Is this game good now?

[Black bean]

I played it when it was newly released in 2016 and it was frankly bad. Nothing to do, laggy, and the underground caves were full of these annoying plants that never despawned and lagged the game even more.

Is it good now after updates?

[What is life?]

yes

[VolteVaris]

It's not good
It's not bad
It's delightful.

[Floid]

Depends on what constitutes good for you. Progression loop is fairly fun if you enjoy the build to build more thing. Gameplay loop is also kinda fun with the whole exploring all the planets thing.

But performance in resolutions like EFS-1080 is still not playable for loads of people unfortunately.

[Suzaku]

The gameplay loop is pretty fun if you like collecting resources to upgrade things so you're better at collecting resources. They've also added a bunch of more amusing items like chess pieces, fireworks, hoops, vehicles, and whatever else you can make use of your imagination with.

There has been many optimization passes, but only you can tell us if it runs well on your system. It runs great on mine.

Plants can be dug up with your tool, which causes them to explode and die permanently.

If you have the Microsoft Game Pass, the game is currently available on it.

[Buddha]

I can't bring myself to play again after completing the game last year. I open the game, and after a few minutes I can't think of anything I want to do.

Maybe I'll start a brand new game one day. Then at least i'll be compelled to do stuff.

I wish they'd add some story/quest elements. The alien gateways thing was great, but the premise of an alien civilisation wasn't explored at all.

They need a story writer to come in and add some depth/purpose to the game. The artefacts could be part of a deeper puzzle rather than merely keys to unlock a swirly thing that makes no sense.

I know I bang on about this every now and again, but stories and characters are what drive real engagement in games.

Shadow Warrior is a great example of good story writing supporting a strong combat game. I played the game three times in quick succession, because there was an emotional depth behind the fighting - a tragic story was revealed through the game.

Wolfenstein was another that I played again soon after (first two games) because of the story driven style.

I don't play combat games for the combat primarily. I'm a sucker for tragic or pathetic stories, and great settings help, of course.

I know Astroneer is nothing like those two games...

Phoning Home is much closer to Astroneer in style, and that was a game I played twice in quick succession. To be honest, the second time I played, I knew how to play it, as it's very unforgiving if you don't collect enough resources. It was lot more enjoyable the second time around. And it has a story of sorts, plus character interaction, which is another thing I like.

The biggest problem with Astroneer is that there is so much busy work and no sense of real purpose to anything. You collect to build stuff, so you can build more stuff and collect more stuff etc, etc...

It used to be relaxing, but the increasingly complex demands of building means you had to have a detailed blueprint and strategic plan on hand to facilitate efficient collecting and building of all the stuff you need.