TLDR: think The Kobayashi Maru

So i played this game, and I gave it a fair go. The game is pitched as a survival/management sim, and at first that's what it delivers, but after the first 15 hours you realise its actually a stress management engine: If your pawns are stressed eventually they will snap, and unless their stress was caused by injuries that will heal, then the stress doesn't go away. they stay snapped forever. snapped pawns don't work, they don't remain safe (they keep wandering into hoards of angry enemies who slaughter them, for instance), and they wreck the rest of the settlement, causing other pawns to snap dealing with the damage.

The AI makes no sense, its job is to add interest, which it does by triggering annoying de-buffs. These de-buffs can and will absolutely ruin your settlement, but not in a fun "that was a nice challenge" way, but in a "now your settlement is in a downward spiral and there is nothing you can do to stop it killing everyone" way. all the AI does is trigger "psychic drones" that raise the stress of your people, or "Solar flares" that turn all of your power. it doesn't matter if your generators are all nuclear reactors buried a mile deep underground, it just turns everything off so your food spoils, your hydroponic crops fail, and all your defence systems go offline. and there is no way to prevent any of these things.
I pushed it to the ending, which took 60 hours of reloading every time my settlement failed, (core game, so the only ending is to build a ship and leave the planet, which requires an insane amount of raw materials and time, and reloading about once per in game week, the game ran for about 30 in game years, and i managed to leave world with my 3 starting pawns, a few rescues and all their kids, 12 pawns in total)

The ending sucked. It was the least imaginative ending i could conceive. i looked it up to see if i'd missed something. I hadn't. They do generously add one additional ending per DLC. They mostly suck. Your value may vary.

Pros:
The engine - 10/10 - the core is very well made. basic controls, interfaces, zones, skills and architecture features are all great
Crafting - 8/10 - this system is fairly mature, it works well. Some recipes could use thought, like food recipes.
Trade - 7/10 - this is a core mechanic, there are things you simply cannot make yourself. even some simple things like gun barrels. like really? gun barrels? I understand some things, like the AI cores and high tech stuff. I'd prefer if you could research an item if you already have one or several to be able to make more at your fabrication tables.
Research - 6/10 - the research system is not bad, there could and should be more options for research, I maxed out research after like 10 in game years? There could be more options to research ways to craft important items, or recipes with reduced costs. Also there are no options to research solutions to very common and solvable problems like solar flares, tranquilizers, Psychic shielding for dwellings, insulation to keep fridges/freezers cold when the power goes down?

Cons:
animals/livestock - 5/10 - needs more thought. random angry iguanas attacking once a week gets old fast. Do something more interesting like breeding/animal husbandry to let you make aggressive/intelligent breeds for warfare and docile/domestic breeds for farming, and have random gene-lines affect the aggression of wandering herds. Maybe add tranquilisers to aid in the domestication of wild animals. would also help slaver cultures capture prisoners without having to beat them half to death before dragging them to a cell. This is primitive technology that has already existed for a long time, it really should exist in the game.
food - 5/10 - uninspired. crafting simple meals cost 10 foodstuffs, luxury meals cost 100 foodsuffs?? that doesn't even make sense. try requiring different types of food resources. maybe herbs and spices.
random events - 2/10 - these make little to no sense. if you live on a world where solar flares will take down your power grid every week you harden your power-grid, its not hard, you just use thicker wires and install power regulators. (a rechargable battery is a simple power regulator in this situation, it drains excess power from the grid to prevent over-voltage). Psychic emitters stressing out your people that a tinfoil hat can prevent? put some tinfoil is the ceiling materials anyone?
Stress - 2/10 - This system is a core mechanic, the whole game is based around it. This system is too undeveloped to be a core mechanic. Snapped conditions need to provide some stress relief while they are active. Allow multiple snapped conditions if a pawns stress is still high. Most importantly minor conditions like dazed or binge eating should not render a pawn completely oblivious to immediate danger. Maybe instead have these effects increase hunger and reduce focus and skill. A mildly stressed pawn isn't going to stay seated at a table eating raw potatoes while 4 Impids breath fire all over them, the chair, the table, and the disgusting food they are gorging themselves on.
Story - 0/10 - there is almost no writing here at all. there are some random side quests that pop up, but these are universally fetch/kill/trade/store waste. Any game needs at MINIMUM a purpose for keeping your pawns alive. "getting off-world" isn't a reason if the fate that awaits you when you leave is to simply end up on a different world trying to survive long enough to build a ship and get off-world again. Even the simplest "you make it to a glitter-world and write novels about your experience" would be better than the nothing that I experienced.

Overall the negatives outweigh the positives, and I'm left disappointed. There are so many sanity checks that fail to pass a simple "does this make sense?" that the experience feels like the developer is intentionally engineering a system that you are forced to fail.

