I don't usually buy Early Access games but liked the premise of this enough to give it a whirl -- so far it doesn't disappoint. I'm only a couple of hours into my first game right now (so will update as I play more and early access progresses), but it's been very enjoyable so far and I feel as if there's a lot more depth than I've explored yet. The NPC and market simulations seem very intricate, and it's a nice change of pace having a colony sim where you're influencing the colony rather than directly controlling it.

So far it's been a little like watching an ant farm, except in my case I first built a modest strawberry farm, the other ants then bought my strawberries, used them to start their own strawberry farms, ran my strawberry farm out of business, and then demanded all my money to defend the ant farm from enemies because they were accustomed to a certain lifestyle as strawberry magnates.

It might be a little overwhelming when you first get dropped in, but I found that after 15 or 20 minutes things started to click and from there the more complex stuff reveals itself little by little. Also really liking the aesthetic, art and music, which often feels like a bit of an afterthought with these games. Looking forward to seeing how it progresses throughout Early Access.

I've just left a hostile beetle invasion unattended and started the mass production of shoddy bows for fun and profit.

I don't normally look at early access games anymore but bobby two hands has an excellent track record and knows how to create a playground you get great stories from (shadows of forbidden gods is my favourite grand strategy to date).

I think there's some genius in the idea of a colony / economic sim where you're an individual juggling your personal well being alongside that of the society you're helping build.