wanna know how this game plays?
imagine being blindfolded, wearing noise-cancelling heaphones while you're chained to a boulder. someone tells you to keep punching a big sponge in front of you. you can't see it, you can't hear it properly, and every punch does nothing. "why am i doing this? is this torture?"
thats pretty much what this game feels like.
tldr review:
graphics: decent-bad
gameplay: mehh
ai: brain dead
audio: now im deaf
story: none
you got enemies which are as dumb as rocks. they will NEVER hit you. they each take 10-20 bullets each to kill, which is stupid for a "hardcore" game.
gunshots not made from yourself sound like garbage, so you may as well imitate gunshots to yourself over this audio. seriously, try and listen to gunshot sounds in the distance. where are they? no clue. why do they sound like somebody farted in the wind? no clue. the devs also have no clue about sound design. compare this game to ARC, and you might cry or laugh at the difference.
the core of the game is very clunky, very painful, and (very) boring. its been "early access" for two years, so that really tells you all you need to know. fixing these issues would take a lot of time, effort and money as it involves changing fundamental parts of the game - movement, sound, AI, gameplay. so no, these changes won't be made within the next 2 years, if at all. maybe in 3-5 years if they don't abandon it for cash, which looks more and more likely given the new "bundles" you can buy for loot...
the quest system looks like the ones you would see in a pay-to-win mobile game about a decade ago. i was half expecting a pop-up to pay cash for energy credits. but seriously, you can ONLY go to X location, you shoot X guys, and finish at X location. this game fails at making the gameplay loop of "go here, shoot guys" even remotely enjoyable... and considering it's the only thing you can do in the game right now, you shouldn't bother buying at all.
you get nothing for "progressing", you start with fairly strong items and stash. the game resets every now and again apparently, and unlike ARC it is NOT optional, and WITHOUT benefits to players. again there is nothing bringing you back to play, really.
it's overall just not very fun. the movement is quite clunky, the graphics are quite blurry, and there's not really any gameplay loop worth doing. this game fails at making the most simple gameplay loop of "go here, shoot guys" enjoyable, which is the only thing you'll be able to do in this game.
finally, don't buy this game if you have an OLED monitor. you're paying for eye strain simulator. even if you don't, this game runs like crap (on a 4090 btw), and everything looks blurry and matte. graphics are decent-bad.
tldr: this game is about as enjoyable as putting a cheese grater to your private parts
