A classic from the 90s and honestly one of the more inventive. Granted it's not quite as good as the original MDK in many way but it's still good. Bit more cheesy and the diverse characters give it some flexibility but it's not quite as serious as the original.
Okay first a warning: If you buy the GOG version it will probably be cheaper but it doesn't have nearly as many mods available as on steam. That being said... Per Aspera is like Civilization, Kenshi and Planetbase (a little known survival builder game) all got together and had a threesome. Expect to have to do a lot of macro management, handle fiddly worker loops, and sprawling inferstructure. Also expect to die, a lot. The game gets out of hand really easy, which I suppose is the point. It's a resource management game basically. It can be really addictive but also really aggrivating. Hence Civilization + Kenshi.
The short version is this is like playing a survival game, set in a sci fi post apocolypse, with an old school rpg interface. You will die a lot. Save often. Read a walkthrough because the UI is not very intuitive. Aside from that it seems to have tons of replay value.
Good writing. Mediocre graphics and sound, though that's to be expected from an older game. Interesting premise and concepts. Skill tree and customization could use some fleshing out but seem to be tightly bound to level progression. You only get 1 skill point per level and you can spend that on skills OR attributes. There are also a fair amount of level requirement for skills. The crafting system could use work but seems usable. Combat system is quite interesting. At first it seems simple but as the game progresses you'll end up switching between the different modes quite often. The first boss battle requires it in fact. And the rapid pace of combat, striking, technomancy and dodging, when combined with switching combat styles can get rather hectic. I appreciate the controller support but there is no way to modify key bindings and the setup of using radial menus for both spells and said combat system is a bit awkward. All in all I'd give it 3 stars for the UI and UX (graphics and sound). It gets props tho for the story and concept so if you care more about lore and an interesting game than graphics that might belong on an older generation system and a slightly janky interface then this would be a good game for you.
Think if Ninja Gaiden had a furry kid brother who was into manga from like the 50s. You would think it was easy from the laid back atmosphere, cheesey grandfatherly storybook narator, and the "BAM! THACK! POW!" annotations and assorted commentary but it can in fact get quite hard. You can get swarmed, face mobs nearly 10x or 20x your size and the move combos can get quite intricate. In short this is a furry action game with a comic book slice of life feel to it with heavy doses of Japanese themed lore and assorted goofiness. If you like hitting and shooting at stuff and don't take things too seriously you'll probably have fun playing this.
