Silky: New environs, some intrigue initially.
Rough: Short lived intrigue. Boring and fast.

Surviving Mars or... how not to survive on Mars because you can't be bothered to find out what's causing the problem because by now you don't GAF.

I've been a management/sim/city builder gamer since Jesus Christ played fullback for Jerusalem so I know my way around. But the whole time I played this I felt it was missing something and I couldn't quite put my finger on it for quite a while.

Then it dawned on me that the purpose of this was, well nothing. Even with the Green Planet DLC (make Mars green right?) there was just more and more of doing nothing much while I ran the game full tilt. I mean sure, I could sit there and tinker around with my colonists needs and make them all happy but after a while I couldn't care less because.. quite frankly... they were dispensable and you don't really need that many to run a survivable base anyway. Adding more or getting bigger was just... not needed.

By dispensable, if I couldn't get colonists from Earth, I just made a few smile with a few trinkets and they got it on.... if you know what I'm saying. Even then, once I had what I needed being grown/dug/collected I literally ran it full tilt on screen 1 and did something else on screen 2.

There's just no reason to bother with half the tech tree which comes at you with what appears to be random until you realise that each location is exactly the same on each playthrough. Once you found the rare metal, your only source of income early game (except maybe "tourists"), just build there. There's no reward for harder locations except maybe meteorites that give extra metal or anomalies. Playing "hard" mode just added time to do, not a reason to try.

Game is all about spamming drones, spamming resources, waiting out the storms, building more of something, anything, just to look busy, pick a number between a few and CPU infinity colonists, send the only resource to Earth to make money and do it until you are bored ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥.

I started playing with mods towards the "end" just to see if I could spice it up (and there is some GREAT work by modders here) but you know what, this morning I scanned the surrounds, I landed the rocket and I just..... pressed Esc and Quit.

If you like binge watching Netflix while playing video games... an excellent choice. If you like anything to do with space... a good choice. If you think putting a dome on such a hostile planet is the greatest achievement man has ever performed, and shudder in horror when you see a casino - of all things - in your list of builds, stay away.

And more, if you think we shouldn't be able to suck oxygen and water out of a barren atmosphere BEFORE we terraform - just don't.

6.5/10 - only the green planet DLC helped here so consider the total $$ required for enjoyment if money is tight.

Silky: New environs, some intrigue initially. Rough: Short lived intrigue. Boring and fast. Surviving Mars or... how not to survive on Mars because you can't be bothered to find out what's causing the problem because by now you don't GAF. I've been a management/sim/city builder gamer since Jesus Christ played fullback for Jerusalem so I know my way around. But the whole time I played this I felt it was missing something and I couldn't quite put my finger on it for quite a while. Then it dawned on me that the purpose of this was, well nothing. Even with the Green Planet DLC (make Mars green right?) there was just more and more of doing nothing much while I ran the game full tilt. I mean sure, I could sit there and tinker around with my colonists needs and make them all happy but after a while I couldn't care less because.. quite frankly... they were dispensable and you don't really need that many to run a survivable base anyway. Adding more or getting bigger was just... not needed. By dispensable, if I couldn't get colonists from Earth, I just made a few smile with a few trinkets and they got it on.... if you know what I'm saying. Even then, once I had what I needed being grown/dug/collected I literally ran it full tilt on screen 1 and did something else on screen 2. There's just no reason to bother with half the tech tree which comes at you with what appears to be random until you realise that each location is exactly the same on each playthrough. Once you found the rare metal, your only source of income early game (except maybe "tourists"), just build there. There's no reward for harder locations except maybe meteorites that give extra metal or anomalies. Playing "hard" mode just added time to do, not a reason to try. Game is all about spamming drones, spamming resources, waiting out the storms, building more of something, anything, just to look busy, pick a number between a few and CPU infinity colonists, send the only resource to Earth to make money and do it until you are bored shitless. I started playing with mods towards the "end" just to see if I could spice it up (and there is some GREAT work by modders here) but you know what, this morning I scanned the surrounds, I landed the rocket and I just..... pressed Esc and Quit. If you like binge watching Netflix while playing video games... an excellent choice. If you like anything to do with space... a good choice. If you think putting a dome on such a hostile planet is the greatest achievement man has ever performed, and shudder in horror when you see a casino - of all things - in your list of builds, stay away. And more, if you think we shouldn't be able to suck oxygen and water out of a barren atmosphere BEFORE we terraform - just don't. 6.5/10 - only the green planet DLC helped here so consider the total $$ required for enjoyment if money is tight.