Played this for about an hour so far, and it's really solid at the moment. Very polished and a lot of content for an initial Early Access release
The basic premise is that you're a scavenger who pilots a mech into derelict space hulks. Things is, while these vessels may be abandoned, their security systems are still active, so you need to destroy the ship's cortex to de-power its defenses
However, the cortex has its own defenses: shields, alarm systems, turrets, repair systems, jammers, and more. To make your journey to the cortex safer and make your attack on it more manageable, you want to disable those defenses
This gives the gameplay a cool-freeform feel. You always start outside the space hulk and there are multiple entrances, so you can choose which systems you want to tackle first and from what entry point. But at the same time, you want to explore so you can gather tech upgrades
Some ships are even separated into multiple parts, for example a central ring with a inner segment in the center
So that's the risk vs reward element: do you only take out the most essential defenses and go straight for the core or do you risk destruction to explore more? You also need to watch your finances. If you run out of funds, your contract is terminated. So armoring up with a lot of health and a bunch of powerful weapons might be the ideal option, but it might not be cost effective.
Even in this initial EA version, there are a lot of weapons to equip. You have four weapon slots and two item slots, and weapons range from basic machineguns and shotguns to chemical mortars, shields, lasers, tractor beams, and ram spikes.
You can even dual- or quad- wield weapons, if you wanted to equip four machineguns and hold all four fire buttons down to unleash them simultaneously. Just watch your ammo because ships have limited health and resupply stations.
Enemies are varied too, from deadly turrets and micro-swarms to charging sawblades. Each defense system requires a different tactic to disable; for example, the shield generator has reflecting barriers that you want to avoid hitting
As far as future content, here's a list of what the devs plan to add:
-Persistent Unlock system: Gain access to new player-suit types that play differently, alternative suit paint-schemes, maybe some crazy weapons and items, all that fun stuff.
-Narrative elements: Who the heck are these skeleton aliens? Whats the deal with the creepy snake g-men? What are they doing with all this xenotechnology? Little nuggets of interesting narrative sprinkled throughout the game to spice things up.
-COOP Multiplayer: Pull a heist with a friend, nuff said.
-Arcade Mode: optional game mode more in line with a standard roguelike. Progress through levels, grab new weapons, ammo, and health as you go, just don't die!
-More Game Content: More weapons, items, enemies, systems, ship designs, just more cool stuff.
