Just finished the game, so here are my thoughts (may contain spoilers)

[NeonRenegade]

I played this game in the alpha, beta, and pre-ordered since I enjoyed what I was able to in the play tests finished the game solo but played with a friend in the play test so I cant speak much for coop gameplay

I should also mention I tried to mess around with all of the bullet types and guns but didn't get much into the support tree since I was solo and have been burned from relying on AI to help me in other games

First off I may have missed an announcement but I found it odd the game was reduced from 4 player coop and shows 4 wizards in a lot of the art yet is only 2 player now with 4 branches of magic, Im not sure if that will be re-added in the future but that seems like mistake especially considering there doesn't seem to be a good reason lore or game play wise to change

I know at the end of the game there is a message from the devs saying there will be updates but as of release I finished everything in 16ish hours and paid $25 for the game and I personally like to put an hour per dollar I spend on games otherwise I consider it too expensive, so finishing the game so early with all I could do left is decorate leaves me with no reason to load my world again until said update

The guns themselves dont have enough varied functions to encourage using more than 2 types depending on what you use the most, I barely used the wanderbuss or machinewand since the later in the game you get the more you need to keep your distance do to enemies rushing you or carpet bombing the screen

When it came to the main gimmick of the game of building your guns and ammo I do enjoy the synergies you can work with I just wished there were more to work with since there was nothing to combine with poison really besides maybe stun but you had option for stun as a powder upgrade anyway. I was hoping for something alone the lines of poisonous breath being flammable or causes vulnerability to cold but it seemed useless to multi-class or with 2 people use more than 1 element

Consumables in this game are pretty easy to work with and not a pain to farm luckly for simple potions or speed boost, but those are the only potions I ever used since the only other consumables even available were for preventing heat or cold which could be avoided by standing on the correct ground for 3 sec, and there were 2 items to reduce chaos insted of having to destroy the chaos portals but they cost arcana and either a chaos eye or tendril which I was constantly trying to get more to upgrade spells and when I made the low tier it was 50 sec extra so they dont seem worth making ever, maybe reducing the chaos damage you take or removing it from around you as well would make them better. I would also like to see buff potions for more than speed in the future

Enchanting your armor was poorly done, there are obvious picks that even have achievements for taking since you will obviously take them and no variation for the backpack and no options for the mask makes it a chore than anything, but you can do a lot of customization so that is nice at least

I do really enjoy combat and bosses in this game since you can actually stun bosses and they don't have max armor so its less about leveling your bullets to max before the boss rather you just need to have enough ammo and skill. My only complain being the barren sea was just annoying to try and traverse with dozens of little crabs coming at you and the mechana there being able to shoot you without you seeing them until you notice they are marked on the map

I might have missed something and sorry if any of this is not written the best, but overall despite me sounding like I hated the game it was really enjoyable and fun and I would recommend it, hopefully the update comes out soon and addresses some of these issues I see others were having aswell

[MechWarden]

I'm a little surprised that you did all that testing but still didn't know why the game had to be shipped as 2 player. Long story short, a few months before launch they found out that the balancing and technical issues wouldn't get fix in time for launch and made a quick and small announcement about the change. Not a lot of people picked up on this, which caused many to find out weeks or months later when poking around and asking questions. The devs do intend to make it 4 player as soon as possible.

As for the time it takes to beat, I can say it can vary a lot spending on play style. 20-30 hours I think was what the devs estimated after the Close Beta surgeys, with dedicated speedruners taking way less time to complete. Still, I can see the game being a bit pricey for what you get currently, but with the promise of more content and QoL stuff that value could improve.

And yeah, focusing on the problems will always make a thing sound like the writer hates something. Many of the brought up issues have have a fair point to them. But I will say that for the devs' first complex game, they did pretty well. The game is not perfect by any means, but it is not a rushed burning mess we typically see in AAA titles.

If you want a more direct line of feedback to the devs, I'd recommend joining their official Discord server (as listed in the pinned thread) since they seem to be more active there than here.