The reason I ask this question is because the biggest cause of my frustration with what I've played of the game so far is not a lack of features, but rather an excess of features that I believe detract from the core mechanic, which I assume is either a Megaman-style shooter/platformer, or a run 'n' gun with a greater emphasis on platforming. In either case, there are some mechanics I personally take issue with, and if there are no plans to make such drastic changes (as I would suspect there aren't, given the time and resources needed for such an understaking), I may just have to face the fact that perhaps this game isn't for me.

First, is the active reload mechanic. This worked out perfectly in Gears of War, a cover-based shooter where time spent reloading could also be spent behind cover. It discouraged going out of cover, guns-blazing, and offered a reward to those willing to lay low and plan accordingly. In Mercenary Kings, however, there is no such abundance of cover, and in a style of game where disposing of enemies quickly is paramount to survival (especially considering all of the missions have a time limit, something I will make sure to mention later in this post), the active reload system makes the gunplay feel tedious and slow, in addition to making platforming extremely frustrating when enemies are around. Also, given the large number of bullets required to kill many enemies, taking down an individual soldier feels like much more of an endeavor than it should be; so much so, that the only weapon upgrade that I could justify was a larger magazine. This did little to ease my frustration, however, as most of my time playing was still spent jumping from a single position, firing at an elevated opponent, returning to the ground, and repeating as many times as necessary to defeat it. Not to mention, all of the times where I abandon the "active" part of reloading completely because I have to retreat to a safe position that doesn't exist, or I have to shift my focus to platforming, since the melee attack does little to protect from approaching enemies.

Another complaint I have regards the use of items while in a mission. Using a variety of items with different effects in a game like this honestly excites me a little bit, as it adds a great deal of potential for variety during combat and exploration, but I'm not a fan of how it is implemented. For items like the C4, where the use of which acts almost like a weapon of its own, the act of opening up inventory and switching to the item makes perfect sense, but for single-use items which are entirely self-affecting, as with the first aid, this feels extremely clunky, and adds to the feeling of tediousness and slow pacing I already mentioned, and is doubly problematic given the aforementiond time-limits.

As far as the crafting system goes, I honestly can't comment on it; I simply haven't been able to get myself to play enough of the game to really dig into it, save for upgrading my weapon in small ways.

Finally, despite the fact that this has nothing to do with what I feel are superfluous mechanics, I feel I should mention it here since I've taken the time to start this thread: I'm not a fan of the level and mission design. This has been a complaint I've heard among others, and I have to say I echo those sentiments. First, I'm not at all a fan of the missions; the majority of which feel like a slight variation on the same "fetch quest" (please, forgive my use of the term), and given the difficutly I had in navigating the levels, I felt like I wasn't making any progress during these missions. This would have been a great opportunity to engage in some metroidvania-style level exploration, but the time limit made sure to make that an impossibility. Speaking of the time limits, they feel a tad arbitrary. I didn't feel like any tension is added by their inclusion, and as I mentioned earlier, it actively worked against my enjoyment; I didn't get to explore the levels like I wanted to, and I felt like I was being punished for not memorizing the levels well enough to complete my mission.

I realize this project is in alpha, and a great number of changes are already planned, but many of my problems I have surround the core mechanics and often majorly advertized features. The purpose of this thread is twofold: I wish to ask if major changes as this point in development are even possible, and to address those problems if the answer is yes.

I greatly respect the efforts of the developent team, and their tremendous courage in allowing their yet-to-be-completed project to be open to the public. If you've managed to read through this giant wall of text, and if you happen to enjoy the game for the reasons I dislike it, that is perfectly fine with me. I appreciate feedback regardless.