I've put a fair amount of time into the game as well and I don't think it's as complicated as everyone is making it out be. Most every option has some sort of accompanying text that gives you whatever information you need and while the tutorials suck they will lead you to all the places in the interface where you can see most of your options. I spent maybe 10 minutes before I even really did anything in the game looking through everything and, combined with a little trial and error, have spent most of my time after learning how the stats and skills work together(like any other RPG). So, when I got to the point where I had to do a cyber jump like Xess, I knew how to activate the skill using the menu and with key shortcuts. The thing with the game is you have to go in willing to fool around the interface yourself for a bit and read a little before you can really start come to grips with the meat. I really think that's what throwing everyone off who's putting down the game... that's kinda sad.
The same goes for the story. A lot of the dialog is somewhat silly given the game's visuals and seemingly serious tone, but it also gives the game some sort of awkward charm (although it mostly works against it). There's also a library in your main base that has texts on the history of the universe which is kinda cool. The only thing missing is a sort of recent history to bring you up to speed on the organization your character is with and the conflicts they're involved in, but I suspect that is omitted for the sake of the campaign story because that is getting slowly revealed. It's not well translated or masterfully told, but it's there and not as muddled as it's made out to be. I think most people out there are just not up to reading dialog anymore.
The gameplay itself is pretty interesting. It like a mission based horde survival game. Generally, you go into a map and are given objections scattered around large and open areas. There are both prepositioned enemies and new ones that are constantly spawning so you are almost always fighting/moving. Main missions always seem to take place on a new level, but you can go back to finished areas and complete secondary missions. In those you'll get three or so objectives from a larger list that are based on gaining control over the territory like clearing out a specific building, placing bombs, hacking control points, and so on. This is useful because you'll come out earning more experience and money. The game is combat centric, so the freedom of choice really revolved about how you would like to kill the guys running at you. There are only a few static situations where you can approach objectives differently, so it's not exactly like Deus Ex in that regard. There are a lot of options in how you can customize your character and there really aren't tech trees like most newer games. Instead, the game opts for letting you chose most any upgrade in any order provided you have the money and, in a couple case, the base stats for it. The game's structure seems well suited to coop since the number or players wouldn't change how the story is told. Instead of a dude a team gets sent in to do these missions. The open design of the missions and randomization of the objectives could give the game some legs too as an area could stay fresh for a bit of time.
I really dig the game's visuals. The world they've created is a mixture of things like Blade Runner and how I imagine Warhammer 40K to look. This isn't the Dawn of War or tabletop 40K, but more the one that is described in the novels and smaller games like Inquisitor and Necromunda (if those names mean anything to you). Heavily populated human worlds tend to be completely polluted wastelands covered in giant mega structures like arcologies. The scale of these things are supposed to be beyond comprehension, like miles high and hundreds across. Lower levels are supposed nightmare slums with monsters/mutants and gangs while upper levels are like crumbling metropolis filled with decadent nobles. The visual details and styling all feel like they're inspired by that part of Warhammer so its fun for me to see something like that in a game.
The game is really pretty awesome, although I wouldn't easily recommend it to most people. There's a fun sink or swim vibe here that most games aren't willing to do these days, although I suspect some of that here has to do with the nature of being a small project. It's something that if you're interested and willing to give it a few minutes it can be very enjoyable.
