Edit: This game has now been released, has so many mods (vanilla expanded!), and it has been worth it every step of the way!

This is what all Early Access games should strive to be! Truly lives up to being playable, fun, and generally bug free (except for insect hives). The developer is active on the forum and subreddit and incorporates feedback into updates. In beta and moving towards release!

And the gameplay itself? A great mix of base-building with resource & people management. A refreshing mix of having colonists with free will, strong controls for optionally setting specific priorites per person, and even being able to "draft" individual colonists for extreme micromanagement. Lots of difficulty levels depending on how hardcore you want things to be, and plenty of big and little things to accomplish. As a bonus, there are plenty of mods on the Steam Workshop. All in all, well worth buying in its current state!

I have to say that this game is surprisingly fun. By that, I mean that I purchased this game for my son to play because he really enjoyed the single-player game Tyto Ecology. Figured it would be his first MMORPG. But I found myself playing this game together with him to do the puzzles and then kept on playing after he went to bed "so I could help him out better" the next day.

How is the game? It's an educational game! Designed to be fun! And it succeeds in both. My son was so busy collecting pets PEGACORN! , outfits, and stuff for his in-game home that he really got into all of the puzzles and learning quests. We're talking simple things like which animals eat what food to complex things like heredity and behavior.

How is the Early Access? I haven't seen any bugs or had the game crash at all. There is new content and improvements added on a regular basis and regular (31 as of this review) communication from the developers here on Steam. Basically, everything you should expect from Early Access.