The early delve into this game is not at all one that wants me to keep chipping away at it.
With other like minded games to launch recently (like Endzone - A World Apart) this one feels a tad bit lackluster.

It has custom difficulty options, but they come off as more annoying than any real challenge modifiers.
More raider frequency? Default is every 3 days or so, and even then it's a nuisance rather than a threat.
More environmental threats? Meteor showers are downright laughable as a post apocalyptic disaster; simply chunking away at random buildings with a prompt beforehand telling you that it hopes you have idle workers to clean it all up.

Keeping track of water and food feels like busy work, first play though I had no water source... yikes. Second play through I needed 8 fishing docks all clustered on a little pond with 3 farms and 2 hunting huts to even break even.

It has this awkward work zone deployment flag that you just keep moving around the map at various resources "to collect" instead of static hubs of gathering; which sounds cool, but is just a weird addition for a poor, artificial, difficulty system.

The exploration aspect of surrounding territory is Action Point based and rather lackluster as well. I wasn't all that concerned on using it to its full use; but there is some multilayered gameplay aspect that might appeal to other players.

I assume the only thing that actually excited me was the addition of using hero units to do practically anything around the camp; micromanaging anything I needed when I either didn't have people to cultivate resources, or build houses, or just decontaminate the wells. Was a pleasant addition that I think could be fully fleshed out as the game progresses on its roadmap.

I've been a hardcore Paradox fan, but maybe this particular subgenre of strategy isn't their forte.
Let alone being on Epic GS for the past year to only then launch to EA on Steam?
Who knows, it could blossom into something worth the effort.

I'll keep it in my library and revisit periodically, because I KNOW Paradox will do their best to work out the kinks.
But for right now I just can't wrap my attention around it.

Good lord this game is amazing.

Total breath of fresh air in the strategy genre as of late, and a perfect successor to the Commandos games I used to (awkwardly) play when I was a kid.

The Eastern Front is the perfect setting, and the partisan forces are a perfect medium for the scope of this game; the game is just smooth, absolutely enjoyable, and the tutorial practically tells you everything.

Resources are scarce (makes you not want to get into /prolonged/ firefights), camp building is progressive; actual camp management is simple and similar to 'This War of Mine' (resources) or 'Darkest Dungeon' (healing/quirks). The game adds the constant wish that you had more people to take care of other tasks (food gathering, scouting/side missions, etc.)

Some missions induce head scratching; I sometimes want to begrudgingly open a guide for the next piece, but the satisfaction of figuring the puzzle out myself is just one of the many positives of this game.

If you are a fan of: strategy (weighted on stealth), team/base management, stressing out about ammo almost all of the time, or just want to make the Germans bleed - this game is definitely for you.

Honestly, the best game I have purchased as of 2020.