Having played this game for tens of hours I’ve now grown pretty tired of it, at least for now, especially after learning what happens when you reach the center. Had a hunch it wouldn’t be great.

There are phases to playing this game. At first it’s really fun, exploring and solving the problems required to leave the planet you start on, and likewise exploring the first star system, visiting those first few new planets and doing the next few jumps to different star systems.    

Then at a certain point comes a feeling of tedium and chaos. Find and gather resources, making sense of resources and the various possible recipes and upgrades, struggle with the limited inventory, ending up on too many dead stony planets, seeing the same buildings and nearly same space stations, many nearly interchangable interactions with aliens, and so on.

But interspersed with all that are some beautiful vistas and sense of exploration and discovery, sense of wonder even. Planets can occasionally look and behave quite different from one another, and star systems as well. Just drifting in space looking around can be a harmonic and meditative experience, especially with that great soundtrack. At one point, really tired and unable to take any decisive action, it became almost hypnotic and dreamlike. I totally get why some people might play this game while high. 

Eventually you get a bigger inventory while also learning a lot about the various resources, what you need and how to get it, as well as getting useful recipes for upgrading your gear and ship (e.g. mining faster, warping longer), and with that increased efficiency and control the tedium and sense of chaos diminishes somewhat, less grind and uncertainty, more enjoyment.  

For a little while. 

But after finishing the Atlas path (alongside some random exploration) and getting a good idea of what you can expect from the game — e.g. what kind of variation you can expect from planet to planet and star system to star system — a new kind of tedium sets in. This one is related not so much to any particular phase of the game but to the game itself, no matter how you play it (it seems). Everything repeats itself as you fly alone and aimlessly through the universe. 

I still got those tens of hours out of the game and I’ve not done yet, so I can’t say it was wasted money, and in fact I suspect I will keep playing this game now and then for some time, in small doses, especially if they release an interesting update. But I have to admit I’m still disappointed. The moment to moment enjoyment is no where near that of playing a solidly good game, let alone a great one. And yet… at its best, a few short moments early on, it creates a magnificent sense of wonder and feels unlike any other game I’ve played. Clearly they’re on to something with this concept, and I’m looking forward to what the future might bring in terms of updates, sequels and other games in this genre, whatever it will be.