This is overall a good update. I am enjoying this game a lot more than when I first played this. This feels a bit less like a city builder game. I think that helps, because I have different expectations.
Not sure what I think of the stats bar hovering above the bottom. I like having the stats in one place but I think that the stats bar should touch the bottom or have a bottom border. I did like it being at the top though I understand the change. The portrait helps the player feel human, though I think the art for that needs work.
Gameplay is harder. First play-through I lost. Second time I won. This update makes me need to plan ahead more, and the higher difficulty makes it more engaging to me. I cannot beat BigRealty first campaign day. The difficulty makes it so that you need to have the right strategy. BigRealty spawns agents really quickly and can take you by surprise. Because of that, it feels like you need to get a large crowd quickly to reclaim all of BigRealty's branch buildings, and then use everyone else to block agents if you want to build up the community. The community stats do not seem to have enough effect on your loudness and defense to make me want to boost those over just having more people.
The amount of community stats given by a building is not clear. For example, I had poor health, then built a clinic expecting to get up to marginal based on the other buildings, and I got up to an adequate rating. The entertainment I could not get up to adequate. I did not build in every commercial space but I felt like I had built enough to get adequate entertainment.
The public speech ends if you run out of energy during it, giving reduced or no rewards, but everything else does not. I think that things should either finish despite lack of energy or end during it. If you choose to go with the latter then you should get warned if you do not have enough energy to complete the task.
1. How relatable/connected do you feel to the character/world.
You have done a decent job of that this update. The player character having a home that can get upgrades is a nice touch. The world art is improved and I think that the shadows look better. The streetlights also help with this.
2. How lived-in does the game world feel.
The world feels more alive. The player feels more a like average person trying to make a difference than like the city manager.
From the devlog:
Perhaps, there will be a limited portrait customization in future development to emphasize this quality further.
That sounds like a cool idea that will help make it seem lived in.
Bugs:
- The club says "Establish to unlock" and I cannot establish it even after I got every other building.
- The campaign bar does not reset visually between campaign days.
I am looking forward to where you take this from here.
-T