I was literally just about to come here and start this thread myself, since I played it yesterday for 6 hours straight. Of course Aurora fans would find this too.
It had been on my wishlist for a year or so, but the devs who aimed at a 2Q2022 release moved it back last week and gave this demo instead.
I only got through the first 3 of the 7 years allowed in the demo, and didn't get to see any ship battle or even ship construction. From the things I did see however, I was very impressed. It very much resembles Solar War in that you get funding from the nations you please/convince/take over and that there are some slowly inward moving regular Alien threat attacks that move between the planetary orbits and you can track falling towards the inner system, eventually building some new bases closer and closer too. Of course this is a much more fleshed out version, with some X-Com vibes to the UFOs (actually identified though) landing and terrorizing and [!spoilers!], and then perhaps also Crusader Kings or Europa Universalis principles applied, which vastly expand on the nation game.
Just to explain by example, in my game I went to quickly take over Russia, since they seem to be the easiest nation to control who already has a space program. Then I moved from there through Scandinavia, turning public sentiment in Finland and Sweden around so that they would follow (great science countries), and eventually crackdown on an enemy cabal out of Norway too, but later.
Then managed to find my way into Germany through sheer luck, and from there got standing to also purge opposition in France. With these extremely scientific countries under my belt, and access to rocket lifting right at the start, I turned into a science leader and managed to have the first new space station, then permanent moon base, as well as the first Mars outpost.
The best thing however, once you control nations enough: You can set some public policies. So one thing I did was end the Ukraine war, because I had Russia (lol. too late though, because I already had to pay reparations for atrocities), but the very best thing was that once I had control over France and Germany together, I could move them to unify and officially found the European Union as a country. That was a moment of awe for sure.
My main character to do all this was a lucky roll from the start with 8 high espionage + defensive stealth traits and security despite being a diplomat, and also all other stats around 4-6. I renamed him the "Man in Black", since his portrait and skills fit (he was never found out, operating and advising from the shadows). He came to first lead some Russian intelligence service, then much later also FBI and NSA once I finally managed to get standing in the US by brute force media propaganda (kind of what the last 6 years were), making him an all-stat, all-mission-types monster that played grabby Kraken with the world.
Funny fact: The first of the two operatives you start with will always be of your home country, so I always got a German scientist or diplomat.
On another note, I really love what they did with the science progression, and the space game. You really feel like humanity still does its first humble steps out there, in no where near what the alien threat fields. Your first station is basically just another ISS tech level floating box with some solar panels and the labs perhaps specialized to really further space research or alien defense (but only by surveillance). The moon and mars bases are not much more, and it will take long before you can even mine there on site, so your first outposts are basically just "this seat is taken" markers to secure the best landing sites for much later exploitation. (btw. you don't have to do the Moon and Mars base thing, but it just seemed like good RP, and the moon also gives a tiny reward if you are the first there)
(Here one official picture with all the landing sites on just one moon:)Despite all this humble tech, it takes really long to do, and you will also need to wait for launch windows to get your probes and modules out there. The whole atmosphere is humanity slowly inching its way to using the solar system, one tiny technology improvement at a time. I absolutely love this, because I am one of those, that always plays Civ in Marathon mode to spice out all the eras.
I have removed the game for now, because there is no savegame in the demo, and this is as far as I could go without sacrificing my laptop to the angry sun god that pushed a heatwave at this time. As far as I can see, this is already the best game of 2022 for me, even without improving any further. Of course, they still plan to make it better, so I will watch their career with great interest.
(also perhaps check out the studios other planned Sci-Fi game "Falling Frontier". More on the tactical combat side, but looks really good and atmospheric - especially in matters of sound design. Damp hollow hull bumps, crackling radio transmissions, and basically loud silence of the void. These people have vision.)