I was still interested enough to play a second and third time, but by now see that the coin every 5,000 points mechanic means this is ultimately a game about slowly grinding your stats upward, that the game isn’t meant to be completed using what you have access to at first.

I’m not sure exactly why that rubs me the wrong way, but maybe it’s because it transforms the game from fun little thing to try into fully-intended repetitive time-sink.

I wonder if this was designed as a phone game with real-money purchasable coins? (The upgrade rate tuning sort of suggests this. And maybe it’s that tuning that I’m innately objecting to, because it’s not like I have anything against character upgrades.)