TL;DR I like the premise of this game, but mechanically this game is very average at best.
After putting a dozen or so hours in I believe the patch hasn't actually changed much outside of QoL improvements.
The strength of this game clearly lies in the cooperative. Ship crew duties, multiple stations and FPS objectives become significantly more enjoyable with a couple of buddies AND they have actual stuff to do.
That being said here are my gripes with the gameplay as is.
Space combat feels like a poorly executed gimmick. I have time in games like War Thunder, Elite:Dangerous and Star Citizen that I think provide relevant experience. Piloting on M&K is on a weird virtual joystick combined with a gimballed weapon system (the centering crosshair option does not change these characteristics). There is no outflying enemies as they are simply faster than you always and move as though physics don't apply to them. That doesn't apply to just movement by the way, walls and asteroids aren't real for them either. They will happily fly AND shoot through them. Gunnery is just bad, lead pip indicator and crosshair are no more than suggestions and damage is just healthbar mechanics that just become bigger at higher difficulties.
I simply stopped bothering with anything fancy and spam guns and defences.
FPS has genuinely improved movement wise, but the shooting part is just as bland as before.
The core loop I found myself falling into before and after the big patch remains the same. I mostly avoid combat and just complete (sometimes time limited) objectives unless I absolutely have to. Shooting things to me doesn't feel fun or impactful. I only shoot enemies that either are/ block the objective or those I cannot out-path/ avoid (example spiders). Clearing waves just feels like a waste of time and ammo that I could spend simply completing the objective. Also completing the objective turns off the spawnfaucet anyway limiting my ammo consumption in turn.
All in all the experience feels like fries without salt, chips without dip, soda without fizz.
The game looks like good bones and needs more development time. May revisit in the future.
