The HUD is pretty terrible and more than a little confusing. I also can't make heads or tails of recovery, when you're vulnerable, when you're not, and really proper defense in general. When I'm on the attack things are much better, what with dash canceling attacks and such. I really don't get the grid system all that much though. I place a couple boosts and they apparently last ten matches but I don't understand how to unlock more of the grid to use.
Idk. I'm going to keep playing the next couple days to work it out.
EDIT: Just wrote this on Facebook so I'll just copy paste it here:
I've played about 15 matches or so of Rise of Incarnates. They really need to not market this as a fighting game because it's very much not. The mechanics are so oversimplified that within weeks of a full release (it's in Alpha right now) the game will devolve into a couple different strategies involving dash canceling a spammable move. There's no sidestep in the game and for most characters the damage comes from melee so that's just stupid. And the ranged game is only strong for one character and a nuisance at the most from others.
If it's going to survive as a free to play game they had best make the game feel less slow and more empowering because the system right now is anything but. I don't feel like I'm using a character with super powers, I feel like I'm swimming under water with BB guns and foam bats.
