VERY excited about this game, especially after playing the demo. I come from 3k hrs in Civ 5+6 and several hundred in Endless Legend. First I'll give clear suggestions, then below that I'll give more general feedback/praise the stuff that I think is awesome about this game.

- Enable low spec mode! I play on a potato, and maybe I just messed up and failed to properly check this option in the settings menu, but it seemed that low spec mode was disabled on the demo.

- Enable quick combat / quick movement of units: similar to above, the animations are nice, but I like my games to play as fast as possible. Even if I weren't on a potato, quick combat/movement would be a welcome option, especially for multiplayer purposes. 

- I found there to be a lack of clarity about just how well Maker/Market/Food districts scale as you progress in tech. It seemed that culturally unique districts were nearly always way stronger than the vanilla districts. However, I THINK that planning adjacencies between districts (eg markets next to harbors) can lead to strong yields as you progress in tech and get access to buildings that boost yields due to districts placed adjacent to one another. I don't remember how crowded descriptions were for districts, but if possible, it would be awesome to get some idea of unlocking [+1 for each adjacent market] due to [x building] available with [y technology]. A list of these improvements in the district description would help me learn the game and plan for strength later on. 

- Cultural influence never made sense to me. I didn't consult resources outside the game to learn about it, but I don't think I should have to. It was unclear whether you gain influence yields from culturally dominating cities you don't control... and somehow I think negotiations with other players became advantageous with greater cultural influence on them? Just really unclear.

- Similarly, benefits of religion were relatively unclear. I think that having followers outside of your territory could yield bonuses depending on how you select elements of your religion, but that was not clear. And is there any advantage to producing faith if you have no religion? Just very fuzzy what was going on with religion. 

- A trade overlay would be a boon. Just very unclear where I should be building structures that give bonuses for trade routes passing through the city. Seemed that I'd need to visit every other player's negotiation interface to see the trade routes, and that's un-fun (especially on my potato computer)

- Add a filter for building bonuses. I reached food abundance quickly in every city, but still had to look at a list of buildings that would increase food yields in ALL cities. I'd love to be able to filter away buildings that increase food yields, for example, and have a shorter list of buildings to choose from that I actually might want to put in production.

And quick notes about things I LOVE.

- I'm so psyched about the early game. Food seems the head-and-shoulders best bonus to pick up, because it grows an army that can actually accomplish the hunting objective, so that's a thing to watch for in balance. But it's extremely exciting to start out this way and have time to explore before settling somewhere.

- The wonder system is so, so welcome. Civ and endless legend had the classic anxiety 'will another player finish the wonder before me'? HK's system maintains the exclusivity of wonders and does away with the risk involved. Two thumbs up. 

- whether it's actually 'good' or not, I am happy to see a win condition that takes you all the way to the final turn. It's something different, rewards specializing to an extent but also requires some amount of holistic quality to your playthrough... I personally found in my games that there was a real competitor, and I was chasing fame points in the endgame and watching each turn to see if my opponent was creeping closer. Pretty cool, I'm happy this was the choice, though I would invite optional game modes that change the win conditions (which I'm sure will be modded in if Amplitude doesn't build them)

- most broadly speaking, the cultures are dope and I can't wait to play the real thing. Thanks for this game AND the chance to preview.

wildmandan wrote:
It seemed that culturally unique districts were nearly always way stronger than the vanilla districts.

The Maker's Quarter is far better than any Emblematic Quarter for Industry, except for Kaiserdom and Jama Masjid. This is because they have adjacency bonuses from other Maker's Quarters that scales up with Infrastructure, making them very powerful.