The Pokemon defense force has come out in full swing against this game (I know them well, I'm a Pokemon fan) but it's actually pretty damn fun. It's a survival game and does what you'd expect a survival game to do, but the gameplay loop of the Pals helping to build your base and automate your progression is incredibly satisfying. The designs are definitely blatant ripoffs of Pokemon, but I'm cool with that. The AI art thing is iffy but so far unfounded and the game was in development for years so I'm inclined to believe it's a nothingburger. Will keep playing.