ebon venture
Just some feedback, we played 10-20 games and the game seemed fun but just hopeless, out've the 10-20 games we played we barely ever made it off the first floor. It felt like the killers we played against were just much better than us, our group is pretty casual so perhaps we're not the target audience.
All in all other than how the balancing felt it seemed like a fun game at it's core though!
errant trench
Many people are feeling the same way you have. without memorization of tiles and Gear locations, you're going to be running around rather aimlessly while the hunter does its main job of catching you. I felt like I wasn't contributing much either, until i learned where the gear spots were and learned to check them as i ran around the circus.
hybrid moat
you feel hopeless because if both sides are new players, the magician just has a far easier time. Magician is the easier role in this game for new players, there is less to learn and figure out. Just teleport around and grab bunnies, if they are new they are going to get caught often. Map needs to be bigger and/or the magician needs to have reduced mobility to give bunnies more time and space to work on objectives. Everything you do as a bunny gives the magician a notification of your exact location and the exact thing you are working on and typically there is a closet right next to the objective for him to straight up teleport to, and new bunnies probably dont realize that so they are going to get rolled over and over. My suggestion is to play magician atleast once, dont even care about how the match goes, just use it as an opportunity to see what the magician sees so you know what it looks like from the magicians perspective when you are doing something as a bunny. It might help make playing bunny a little easier
digital sierra
If you're playing with friends, try to use more strategy. Try to split on rooms, try to open 2 ways up in the same time (there is 1 way up by centre room and 1-2 in wings, so in total 4-5 ways to go up from 1st to 2nd floor). The Magician will not be able to check few locations at the same time. You should also provoke actions. The roller coaster, empty canon or simple High Striker hit can lure Magician, so others may try to open way for the rest of you.
keen belfry
listening is obliterating newbs, 2-3 people play dead and then magi sees only the newbs every time.
past breach
There is a Sandbox feature where you can explore the Map as Bunny or Magician. It helped me understanding all door and rope locations. In general how to get to the 4th floor and where to look for gears.