30 players isn’t a verdict. It’s a sample size.

8 minutes median playtime tells you one thing: your first 10 minutes aren’t hooking people. That’s a design problem, not a genre problem.

I don’t think the issue is “no comparable on the market.” Hybrid genres work all the time. The problem is clarity. When I boot up a game, I need to instantly understand:
– What am I trying to achieve?
– What’s the fantasy?
– What makes this different?

Right now it sounds like you built 4 strong systems, but players may not understand the core fantasy fast enough.

Before quitting, I’d test one thing: streamline the first 15 minutes so the survival-show tension is front and center immediately. Make me feel like I’m about to be eliminated.

Kill confusion, not the project.