This is a very a good game. It's like a fantasy macro-rimworld that morphs into SimCity, but where you design the buildings and customise them. Unparalleled scale considering the depth.

That being said, it also has its flaws. A lot of the mechanics and UI elements are unintuitive.

The battles are a big part of the marketing, but I had to do a web search to figure out how to control my troops (it's not simply select a group and place orders).

Trade was also confusing and difficult to manage (although I did figure it out eventually).

Maybe I am missing some concepts, but on my last run I got soft locked and I couldn't attract settlers leading to a death spiral. I think it was a combination of my city design (supply chains stopped being efficient?) and inter-race conflicts (that's a thing in this game) had a massive negative impact on attracting new settlers.

That being said, there are mods that simplify these elements (e.g. the racial harmony mod), but I wanted to play the game without mods that affect the baseline balance.

I might need to just try a modded run as I really enjoy the fantasy city-builder with extensive micro customisation experience that Songs of Styx offers.