Reposting something I put up on another forum I'm on, mostly so that this gets marked as one of my threads
I ended up spending basically the entire weekend playing the new version, so I thought I'd post my impressions:
I'm liking the new interface! Much more friendly, and I like how much information you can quickly get by turning on/off various filters (such as being able to easily see what's nuking a room's beauty score - who knew that a giant mechanoid corpse would be such an eyesore?)
The new 'fun' mechanic is a good addition. It still needs to be expanded upon, but it feels much more realistic to see your colonists sitting around the commons, or praying/meditating in their rooms, or just laying back and watching the clouds. (I also have a colonist that loves making snowmen - I have a small army of them surrounding my tundra base which is frozen 10 months of the year.) It's also fun watching them crack open a beer to get some relief from whatever's causing them stress.
Pets/Taming are great. Having some dogs helping with hauling items around really takes the pressure off my (always too few, always overworked) colonists, and keeping chickens around provides eggs for cooking.
Some new events, the most interesting that I've seen so far is the "a herd of animals has gone nuts, and is out for blood!" Twice I got boars, which, with a good firing line and high caliber rifles, ended up feeding me for months. Another time I got boomalopes (a new critter that's basically a giant boomrat) - So much fire! So many explosions! (*breaks down crying*)