Started playing on Xbox when Next released, moved to the Switch version when that dropped. I probably have about 400 hours across both consoles.
I still get excited when a new update or expedition drops. Usually I'll end up putting in another 10-20 hours with every update, playing through the new content and exploring a few more star systems on my main save.
It's just nice to have a chill game to wonder around in, that's not forcing me to keep logging in every day to grind out missions. Even in expeditions there's usually loads of time to complete everything at a relaxed pace.
They've recently added far more difficult enemies. Combat could still use some work, but groups like the Galactic Hub (my civilization) host PVP competitions. Fighting another player is way harder than fighting a Sentinel.
Give it a go on sale. It's one of the very few studios that went above and beyond to actually fix a PR fuck-up (and it was mainly that). Compare that to most studios with far more resources and reputation just throwing shit at the wall like Anthem and whatnot..
I preordered on Steam, and I actually enjoyed it even way back then. Never really got into the hype, so I guess I was never too disappointed with the launch. It's still a game I go back to just to chill. I highly recommend playing in VR if you have a headset.
I bought the pre release just a some days before the Steam release and played since, even if sometime I had paused for some months.
And I bought it again on GoG, mainly because it not force you to be always updated to play, so every new release I let the steam players to be the beta tester 😁