It's too confusing in its current state, but I do think there's something genuinely unique here.
I know this is going to make me sound like a brainlet (guilty as charged), but I didn't even realize the diagram on the main screen was information about the food chain, I thought it was some kind of button you could press
The tutorial should open by default when you first click play, because I can guarantee you there are plenty of people who will just press play and then be confused about what's going on (not that I would ever do that, certainly not)I too feel there should be a visible "next NEXT item" so you could plan things out a little bit more.
Achievements and highscores go a long way in a game like this, I like them a lot. Going for weird achievements is fun.
What's the difference between the two yellow arrows you can use? I assume one is to turn clockwise, and the other turns 180 degrees? What if instead there was one item that let you rotate a creature however you like, as in you click on it, then you select what direction it is facing, and then confirm. Having two different "rotate this thing" powerups seems excessive.
This game seems like it could be a lot of fun once you really start to understand it. But the biggest risk IMO is that players will just give up immediately without giving it much of a try. Sorry for writing war and peace over here.