifics, Juno has fairly extensive editing tools.  Automation is one thing, but it's even possible to reshape individual parts into all sorts of shapes.  Rocket motors, in particular, can have their size, noxel pressure, and cone length all tweaked in ways that change their characteristics.  Detailed displays of each rocket stage's performance at any altitude are listed and once it launches off the pad into an orbital trajectory data like horizontal/vertical velocity, burn time, ISP, TWR, apoapsis, periapsis and a whole slew of other things are easy to see on pop-out windows.  It's all very nice information to have from quality-of-life perspective, but the presentation isn't especially elegant.  KSP2 communicates much of this pertinent information to the player in the form of an integrated flight HUD.  Granted, you're not flying or driving craft much in Juno.  Instead, there are two nav rings (blue/vertical and orange/horizontal) which make piloting any vehicle a simple case of drag and drop the hedding you want.  Overall, it's a nice feature to have, but definitely much more hands-off feeling than KSP and KSP2.

Another fundamental difference is the style of each game.  Juno goes with a look that I can only describe as "proto Star Trek".  The first character you meet in Juno is tech guru who looks like a combination of Elon Musk and Dr. Evil.  Meanwhile, the second contractor to appear with jobs on offer in career mode is the spitting image of Brent Spiner (the actor who portrays Commander Data).  It's all a bit weird considering "crewed" missions don't have actual astronauts.  Rather, "droods" (humanoid robots) are what is used.  Obviously, KSP has their iconic Kerbals (little sentient fungal people with disproportionately large heads).  They're adorable and provide players with some instant mascots to latch onto, but their brand of humor can occasionally become more garish than funny. 

It's also worth noting that KSP2 is still a work in progress.  Whether or not it ends up filling out its roadmap or implementing features found in Juno (such as being able to create custom planets) has yet to be seen.  Right now I'm sure that the developers over at Intercept Games are very busy squashing bugs and optimizing code.  Understandable, but there is one last huge difference worth mentioning - price.

Juno left early access only a little over a month ago, and yet the asking price is less than half what KSP2 is charging.  Worse still, Private Division (actually a subdivision of Take-Two Interactive; a major publisher and the parent company of Intercept Games) plans to raise the price even more in the future.  Personally, I find this mildly insulting, and very much against the spirit of what early access is supposed to be all about; namely it's an opportunity for small indie devs to generate some desperately needed revenue by letting people buy and play their game at a significantly reduced price point before it is done.  Anyway...this is quickly degrading into a rant about poor business practices so I'll end it here.