Omega Strikers is a free, high-skill pvp game vaguely resembling air hockey if it was raised by a moba and only took the good parts of its upbringing. Fast paced, great characters and simple gameplay that allows for a lot of skill in almost every aspect. It's great in many ways, but also held back by a few issues
As it is free, I will start by addressing the issues many people have with free games, and then give a few tips on how to actually enjoy it
So first- Monetization. Everyone thinks of it when they see a free game. And I'm happy to report that it is good. There is a battlepass and some cosmetics, but everything related to game mechanics is available through a very reasonable price of ingame currency gained through playing. It is probably one of the best ways I've seen it done
Second, trolls and cheaters. I've actually not seen any cheaters, and only two people trolling in about 72 hours of play. Worries about this are accurate however, as the report function is somewhat poor and difficult to use. But also because anyone can hide their name. The name which you need to report them. So far I haven't seen anyone abuse this yet, but if they did, there would be no way to report them
Third, is it dying?
I sure hope not! But if it is, there are three things I would point out as being the probably cause of it losing players, or players just not staying with it after they try. So you can avoid these problems or at least mitigate the worst parts
First problem, moba controls as default. Your default control scheme (with mouse+keyboard) makes it impossible to play comfortably. Moba controls has you use your mouse to move your character, and you need your mouse to aim your abilities or shots. This means your mouse needs to be in two different places at once as you need to do things while you move. I'm not opposed to extra available control schemes. But as default? That is just madness. Giving first time players what amounts to a nonfunctional control scheme isn't going to encourage them to stay with the game and just puts more stress on them as they may not realize it is the control scheme that is working against them
Second, a lack of training mode and minimal tutorial. The tutorial only provides you the most basic lessons, and there is no training mode to try things out. Unlocked a new striker? Only way to try them and their abilities is in a game with other players. Have an idea for a new training loadout? Only way to try is by going into a game with other people who are unaware that you're experimenting. A single player testing zone, or a training thing against basic AI would help a lot. Throwing people in the deep end and telling them to just learn on the go doesn't work for everyone
And third, skill differences. As it is a game with a lot of skill involved and different sorts of skill matchmaking will be difficult. Often a match will be skewed in someone's favour, or you get matched with teammates who are worse than you by a large margin (Or better than you by a lot). This can lead to frustration when things are imbalanced too often and you get destroyed or teamed up with someone who isn't carrying their own weight. Or when you run into someone better on the other team who has a tactic that you don't know how to defend against
Either way I have not had very long queues even when playing at 10 in the morning on a workday. So for now the population still seems to be good enough for the game to function both on ranked and unranked
Omega Strikers is a great game with a lot of potential in it. Great characters and a simple set of base rules that leads to a much more complex game than it at first appears. The short matches allow you time to take breaks in between and allows you time to change what you're doing. It is tempting to go just one more match every time without growing tired of it. The great amount of options it offers keeps things mostly fresh and varied, and so I recommend that you give it a try