This one is just worse than the previous installment :(

The progress slows down a lot more than in the first game, the new content feels somewhat useless (f.e. pickaxes now have a bonus effect which is nice but you still immediately ditch them for a newer, better pick) and the progression through the different maps is not to my liking. as soon as a map is somehwat clearable for you, you already have the next one available where you feel weak again. I thought the point of these games was to make you feel stronger and stronger until youre extremely op at the end?

The xp upgrades also feel extremely insignificant. im sure not all of them are but i spent every mastery point on a bigger circle since that seemed the most fun to me but i was just increasing the alreasy meager base value buy 0.04 percent or so. Not fun
Also the first game had some xp upgrades that made you feel way stronger, f.e. always having all 4 potions active during every mining trip. Now potions are consumables you actively have to spend your resources on instead of buying upgrades and they increase in price, by a lot. And the also provide only marginal buffs that you also have to upgrade via increasingly high costs (using the resources which you would use to upgrade your pickaxes, with, again, marginal buffs)

everything is just a fraction of a percentage point increase. where are the upgrades that make me feel stronger? i know you accumulate strength with the amount of small buffs you get but you dont feel that strength at all, it feels like with ecery new map you stay at the same level you were before or are weaker.

i would give this a middeling thumb if that were an option but if i had to choose, i would just tell you to buy the first game and skip this one

lots of bottlenecks grinding for an absurd amount of one ore, the market is punishing early use, gets very boring midgame

First up - if you liked the first game, you gonna love this one.
It has more of everything - more ores, more pickaxes, more systems, more and higher numbers... more.

Pros:
- More ores cause a better progression through them
- The different worlds offer a bit of visual variety and especially in the early game aren't just simple reskins
- Pickaxes now have bonuses which makes them more interesting
- The skilltree seems improved, offering multiple paths so some nodes
- More visuals and effects which makes brain happy
- More gradual progression, never felt like a grind (except maybe that I was baffled by the amount of different Ores)

Cons:
- Towards the endgame the skilltree gets really stale, offering mostly just more rocks and ore modifier
- The idea to unlock the big last thingy to finish the game is cool, I preferred the Rock from the first game
- The mines seem just as useless as in the first game... little interaction, no fun, don't notice their impact
- Upgrading pickaxes has the problem that you sometimes have moments where you can't use your shiny new one right away since it has less stats than the previous one.

Overall a nice time waster especially for those super hot days where you don't really wanna do a whole lot anyways with insanely nice visual stimming included.