Surviving Mars

In the first two weeks I have logged 174 hours. (I am retired, so lots of free time)
For the record, that's more than 50% of the time.
Okay, what I like:
1. The look and feel of the game. It's pretty, unless you don't like red at all.
2. Discovering things is a lot of fun for me, and there is plenty of that.
3. The "breakthrough" line in the tech tree keeps replay options fresh. Some are OP though.
4. The pacing is pretty good. In that same vein, the mysteries (only a few so far) are a nice touch.
5. I love creating things, so this is right up my alley.
6. The mod support is quite good.
7. Addicting as @&@%$!
8. STILL discovering little things that I did not notice right away. (What?!? I can change the look of those too!?! YES!)
The stuff I would change:
1. The drone AI is stubborn as a mule sometimes and horribly un-optimized. You cannot override this manually either. (What do you mean I can't assign this drone to repair this MOXIE?!? It has the metal and is right next to it! ... Oh the drone from the far side of the control range is already assigned to that?) Dumb! Rockets with drones and supplies land and then the drones come out empty handed, then immediately go back inside to get the supplies... or refueling drones carry in fuel... and don't grab supplies on the way out... WHY?!? (Though if you could improve it, that could be a great technology improvement to add)
2. >>>Having only 3 priority levels is a pain. I need 5.<<<
3. Assigning colonists to jobs is tedious to get them in the right spot. I wish there was a drag and drop way to do so. Also a way to lock people in certain jobs would be great.
4. The MOMENT you lose water access to a dome people are dehydrated. I mean if you are mining outside of the dome on your shift why is the lack of water a concern to you before you get home? What do you mean you can't store water inside the dome?? But that would make SENSE! You can put solar panels inside a dome, why not water storage? Also people take time to suffer from lack of water... Ugh silly game mechanics.
5. A better search system for a landing spot would be cool. Like being able to specify certain min or max levels for resources and disasters.
6. There are a few "dilemmas" that are missing the common sense answer. One example is the "Flat Mars Society" where you can't give the idiot a spot on your next mission on a rocket to SHOW him the error of his ways. I mean I would gladly spend a load of fuel to stop that one, but apparently people who can colonize another planet can't think of that one.
I know I wrote a lot more about the things I would change but do not take that as a negative. Just a source of frustration - similar to how you can get frustrated with a child. You still love them!

I find this game super relaxing, even though its a survival game. I just sit there, cultivating my crop of colonists and drones until around sol 100 which is a good six-eight hours of game play, and then I start a new game with a different sponsor/mystery etc. The game is beautiful, has a lot of complexity to learn but isn't too crazy despite its initial appearances, and there is a lot of variety both in the techs available each game, disasters/map characteristics, and of course in its crazy amount of DLC. Do what I did and play a game, get some more DLC, play another game with the new DLC repeat, rather than getting it all at once.

Space. Survival. City building. All in one. A good casual game that doesn't require the relentless attention as games such as Cities Skylines or Jurassic World Evolution (2). It feels far more laid back than that, at least on Easy difficulty.
Positives:
+very replayable
+meaningful tutorial that helps you discover the games complexities
+cool details like mars dust on items and wear qualities in buildings
Negatives:
-my god this soundtrack
-who designed this UI, the year 1999?
-needs more things to build
-path to survival feels too linear
Overall, if this game is on sale, it's totally worth a buy. Of the four colony/city building games I've purchased during the most recent base-building Steam sale, this was the one I actually kept coming back to.

I've put over 540 hours into this game.
I don't put 540 hours into games, with extreme rare exception.
IMO, there is no better difficult, but satisfying and zen colony and resource simulator out there. I can play it for hours on end and get absolutely lost in the game.
Make sure to get all the DLCs, and also some critical mods like Silva's mod pack, the 5x and 10x speed mod, and all the ones with the Spongebob artwork (just trust me). There's many others to make the game even more complex and fun, or more easy if you prefer, but best to wait until you learn the game's mechanics and get comfortable on what and what not to do before you get them.
Only real con is the late game. The best parts of the game are beginning and mid when you're constantly facing challenges and doing the best you can to grow and research new techs. End game, you'll get techs that make the game go on easy mode, and at that point you just stop playing whenever you want as your colony grows exponentially. The game wasn't made for you to cover the whole map. Just keep that in mind when playing.
There is Challenge Mode with provides a lot of different scenarios with set criteria and timelines, and those are a lot of fun as they have defined goals that you can work towards, or fail at.
Buy it. Learn it. Have a buttload of fun with it.

I love this game. I think it's one of the best survival city builders ever made. It's challenging without feeling so hard it's demoralizing, especially if you prepare adequately. The different factions and game rules all alter the way you play in interesting ways. Every stage of the game is familiar but different. I'm slowly working my way through the achievements, which is pretty enjoyable since most are matters of persistence and not exceptional skill.
One game I have gone all the way out to 700+ years where I've hit the limit on resource production even mining all deposits of three meteors simultaneously. Most of Mars was terraformed green. It because a very different play experience but still enjoyable.
I really like the hex build grid with the triangular build areas in the domes. Placement feels very easy and because there are only three sizes of interior building I actually feel like I can get more variety in the setup rather than needing specific configurations for optimal placement. Just a lot of nice quality of life details like that.
Plus, I love the setting. Give me a world of idealistic space communism, please.

This game is pog. But the Elon simping is a bit cringe tbh.

Not sure what I actually like about the game, I just start it up and before I know it an entire day has gone by. I guess I enjoy it always trying to get to the next research goal or next dome etc..