I previously did a review a long time ago, and I felt it necessary to re-review the game in it's current state. Since there have been so many massive content updates, which include a mech, pets, settlements, and season expeditions, this game has undoubtedly surged with new players and happier fans. Let's be clear; I did not buy this game until reviews started going more positive (After all the post-release reviews I was hesitant) and I bought it around the 2019 mark. Was not super-impressed with the game at the time, however I was not left with a bad taste in my mouth.

• Expeditions really brought the multiplayer aspect together, as you rarely experience other players presence in the normal game.
  
  
• Settlements make base-building feel more alive and less empty, it was rather a refreshing change from the base NPCs, with more decision-making involved to help improve the productivity and remove negative traits affecting the settlement.
  
  
• Pet-Companions; A neat addition to the game, you can tame almost every creature on any planet (I like the rare ones), some of which are ride-able. You can slightly customize them by adding equipment to them (Unfortunately, I don't know if you can get LASER SHARKS).
  
  
• Improvements to UI; Yes, they did even more, and while the newer changes to building tailor to more advanced builders, it is simple enough to scroll through if you are new. (I am horrifically used to the Z Menu key scrolling that I almost hate the new change).
  
  
• Vehicle Exploration; I don't know why, but I really avoided vehicles in most of my play-through, I felt like I could do everything on foot or use my space-ship to get around. But oh my, especially in the Cartographers Expedition, taking a rover to the summit of a giant mountain was far easier than trying to fly or jetpack to it. Now I use a rover or Minotaur on all my playthroughs to mine, do combat, and explore.
  
  
• Developer Attention; Yes, I am with everyone here that Hello Games is doing an outstanding job pushing out fixes and content in this 5 year-old game. Rather-refreshing coming from a non-AAA studio, because you bet that most AAA companies now, are not doing the same. I would buy this game full price, to say the least

I really can't say there are many negatives to this game; they are really on-top of bug fixes immediately after releasing content updates. The only game-breaking bugs I've ever encountered were after the Settlements update, where some UI was freezing (not the game itself, but it had to get re-started to fix) and the fix was rolled out a day later.

On the other hand, this game is a niche, and you either like the game, or you don't. People complain about timers on freighter missions, settlement building, ect., but they lose sight of the fact that you don't even need to play the game and the timers still countdown (you can even cheese the timers by adjusting your computer's date/time). People complain about poor animations from a 2A studio, and as someone who plays a lot of Early-Access games, you are spoiled. Then there is the story; a LOT of people don't really understand the story or the lore either because they are dense, or are skipping a lot of the dialogue around the game.

*SPOILER ALERT* Everything is meaningless because you are just a computer-generated simulation, the only meaningful thing you do is hit the reset button (HAH, have you tried turning it on & off again?) for the Atlas so the entire sim doesn't go all to hell. Nihilism is a B****, and I think that's why people don't enjoy or don't get it.