Only picked up this game yesterday and it's a breath of fresh air. No stupid side-objective grind, no in-game purchases, you get what you pay for (which is basically a less expensive, half-the-required-storage version of Helldivers 2 mixed with Deep Rock Galactic with two really big gimmicks).
First big thing is the enemies. They're not super in-depth lorewise sure, but they make up for that because they're not only physics-based (which was a big thing on its own for a while) but they're less so 'classes' and more so a diverse set of modular parts that they BUILD THEMSELVES ON THE FLY OUT OF!
I didn't know I needed that in my life, but that makes fighting things genuinely interesting and strategic.
Second big gimmick is, of course, the weapons. You've got the old faithful (tutorial rifle, remains a relevant pick if configured right), the investment (magnetic plate launcher. Literal repurposed construction equipment.), and more, but the weapons themselves aren't what's special.
They have roguelike upgrades that persist between deaths and matches. But they're not stupid stat buffs, they do crazy things. For example, one of the plate launchers' turns the plates into slabs bigger than the player character, but bullet drop becomes absurd.
There's also upgrades for a gun that you can slot in with upgrades on that same gun (in a literal Tetris grid but hexagons because THE FUTURE IS HEXAGONS) that synergize with each other. It's just such a small thing to point out, but so many AAA titles hate giving you the ability to make real choices that it feels big.
Roachard's a funny roach man.
The character design is nice too, Bruiser looks the part of a tank, Glider looks lightweight and aerodynamic, Scrapper is decently mismatched, and... Wrangler's a cowboy. That just says things on its own. Artstyle is a nice celshade, looks garish at first but you very quickly learn to like it. Also a good bit less memory-intensive than most AAA junk is.
One final big thing, at the time of this review the Steam Deck is unverified. I've played the game only on a Steam Deck solo so far. It's a little laggy when you load a mission (of course it would be, the entire map gets generated all at once on your hardware), but otherwise has run phenomenally.
I've really just never played a game that so loudly declares itself fun-first, and I'm all here for it. This game deserves to be the next Deep Rock Galactic, maybe even surpass it.
It's just $15, too. $15 dollars that go to real people, so you can sell your soul only to Saxon.
