BURNED HORIZONS

Game is not worth the 45 bucks. Its extremely early and rough I experinced a CTD within the first 15 minutes of my game when trying to move the reinforcements I just called in. This game may have potential oneday but it too early and rough to be anywhere near 45 dollars of value. The devs plan to increase the price to 60 dollars on full release but based on this version a true full release is 3-5 years away. Half the menus say coming in a future update. There is no map. Theres very few animations for most actions in the game. The worst part is the game clearly uses AI artwork which is not disclosed anywhere on the steam page. You're money would be better spent on something like Mars tactics, Xenonauts 2, Spellwizard, or Open XCOM. The games feature are poorly explained and implemented. Right now when you the start the game it throws you into a very rough map gives you a small 2 man team that is only equipped with 60 rounds of ammo for some reason. You're given a vague mission/game briefing telling you to run around fighting dynamic enemies until you want to exfil. There is no clarity or goals beside that. You cant seem to enter any buildings and the maps textures pop in and out. Parts of the map are unlevel causing some terrain glitches and weird building placement. The games pathing is messed up when I order troops to move sometimes they will vault over a wall only to turn around and vault over that same wall, the troop ended up in a loop of vaulting over this small wall until I changed his pathing. This game is so rough the menus are extremely clunky the troop movement feels unresponsive. There just so many better alternatives out there right now, and while the game is early access this feels like a prototype rather than anything playable. Based on what the dev is offering now I fail to see how this game will ever be worth 45 dollars let alone 60. I dont think this product is worth purchasing unless you just want to donate to a indie game dev. The use of AI that isnt disclosed on the steam page leaves a bad taste. A lot of the postive reviews are people who tested this game and are invested in the future version of the game. I dont know if that game will come but what I can say is the current version is a rough prototype of a generic tactical game. There is little to do and any fun you have would be on your own initiative there is no direction which can be a good thing in games but this game is too empty. Based on what is here it seems like the version of the game the devs promise is far off certainly farther than 12-18 months. The build I played probably should've never been made public and certainly shouldn't have been for sale for 45 dollars. Devs banned me from the community hub when I called out the price and AI artwork. Below is an example of the AI artwork and my discussion ban. I bought this game cause I wanted to like it I played for 3 hours and its clear that was more than enough to see what the gameplay offered. They clearly licensed AI artwork. Fact is unless you have been following this game for months if you but it you WILL be disappointed. The devs are deleting negative feedback and there are a lot of people who clearly are invested in the future version of this game giving very optimistic reviews but of the people who paid money for the steam release the reviews are mostly negative which should give you a good indication of what is for sale today. https://gyazo.com/20d9973479df433322ed47c7709987fc https://gyazo.com/d1723cea3dd16595806debcc74cc96c8

There is hardly anything in the game as of now. I'm astounded by how the devs think this is an acceptable early access game. Wait 5 years before buying.

TL;DR ignore this excuse of a game and look for something else. Clearly they spent more time writing in the steam page why it’s early access instead of actually working on the game. They need money is what they need, they probably ran out trying to make this and then decided to release this trash into “Early Access” for this absurd price tag. Entire thing is delusion, the operator icons are AI, the menu is AI, the assets for the buildings might as well put you in a game set in the 15th Century. I wouldn’t really have an issue if you weren’t paying $45 USD for, not really even early access and more like a pre alpha test build. The “tutorial” takes you to a YouTube channel where you just have to watch a bunch of stuff just to learn what to do and even then half of what you can do barely even works. Sound design is terrible, voice lines are terrible, mechanics are ungodly. It’s also clear that the positive reviews are of people affiliated with this game, or lack there of, in some way shape or form. Their attitude towards people that dislike this is also distasteful as if the game is supposed to be the best thing ever made and if you disagree you’re wrong. No you are not buying a project, because I am confident this is going nowhere and is a quick crash grab while they still have the opportunity. Sure the idea is cool but do I see that happening with this? No. Among this is the political stuff, the entire game obviously pushes the «Слава Украине» stuff when the game takes place in Ukraine in 2002. Literally no correlation when the game takes place 24 years ago.

What a dumpster fire. When you first boot up the game you are immediately met with an AI slop menu page depicting a war-torn street. Keep in mind, the Steam page for this game does NOT have an AI content disclosure, even though Steam requires disclosure of any player-facing pre-generated AI artwork. Actual gameplay is confusing, unintuitive, and in-game menus are barely functional. Parts of the menu literally just say "future update". You can't even hit the escape button on your keyboard to back out of a menu, you have to click the "back" button. As far as I can tell, everything in this game is from the Unreal asset store, which is okay on its own, except for the fact that they've raised over $30,000 on Kickstarter, which the developer Kaos openly admits in the game's discord server that he's already spent entirely. You would think $30,000 could get some custom assets made. Speaking of Kaos, he is simply unhinged. He bans anyone that mentions the price, AI usage, or the general state of the game, and clearly does not have thick enough skin to speak respectfully to members of the community who are offering valid criticism and feedback. Overall, stay away from this game. Not just because the game is bad, but because the developer is toxic.

