Some very early impressions that I also posted on the iron tower forums. Now as Vince said, there's some things missing, like animations and sounds, and it does feel noticeable, so I included it anyway, but whatevs
Performance:
The demo runs quite good on my rig, no technical issues really at all from playing, though I feel that the demo is gonna be somewhat taxing on lower systems. I'm running a gfx ti 1070ti, i7 4970k and 8gb ram, 1440p resolution everything maxed, not exactly a potatoe shit rig, but not top of the line either.
I do expect optimizations down the line.
Bugs: 1 bug encountered: Sometimes during combat, the sound of gunfire will cut out from 1 enemy firing, but its on again when the next enemy fires.
Graphics and UI:
The game looks great already simply put, graphics are very crisp, especially the lighting and the shadows stand out and give a good grimdark feel.
I like the UI alot, it's very simplistic, yet informative and fitting. Obviously it could do with some added stuff, like black borders maybe not soo great on everything. It makes for a too stark contrast in terms of the fluidity of the UI and the overall presentation.
The chargen screen has gotten a very nice facelift, and it feels pretty good. It got a great overview of all the stats now and your character. and it does well of explaning how things supplement eachother and what not.
As is apparant from the screenshots, the artstyle, the art of the items and such is simply breathtaking beautiful.
I like the barter screen, very simplistic and sleak. Some suggestions though, would include things like a proper item sorting filter, and a tally of your money when buying multiple copies of things, so you don't have to guess how much money you need for like ammo and such.
Very nitpicky stuff, but QoL going forward.
Animations and sounds:
The shooting animations and walking/running animations looks a little stiff, still, but passable. Vince explained that these will be touched up, so no worries.
The sound design feels a bit weak and lackluster at this point, but as I said, I'm sure it's super placeholder, it's mostly the gun sounds and stuff, so that's to be expected.
Also, adding UI sounds, clicking and such, would add alot of atmosphere.
Music:
The intro music sounds great and the track that plays within the game, very gloomy and desolate, I love it. Music is really what breathes life into a game!
Combat:
The actual combat itself feels pretty good. The information presented to the player I feel makes sense and feels natural. I got the hang of things pretty fast, as it feels very familiar to other games, especially stuff like xcom or even the old fallout, of course.
The skills and feats seems useable and fits nicely into most combat situations, as I have tried most builds by now.
I had no trouble figuring out my stats in terms of thc and other stuff. I like that you can expand for more info, but keep things simple simple simple. Simplicity is key, with underlying complexity to the player.
Overall, the combat feels very similar to AoD, yet more polished and improved in a lot of great ways, so AoD players should feel right at home.
The cover system is also well-known in many titles by now, and as such, I got no quarrals with it, it works, and its a nice addition to tactical combat.
I like the turn order UI and mechanic, very easy to understand.
The only thing I'm not too sold on yet, is the combat log to the right. I don't know but it feels off in terms of colours, font or something else. Let me sleep on it.
A combat speed slider is also a must during combat, so that would be a suggestion too, going forward.
I also died in the first fight btw, but quickly took revenge and made my way to waht I think was the last fight, p. hard even with maxed gear