Okay, hear me out on this, buuuuut... this game kind of fucking kicks ass? As the many upgrades make the game itself more complex, so too does the lore surrounding your empire. In the beginning, you've just got some cursors, some grandmas, some farms, maybe a few mines. By the end game, you have genetic fucking clones of yourself making cookies. God damn floating giant brains in space who are so intelligent that they conjure cookies into existence with a thought. You go to parallel universes, steal their shit, and use it to make cookies. It's complete and utter madness. And yet, its not just a funny "hehe haha isn't this so whacky?" game. There is some genuine criticism of capitalism here. See, there isn't actually any reason to bake the cookies. Seriously. You bake cookies to get cookies to get upgrades that helps you make even more cookies faster. There is no outstanding goal outside of just more, more, more, more, more, more. You're filling a cup that will never be full. You want to see the number go higher and higher but there isn't really any point in it doing so. And yet... it feels so good. It just feels good to see that number go up. And since we get to sit back in our chairs and pull the strings of this ridiculous little cookie obsessed universe, we are completely disconnected from the consequences of our number going up. Unless, of course, you choose to pay attention. The news will often give flavor text that is relevant to your actions. This can range from "everyone loves your cookies!" to "a cookie mine collapsed and killed 17 people". Even an apocalyptic event where your grandmas become eldritch abominations is simply a new mechanic for earning cookies. Its kind of spooky at first, but then it just becomes another normal part of the gameplay loop. Again, when you are disconnected from the consequences of your actions due to your position of priviledge and power, you have no reason to care about people. I'm not sure what else to say, but I'm going to quote one bit of flavor text for one of the many, many, MANY upgrades in the game:

"You started this whole cookie venture on the simple kitchen counters of your own home. Your industrial and research facilities, sadly, have long since outgrown the confines of the little house, but you always knew it was still in there, buried somewhere. With a targeted portal, you could, conceivably, pay it a little visit for old times' sake..."