Most "early access" games I've played were about as bug-free as I'd expect from an old-school v1.0 launch: you'd occasionally hit an obscure hardware combo that

Most "early access" games I've played were about as bug-free as I'd expect from an old-school v1.0 launch: you'd occasionally hit an obscure hardware combo that caused crashes, etc. but it very definitely "worked on their device" When done well, it's about putting the concepts and mechanics in front of players, so that they can provide feedback. Maybe the magic system you have in mind is super confusing. Maybe you wrote a throw-away portion in a way that makes everyone think it's going to be central to the eventual plot. With a small group of friends, you get a lot of bias - you'll build the game your friends enjoy. The easiest way to find out how a commercial audience reacts is to expose it to a large number of players. Obviously there are BAD early access games that ignore this advice, but I've also played well-established games with numerous patches that are still full of bugs too.