Finally got Spore to work on my PC, and it only took like three years. I am quite comfortable in now passing judgement: this game is definitely underwhelming for what it claims to be. There wasn’t really any doubt about that, but there we go.
Making abominations of nature is fun, though.
dont forget to add the DLCs. and there's some coold mods still standing (albeit they can only do so much to improve the experience). there's also several sites and artists that make cool content. not sure how many blogs are still living but yeah, there was a time where you could download cool creatures and props to replace those vanilla organisms. i personally recommend playing around with a concept for the race and try to theme the buildings and vehicles on that. i had some cool empires going on my other PC. SPORE had something going on despite having lost so much potential in its development but it can be a good passtimer.
hopefully Thrive will get there eventually, Microbe stage seems to be getting better and better as time goes on, the first part of multicellular shouldnt be too far in the future.
as for me, im currently playing Underrail when not working on EVE. character build is mostly focused on being stealthy with good communication skills but having thermokinesis(or whatever is called) as backup. visiting Junkyard at the moment but still havent done the old junkyard mission, need to improve skills first before delving there.
EDIT:
naaa fuck that, i decided to start again with a different build. stealth oriented but no psionics, just good ol pistols (with versatility feat in case i need to run into melee). currently running the GMS compound mission.