Going with ward means easier gameplay since you keep access to chemical plant base and icarus plus you get better supplies and smoother missions. Thing is, you'll miss out on cool story stuff with classic characters like scar and strider. The spark path is tougher but gets you deeper into the story and lore, though you'll lose access to ward bases which makes exploring trickier. During subtle matter mission, picking eternal spring leads to spark's ending while life is for the living puts you with ward's goals

Tip: your choice sticks for good so think about what matters more to you. If you want smoother gameplay and checkpoints everywhere, go ward. For hardcore challenge and deeper story connections, pick spark. Later on dealing with ward sensors, giving them to richter helps with spark while helping zotov gets you closer to ward, just depends what path you're aiming for

Remember, once you pick a side theres no going back, and each path changes how the story plays out in pretty big ways