Longvinter

At this time the games player count is abysmal. Game was fun but kept losing players from bugs with each update. Will switch review if bugs are fixed and player count rises

[h1] A Conflicting Cozy Experience[/h1] - Edit [h3]Changing negative so devs will see my review and take remarks serious[/h3] Revert back to positive once some of this is addressed, perhaps in the next tutorial update. The game is very charming stylistically and conceptually amazing blending PvP elements with the casual aspects of Animal Crossing. Essentially casting a wide net to capture every type of player and admittedly i think its genius. But i have a-lot of issues. So joining an official server as a new player is a very odd experience. There is no prompts to tell you in the introduction to follow the quests you kinda just have to stumble upon the menu accidentally. So i can see some players getting lost initially on what to do. Then there are some small UI issues like quest text being cut off. The guide book i did not have in my inventory initially. Every player should start with this item. It contains crucial tutorialization. It shouldn't even be an item it should be a permanent menu just like the compendium. Going further into this the game throws way too many quest at you to start. Its a flow that's not conducive to a first time player experience. Like im pretty sure you can just collect every single quest in the game right at the start from the vending machines. That's my point there is no flow, example do this quest then the next one is given then this quest then the next one is given to you that gradually brings a new player along and makes it less overwhelming and easier to understand it also helps with goals because the player will always be thinking "i wonder whats next" so they have extra motivation to doing the quest to find out whats next. So that's my point no quest flow they just throw every quest at you all at once. I get there are mounts and vehicles but an addition of sprinting would be nice. Server variation is terrible im in US West and its either i play US East or Asia Servers nothing to accommodate a large portion of the US, Los Angelas CA, Las Vegas NV like come on those are 2 major cities with alot of US's population. So basically im rubberbanding around every 20 seconds or so. Okay so now your in the game you got past the initial flaws what happens you go place your tent somewhere. EVERY spot is filled to the brim with an eye sore of glitched bases and turrets floating unnaturally in mid air. People exploit and build there bases with glitches and bugs in mind and it looks off putting and jarring as a new player. Let alone every spot is taken the map is filled with bases everywhere but no players in sight. They need to degrade bases that have been up for a week with out a player logging on in my opinion. When i see that it kind of makes me lose the motivation to explore and setup a base anywhere. Furthermore it feels like a ghost town i found one player that was nice and gave me stuff but the lack of NPC's in place are vending machines makes the game feel empty. Also saw some wild life but very few. At the end of my hour and a half i started to think whats even the point. I build up a base and a farm but it kind of feels pointless to do so i dont see the game presenting any reward or even a challange for the grind why would i farm things when energy can easily be maxed out with a bunch of non cooked berries easily obtainable. What the point of me even trying to build stuff and farm to get money. When getting nice items with that money is virtually pointless. There is no higher goal is my point. Thats on the casual side. And even if you wanted to try hard on PvP there are no players and even ones that are on they are just friendly i wouldnt see a reason why i would attack or engage in fights. The game needs a higher population to make alot of things work tbh, they need to invest in marketing. One more small thing the name "Longvinter" i think is also bad marketing / branding. I literally thought this game was about a long winter when that is not the case. Turning me away in just the naming alone. I think the game should be rebranded entirely and show more of the PvP aspects in marketing because i didnt know this game was PvP either until i started researching it. At a glance in the "Player Journey" another marketing concept, i marked it off as a cozy city builder while just looking at screenshots. Which this game is not that and was actually a PvP and Survival Crafting Base Building type of game something im certainly in the market for but missed entirely initially. So all in all i think this game misses the audience due to the way its marketed. Despite all this i want to keep playing because the game is just so damn charming and stylistically super appealing. So ill go against the grain and give it a thumbs up. But realistically it still feels early access still in my opinion and some things need to be re-thought and re-worked rather than focusing on adding additional cosmetics. Give us an engaging and fun game first then players will buy cosmetics not the other way around. Don't get me wrong this game does have potential and i want to see it do well so i'm just routing for the devs here still.