Swell game, very fun, interesting take to bring-in the player agency back into the autoshooter genre (the survivor-genre, in your words). Thoughts:
- As the game progresses, the sheer number of enemies certainly bring in that feeling somewhat, when you get escalating upgrades that lets you either run away faster or deal with the increasing hordes better.
- I love the aesthetic you're going for. The art and music really blends well to create this insanely, intense feel - similar to ULTRAKILL kind of vibes. Great choice to go for the breakcore kind of music. Only concern was the fact that's its really hard to tell where you're aiming (lack of a cursor) and where enemies are. Otherwise, love it.
- I think you're missing some potential here, as you're going for a survivors-like horde shooter. Since you're adding back player agency and adding a twist to the autoshooter genre, the kind of gameplay you're going for might differ abit. I think the skeleton is there, consider streamlining the upgrades you get so that rather than just "stats increase" upgrades, you just get more "weapons" alongside your main gun - this lets people understand the upgrades they are going for much easier - similar to Vampire Survivors.
- Piggy backing on the above comment, I can't quite say for sure how you should consider augmenting the gameplay - you can either give the horde some form of range attack, or change up the arena at intervals. The fact that you can attack and destroy spawners is great mechanic on its own and is an interesting path to take. Maybe different spawners spawn different enemies with different behaviours. It's hard to say. It depends on what kind of feeling you want to evoke.
- Controls feel alright, arena can feel confusing as I can find myself backing up then all of a sudden, didn't really realise I hit the border. Perhaps give the ground some texture, so it's easier to tell if the player is moving, or has stopped.
-The gunplay feels good, it has this erratic spray-and-pray feeling to it which is great for this kind of hit-and-run style of shooter.
- Game is honestly fun though. I find myself replaying a few times to really get a feel of the game and upgrades - good start to the variety of upgrades you have.
Very solid prototype and I enjoy the work you've put into this. I'll be keeping a close eye on the progress!