'83

I'm going to say it simply. Don't buy until you hear it's got its players back and is in a stable condition. It had potential so just add it to you follow list and come back later. It's an empty game as of this review so it's completely unplayable in that regards. Side note a review by North_Dumpling made a claim he worked on the dev team and there was some shady business. They gave zero proof of this. He had made a claim and blocked me for asking for more proof then a "trust me bro". Making it impossible to comment further on his review. His response to me asking for proof was "Those who know me, know its true. Got nothing to prove to you." This is fundamentally wrong. Making a potentially slanderous claim and saying you don't have to back it with any poof should be grounds to remove the review. Also yes 100% I am so petty as to make a actual review just to have a side note to call them out. I don't care lol

As I'm sure many Rising Storm/Red Orchestra veterans will say, '83 is a title that has been greatly anticipated since it was first revealed prior to the closure of Antimatter Games and hearing about its former devs reviving the project was a dream come true for those wanting a Cold War-gone-hot FPS possessing the brutal flare that Tripwire Interactives original series is renowned for. Even so, the game right now is in a state where, unless drastic measures are taken more hastily in order to resuscitate it, the clock towards being discarded by the community is ticking ever faster. Nevertheless, as a Rising Storm/Red Orchestra veteran, having played almost 20 hours of this game, I feel its time to post my thoughts on the game and what to expect going forward for potential buyers holding out for something promising. For me, the biggest problem is that '83 is trapped between choosing two identities that it cannot choose for itself. On one hand, it carries with it the relative spirit of Rising Storm 2 in its core gameplay and mechanics with it's familiar game modes like Territories and a new and improved Supremacy mode that feels right, to its new vehicles and map design. On the other hand, there is none of the atmosphere present that existed in Rising Storm 2 or even Red Orchestra 2 of which it's related to. The grittiness and desperation is thinly present — some gore here, some recently added voice lines there — with nothing that really screams nuclear armageddon as you would expect from what advertisements show. More specifically, the scale of which World War III has broken out does not match what is being shown. It seems that Blue Dot Games envisioned a product possessing the appeal of ARMA: Reforger and believed that attempting to make a more casual competitor with older mechanics and devoid of the original soul would win the communities favor. Hence, the immersion one gets when booting up the game first-time is short lived. Another issue that is all too clear is the lack of player count which, I suspect, is most likely due to a too [i]early,[/i] early access release rather than because of unpolished gameplay alone. That said, the former does not disqualify the latter. It is a fact that early access titles are known for being works-in-progress by design, but more launch content was desperately needed for this game to get off the ground and why zero current players worldwide at almost all times of day is a symptom of it. As with the atmosphere, the three launch maps and their respective variations do feel unique, yet the lack of brutality in the combat, no in-game music, and jank gameplay are all aspects that needed to be further addressed than they currently are. The class roles have also seen some refinement that make them appropriate for the type of gameplay that '83 is going for, with specific weapons for each. Other new features like tanks and transport vehicles and new Commander abilities are era appropriate and welcoming editions that spruce up gameplay, though the nearly identical playing field in how these features function is, personally, self-defeating. Unlike the flow of Rising Storm 2 with its conventional vs guerilla warfare, the mechanics in '83 between NATO and Warsaw Pact feel too similar in function and thus, removes a bit of that distinctiveness that made the former title memorable and worth putting time into learning the advantages and disadvantages of each faction. Other relevant issues to address are the numerous bugs (though I feel it would be redundant to speak of them for an early access title that will see further updates) or bizarre design choices, including armor lacking any indication of damage, Commander call-ins not responding when needed, the healing function not working sometimes and the need for improved netcode which, while better now than in the demos, has much to be desired. No doubt, the Blue Dot Games devs are hard at work with improving all aspects of the game, as seen with new mechanics and features being displayed in updates here and there; however, many in the Rising Storm/Red Orchestra community have become increasingly apathetic towards the game and time has become something of a curse to try to stay ahead of. Likewise, the current $30 price tag is far too much to ask for a product with little content and with months between now and when said future content will be offered to players. As such, '83 is in a position where it can only go up, yet that progression upward may not be realized in time before any future efforts to bolster player engagement becomes too unobtainable due to competition. The initial hope was that the community would get RS2:V with an 1980s paint job and a new mechanical foundation and yet, as it stands right now, we only really have more of the paint job and little of the foundation. This game needed at least another year to be developed before it was pushed to early access. With all that said, I cannot recommend this game for anyone who is looking for a Cold War-themed FPS with tons of features and a high player count, as there are other more viable options out there. As for Rising Storm/Red Orchestra veterans who might believe this game is the true spiritual successor and are thinking about investing in it, I caution you of any high expectations beyond what is realistically achievable from the dev updates and know that it will be either a long or almost unobtainable haul towards a completed product that bears the title of "spiritual successor" for the franchise.

Please, please, please do not buy this game. There are literally 0 players on any servers. It's completely dead. I asked for a refund but I had to go into hospital for a major operation soon after purchasing it and Steam won't refund it as it's after 2 weeks. I used it for 27 minutes total, looking for players. It's dire, nothing to do and a waste of money.

'83 sadly is a game that had so much backroom shenanigans that went on that it effected its entire development. This game should of came out years ago but it didn't. This game had potential that it never really lived up to due to mis-management and more. No one plays this game anymore, this game will probably get delisted soon or abandoned.

0 players online every time I log in. Dead game. It was fun while it lasted but I expected to get at least a few hundred hours before the game declined. The game plays fine on my PC. I have uninstalled the game till they fix whatever to get the player count back up.

'83 gets a lot of unnecessary hate and deserves a niche community and player base to keep the dev's able to update this peak

Zero players online every time I open it (US evening hours). Rising Storm 2: Vietnam (the predecessor to '83) is very buggy but at least has players

Not a bad game but there's no one online. Glad I refunded. Hopefully they can get some more content out and pull in some players. Maybe introduce community modding, who knows it might help.

Not worth the buy, the game is to clunky rn and performance heavy no optimization yet.