I haven't played this game nearly enough to be able to give a substantial review on it, but it is an interesting idea that I'd like to give feedback on as somebody well-experienced with roguelites, auto-battlers, etc. I won't go too in-depth on the things that bugged me, but my initial impressions are that this game is neat despite some shortcomings that ultimately made me decide to revisit it at a later time.
TL;DR- Supernova Tactics strikes me as a decent game with a high degree of potential that you ultimately need to possess patience to enjoy. It is a slow and steady grind that gives you the sense of slowly drifting through zero gravity towards... something that could be really fun (and I mean that in the nicest way possible). The UI, tutorial, and gameplay loop could use some work to make things more interesting and intuitive, but ultimately it's got the core elements that people look for in an auto-battler. The units are cool, the potential for varied experiences is there, and the overall challenge provided is enough that you'll be grinding for a bit if you actually care to. I'd recommend checking it out and seeing if it's something that works for you, and staying up to date with it's progress if it doesn't quite tickle your fancy.
1. I'll start with the positives: This games looks really damn cool. The units, traits, and potential for varied runs are all here with a degree of style that immediately caught my eye. I was excited to try every new unit, trait, or modifier that I saw regardless of rarity and I think that's a good sign. I genuinely want this game to thrive and grow, and I'll be watching it's development with hopeful anticipation.
2. The tutorial and UI are a bit clunky and uninformative. Even though this is an auto battler with pretty simple mechanics, there is enough variation to the formula that there are some crucial things that you won't know exist until you either survive long enough for them to become relevant or take it upon yourself to press every button on your keyboard in-between rounds to discover that they exist. You will die a few times before these basics are introduced to you, despite the fact that the tutorial will continue to impact your runs well beyond its initial occurrence. My unwelcome suggestion would be tweaks to the tutorial and UI or the implementation of a "Codex" or guide of sorts that provides all the information you'll need in a single space. If the latter option is implemented, revamp the tutorial to be a one-time thing that gives all the basic information up front and open up the experience to truly lean into starting every run differently.
2. From my brief experience the game's depth appears to be rooted in percentages in addition to being relatively slow and.. a tad shallow. Outside of your upgrades and enhancements that you can permanently unlock between runs (a couple +0.5% stat increases here and 1% probability increases there), the most interesting game mechanics come from your units, spells, and the infrequent modifiers that you select such as buffing the enemy with a passive, buffing your team with a passive, etc. Your win condition is promoting (but not necessarily buying/developing) random units that are decided at the beginning of each run to tier 3, but obviously there is no guarantee you will roll these units which is why I assume that your upgrades/enhancements are designed to make this process more enjoyable. Overall the gameplay loop presents itself as this rigid and repetitive march which ultimately turned me off, and I almost want to encourage the developer to cut loose and get a little crazy with the options available to spice up my progression. My only actual, unwelcome suggestion here without overhauling the entire foundation of the game would be introducing large-scale mutations, unlocks, or different objectives that impact the entirety of your runs- three things that are common post-release introductions for roguelite games so no real worries there.
Overall I wish y'all the best with this game and I appreciate all of the time and effort you have put in to providing this experience for us. I think there are some really dope aspects here and I am excited to see whether or not they get expanded upon as this game ages.
