Stranded Core

You came down hard on a world that has no use for you.  A mysterious relic draws in the dark, but it's the only thing out here keeping you alive.

The day is yours. Shoot down falling debris for scrap, sink a quarry into an ore seam, plant a field, raise barracks, ring the relic with spike traps and turrets. There is no clock — the sun holds until you wake the relic yourself.

Then they come.

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This is an early demo of a game I'm still building, and I'm looking for feedback! It's playable start to finish, but it's one landing site out of several planned, and plenty of it is still moving.

What's in it right now

• You call the night. No day timer, ever. Build until you're ready — or squeeze in one more turret and find out you weren't.
• Five defence types. Spikes, coils, gun turrets, flamethrowers and thumpers, each upgradable.
• Three unit types from barracks. Warriors, archers and guards will help you fight the dark.
• Ten abilities, bought at the runic bench and cast on their own once the dark comes.
• Mine, farm, cook. Quarries pay out scrap every night. Crops become permanent buffs for your whole squad.
• Five enemy types across thirty nights, with new ones arriving as you go.
• A persistent power web. Every run banks Power Cores that carry into the next.

What I'm working on next Two more landing sites, more enemies, and more to do with the abilities. The demo is the slice that's ready.

What I'd love feedback on

• Does the difficulty curve hold up? Around which night did it turn?
• Did you work out what quarries, crops and the kitchen were for — or did you ignore them?
• Does the day drag? It has no timer on purpose, but I'm not sure that's right yet.
• Turrets or soldiers — which did you actually lean on?
  
• Did you bank your exp charges for a bigger pray, or spend them the moment you had one? And could you tell a rare card from a common one at a glance?
• Did the power web feel worth coming back for? Did you commit to one arm of it, or spread out?