I gave this game a shot in 2020 after hearing about how much it had improved from the rough state it launched in (plus it was on sale). So I figured I'd report my findings.

I'd been in the mood at the time for a survival/crafting/basebuilding type game as well as a bit of space trucking, and this definitely scratches those itches. But only so much. Eventually you just run out of things to do or reasons to do them.

I feel like the redemption story of this game's development is...misleading, to say the least. Is it better than launch? I'm very sure, but only in superficial ways. They've loaded this game up with stuff they promised, that's true, but very little of it is "content."

Is there space flight? Yeah, but it's rubbish and only exists as a means to get from point A to B. Combat is overly simplistic and if you want to transport cargo it's always better just to use base teleporters.

Is there base building? Sure, but it's terribly clunky and difficult to build anything nice-looking besides prefab rooms. Plus you can't really build anything big because it tanks performance and you're encouraged to keep moving from system to system, so it's pointless anyway.

Is there story? Only technically. It's just an extended tutorial for different mechanics and planetary structures, where you just get led around from one planet to another, get fed a bunch of technobabble, then eventually told to head to the center of the galaxy. Nothing meaningful or compelling to be found here.

Is there progression? Yep, you can build up your inventory slots, get better and better gear and ships, load up your suits with all sorts of upgrades. But it's all for its own sake. If you have enough time and resources to put into getting all that stuff, you no longer have a use for that stuff.

Is there exploration? If you can call it that. Everything basically looks like same, just with a different coloring or filter on the screen. No real unique locales, nothing to find - even the unique settlement you can become "governor" of is just a bunch of random premade buildings slapped in a random spot, no different from anywhere else.

Is there interesting combat? Well, they just recently overhauled it, and it's still trash. Overly simplistic, pointless, and totally without consequence or meaning.

How about expeditions? Some of those have been okay, basically acting as a speedy playthrough of the normal NMS, usually with a twist. For the most part they're just tedious and poorly thought out chores though, and even with the cool cosmetic rewards I can hardly recommend them. This especially goes for the current one (at time of writing) and worst yet, Exobiology. I gave it two shots to hook me and both times I just couldn't be bothered and would have rather been doing literally anything else. Even Cartographers, which was awful even when on the shortened re-run version, kept me playing at least.

So yeah in closing it did keep my attention for a little while, and I'm glad I had fun with it initially. But in the end it's still as shallow as ever with little to keep you playing longterm.