Essentially within my first forty minutes of playing the game, it drops you in with the extremely edgy intro about how there will NOT be a base camp, there will NOT be anything telling you that you completed the mission, and that your main goal is to interdict (they like using that word alot) enemy forces. Thats it. It generally feels like rather than come up with some premise for base camps and setting objectives they just gave you the most broad possible object. "Exist and piss off the enemy". Granted this is a prelude to the main campaign but its not offering much as a hook to the game. Next up is the control scheme. Theres no in game tutorial and the tutorial button in the drop down menu takes you to a youtube page instead of some well crafted in game tutorial option that at least gives me a little blurb and a gif of what is supposed to happen generally with the controls. Not even an ounce of guidance and a little "♥♥♥♥ with the basics and master the fine details later" like most of these hardcore focused games give. So, eventually after figuring out the painful movement and unit placement and the flicky controls for the camera I had to deal with a cool but initially confusing radial menu setup that could definitely have done with a 5 sentence explanation instead of a few minute long tutorial sections on their youtube. Then the combat... I got my team to move forward down a road to which I hear a pop. Then I hear another pop. And I am trying to figure out whether or not the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ PMC just desk popped. Theres no indicator of the direction that the fire came from, there's no initial indication that a combat round has began, there's no indication that there might be something going on in the area that wasn't just like... environmental, or a glitch, or something else. I know combat isn't always clear but, when you get shot at and rounds are landing near you and kicking up dust, rocks, and flecks of concrete from the wall next to you it becomes pretty ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ clear that you are under fire at the very least. So, I locate the source. An armed man standing in the middle of the street, bolt upright. I navigate the menu, to which It doesnt seem like changing position, speed, aim type, shot count, or covering/suppressing fire affects your AP at all... I dont think... First guy takes a knee, fires one shot, misses. VERY professional of this contractor. Second shot also waffles. Bro did NOT pass his range tables and probably regularly missed the 50m targets. My second guy I put prone, because that is how we react to incoming fire from the enemy! (or something) and let the bad guy have it! First shot waffled, burst also waffles. Neither doofus can hit the man standing upright in the middle of the road about 40 to 50m away. Then theres more gunfire that wasnt the enemy, and it wasnt me but it hit the guy ??? Then I fire again and he dies. Then... silence. Sometimes you dont know if a battle is over in real life. But I also know that in real life I can continue moving without worrying about things like action points and ♥♥♥♥ like that, or whos ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ turn it is in this allegedly turn based game. Turns out the battle ended and after I ♥♥♥♥♥♥ around with the controls a bunch realized I could just move wherever... at least thats why I assumed the battle ended? Honestly just really sucks. I was very much hype on the idea of the open-world real-time movement and turn based combat ♥♥♥♥. Like unreasonably hyped. And to a degree the idea of being dropped in and managing everything from the field seems very fun from a struggle and survive self sufficiently element. However the execution was dirt ass awful from the controls to the devs PR of deleting peoples negative comments. Edit: I did add this back to my wishlist as I think there is a LOT of potential for the game as long as the Devs continue to listen to the community and work on it. Lots of word of mouth about them deleting posts and such is disheartening and I hope to see them disprove that and bring this product up to snuff

