Early on, Echoes of the Moon was lovely to look at and a little too safe to hold you. The fix was a seven-phase overhaul: difficulty modes, disasters with real consequences, exclusive tech doctrines you have to commit to, a tightened economy, and a twelve-fragment signal arc with a true ending.
Stakes are on by default now — the Colony mode is the intended experience — and cozy is something you opt into, not the only setting. And when you open the Gateway, the story does not just stop. There is a second act, The Waking, for players who are not done.
It is the difference between a pretty toy and a game you finish and then start again.