TLDR: think The Kobayashi Maru So i played this game, and I gave it a fair go. The game is pitched as a survival/management sim, and at first that's what it delivers, but after the first 15 hours you realise its actually a stress management engine: If your pawns are stressed eventually they will snap, and unless their stress was caused by injuries that will heal, then the stress doesn't go away. they stay snapped forever. snapped pawns don't work, they don't remain safe (they keep wandering into hoards of angry enemies who slaughter them, for instance), and they wreck the rest of the settlement, causing other pawns to snap dealing with the damage. The AI makes no sense, its job is to add interest, which it does by triggering annoying de-buffs. These de-buffs can and will absolutely ruin your settlement, but not in a fun "that was a nice challenge" way, but in a "now your settlement is in a downward spiral and there is nothing you can do to stop it killing everyone" way. all the AI does is trigger "psychic drones" that raise the stress of your people, or "Solar flares" that turn all of your power. it doesn't matter if your generators are all nuclear reactors buried a mile deep underground, it just turns everything off so your food spoils, your hydroponic crops fail, and all your defence systems go offline. and there is no way to prevent any of these things. I pushed it to the ending, which took 60 hours of reloading every time my settlement failed, (core game, so the only ending is to build a ship and leave the planet, which requires an insane amount of raw materials and time, and reloading about once per in game week, the game ran for about 30 in game years, and i managed to leave world with my 3 starting pawns, a few rescues and all their kids, 12 pawns in total) The ending sucked. It was the least imaginative ending i could conceive. i looked it up to see if i'd missed something. I hadn't. They do generously add one additional ending per DLC. They mostly suck. Your value may vary. Pros: The engine - 10/10 - the core is very well made. basic controls, interfaces, zones, skills and architecture features are all great Crafting - 8/10 - this system is fairly mature, it works well. Some recipes could use thought, like food recipes. Trade - 7/10 - this is a core mechanic, there are things you simply cannot make yourself. even some simple things like gun barrels. like really? gun barrels? I understand some things, like the AI cores and high tech stuff. I'd prefer if you could research an item if you already have one or several to be able to make more at your fabrication tables. Research - 6/10 - the research system is not bad, there could and should be more options for research, I maxed out research after like 10 in game years? There could be more options to research ways to craft important items, or recipes with reduced costs. Also there are no options to research solutions to very common and solvable problems like solar flares, tranquilizers, Psychic shielding for dwellings, insulation to keep fridges/freezers cold when the power goes down? Cons: animals/livestock - 5/10 - needs more thought. random angry iguanas attacking once a week gets old fast. Do something more interesting like breeding/animal husbandry to let you make aggressive/intelligent breeds for warfare and docile/domestic breeds for farming, and have random gene-lines affect the aggression of wandering herds. Maybe add tranquilisers to aid in the domestication of wild animals. would also help slaver cultures capture prisoners without having to beat them half to death before dragging them to a cell. This is primitive technology that has already existed for a long time, it really should exist in the game. food - 5/10 - uninspired. crafting simple meals cost 10 foodstuffs, luxury meals cost 100 foodsuffs?? that doesn't even make sense. try requiring different types of food resources. maybe herbs and spices. random events - 2/10 - these make little to no sense. if you live on a world where solar flares will take down your power grid every week you harden your power-grid, its not hard, you just use thicker wires and install power regulators. (a rechargable battery is a simple power regulator in this situation, it drains excess power from the grid to prevent over-voltage). Psychic emitters stressing out your people that a tinfoil hat can prevent? put some tinfoil is the ceiling materials anyone? Stress - 2/10 - This system is a core mechanic, the whole game is based around it. This system is too undeveloped to be a core mechanic. Snapped conditions need to provide some stress relief while they are active. Allow multiple snapped conditions if a pawns stress is still high. Most importantly minor conditions like dazed or binge eating should not render a pawn completely oblivious to immediate danger. Maybe instead have these effects increase hunger and reduce focus and skill. A mildly stressed pawn isn't going to stay seated at a table eating raw potatoes while 4 Impids breath fire all over them, the chair, the table, and the disgusting food they are gorging themselves on. Story - 0/10 - there is almost no writing here at all. there are some random side quests that pop up, but these are universally fetch/kill/trade/store waste. Any game needs at MINIMUM a purpose for keeping your pawns alive. "getting off-world" isn't a reason if the fate that awaits you when you leave is to simply end up on a different world trying to survive long enough to build a ship and get off-world again. Even the simplest "you make it to a glitter-world and write novels about your experience" would be better than the nothing that I experienced. Overall the negatives outweigh the positives, and I'm left disappointed. There are so many sanity checks that fail to pass a simple "does this make sense?" that the experience feels like the developer is intentionally engineering a system that you are forced to fail.