WHAT IS IT? Burned Horizons is a tactical, squad-level turn-based milsim set in 2002 Ukraine, during a fictional invasion by, uh, "unspecified forces of unknown origin". The player takes charge of a Regional Deployment Command "Trident", comprising volunteers from all over the world. De-romanticised realism of warfare and the scars it leaves behind on the people who survive it are the main focus. WHO IS THIS FOR? - if you prefer Jagged Alliance 2 v1.13 over JA3 because of depth - this game is for you. - if you always wanted turn-based ArmA, but the oversimplified ArmA Tactics don't cut it - this game is for you. - if you think that 7.62 High Calibre is a good game but would need extra few months in the oven and a total graphics overhaul to be a masterpiece - this game is for you. - if you're tired of monetised, over-cosmeticised mainstream slop that has little to do with reality - this game is for you. - if you'd like to experience a more down to earth representation of a modern battlefield, shown from a perspective of the grunt - this game is definitely for you. WHO IS THIS NOT FOR? - if you're expecting to "press button to win" - this is not for you. There's thinking to be done to achieve success. - if you think that "collapsible stock" could only mean investing in crypto - this is not for you. The equipment in this game is portrayed realistically. - if you use your soldiers as ablative wounds to protect the sergeant with a special weapon - this is not for you. Soldiers in this game are people. WHY SHOULD YOU GET IT? Because this title has potential to become something unique in the TB market, saturated with same-y simplified games or one-trick mad ponies. The basic systems in this game are not much different than any other TB - low AP-pool with a standard set of commands.  What sells it are: - fairly unique combination of roles, stats and perks of each individual operator. They get better at what they do in time and if you put them through the wringer too many times, they may earn a SCAR - a trait, which usually changes how the operator acts on the battlefield, and in a meaningful way at that. - the gear management. Umpteen slots on your paper doll. Helmets, shemaghs, goggles, headsets, backpacks, pouches, rigs... Lots of them with additional sub-slots. Each with simulated weight. Some may influence the speed of mag change or gear access. - realism of wounds - no stimpaks, no magic heals. Your guy or gal gets shot, you better get them out of there ASAP, because field triage is just that - triage. There is a non-zero chance they may die before the medivac turns up... - the graphics is very decent for a tiny indie studio. Everything you stick on your operator actually appears on their model, up to and including a pistol in the holster. Several assets are still placeholders but the quality of what is already finalised speaks of dedication. - the general feel, the jargon, the names for stats and perks, all ooze the "professional soldier" vibe. Better get used to deciphering those abbreviations! - the unflinching and uncompromising vision. The Devs know exactly what they want to make and since they have no publisher to pull the strings, no one can suddenly change direction against their will. They have the drive and willingness to put in the hard work. What they don't have is numbers - only a handful of guys and a shoestring budget.  CAVEAT EMPTOR I will not BS you. Do not have illusions of grandeur - you won't get a full game for your money. The EA launch is more of a proof of concept, a showcase of direction this game is taking and merely the first few of many layers of complexity promised for 1.0. It contains one map and one mission - Deny & Degrade. Many sounds and map assets are placeholders. Weapons and gear are (mostly) from the wrong era. The gameplay is quick and snappy, but you'll encounter rough edges and weird behaviour. Buy into it if you want to support the small indie studio with a vision born out of real life experiences (most of the developers live in an active warzone) and with hope that they will pull through and deliver on that vision. I know I did. Always forward. - Homiccus

The game is a money trap. I have no confidence in the developers if they cannot produce something that is worth paying to playtest for them. You could have kept with the closed alpha and waited until you had something worth selling. But as of right now? Game plays bad, looks bad, has no purpose or direction. You cannot sell a game based on promises and dreams. You actually have to show something worthwhile. Devs also spend too much time yapping and defending their game.

Let me start by saying: *I think this is going to eventually be a good game.* And if it improves, in 6 months to a year, I'll consider re-buying it. However, with where the game is currently at, I do not think it is worth spending $45 on. In it's current state? I'd probably play it for an afternoon if it was a free Alpha testing. The Gameplay: No XP? No Leveling? Your "highly trained PMC" will miss 4/5 shots at 30yds with an M4 because RNG said so. This will never improve. You will have to rely on RNG to hit shots. I know it's a game, but no trained professional will miss shots within that range. Don't claim to be realistic if my characters are going to miss so many shots. Your team members run out of ammunition? (First off how did you manage to do that? Because you can only really shoot like 1 bullet a turn... definitely not realistic there) Well you're out of luck! Contrary to the videos, there is no way to loot enemies, no supply drops, nothing. That character is now useless and you have to call in a new character to take their place and be effective. See those buildings on the only map they show (bc there's only one map btw). Well none of those buildings are enterable. Did you see the customization? Well there's no customization built into the game yet? Or maybe I just didn't pay for the supporter package... did I remind you this game is $45? Don't you want to pay even more to get a thing they showed off as a part of the base game? There's no built in tutorials, and if you click on the tutorial link in the start menu, it takes you to their Youtube... where I couldn't actually find the tutorials. Maybe they're buried somewhere on there, but not intuitive. Might I remind you: THIS GAME IS $45!! I get that this game is Early Access. Everything I shared above would be totally fine and normal for a very early (and I mean veeeeeery early) access game. But don't charge for it! This game is more expensive than most games in this genre, and is barely a minimum viable product. If this game was free for early access, or like $5, I would say it would be worth playing for the afternoon. You won't get more 2 hours of gameplay from it's current state.

Xcom, but in current day militaries against each other is the promise, but pre-pre-pre-alpha version of it that is drunkenly hammered together with almost everything wrong with it. Wait 3-5 years to buy this game if it still exists.