This game has so much potential, and yet in its current 0.4.6 version it remains underwhelming gameplay wise.
I recommend it, but only on sale for now.
I played with a friend on PVE servers, where it becomes a rather relaxed cooperative shooter. We only truly died once, so the fear of losing equipment is very low compared to other extraction shooters.
That does not matter much anyway, because the loot is plentiful but mostly pointless. You either find low value items or the same weapons repeatedly on every enemy. Your actual progression is mostly controlled by what each quest giver has unlocked in their store.
The large tropical sandbox looks good and sounds very immersive, but the world feels completely dead. There are only hostile NPCs. No civilians, no friendly people living there, just random armed men waiting around houses and bases. As a result, you simply shoot everyone on sight without thinking.
The mysterious event and dark zone at the center are intriguing, but the quests barely involve you in them. Most missions are variations of investigating another dead person or retrieving another object from another town. They are also not voice acted, which is a bad fit for a dangerous FPS where stopping to read tiny text can get you killed.
The movement is fluid and enjoyable. You can climb fences, crawl under wooden houses, and bullets can penetrate some materials. Unfortunately, enemies rarely react convincingly when hit. They often ignore impacts and continue trying to headshot you, while the AI itself rarely flanks or does anything intelligent.
Weapon customization is probably the most detailed I have ever seen. You can practically build a rifle from scratch. And yet the weapons themselves lack personality. Ammunition tier matters more than whether you use an M16, an AKM or something else. Why use an MP5 when assault rifles dominate almost everything? Why play as a sniper when proper rifles and optics are locked behind an enormous grind?
The same problem applies to clothing and equipment. There are many choices, but no meaningful camouflage system, no civilians to blend among, and little reason not to wear the heaviest armor and backpack available.
That summarizes Gray Zone Warfare for me. It has many impressive systems, but too few of them currently create interesting choices or meaningful gameplay.
Still, none of this seems impossible to fix. With better quests, smarter AI and a more believable living world, this could eventually become one of the best cooperative FPS games available.
For now, it is worth trying on sale, especially with a friend.
