Pros:
- Smooth, colorful, immersive scenery.
- Captivating soundtrack - really fitting for the game environment.
- Huge amount of area to explore - made possible by dynamic procedurally-generated planets.
- Easy to play - no insanely complex interfaces to deal with. Works with gamepad. Ideal for all ages.
- Easy learning curve - once you do research outside of the game (wiki sites, etc.).
Cons:
- NO MULTIPLAYER. The company told the media multiple times that the game had multiplayer support, but sneakily added that the chances of finding another player were slim due to the size of the game's universe; this was proven wrong. There are plenty of YouTube videos showing the deceptive practices (lying to the media, putting stickers over the 'online play' logos on game boxes, etc.).
- Poorly optimized for PC/Windows. Very amateur mistakes like assuming G-sync is present, not bundling run-time files, etc.
- The AI is weak and practically non-existent. Same old, same old repetive behavior.
- The procedurally-generated planets and creatures are fun to interact with for a short while, but soon become very boring as it quickly becomes obvious how 'cookie cutter' this approach to dynamic gameplay is.
- There's no clearly-defined quests, or objectives, or plots. Combine this with the lack of multiplayer support and the lack of good enemy AI, and you end up with a boring game in which you endlessly and pointlessly mine for resources.
Quantity over quality does not make for a game that will stand the test of time. This is fun but shortlived game that isn't worth the AAA cost of $60. An expensive proof-of-concept.
I am sad to be hating on this game. I've diligently waited 3 years for this to arrive. It broke my heart to return the game for a refund. I've searched high and low for a good space exploration game. This was nearly it. But it's missing the key element that would make it complete: multiplayer. Shame.
There's hope in that DLC will correct this, but the damage of reputation is done already, with all the backpedaling and lack of transparency.
To Hello Games: please address these issues. I want to buy this game again. But not until it's worth it.