If you're one of those people who hates games that make you lose over and over to unlock the 'special items' that make it possible to win, this game is not for you. This game is the final boss of that style of game design. Personally that didn't bother me, and if anything my actual complaint is that it's too short and I feel like the replayability is limited other than to chase achievements. I will conclude by saying I do think it's worth buying if you like me are very much about seeking balance and efficiency in systems.
Disclaimer: I've only done one full playthrough so far. Pros: Lots of moving parts and choices, highly replayable Very imaginitive aesthetics and atmospheric soundtrack Highly intellectual and philosphical but still approachable Cons: Occasionally choices don't seem to matter, or the most logical thing isn't offered You can't really personalize anything aesthetic about the MC herself It's A LOT of reading (no pun intended) Overall I have enjoyed it and will play it again. As a note, I practice divination, primarily achillomancy through the I Ching but I've also dabbled in tarot, and I feel like the team behind this game really grasps the fundamentals about divination in general. It's actually inspired me to explore tarot again and helped me connect my understanding of achillomancy to tarot in a way I hadn't before. I don't think tarot will ever resonate with me the way that working with the I Ching does, but still it's crazy how much this game has touched me.
I love Terraforming Mars. The boardgame is damn near perfect imo. However this implementation has two things that really make it fall short: 1) the "randomness" is abysmal. I've played more than 6 games to completion (and I play *slow* with regard to filling terraform reqs so I've gotten a deck reshuffle more than twice) and I went through and counted: there were over 70 cards I'd never seen once. Not from my draws OR the AI using them. And that included a LOT of really good cards that I've been sorely missing. Moreover, there are 7 corporations that I haven't seen drawn for the AI or me, that's MORE THAN A THIRD of all corporations, and that's with about two dozen attempts to set up games because I really wanted to play something other than Tharsis, Helion, Thorgate, or Inventrix (these come up the most in my experience). 2) The interface is slow. You have to wait for everything to refresh after you or the AI does ANYTHING before you can move forward. It gets annoying especially if you're playing long sessions. I'm definitely going to keep playing this, so it's worth it I think especially if you're fond of the boardgame, but at the same time if you're really familiar with the boardgame this is going to feel less satisfying and hobbled because some of the best cards never get drawn and other cards you see in every single game.
