Recent reviews by Emstrogen

Update for Season 3 in 2023:
This game just keeps getting better. I've played off and on since launch.

The PROS:
I didn't think the devs would be able to combat cheaters in this game, but everything they've done has made the issue basically non-existent.
- They hired a dedicated team to tackle the problem early on. It shows.
- They worked w/ BattleEye to improve auto-detection
- They created their own internal AI detection system
- They added trusted steam account queues (like trust-factor in CSGO)
- They created a system that refunds your items from a raid where you died to someone who later was banned for cheating
- They hired more people to respond quickly to player reports

It's actually in a really good state.

The amount of content has grown a lot even while they focused on improving core systems and cheat detection. There are new maps, new enemies, better AI that path and attack more intelligently than before, more weapons to use.

For those that care about cosmetics, they've continued adding interesting character models, weapons skins, and all that good stuff.

They added presets for loadouts. This makes gearing up sooooo much faster. I hope they expand on this in the future and let us create more than 3 presets.

They added free loot runs, they're like scav runs from tarkov except you can still progress your character quests. You just drop in with a mix of gear given to you and see what you make of the run. These are so fun because it takes the pressure and gear fear away.

Performance has gotten better since season 1. It's still not amazing but it's on par with Hunt Showdown and Tarkov. If you have a DLSS enabled graphics card you can get a solid 144-240 frames but otherwise you'll be in the 80-110 range.

Their services and servers keep improving. You don't need to wait 10 minutes to get into a game like you do in Tarkov, it's < 30 seconds.

Matchmaking has improved a lot from the beginning. They've tried a few things that didn't work but kept iterating and I appreciate that they're willing to try something new and fail, to get to something better.

The biggest PRO in my opinion? The devs care a lot about this game. Look at how much ♥♥♥♥ this game has taken in Steam reviews. Mixed Reviews since its launch. What have they done? They just kept listening to community feedback and kept improving their game. I like the game in its current state but what I love is I know it will keep getting better. It's fun to see the progress and every time I come back to it after a couple months away it's improved in some way.

Okay, the CONS / areas for improvement:
The vendor UI needs some Quality of Life improvements desperately. It should take me 5 seconds and 10 clicks to purchase all the gear and attachments I want for a custom loadout. The way the shops are set up right now it takes more like 60 seconds and 80 clicks.

The lobby/hub requires too much running around. It's cool for immersion but I'd prefer to be able to access everything through the menu.

My friends aren't in the same hub as me. What the heck. I want to see my friends before we drop in.

Trade kills happen more often than they should. I know this isn't Valorant or CSGO. I know the servers aren't running at 128 tick. Still this should be a very very rare occurrence with rollback netcode. I'd prefer if the server determined 2 players killed each other that it set the one who died last to 1 hp, or put them in a temporarily downed "second-life" state that they recover from after 5 seconds.

Conclusion?
This game is better than its ever been. It still has a lot of room to grow and improve. I highly recommend you give it a try. You'll at least have a butt-clenching experience that will last in your memory. If it isn't for you or some things frustrate you, leave the devs some feedback through their survey thing and come back in 6 months. You'll probably see everything you complained about fixed or improved.


My old review from Season 1 in 2022:
Game has a really great core. I think with some time and quality of life improvements it will be great. I can't wait for more maps and future updates. The team behind this game seems really humble and they know what they're doing.

I get why the game has Mixed reviews right now. I think Tarkov would have mixed reviews if it was on Steam too. Give this a try.

This game makes you feel like you've never played games before. Really good. Love watching beans die.

Good game. Big spook. When Mike Meyers pokes his head around a corner and stares at me furiously jerking a generator off it makes me feel some type of way. Specifically, damp from the poo in my shorts.

9/10, would be 10/10 but the services are down (and there are a lot of lobby bugs so my friends and I have to relaunch game frequently).