Honestly not a bad game, but it's just not unique enough to be a must play. Obviously this game is incredibly similar to Into the Radius, which, if you've played that game, you would know how great that is. There are some things that this game does right, and some things that this game does wrong.
Some spoilers ahead
I'd say the main thing that sets this game apart from Into the Radius is the dog. Yes, you get a dog. After the first couple of minutes of "aww cute doggy" wear off, he/she becomes a pain in the ass. The ai is a bit janky, and you have to command with a whistle. You do so by physically bringing your controller to your lips and pressing trigger. The gimmick is interesting, but incredibly annoying. The commands are "Come", "Stay", and "Attack". You do so by whistling multiple times quickly, Whistling for a long time, or by quickly whistling once respectively. This would be great if the whistling actually affected the dog's behavior. Sure, stay and attack sometimes work, but telling your dog to come will usually just not do anything. Most of the time, the dog will just stand still and get stuck on nothing, that is if the dog isn't already going to attack some random person and getting itself killed. Yes, it gets itself killed CONSTANTLY. There is one-use medkits you have to waste on the dog if it gets killed, so it's sometimes better to just not bring it all together.
Dog aside, there are a couple of other things that really don't do well in the game, but these aren't nearly as bad as the dog. First and foremost, the actual gameplay is fine, but the creature comforts are practically non-existent. There isn't a map, at least to my knowledge, which in and of itself is fine, but when you have no idea where you're going in the halls and rooms that all look exactly the same, it gets a little annoying. In the beginning, you have to use a flashlight that is mounted on your left breast pocket. If you decide to go to a night map, you literally CANNOT see without the flashlight. This means you have to either use a one handed gun with a flashlight, or use a two handed gun and let go of the flashlight to reload. Later on, you do get a head lamp, but I still feel like a worse light that stays on would be better than just complete darkness. It makes the night maps just harder than they need to be. There are basically three different types of enemies. Animals, Demons, and Humans. While Animals and Humans are great and all, fun to fight against, and just generally good, the Demons are just annoying. They run at you incredibly quickly, so you have to grab your breast mounted flashlight, and do a flash of UV light, then you can shoot them. It wouldn't be that bad of a gimmick, if an entire map of enemies wasn't just Demons alone. I just don't think it's fun to have to pull out my flashlight, flash a Demon, then shoot a bunch of bullets into it. Especially because bullets are pretty expensive and somewhat rare. There are choices between the maps, to either play in the morning, or to play at night. Whichever one doesn't have the demons, that is what I always choose. That is how annoying it is to play with them. The game borrows more than enough from Into the Radius, which isn't the worst thing in the world, but if I wanted to play Into the Radius, I'd just play Into the Radius. The main gameplay loop is go to map or place and loot stuff and complete a task you were assigned to do and if you complete the task you level up and get a reputation level that opens up more items from the shop as you continue. I mean, the gameplay loop isn't copyrighted or anything, but I feel like there could've been at least some changes. The AI is also just not really good. I mean, I can't hate it entirely, but numerous times I've had no guns, walked up to someone, took a medkit off of their thigh, used it, stabbed them 30 times and killed them before they even shot me... and then there are times where I barely spawn into a map and am already getting shot at. Enemies don't really get behind cover, they just stand there. If you shoot at someone and miss, and you're too far away, they just won't care. If you have your dog try to kill someone, they just yell and do nothing. If you get involved in a gun fight, they just stay still and shoot you if they see you. Sometimes they throw grenades that often end up killing themselves. Onto the next gripe, The guns. They're not horrible, but they're often clunky and don't work right. The bolt action rifle, if you ♥♥♥♥ the bolt back slightly and let go, it just pulls wide open. The PPSH, it's really confusing to know how much ammo is in it, especially when you grab a mag off a dead person and there's only a couple bullets. The double barrel, when you press a button, it clicks, and it changes fire mode between the two or just one shell at a time, but there isn't a way to tell which is which. And just guns in general, there isn't much. I mean, not much that is really necessary either. I mean, I often times just get into a raid with a bolt action alone, because it is an insta-kill, and it is also an enemy drop, so I can grab another one when I'm out of ammo. The last thing I don't like is the lack of ui. I mean this like, you have to pull out a pda from your breast pocket to check the durability of things. Your knife can get dull, but theres no changed visually? You have to use a stone to sharpen it, and this takes two hands, but then you have to pull out your PDA to check the sharpness, so you have to drop the stone and check, then pick up the stone and sharpen again. There is hunger and thirst in the game, which is ok, but you can only check with a PDA, which requires you to pull it out from the breast pocket, scroll to the correct section, and look. This could be avoided by just making it onto the watch you have, but I digress. The PDA is just given too much to show and do. It should be used as a means to see your objective, and to check the price of items, and maybe a map.
Now, onto the things I actually like, and some things that I like more than Into the Radius
There's other peoples. People in the bunker with you. People in the raids (enemy ai). It's great, because it sets the game apart from the feeling of loneliness you get from Into the Radius. I also like the fact that the enemies you kill actually have loot on them. In their pouches, you can find magazines, grenades, ammo, and medkits. It's really cool, and it makes them feel alive. It also makes combat feel worth it. I also like the looting in the game. Loot isn't just randomly strewn everywhere, it's in places. Car trunks, boxes, tables. It makes me feel like there was at least a little bit of care for loot placement. I do like the numerous maps you can choose. Instead of everything being one connected map, you can choose a specific location to go to for a raid. You can also choose between a night mode or a day mode of that, and you can see what kinds of enemies there is going to be based on your choice. I wish there were more maps, but this game is new, so I can't be too mad. I like the fact you have to eat and drink, and you can refill your canteen from a barrel of water, that's cool. I love the night maps, and the flashlight is good for the dark, and it's just generally cool to go around dark places shooting people. Stealth is pretty nice, I do like the ability to back stab, but of course, it's a bit buggy with the ragdolls. The fact that the game is new is promising, I do like that. It means that dev has a chance to improve the game, which is definitely necessary.
