Dagger Directive

Started playing since 1.0 launched. In short, it has a lot of potential but this game still has a long road ahead of it. There is fun to be had in the game as is, particularly with the gunplay and if you have friends to play with you. I recommend buying it because I believe in the potential of the game. The weapon mechanics are solid. The menus and attachments have been thought out enough. The feel of the game is very reminiscent of Arma 2, but even though this is the game's current strongest point it still needs polish. You cant unload ammo from different mags and repack your mags for one. There isnt a dedicated button to checking how much ammo you have left, instead you must open your inventory and estimate based on the weight of the mag. I don't mind that if it was a deliberate design choice, but its janky. I haven't tested the connectivity and netcode of this game, either with locals or foreigners, so I can't comment on multiplayer much. I could say on that part, that having a local deathmatch mode and CQB maps could be very fun for this game. The maps and AI are the sorest spots in the game currently. Well that and performance which Ill get to in a bit. The maps are massive but you can pretty much only walk currently, which makes the game a walking sim half the time with nothing in it. Adding land vehicles, even if purely for transportation, would help a lot. The shaders also makes enemies really tough to spot without a scope or binoculars for me, but thats mostly irrelevant given how they only are ever present on outposts. The AI is just nothing to write home about. It didn't feel cheat-y for me the way other people complained about (maybe pre-patch 1.0?), and they mostly seemed to move and take cover in sensical ways, try to flank me or flush me out. They even call out whats going on for their buddies as you kill them or flank them yourself. But... They are also not special. They dont wander around the map doing normal things like the A-Life stalker AI, they dont get reinforcements when you are raiding outposts, they dont have mortars or vehicles or drones which makes the sniping playstyle too powerful, there's no AI teammates when playing solo which is strange given that the 2000s tactical shooters Dagger Directive takes inspiration from definitely had good/passable AI teammates you could order and choose their loadout, and that also makes playing solo a less fun experience. This game is also lacking a medical system and an armor system, in my humble opinion. Both of those things would make the already solid gunplay and ballistic system more engaging. Currently the Time To Kill is really low on both enemies and players, which makes the damage system from weapons acceptable enough currently, but based on all my Milsim experience you could take the gunplay to the next level by making the player fear incapacitation from being hit and having to manage medical supplies, and also by having a complex armor system you could make gunfights more engaging by having to decide between lighter and more mobile kits, heavier kits that have more protection and utility, not having every gun be a 1 tap on most enemies, making damage location matter more to players and npcs.... Maybe take inspiration from Project Reality's class/medical system? Or maybe SPT Realism's mod medical overhaul? There's many good examples to choose from. Lastly, the performance is leaving something to be desired... My pc is seemingly getting hot and maybe even experiencing small stutters playing this 2 gigabyte game with mostly empty maps.... This review was largely just laying out constructive criticism. But trust me if anyone reads this, I did have fun and there are several positive things to mention, but I wanted to get the most important notes out of the way because I just don't know how to make this review any shorter. That was it, hope it was helpful to someone.

Very fun game. There was an issue with key-binds (specifically the zoom out function) introduced with a patch HOWEVER the Dev promptly fixed it. Great job!

A great game for the price. The retro aesthetic may not appeal to all but I think it works well and doesn't detract from the gameplay. This is a very easy to learn but still challenging tactical shooter. I like the sandbox element where you can plan your moves and choose what weapons you use to execute the mission. I'm still playing the first campaign but find the storyline pretty engaging and very much in the style of a 1980s or 90s action film. The landscapes give you plenty of options to approach the mission. AI are ok. I'm playing on Normal difficulty though, so may have to play on a higher difficulty for more of a challenge. It's best to avoid letting the enemy get a shot at you, as they can be very accurate. On normal difficulty I have seen them pop smoke and take cover, but haven't seen much in the way of movement. I tend to snipe from a distance, then mop up. The enemy don't seem to respond consistently to long range fire, unless a squad mate gets hit near them. You can often snipe one enemy, then find others in the vicinity who are still standing or moving around on their patrol routes. Like I say though, this may be different on higher difficulty settings. It would be really cool to see something like the enemy consistently take cover and maybe even try to identify the firing position or deploy a quick reaction force to try and narrow down the location of fire. Either way though, the sniping gameplay is very fun. Close combat is great and can be deadly, especially as the enemy will take cover and spot you if you get close. Enemies will generally go down with a single hit, which personally I like as this is much more realistic than enemies that absorb bullets while one-shotting you. It would be great to see armour implemented for a bit of variety. And maybe even a wound mechanic when extremities are hit (arms and legs) where wounded enemies continue to cry out for help from their squad-mates until they blead out. A wounded retrieval mechanic would also be cool, where the enemy pop smoke and attempt to recover wounded. This would open up an element of using sniping to draw out enemies from cover. Just to add a bit of variety too, it would be cool to see different enemy classes implemented like privates, non-coms and officers. Being able to prioritise hitting enemy officers, which could negatively effect the enemy command and coordination would be a decent little mechanic which would give you the option of hitting priority enemy soldiers first to try and reduce reaction time. Overall though, these are just little suggestions that I would like to see in a game. Dagger Directive is very good as is, especially for the price, and personally I think it acts as a decent intro to the tactical shooter and those of use looking for a retro tactical shooter that runs on modern systems.

Great game that really has tons of potential. It scratches that retro itch while feeling and looking pretty modern. Game and gunplay is smooth and systems like ballistics are nice. Would like to see an armor and a clear penetration system added. (Maybe in the form of a tutorial with explanations ect.) Also updates to AI and making them move a bit more while in combat would be nice. Not asking for incursion red river / F.E.A.R levels of AI but something close or at least mimicking that would be awesome. AA needs to be a bit better. I get its leaning into the late 90s and early 2000s vibes but its just a bit too noisy maybe adding DLSS in the future would help this along with performance. ( Its runs amazing for me but it gets my gpu pretty toasty at 60 frames and other games that i play at higher FPS and that are more graphically demanding above 60 at lower temps than I get here. Besides all of this its a solid 9/10 cant wait to see what else is coming and to finish my first playthrough. Update 0.9: The AI changes seemed to make the game easier and the AI dumber. Cant believe how this is being handled and cannot believe i purchased this game full price just for it to get a bad update ruinging the AI and now there is a sale????

What a game, if you LOVED Socom and Conflict Desert Storm you are in for a treat! Co-op hasn't been this fun since maybe the Gamecube/PS2 days. Weaponry is all available at the START to make it feel logistically realistic, love the inventory system. Also as a bonus..there are mortar and air strike capabilities and I haven't even played the entire game yet.

Solid! If you don't mind or you dig the graphics and lack of animations, it's very solid.

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