Hello,
I found your game on the Game Anglia Discord.
I tested the fighting pits. I was a mercenary with melee, and unarmed, with the motivation of a survivor, and I got leather armour and a sword. I played two skirmishes then a duel, where I was bested by a brawler. I constantly missed my attack, I think I had around 15 turns, but managed to only strike three times.
The concept I think has the potential to be quite addictive and rewarding, and I would certainly think it worth to continuing working on this one! With the combat mechanics, as I continued to miss, I would suggest that it might be worth looking into adding some balancing as missing constantly can be frustrating. I tried to reposition as well to improve accuracy and moved closer.
The game has a kind of rhythmn to it in the fighting pits and I think it was fairly easy to grasp, though when you are ready, sound effects will help add to the story telling element and flow of the game.
There are not many narrative elements to the game, and you may wish to add a randomised description on the opponents for a little bit of visual context. With the minimum narrative element on the backgrounds on the character selection, I didn't see a strong need to replay the game from a different background. Would it be worth having a little bit of text in-between fights? Or try to guide the player to particular goals in the fighting pits? I would also be interested in how to pick up upgrades for my character.
I think stylising the game a little more will also naturally make it enticing, consider changing the font for the main menu and other buttons.
I wish you all the best with the game development!