I only played this game for the first time in 2024. It still holds up and is a ton of fun to play. The gameplay is great for any city builder fan, and the graphics are not dated at all and really convey the Chinese setting. I was also surprised at the scope of gameplay; not only can you build your own city, but there is a diplomacy/warfare aspect with other cities as well. Highly recommended!
The game starts very strong and is dripping (no pun intended) with atmosphere. The design of the environments, characters, and technology is fantastic. I love the lore and the story is good, but it doesn't explore the concept of 'being' and 'conciousness' as well as other existing media. It's definitely overrated in this aspect at least if you are already a big fan of science fiction. The monsters are often more annoying and tedious than scary. I often was looking forward to the next story element but had to come to a halt to repeatedly sit in a corner while a monster passes by, or just take a long (but not very tense) detour to avoid it, and the monsters will constantly teleport to your location in a way which feels more unfair than terrifying. Overall I found it overrated considering all the glowing reviews, and not at all worth the full price. But I bought it at 90% off and for that it wasn't too much of a letdown.
