Thanks for the feedback!
I wish the game had a little more luck in it
Little inside knowledge, but the very first draft used a pool of D6s! In the end, playtesting found that the right balance of strategy and luck was in randomising the rooms, not your oxygen expenditure.
If you want to add some randomness back in, try this ID Card Skill:
Skill: Running on Adrenaline. Each time you spend Oxygen, roll a D6. On a 1, spend twice as much, rounded up. On a 2 through 5, spend the normal amount. On a 6, spend half as much, rounded down (minimum 0).
Are you somehow not meant to know what events are coming or how much air it takes to complete a room?
You can see "everything" in the books, but don't worry. As a solo-journaling game, you tell your own story through a combination of different prompts and contexts. Even the same questions will tell a different story when posed in a different order. Being able to see different prompts makes the game more functional, but won't lessen your storytelling or replayability.
Furthermore, being able to see the length of each room track is also intended, as it allows for a little more "strategizing" during play :)
showing up to a wreck and then turning around and leaving I didn't feel made for a compelling story
Oops! That isn't intended. We'll try to address in a future revision. Perhaps an extra rule under valid and invalid ways to place rooms:
If you draw and place a room that would leave you with no available doorways, you can choose to: place the room at the bottom of the deck and draw again; place the room on the top of the deck play a corridor instead; or place it anyway.
Thanks for playing :) Brian / SSP