I just played 10 hours or so of Before We Leave. If I had to sum up what the game’s biggest challenge is, it would be “I need to dedicate a lot of space to roads, so try to make good use of the remaining space.” Every building needs to be connected to a road, and since the game is hex-based Civ- style with roads taking up a complete hex, a lot of space is taken up by roads.
Early on it doesn’t matter too much, but once I needed different types of buildings it could be a little bit of a pain to lay things out efficiently. It is OK to tear things out and reorganize though. Eventually the colony needs things it can’t get on it’s initial landmass so it becomes time to build a boat and look for other land. Eventually, other planets can be colonized - shipping goods between land masses and between planets.
For the most part the game is pretty forgiving. Peeps just work more slowly if they get unhappy. Research discovers new things to build, which may improve production or give new ways to pacify the peeps. Eventually there is an ‘enemy’ that needs to be dealt with, but it doesn’t require building troops and there isn’t any combat. I neglected keeping my first planet up to date with new discoveries, so I wasn’t prepared, even though I knew what to do. The enemies last pass destroyed a bunch of my stuff and I figured that was a good place to call it quits. If I play again, hopefully I remember my fate and better prepare.
Overall it’s not a bad game. It’s always fun to ship goods here and there. I got it for $5 on Epic so I’d day I got my value out of it even if I never return. If I ever ‘win’, it doesn’t seem like there is much replay value after that.