Hi! I’m trying to understand where players lose interest during their first session.
It’s a five-minute, top-down PvPvE battle royale. The combat is inspired by Vampire Survivors, with automatic attacks and weapon upgrades during each match. Bots fill empty slots, so it can be played solo.
Players seem to be dropping off at every stage: before the first match, during it, and before completing a second one.
If you try the game, please play as you normally would. If you lose interest, don’t force yourself to continue just for the test—knowing when you wanted to stop and why would be especially helpful.
I’d especially like to know:
Was it clear what to do and how to start your first match?
If you wanted to leave during a match, what made you feel that way?
After finishing your first match, did you want to play another? Why or why not?
You don’t need to answer every question. Even a few sentences would help.
If possible, please also mention your platform and input method—for example, PC with keyboard and mouse, mobile with touch controls, or a gamepad.
Honest feedback is welcome. Thanks for taking a look!
How to start the match was pretty clear, wasn’t a huge fan of the 15s wait on solo matchmaking though.
The match itself was pretty unsatisfying. Large lag spikes on level up, not super clear how to use the active ability, dying was relatively low consequence and I never felt the need to avoid it. Ability upgrades were hit and miss, didn’t notice huge improvements from any of them tbh. And the match format is a bit strange with the PvE setting, was a bit confusing at first. Also a massive QoL improvement would be a small magnet radius that pulls exp nodes towards the player by default, picking them up as is is annoying.
Did not really want to play another after. I didn’t hate the game or anything but bullet hell games have to play really smooth to be engaging and the gameplay felt kind of choppy.
Thanks, this is really helpful. Two quick clarifications, if you don’t mind:
Was the choppy feeling mostly caused by the level-up spikes, or did movement and combat also feel uneven throughout the match?
When you said the match format felt strange with the PvE setting, what specifically felt confusing—the overall objective, how the PvE and PvP elements fit together, or the win condition?
Level-up spikes were a bit jarring but I was able to get over them. I was speaking more to the actual gameplay feeling than the performance. When I think of bullet hell games like Vampire Survivors, the game flows really nicely, but in your game I didn’t feel that constant progression or pressure I think? Not quite sure as I did play only 1 round. Choppy may have been the wrong word, maybe like disjoint? certain gameplay elements just didn’t fit together as nicely as you would want I think, like the dash or the exp pickup. Also sometimes I was taking damage when it felt like maybe I shouldn’t be? Wouldn’t worry too much about that though because that’s basically the MO of bullet hell games tbh.
With regards to the setting: Basically all 3 things you listed still have me a little confused. At first I thought it might have been co-op, but then realised the bots were damaging me. Win condition still sort of confuses me, and I’m also not clear on how winning benefits you beyond the win (didn’t look at the shop in the lobby, so maybe that would change things.)
Thanks for taking the time to explain all of that—it gives me a much clearer picture of what felt off about the overall experience.
One thing I clearly need to communicate better is the reward loop. After each battle, players earn Coins and Cores regardless of their placement, with higher placements awarding more. Coins are used to buy weapons and chips, while Cores are used to upgrade them. If that didn’t come across after one round, then I need to make the benefit of placing higher and the purpose of those rewards much more obvious.
The rest of your feedback—especially about the overall flow, the sense of progression and pressure, and how the different mechanics fit together—was just as useful.
Thanks again for taking the time to give such detailed feedback!