I have mostly liked this game, but I have a few criticisms to do with the gameplay.The story is neat, and I like the characters, but the gameplay mixes visual novel elements with survival and a grind-based economy.
So I feel like I could like explore the other paths I could take and play again, but the grind is exhausting. (I really felt like a slave.)
Visual novels often have a fast key to skip dialogs or a big skip to go directly to your next choice. Together with a practical go back, just in case you skipped anything.
About the mining system, we need to hit a rock 3 times. This is taking care of our stamina and HP, with the risk of dying. The curious part is that our risk of dying is low, so it is only tiring.
We farm minerals and sell them to get food, which will be stopped from being useful at all when potions are introduced.
I would like to get a weapon with enough trust, or a better pickaxe, which allows me to break the rocks with a single hit. Basically, mining feels pointless, and that one part where you found the goblins is pretty unfair if you have farmed for a long time.
I think we could have some balance by adding hot goblin girls to rape us. Or a way to save a part of it. For example, by helping the slaves, they could feel empathy and lend you a bit of their resources.
About the battle system, it is the part that I enjoyed the least.
The battle is slow, next to our slow mining pace and slow visual novel system.
The enemies have a high chance to dodge, without any particular reason, and defeating them is always easy. I see them only as an annoyance.
We learn skills, including the final one: On the hunt. Which lands 4 fast hits, costing 40 mana.
Sadly, the previous skill, Wind Strike (sorry if the name is wrong), lands 6 hits and costs 15.
We never have reasons to not spam Wind Strike.
Even this attack has a major flaw, it hits 2 times 3 targets, but it can target death enemies.
And the fight animations makes this even heavier, with 6 enemies hitting you 1 by one.
Basically all falls in severely slow pacing, and lack of building or improvements.
I also feel a bit annoyed because I couldn't get the archana end at the first try, and I am not sure why it isn't an option. I think a system text saying "You lack this..." It would help to understand why the final option isn't available.
My guess is that I have snitched about archana too much, I am doing a second run.
I think I still could say more, maybe I will edit this later if I can.