Omega Phenex had its open beta start today, so I have now tried it. And I have some thoughts so far. For one, the presentation is incredible. From the voicework feeling professional, the really solid visuals and incredible music. When activating the super mode thing you also get a really cinematic cut in which I like. The story itself feels pretty weak so far, and weirdly morally straight forward for an AC inspired game.
Mechanically... the mech building is very dumbed down compared to armored core. It has a lot fewer stats to keep track of. This is not nescesarily a bad thing, it makes the process a lot faster and leaves more room to vibe it based on preferred aesthetics. And the stats do still matter a lot, I had to get lighter and energy efficient parts to play like how I want to play. But I do like how complex it can get in AC and with this being inspired by the older games which has even more complexity to mech building than AC6, it was a let down for me personally. But I do think it is a good fit for this game, because this game emphasizes speed and skill expression a lot. And while mech building knowledge is part of that, it does mean you get into the mastering of movement and such faster.
Speaking of the combat gameplay. It feels awkward to move. But once you start playing around more with its mechanics like fast fall and exceed boost it really opens up. My one real complaint at the movement is that quick boost feels... off. It is not the quick boost of 4th gen AC, not even the quick boost of 5th gen. It is a VERY tiny burst of movement and you really gotta spam it if you want any real distance from it. There are tuning options that improve this, and lighter weight makes you move more, but it is... a weird feeling how quickboost works. All the other movement tools feel great but quickboost does not quite feel like a dash.
I do really like the shield mechanics. And the gunplay feels really good. I have yet to unlock a melee weapon so cannot speak to melee combat yet.
I really like how tuning works. Instead of allocating individual points for tiny stat increases, you have finite slots of basically perks which give a bit more noticeable stat increases. This is also the approach fellow AC inspired indie game Machine Clad made.
Speaking of, how does it stack up compared to the other AC inspired indie game I have played the playtest of, Machine Clad? Machine Clad definitively hits the mech building aspect of AC better. And it has PvP which Omega Phenex does not, but its missions are not built around the kind of fast paced high score seeking gameplay that Omega Phenex aims for. They do offer different experiences. If you like AC because of overcoming other ACs then I think Machine Clad is going to be more appealing, if you are in it more for pursuing perfection with no hit runs or fast clear time of missions or such, I think Omega Phenex will be more your speed.
Personally, I feel both these games feel a little... too similar to AC. So I end up comparing them to the AC franchise a lot, and finding ways they fall short. They are both highly worthwhile games I highly recommend trying when they release. But they are games made by smaller teams who are trying to offer something that a series made by an entire studio was giving. There are corners that has to be cut to achieve that.
Comparing to other AC inspired games like Dolls Nest or Rig Riot which do a bit more to have their own identity beyond "basically AC", I think these are less to my preference. I have my eye on Code Rapid personally, which I think will be more my thing in part due to it setting itself apart from AC a bit more in some ways.
That said I will probably get both of these games when they do release for real.
