I purchased this with the base game originally, and it's a sad thing to imagine playing without it. I've found that the new "e-war" ship and equipment are kind of irrelevant on easy/normal (since you can get away with just strapping on more guns, armour, and regen to get through), but going into hard mode, I was forced to get creative and that's where the stuff in this pack shines. Worth it. Also the French guy is great.
TL;DR: Slow burn, slow-to-learn dungeon crawler... in space! It balances poking around in beautiful places with spastic dogfights, and the difficulty settings let it be engaging for all skill types. Really solid game all around. Even the story, though it was described to me as "barebones" and "functional", is fun and definitely not neglected. In fact, no elements are noticeably neglected. The game decided to include a specific set of features and fleshed them out satisfyingly, and then some. Most every mechanic to do with RNG is paved over by player skill. Even the worst consequences of bad luck, like ship component damage or running out of fuel, can be mitigated (purchasing perks and preying on neutral parties, respectively). Even in the face of a worst case scenario, and here's my advice: play to your odds from the beginning. Set up your own safety nets. At worst, get the perk that allows you to scavenge your last ship. Yes, your ship talks to you. And the protagonist is a huge dork. But they're just charming enough to evade my ire of such things. My only complaints are: Screenshots are impossible in fullscreen and the game was highly unstable in windowed mode (Win 7, R9 GPU, i5 CPU, 8GB). The UI can get cluttered and being able to find what you need to focus on is a skill you must develop. The alternate ships are not as different as they could be and seem generally underpowered compared to the default. Other than that, this is a fantastic product for those who enjoy star-crossed space adventures but also have a need for some kinds of permanent progression. A lot of care was put into this overall. Bonus points for a great soundtrack and decent voice acting!
