Love this game, even though it is tough to master
I love this game now but... My history with this franchise feels odd: Starting with Surviving Mars, which I liked but had flaws. Then I thought Surviving the Aftermath had promise, so I waited for a sale. But a free weekend came before a large enough sale and my impressions were mixed. I was still very skeptical after binging it the entire weekend even though I liked it. Then I waited until the base game was free on Epic, and that's when I really started to love it but..... There's always a big "but" with this game. I didn't feel like it was complete and it had a mid game that dragged hard. So I bought it with all the DLC here and now it actually feels complete. There are so many things I love about this game: It feels like it subverts a huge part of the city building genre and feels so much more like a survival city builder as opposed to Frostpunk. Progress usually isn't how big your city is or how many people you have -- it's so many other little things. In the early game, my colony at its best had citizens who hated each other the most. I love the personal story of your own colony's survival. There's no way I can justify a $55 price tag for the complete edition. This is entirely a "love it or hate it" game. I waited for the $16 sale but I suggest reading lots of reviews and watch content before you even spend that. And the base game... I don't think I'd recommend for over $5. There isn't much I hate more than throwing a bunch of money down for a game I hate... but it didn't happen here.
