izigame.me

After 100%-ing the main game I got this DLC on Christmas, and it kept me entertained for 3 weeks , so it's great value for the price.
The DLC plays mostly the same as the original but has a few new game mechanics - most notably you cannot mine some ores directly, there is an intermediate stage breaking down the raw ore to iridium and uranium ores etc. And the explosives to open up pathways or small ore deposits is a new mechanic too.
The early game is the most tense as the resources are really scarce on Planet Humble and you are racing against the clock to unlock the food grower before you run of the food rations. Once you reach this stage, the progress and the pace copies the main game. The transformation of the planet with the Terraformation stages is executed very well, the world looks and feels different, despite the newly introduced biomes don't really offer much novelty beyond looking pretty . As the glaciers melt away there is always a new area unlocked so it kept me busy and the exploration is always rewarding . The pacing here with the newly unlocked areas was perfect, the mid game felt very good and helped with the tedium of the build-more-generators-heaters-drills-generators.. circular routine. The new shortcuts on the map also helped a lot, so as the map expands you still can get around faster.
Another improvement is the extended life time of ores after a meteorite shower. Now you have plenty of time to hoover up everything . The rover may have some new things/expansions but that thing still remains hopelessly useless so I didn't use it at all. I've noticed that the generated wrecks on the portal worlds feel a bit different . The wrecks typically have so much money that it makes trading absolutely pointless. After visiting 3-4 wrecks you have enough money to virtually buy everything you may want so the endgame feels easier than in the original game. And on the wrecks you unlock a bunch of cosmetic items too, but I did't really bother building a believable 'living space'.
The new story is not that engaging although the core idea is quite good - two companies competing for the same planet. I liked the idea personally, it just needs more lore and events and story choices.

Bugs, bugs that a lot of people complained about: there might be a few but nothing critical . The only new bug I've experienced is that at a specific spot my Autocrafters become invisible, only the front display is rendered. But they kept functioning fine.
All-in-all, I can only recommend the DLC, if you liked the original you will like this too. Yes, this is a case of more-of-the-same but the minor changes and improvements are enough to keep it interesting. The map is indeed a bit smaller but feels complete and large enough. The beginning is tense, the mid game exploration is very satisfying, the endgame is okay. The whole play-through took me 3 weeks - without being a completionist. I recommend!
Kudos to Miju Games!