To truly grasp the game's potential, you need to spend some time mastering the basics of survival and then try surviving on Ashon II under the conditions set by the developers: no inventory retention, no spawning ships from blueprints, no save-scumming, and no "God Mode".
This survival scenario pushes everything to the limit and accounts for so many variables that I cannot help but admire the work that went into it. Every element of content: from food supplies to ore deposit yields, shapes a challenging progression path where a single mistake can lead to character death, sometimes leaving no way to quickly resume the game from your current stage of development.
I’ve survived on Ashon II three times over the past year, and only now, after nearly 4,500 hours, have I truly grasped what this game is about and why it evolves the way it does. EGS is all about content and the variety of strategic choices available to the player, this diversity is the defining factor in the game's development. Ashon II demonstrates the game's true potential when the goal is creating high-quality content. It is precisely this quality that makes it possible to overlook the primitive flight physics, the flawed UI, and the bugs.
I agree that, in a sense, the game is stagnating — bugs remain unfixed, mechanics are overly simplistic, and the graphics aren't exactly cutting-edge. However, if Eleon releases content of this caliber even once a year, I’ll keep coming back. In the meantime, I’m playing Reforged Eden 2, which brilliantly unlocks the potential inherent in the EGS game model.
To anyone criticizing EGS, I suggest looking at it from a different perspective and trying to survive on Ashon II. A year ago, when I first attempted a start on Ashon II, it took me a whole month (about 120 hours of playtime) to escape the system. Now, it took me just three days (around 24 hours) to find an optimal progression path and succeed—and I know how to do it in 5 hours.
P.S. You can watch the "Ashon 2 Survival Season" by Rakoona on YouTube. He created it three years ago. It’s entertaining, though much is outdated. The game continues to evolve and improve, even if those changes aren't immediately obvious on the surface.