In a broader sense, the best games are fun to simply exist in. Getting from point A to point B should be interesting from a movement perspective.
Mario Odyssey is a great example. Just parkour’ing around is a blast.
BotW has shield surfing and such.
Lots of shooters have a bunny hop mechanic.
Wave-dashing in Celeste.
Etc etc.
Peer to peer connection, no matchmaking.
That would be plenty for a co-op doom. Barebones? Yes. Needs barely any upkeep? Also yes.
Humans and LLMs learn in fundamentally different ways, though.
The nuance bit is really interesting, since I feel that nuance arises from these fundamental differences.
I do think some characters need to be tweaked. I also think it’s ok if it’s just silly fun.
I think I would rather see the entire roster approach OP vs trying to balance everything perfectly, as that is likely a fool’s errand.
How? It’s an overwatch with new characters to experiment with.
I expected it to be a janky mess but it actually plays well.