This is a game I will probably keep coming back to for years to come. It plays very much like a board game in digital format. It can get quite complex with the strategic choices you need to make, but as there are not that many moving parts (as compared to for example a Paradox grand strategy game) it is still easy to get back into after being away for a while.
The core gameplay is good and becomes very engaging once you get into it. It definitely triggers that "one more turn" feeling as you always have some plan you want to see unfold. The amount of variability is also surprisingly large as you can play with different scenario settings and victory conditions.
Everything feels very polished, UI and graphics are just about perfect for this type of game. I play it on Linux Mint and it has been running solid as martian bedrock.
I played about 30 hours already and really enjoyed the process of learning the game as well as playing the different pathways. I feel the difficulty levels are well balanced and well structured, even beginners can learn and enjoy this game without being frustrated. The visuals are beautiful, and I like the variety of characters you can choose as leaders and how they all come with ther unique back story, all pretty inclusive of different cultures. Another thing I like, is that you can win/complete each scenario in a reasonable time, so there is a good cutoff to stand up and go on with your life, and somehow you are always satisfied and don't feel like you could have played more on the same game – although that's an option too if you wish to continue terraforming after you won.
Graphics: Decent.
Gameplay: Average. Card-based "Terraform a Planet"
Idealism: Check.
Misguided idealism: Limited, but present - for a game about creating an environment, the environmentalism based content felt off-brand...
Plots: Possibly? I got the first interesting message that sounded like plot when the game decided I'd won.
As gameplay goes, it's well balanced, I think, and tuned to try and hook me...
Good enough for burning some time, but don't take it too seriously.
First the good -- the game has a lot of what I wish good strategy games had:
The explanation of effects of buildings and actions is very crisp and clear, making winning or losing a function of how good your strategy is, not whether you misunderstood what a button does. Tradeoffs, at least as I thought of tutorial, are very interesting -- support acts as a soft time limit, so do you raise support (extending the limit, but it will run out eventually), or accomplish other objectives?
I like the "luck" balancing -- good or bad events will happen but (according to manual) it is balance by support decrease events, a great way of balancing luck without making everything repeatable.
Building system -- every turn you get to choose one of three (there are ways to increase it) semi-random buildings that you will be able to build later. It requires adaptation and choice. It does not have graphics or immersion of city builder or adventure game, but as a fan of strategy games, based on tutorial, I thought I'd love it...
Except I found it borningly easy. Inexplcably it locks higher difficulty level scenarios until you play enough easier ones, unlocking difficulty levels very slowly (and no, not just new scenarios, you can play a scenario, but if you only crushed the game 3 times, only easier difficulties are available). Sadly, it means at no point did it provide a challenge. All the balancing and support/time limit mechanism (which I love in principle) is for naught if there is no doubt you'll win from turn 1.
Not every game has to be hard, a good city builder or RPG game can have other big draws. But this one is neither, it has simple enough setup. It makes some awesome choices within it, and I hope there more games that treat strategy elements similarly, but without providing a challenge most of those good choices are for naught.
A fantastic game - to spend several hours to terraform mars.
The planet looks so beautilful.
A very good re-playability. I already finished it 4 times.
Thank you to the team who build this game.
