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I don't know exaclty what it said but it was somtehing like: 400% more x. That seemed a bit high and I had the experience, that i thought it gets really tough, then came the update and after that it was way less difficult. Sorry for not being more specific

Funny idea, and the hats are really charming. Getting one and losing it right away made me laugh.

I ran into something similar to what dporto described. I did see the control hints at the bottom, but I still often didn’t know what I was supposed to do next. Reading what the inputs are isn’t quite the same as understanding how the mechanics work together on the board.

Since you asked what could help: a short interactive tutorial in the first levels might do a lot. For example, the game could highlight one tile and ask you to rotate it, then highlight two neighbours and ask you to swap them, and only continue once you’ve done it. The same could happen whenever a new mechanic appears later, like the magnets. Once you’ve done each action yourself, the hint text at the bottom would probably make a lot more sense.

The puzzles themselves feel fresh, and once things clicked I enjoyed them. With a gentler start I think more players would stick around long enough to get to that point.

Fun game! I only played single-player, so I couldn’t try the co-op, but I think that’s where it could really shine. The simple controls and auto-firing weapons seem perfect for a chaotic session with friends, where nobody needs long to get into it.

Even solo it was fun. I played the melee start on Easy, and my main feedback is about the pacing of the progression. For quite a while it felt like I wasn’t getting stronger, and then suddenly I got a very big jump in power all at once. Spreading that out into smaller steps could make the early part of a run feel more rewarding and the power curve smoother. I only tested one weapon type on one difficulty though, so it might feel different with the other starts.

Looking forward to trying the multiplayer at some point!

Incredibly cool atmosphere. The gothic banquet setting, the graphics and the UI fit together really well, and the whole thing feels tense even though nothing is ever rushed. Serving a tray and trying to guess whether your rival saw through you is a very unusual idea, and it works.

The animations were great almost all the time. Once or twice the arms looked a bit clunky, and every now and then the game stuttered for a moment. That might be the browser rather than the game itself. I played in Chrome 156 on a MacBook Pro with an Apple M5 and 16 GB RAM (macOS 26.3).

With a bit more polish on performance and those few animations, this could be a really great game. I’m curious how the full version turns out!

Really nice pixel art, and Wally is a charming guide. I liked that he explains the stations as you go instead of hitting you with a wall of text at the start. The concept is fun, and after the first failed launch I immediately wanted to try again and see how far the next rocket would get.

The minigames are enjoyable. My only worry is long-term: after many runs, mining, casting and tempering could start to feel like something you have to get through before the next launch rather than something you look forward to. They never got annoying for me, but some variation over time could help, like new challenges or shortcuts once you’ve mastered a station.

I’d also take a look at the balancing. At one point I just threw some random metals together without thinking and still got surprisingly far. That’s great as a reward early on, because it gives you a quick win and makes you want to keep playing. Later, though, it should only rarely work, so that experimenting with formulas and tempering actually pays off.

Overall I had a great time with it and I’m curious where it goes from here. Good luck, Wally!

I played AURE and I agree with some of the points already mentioned here.

I played two fights, one in manual mode and one in automatic.

The core idea is good and feels fresh. I haven’t seen a gladiator game where you’re the one watching and supporting instead of fighting yourself. What I liked most were the character animations. They’re slow but impactfull, and so every hit has real feel to it. Showing attacks and blocks as slot machine reels also works really well and fits the theme.

The biggest issue for me was the UX at the start, before the first fight. As Nadatarama mentioned, you read on the left and click on the right. At first I didn’t even notice that I was supposed to read the text on the left. On my laptop I also had to scroll down to see the whole page. These are small things, but they shape the first impression a lot.

The tutorial would work better if it guided you step by step through actual gameplay. Right now you click through pages of text and have to click again to get all the information, and by the time the fight starts most of it is forgotten.

Overall I think the core idea is strong, but it still needs a lot of polishing, mostly on UX and onboarding. I’d be happy to try it again once that’s tighter. Good luck with the development!

Wow, thank you so much! Reading this really made my day. You took the time to play the whole campaign, and on top of that you started without knowing what a trick was. That's the best thing I could hope for from a playtest.

It also makes me really happy that the characters came across so well. I spent a lot of evenings on their little reactions, so knowing they made it feel like a real table with real people means a lot to me.

And you're absolutely right about the music. That's a great idea, and I'm going to add some quiet background music to the table. If you do come back for an online round, I'd love to hear how it plays with real people.

Thanks again, this was really motivating!

I played the tutorial and a bit beyond, on Easy.

First of all, the visuals are really nice and the effects are awesome. It's a fun idea. It isn't the easiest game to learn, but once you get into it, there's plenty of depth to explore.

Possible bug: I clicked the steal booster, then selected one of my opponent's cards, but nothing was stolen: the card stayed with the opponent and the booster was still there . Maybe I misunderstood how it works, but there was no message telling me what went wrong. (Played in Chrome on macOS.)

On Easy, the forecast helped me a lot to understand the game. I'd keep it there, but leave it out of the harder modes. With it, you mostly just hover each card in your hand and pick whichever tile shows the most points, which takes the thinking out of it.

Overall a really good-looking game with a nice idea. Good luck with it!