I wish there was a "it depends" on the recommendation. It's not that I don't recommend it necessarily, more that I wanted to add a buyer's beware I wish I had seen better explained.
First on the positive. The game is amazingly well done, very polished, cute graphics and interesting mechanics. The storm aspect adds a layer of awareness that keeps getting progressively worse the longer it takes you to clear a settlement. There's definitely a lot of management involved from resources, to people, to glade discovery (which is a fantastic mechanic) to spacial awareness. In that I highly recommend it.
The negatives and what I wish I had realized before buying the game: It's repetitive. You're constantly starting over a new settlement. While I usually adore starting a city with my multiple Anno games that never reach end game as a witness, there's something about the middle game for me that is a sweet spot. I think the game doesn't quite allow you to get there with the impatience mechanic. I would have minded less the constant starting over if I could actually reach a point where I could significantly cater to the needs of the population, but just as I am starting to set that up and get some of the needed recipes for it, the settlement ends. Yes you can technically continue it, but what's the point? I also dislike you can't refuse settlers, particularly since you rely on the favor to unlock buildings.
Perhaps if unlocked buildings kept from one city to another, but reset with the cycle end and the more cities you built during a cycle, the slower impatience will grow, it would create a better sense of progression. As is, it's basically a "how can you optimize your start" simulator, which gets boring after a few games.
Disclosure: I did not read the full tech tree to see if there's upgrades to improve it, but considering how slow it is to get the currency, there's a risk of boredom before maybe goodies would improve it. I can still see myself playing the game from time to time but its a pass on the addiction for me. Worth it for the 70% off, would not pay full price for it. I also did not check if the DLCs fix some of the issues I had with the game.
TL;DR. It has a repetitive kinda boring gaming loop that either will have you addicted (based on the overwhelming positive response) or just... not engaged at all after a few settlements, which was my case. Worth the discounted price, but not the full ride honestly.
