I know all the hype of this game because of the Devs came from the same studio that make L4D... As a beta player, and now able to play the game in full version, i would mostly say, the hype are mostly from the how L4D was played, and i get it... it's like different in some way...

But i would honestly say, this game, has a more rich Game Mechanics, Gun attachments, Deck build that gives you passive upgrade, and different characters that has each of their own unique stats, abilities and passive buff.... some Decks and/or Characters, has benefits to the team rather than personal benefits... oh and there's many kinds of item, and legendary items made the item mechanics (including guns) feels more fun to enjoy..

Probably only lacking mod support, if we were comparing to L4D, although i haven't look deep into it.

Multiplayer wise, i mostly play the co-op mission, and up until now, it's still fun even if i'm in (during the writing of this review) my 34 hours of gameplay, the deck grind isn't exactly that painful, and like one act can net you quite a lot of point to unlock bunch of stuff. AND, each gameplay session can have quite different experiences knowing there's a lot of character to play, guns to have (attachments to use), items options also.

the one thing i gotta give huge respect, is (as a beta player) the game feels more smooth compared to back when i played Beta... back then it was quite choppy, and quite resource heavy. I can feel the optimization done very well (kudos to the dev)!!

Last note, as much as i love to see more content of this game, i know i got the game at like 90% discount, and i can't expect much from both the Devs and the Publishers, i would like to say keep up the great work!! and (if everyone notices the recent news of 'not killing games') i hope the devs can innovate a way to keep the game stay alive, regardless if the devs still supports the game or finished with the work on the game...

This game, is a nice balance of relax, and 'use your brain' kind of game... i don't follow much about SteamWorld series, but this game, been ticking all the boxes about nice and simple City Builder/Management game..

also that underground gameplay, feels phenomenal.. a nice balance of "wanting to dig everything" and "gotta careful not to dig too much else the cave-in happened" while trying to make everything as symmetrical as possible (yeah... i'm that kind of guy...)

up to this point, haven't tried hard difficulty, and overall, great chill game for those who want to relax while still having your mind going...

The game is simple. Dungeon Delve and finish the map....
simple little game not much stress, and for such simple game there's more than one way to play it!!

Good for relaxing or time killing *thumbs_up

Some thoughts though... map could have more variety to make it more interesting and probably more class for more ways to play the game

The game is still on early access so i have low expectations but i'm looking forward for all the improvements and stuff to be added....

At first i didn't expect the game concept to be this good, the origin story to the game makes it better on why the game storyline happened. and then the point of view given as "we humans are the small creature and is living behind a huge creature back" makes me think whether i want to be Mutual, 'just chill' or a Parasite to a giant creature (Onbu), i was surprised by the concept really.

For now, the game feels very nice to play when you need some time off from the day, and is easily enjoyable.
The game speed option helps to either shorten the long waiting time for progress or slow down to better manage stuff.
UI can be bit confusing, but more time given can be easily understand but i read the roadmap, i guess it'll be improved sooner or later.
The "More interaction with onbu" is what i'll mostly look forward to because currently you have more option to become a 'Parasite' in contrast to 'Mutual'.

The management sometime you actually have to think in order to get better output but then... you can also play adaptive and manage stuff when things happened in the world.

For now i can only recommend this game and not give my personal rating about it yet, i do give my rating when it is fully released.