I bought Slipways on a whim after reading some reviews, and ended up spending half the long weekend playing it. The game design is superb - some other reviewers have mentioned that euro-board-game vibe which I agree with. It's got a great mix of bite-size decision making, where you want to plan your moves ahead and try to maximise the best links between the planets. I'm a big fan of Stellaris and Civ, and Slipways is definitely scratching that itch of 'one more turn' as well as satisfying the inner builder in me. If this is a puzzle game, it's the same sort of puzzle I enjoy when I plan out my cities and districts in Civ 6. In challenging difficulty, the economy also becomes a focus and I failed the first campaign map a few times, but it just made me hungry to improve, and keep trying new combo's of the aliens and their benefits and tech choices, and managed to succeed on the last turn of my latest run. I think I was helped by RNG as well but that's OK! Endless mode is also a chill way to experience the game. Time will tell if I'll keep coming back to Slipways, but so far I'm very impressed.
