This vs. Nexus

[Erynion]

I'm intrigued by Starcom and am wondering what is the best game to start with, given that I may or may not actually enjoy it enough to finish.
One of the main things that interested me was a review saying that "there is a real feeling of uncovering mysteries and unexplored space." Now I love that feeling of uncovering ancient mysteries, in e.g. Mass Effect. Does Nexus have this too or is that more of an Unknown Space thing?

A few other points:
-I'm also interested in the action, the "RPG" elements of building up a "character"/ship, and the space setting. I do like space science fiction, especially "space opera" types like Mass Effect, Babylon 5, the Expanse. I like Star Trek/Stargate too.
-I would like to play with a controller if possible. Not sure if this is better supported in one or the other.
-I tend to get bored of games that are not a) RPGs (mostly ARPGs) or b) strategy games (mostly Total War tbh)

Thanks in advance for recommendations.

[Zero McDol]

From what I've heard, Unknown Space is better than Nexus is almost every way. I'm new though, so I can only go off of the review that I read that compared the two.

Personally, considering that it's on sale, you could buy both games, but it's up to you.

[Tactical Femboy]

Unknown space is flat out better game-wise and you won't miss much if any lore to know beforehand, but all three games (including the flash game) are lovely self contained spaceship games

[Luke]

Both good. Both great sci-fi.

Unknown Space is better in many ways, and has good writing.

Nexus has some of the best space opera writing I've ever read, and you should play it if you like to read that stuff.

Nexus also has megalasers which are sadly missing from US.

[Tactical Femboy]

Originally posted by Luke:

Both good. Both great sci-fi.

Unknown Space is better in many ways, and has good writing.

Nexus has some of the best space opera writing I've ever read, and you should play it if you like to read that stuff.

Nexus also has megalasers which are sadly missing from US.

Got it in one, though I like to go back and play the OG Starcom too

[Shadow]

Both of the games do a great job of letting you explore and slowly uncover a larger mystery, and give a good sense of rpg progression, though primarily in how you unlock new ship modules and get resources for building bigger ones. Unknown Space adds more depth to most of the systems in the game, like having skill levels for your crew members, but overall the games are very similar.

I played it with a mouse and keyboard, but have seen comments that the gameplay works well with a controller but that the menus can be a bit wonky (this was in Nexus, mind).

Nexus is also a somewhat smaller game, so might be a better place to start (plus if you like it, then Unknown Space will be an upgrade)

[H. Guderian]

I just beat Nexus a day or two ago and picked this up.

US so far has a lot of 'improvements' but I'm also floating around lost and directionless a lot more. I played my first time on Nexus on Hard and it was a good time. I threw myself into US on Very Hard (the hardest it will go) so the combat is keeping me somewhat entertained.

There are a lot more resources in US, and I'm not sure that was necessary. Time to upgrade your ship size? Need a new bridge, but that requires a resource that, early game, only seems to be tradeable. So instead of just grinding rocks to get materials to upgrade, I have to grind rocks, to trade for materials to upgrade. Its an extra step.

So far I am liking the Tech progression far less than Nexus. Just compare the plasma weapon trees. Nexus had more options, some were flat buffs and some were tradeoffs. If I had spare energy I could research tech to do more damage at higher energy cost - or just get a flat damage or range increase. In US you have...Turret 1...Turret 2...and maybe an upgrade after that?

The ship design feels more fun in US, but early on its been a pain figuring out where to even get the resources to use all these new toys. It seems they want you to trade more in US.

As for exploration, Nexus is 'linear' around essential systems, but you could barely detect some systems at the edge of your scanner range if you explored everywhere.

Visually, I think Nexus was also better with effects. Going near a star was Bright. It could get in the way sometimes, but it at least made sense.

Also the designs and transport through systems in US is too crowded. You can have 3 planets on the screen at the same time, plus the comets are on much, much smaller orbits, far brighter, and just seem less phenomenal.

They're both good, but I'm preferring Nexus so far. The story seemed a bit more personal and immediate. The Kite station commander seemed more personable and you could ask how the station morale was doing and it'd change over time.

But of course I am not done with US at all! So who knows how late game will pan out.