Strengths:
- I think your concept is interesting, with a proposed mechanic that's simple but still feels engaging and interesting. I agree that it sounds like it'd be replayable, and I like that inaction would still count as action in terms of progressing events.
- Your chosen art style is full of character and I think would draw a lot of players in. The choice of 2/2.5D makes sense given the scope of the project.
- I think you've considered the theme well, especially the reflection that many things sold as solutions have large costs and actually most benefit the companies doing the most harm (EVs, as you said, but many energy solutions follow the same logic and cause great harm to local communities. Our entry last year focused on the hidden damage of wind farms, for example).
- I think your timeline is well thought out. Having that design document and a vertical slice for the prototype submission would make the most out of this early opportunity for feedback before the design stage, and also make it clearer if your scope is achievable.
Things to think about:
- I think the big question for your team will be which things to include in the first disaster chain, since there is a risk that there'll be only one, possibly two, implemented by the end. Brainstorming which set of dominos you'll be lining up, and what takeaways you want the player to have from each one falling with, without, or despite their intervention will therefore be really important. This brainstorming will, I assume, be a key part of putting your design document together, and will hopefully benefit from the wider reading you've done during ideation. Since much of your storytelling is done through NPC interactions, it might be worth thinking about the sociological impacts of climate change as well as the ecological (something you're already starting to do by looking at misinformation, particularly if you want to make any statements about who benefits from it); for example, climate destructions causes refugees that are then targeted by anti-immigration rhetoric, police crackdowns target environmentalist protesters, and companies pay for adverts to spread greenwashing rhetoric.