Hey, thanks for the submission. With the big caveat that I haven’t actually played the game, just read it, here’s my review.
Theme
I think the game addressed the theme well. It uses multiple maps. The maps are of the same place, but differentiated by scope, in this case, character perspective. The combination of maps when characters find each other is cool!
Maps
Maps are definitely central to the game. I like the mechanic for discovering other players. However, it feels like there is not a lot of room for description or creation built into the rules. It sounds like you simply observe the POI, have a reaction, and move on. I really like that you can ‘save the game’ using the final map. That’s something that didn’t exist in many other submissions.
Elegant
The dice mechanic is efficient. However, it seems that Mood doesn’t matter mechanically. If you are in danger, so what? You can’t be harmed. Also, the game text starts by discussing the Prime Directive. But I have no idea how this should play out in the game. How could you violate the Prime Directive? No mechanics seem to threaten it, or point towards it. If a game tells me, don't violate this thing, I see that as a challenge. I expect the game will challenge me to not violate it. Maybe I missed something, but that feels important to me. If you focus on it right at the start, it should be central to the mechanics, not just the theme. Otherwise, perhaps it is not needed?
Tone and style
The layout was good. I appreciated the brevity.
Easy to understand
This was pretty easy to understand. That said, I did find a few sections hard to figure out without playing, particularly the Research your teammates and Gather information sections. Hopefully, they would make more sense in play.