Time Break Chronicles

Highest praise for Time Break Chronicles!
There's so much that could be said about this game, but I'll begin by addressing the most common criticism I've seen in the negative comments. Firstly is the grinding. Normally I hate grinding in games and feel it just pads the experience, but its handled really well here. Remember that this game has a TON of characters, and the game drip-feeds options to you in a way that keeps you engaged and in control the whole time without feeling bored or overwhelmed. The second criticism I've seen is the difficulty, which I don't think needs to be any easier than it is. There's a lot of control you have, lots of challenge modes and difficulty settings, you can make it as challenging as you want. I played on normal and steamrolled 90% of it, I was like 'where's this legendary difficulty'? But a few battles, mainly the husks, did clean me out and give me that challenge I was looking for. In my opinion its difficult but not punishing, just right. You need to use a little strategy of course.
I cannot express enough how well thought out each character is. Every single character is unique and fun to play. I know that is a bold claim, but I am serious. Every single one of the 80 or so characters feels very different, there's none that are even that similar to each other, and yet they are all pretty well balanced. Each one is viable for sure. I don't know how they did such a good job balancing all of that, and such creativity to come up with all of these character concepts. Also I've really enjoyed the aesthetics of each character, they all look great. The little dialogues and interactions peppered throughout the journey give a little flavor to them too, which doesn't get enough notice.
This is the ultimate game for the strategy enthusiast. If you love thinking about different builds and party comps, planning things out, and seeing your plan come to fruition then this is the game for you. You have tons of options and they all feel great. I can't believe I've played this 100 hours in a month, I haven't played that much of one game so fast in ages.
I'm tempted to write a guide, or update the expansive but very out of date guide now, but honestly the lack of a wiki and info online was kind of nice. It was a real mystery finding out what heroes were in Act 4 and I don't think I want to spoil that. Its rare these days for a game with as much good content as this, to not be completely spoiled online.

TL:DR at bottom
i have to say, as a team building roguelike with a story on the side, it does the job really well, but the game honestly needs some quality of life features for me to want to continue running again and again versus going "god i dont wanna build a whole other team"
Theres no pre-sets or templates, none. it is absolutely bonkers to me how many characters, options, relics, combinations there are but there is no way to save it and go back to it. this really makes me not want to make more teams as re-setting everything up or writing down the team comp and idea on paper to re-set up everything, asss to my second complaint.
there are a lot of characters, but there are also a lot of redundant and or characters that need a lot of work for a payout. the big issue in this game overall to me is the supportive role overall. Seb the bard with the proper relic setup takes 3 turns to cap out all the relevant stats you want, granted, he is squishy and weak to AoE the payout versus the risk is worth it. Lets vs lets say, the banker. who requires a lot of management of his debt mechanic for a fairly reasonable payout, its hard for me to want to build around the banker when Seb just does everything i want, and leading back to my first point, i have to make a whole build around the banker, and the headache that entails.
my only last complaint is some relics are just way too specific, or just way too boring, the majority of relics provide new skills, fill niches, or bolster your current strategy. there are some that are generic stat buffs which have their place, but there are others that provide say, channeling buffs, when channeling is a fairly niche ability amongst the cast.
For the singularity mode, or the "roguelike mode" i'd say it almost serves the purpose i want out of this experience, being able to meld several teams, thinking of the future and longevity with the stamina mechanic and overall playing with items that are provided to the player makes a lot of my point 3 less of an issue, unless.
The cast is not made equal, and im not even going to tell anyone reading this that balancing such a wide and diverse cast of characters is hard, and i feel like every single character with relics involved serves their purpose and can be used if you want. its just when characters like Maximus running around in singularity mode its really hard to turn down his sheer utility and buffs, and i find that the case with a lot of the characters in that mode. and the harder i go up the floors the more i want to take these characters.
TLDR: Overall, for the early access idea of "Final fantasy 5 meets a roguelike" concept, I really enjoy it, it needs some things ironed out, but if that description is what you want out of a game, Time break chronicles provides, albiet, a bit rough around the edges.

Ever wanted FF FTL? Few Roguelikes have that instant "Oh, maybe I'll just take a minute..." "Oh, shoot, that was over an hour" appeal. This is one of those. There is no one particular reason, it's mechanically dense, charming as all get out, and insanely good at getting it's hooks into you.

if you like jrpg combat with a lot of mechanics and depth this is one of the best games ever. extremely replayable and challenging.

when i just want some RPG violence, this game hits it right on the head in the most perfect way. I"ll be playing this for some time

If you enjoy True RPG style types and Mini + Boss fights in those types of games along with a almost thoughtless type of roguelike leveling and gear system, this game is for you. It is totally fun! Progression is steadyish and the auto fight function is handy for fights you know you do not need to try on. Only 4 hours in and going into the fourth chapter/scenario. Had to quit halfway through cause I got pretty messed up. But yeah! Cannot wait to collect all the characters and see what else it has to offer.

This is one of the best roguelikes on steam, and it's a shame it doesn't get more attention.
4 acts/zones (5 planned) each with their own encounters and their own unique scaling difficulty modifiers, both a roguelike and roguelite mode with their own mechanics, almost 100 characters (classes) that each manage to feel entirely different from each other even if they have overlapping mechanics, in part due to the fantastic theming the game has.
Don't be put off by the fact you have to have the MC on your team at all times, either; she starts with 3 entirely distinct forms that slowly get more skills throughout the game, and she gets more when you beat an act, ending up with a character who can switch between 6(?) different forms at any time. She is amazingly fun to play, and can fill any role.
Any game where a clown character is one of the strongest is a 10/10 game in my books.