I really liked the priorities this game had. The endless mode (and to an extent the basic gameplay) wasn't the strongest by city-builder standards, but the four or five "story" scenarios the game presented were all really unique and had their own twists and turns. Not incredibly replayable, but was super memorable.
I hope the sequel understands how good this tradeoff was and doesn't try to become someone's forever game.
It went 30 USD in March 2018. It went 35 USD in January 2023. FOMO really hardly seems like an issue, especially if you compare it to the usual time-limited event sales.