Howdy Operators!
We received some great feedback from those who played the alpha, and overall we're really happy with the reaction so far! Our primary concern when sending it out was that the game might be too difficult for new players. The mission we selected occurs roughly half-way through, and while we knew it was risky, we also wanted the alpha to represent the tension we're trying to achieve throughout the game. A big part of that relies on players feeling fear, and for that to happen, they have to be worried about dying.
Almost surprisingly however, the majority of players enjoyed the difficulty level! That's not to say we've entirely succeeded. We have a lot more to do with the game's difficulty curve, AI and equipment to mitigate frustration: there are occasions where death feels unfair, as opposed to the result of a mistake. But it's encouraging that players enjoyed the challenge of achieving a successful mission!
The other reocurring piece of feedback was about replayability, particularly the idea that some randomness would increase interest in replaying missions. And we wholeheartedly agree! (Tension is lost if you know exactly who and where everyone will be!) We have a number of plans for making replaying missions fun, and randomness is definitely one of them.
We'll be keeping the alpha open until December 1st. Thanks to everyone who has played and submitted feedback so far. We look forward to sharing more with you as we work towards release!